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Shipping Your Tesla Cross Country

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Hi,

Unfortunately, I will need to ship my MS from Denver to NJ in August. I've done some research and received a few quotes (around $1700 for an enclosed transport), but would very much like to hear about anyone else's recent experiences.

I met a fellow owner at the Springfield, NJ SC who told me he was shipping his car back from TMC Connect for about a thousand bucks, but I haven't been able to find such a price. Maybe that was on an open transport?

I tried resurrecting an older thread on this topic, but it didn't get much traction, so I'm hoping this new thread will draw some eyeballs and perspectives. Thanks!
 
My only suggestion is to use an actual carrier--DO NOT use a broker, it's a nightmare.

I've had luck with Plycar shipping several of my high cars (very good enclosed) and should run about the price you stated.
 
Recently, I was reading the blog of a car detailing shop that does a lot of work on Teslas. In the blog, there was a classic Jaguar being delivered (from Indiana to Atlanta) for some work, and the guy that runs the shop seemed to be very impressed with the car carrier -- so much so that he listed his contact information. The link is below:

http://detaileddesignsautospa.com/b...r-bra-installation-signature-swissvax-detail/

Hope this helps.
 
I'm planning a move between Chicago and California and have also been researching this. Plycar's quote for me was $1400 which I believe is for open transport; I haven't inquired about closed yet.
The couple of other companies I've gotten (internet) quotes from have been similar.

Couple of questions, since this thread is active:
[1] Is open transport really that bad of thing? (And if you do open transport, can you buy a cover for the car to give it added protection?
[2] How do you tell a company is a broker?
[3] I assume there's no getting around the vague 2-3 week window for when the car is picked up for transportation (short of spending a LOT of $$)?
 
I used Intercity Lines (Home - Intercity Lines, Inc) in the past. Huge fan, they were amazing. Enclosed carrier, and they own their trucks. Your vehicle isn't getting subbed out to some other trucking company. As tex said, that's important. Last time I used them my car shared space with some extremely expensive and rare vehicles. The service is excellent, but from what I recall they do come out a bit on the upper side of enclosed transport price range, but with the care they gave my car, I'd definitely use them again.

I have pics of how they wrap and ship vehicles if you're interested.

Couple of questions, since this thread is active:
[1] Is open transport really that bad of thing? (And if you do open transport, can you buy a cover for the car to give it added protection?
[2] How do you tell a company is a broker?
[3] I assume there's no getting around the vague 2-3 week window for when the car is picked up for transportation (short of spending a LOT of $$)?
1) It's not "bad", but your car is certainly safer enclosed. Think how dirty your car would get driving cross-country. It could get acid rained on, or bird poop, or any number of other things. A buddy of mine shipped his car open carrier and the truck hit a hail storm. That was a nice bill (it was insured obviously, but a hassle to sort out responsibility and have the car repaired). Further, the bottom floor of open carriers means anything leaking from the car above you drips on your car the whole trip. The top floor is susceptible to the perils noted above.
2) If the company owns their own trucks, and don't farm anything out, they're a carrier. Some companies are both carriers and brokers, in which case be sure to find out if they'll be shipping your car or subbing it out.
3) If you go with a carrier, you should have exact days. Or at least I did. I knew it was being picked up around 10am on day X, and that I'd be getting it around 4pm on day Y. Then the driver would check in periodically by phone in case anything changed.

On the subject of insurance, all carriers insure the trucks and their contents, but make sure your vehicle is covered by your own policy while in transit (verify with your agent). Sometimes the total loss of a truck can exceed the insurance, leaving you on your own.
 
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In 2008 I shipped a 911 GT3 from Houston to greater Boston, enclosed, for $1500, using "Movin' It": http://www.movinit.com/ The car arrived early, without issue. I'm pretty sure they are brokers, not direct shippers.

I have also heard good things about Horseless Carriage, http://www.horselesscarriage.com/ but no personal experience.

Are you shipping because you don't want to put miles on it or don't have time to drive it? $150 buys a ticket from EWR to DEN on Southwest. Now you just need a responsible driver with a couple days to kill.

Hmmm... I'm well insured, and have a reasonably clean driving record (well, except for a couple of speeding tickets after the aforementioned GT3 arrived in my possession, but you can't really blame a guy for that, can you?). I could find a couple of days for a roadtrip. *wink, wink, nudge, nudge*
 
I am actually doing the research myself right now. I have contacted plycar and some others.
Ship A Car Direct is one company I looked at. This company uses brokers and then try to find a carrier for you. As Tex said this is a bad idea. The car transportation is so unregulated that they can do whatever they want. Ship a direct car quoted me $1700 from CA to OH.
Some other companies I inquired had quotes above $2000!!
Plycar came back with $1800. It seems like plycar has a good reputation and are official carriers for Tesla, Porsche, and Jaguar (at least from plycar's website). They use their own trucks and don't give the job out to anyone else. Plycar only offers enclosed.
I will most likely be going with plycar given what I have seen.
 
My car is on a truck right now from San Fran to DC. I used a broker- montway auto transport. Covered carrier was ~$1600. The company they contracted out to I'm fairly certain is an individual proprietor with his own truck. Nice guy, seemed professional, and his truck appeared to be fairly new. I can report back on the total experience once I have my car back, scheduled for 8/1.
 
+1 for Horseless Carriage and for closed transport in general for your Tesla. Nothing short of amazing, albeit rather expensive, service. I have shipped open and closed before. At this point, I'd use open for older or less valuable cars, but for anything new-ish and north or 50-60k? I'd go closed. The cars come off the open trucks quite dirty, although I have not had any damage both time I used open. I am not sure they will let you cover the car as it can be hard to get on/off on the truck and can't be driven while covered. They may need to move your car if the loading needs change. The other thing to think about with covers is a lot of them have metal grommets somewhere for locks, etc. which would be flapping all around in the wind while underway.
 
My car is on a truck right now from San Fran to DC. I used a broker- montway auto transport. Covered carrier was ~$1600. The company they contracted out to I'm fairly certain is an individual proprietor with his own truck. Nice guy, seemed professional, and his truck appeared to be fairly new. I can report back on the total experience once I have my car back, scheduled for 8/1.
I have also used them, ok results. Brokers add $200 to the cost but they can find truckers going the right place at the right time; it's a maze otherwise.
 
I just got my roadster delivered yesterday. I ended up using Plycar. It took 8 days to deliver. The car was in perfect condition when it arrived.
The only complaint I would have would be communication. The only phone call I received was when I signed up for their service.
I was going out of town potentially when they may deliver it. So called plycar the day after they picked up the car to tell them of my out of town trip. The person on the other end was not very considerate and basically stated that I needed to find someone to be there at the delivery. I ended up contacting a local friend with a roadster who could do it.
They never called me back to tell me a more specific day. I had to call them to find out.
I finally got a call from the driver two days before he could deliver it.
Overall the delivery experience was fine.
Their communication could be better even it would be an email.