auto transport - need to ship a 914, bought a 914 and need to have it shipped to me Options

[seanpaulmc]

Do you have any recommendations (good or bad) for cross country auto transport.

While over Thanksgiving holiday at my in-laws I picked up a '73 914. It runs but it needs too much work to drive it from Philadelphia to Orlando. I've never shipped a car before and what I've gathered is that these brokers (middlemen) hire the truckers, you pay a fee to the broker (deposit), and then hope the trucker is reputable. When the car arrives you then pay the trucker (in cash) yet the broker has no responsibility or liability. Any issues with the transport of the car have to be delt directly with the trucker. What could possibly go wrong?

I'm a newbie. This is my first 914 and I'm looking forward to getting it. That said, any advice on where to start with making it road worthy?

[shoguneagle]

The foregoing information is great once he gets the car home to Florida; but he needs to get it home. I have not shipped anything in recent years so I am very rusty concerning this matter. In prior years, I used a full service called Reliance which I still think is in business. All the shipping is arranged through a broker where the shipping paperwork, assignment, etc came from the broker and the actual transport including pickup, transport, and delivery. I believe Reliance handled all the brokerage and the shipping/delivery.

The point is: It can be expensive with marginal risks or lower costs with higher risks. There are many honest and trustworthy shippers who are bonded and insured.

Transport companies have to make money by arranging loads going to and from different locations. What this means is you car could be transient to a location where is made up of others waiting and then shipped to your location.

There is considerable transport movement up and down the East Coast so your chances of getting prompt delivery are much greater than in Southern Oregon (isolated regional area from the main transport lines). From my area we feed to Portland/Seattle or to San Francisco/Los Angeles

Hopefully people can give you good names off transporters and brokers. Do searches on the Inter-Net to get an idea of pricing, brokers, and transporters.

In sum, a broker is needed to take care of the arranging and getting the unit matched up with the transporter. I believe they are essential if using an outside transporter but they do not take any fiscal control of the auto, just the arranging of the transporter; the transporter is the one fiscally responsible for the actual movement. Both should be bonded and insured.

Hopefully this contains somewhat of the background information you need. Be careful and do not just create transporting based on low pricing alone.

I may not have described the relationship of the broker and the transporter exactly right but it does work something as I have written.

Do a search this site and any recommendations that members have used. This is one of the best sources.