<p>Looking for a shipping company to ship car from West coast to East coast. Suggestions welcomed!</p>
<p>Yea, I’m interested too, as S is now in LA & may relocate to VA. I got the car shipped from HI to San Diego, but none of us have researched beyond that.</p>
<p>Why ship? Driving across the country is a fabulous experience and really doesn’t take that long. (I’ve done it in four days; my son and a friend did it in 3. It’s more fun to take your time and see the national parks, though. I did it that way another time, never more than 200 miles/day, and that only took 3 weeks. Great vacation.)</p>
<p>Years ago we had one car shipped as part of a move; it was handled by the moving company. I drove the other car. Years before that, I drove across country in someone else’s car–they paid a shipping company, I (and a friend) did the driving. I haven’t seen ads for that kind of thing lately, though.</p>
<p>My son has gone along on cross-country drives with a few friends just for the experience. </p>
<p>If you’re thinking about gas prices and the distance, a car getting 20 miles to the gallon would use 150 gallons (roughly); that would be about $450. Add in a few nights in cheap hotels and the cost is about $700. If you’re worried about driving alone, I’m sure there are ride boards at local colleges. Or the friends-of-friends route.</p>
<p>Yea, we’re thinking that might be an interesting experience. Might have to fly up to drive across the country with S, or maybe we’ll have D fly up & travel with him. That would be a great bonding experience for them & they get along great. He did get the AAA with the 100 mile tow package! 
His car is older, so we should probably have him get a good checkup before they start on the journey.</p>
<p>To get it from HI to CA, we definitely DID need the shipper tho. No amphibious vehicles in our lives. :)</p>
<p>Student is on the East Coast. Car is on the West Coast. Neither parent has the time to take off from work and drive the car there. Already did the cross country trip once previously - not interested in doing it again. It snowed in May and we got stuck. </p>
<p>And it cost a lot more than $1,150! I have the receipts to prove it.</p>
<p>I shipped a car from east coast to California a year ago using a company called Dependable Auto Shippers that was suggested by the company from which I rented my self-drive truck. Absolutely painless experience. Car arrived in good order. I would not hesitate to do it again if the right circumstances arose.</p>
<p>Pay some one to drive it?</p>
<p>Yeah, my friend just drove, took 4 days.</p>
<p>SEWNSEW
Would you mind posting approximately how much it cost & how long it took to ship the car? Also, was it a covered container that you used or an open one? That will be a useful consideration in our decision as well.</p>
<p>I wish I could remember the name of the company, but my parents (snowbirds) have been shipping their car from Vegas to Michigan for the last 10 years or so.</p>
<p>They found a local (Vegas) company that shipped to a local (Michigan) company in our area. They also use the car as an additional packing space. Once the car has reached the destination, my folks are notified the car has arrived and is in a secure location until they pick it up.</p>
<p>They time the arrival of the car to about a day after they arrive.</p>
<p>HiMom- shipped Ca to Florida 2 years ago in open container door to door for $845</p>
<p>Thanks for that info and quote. Will bear it in mind as we consider options, as currently we have a lot of variables in the air, including exactly when S will start, who will be free to make trip, etc.</p>
<p>HImom - if you choose to drive be aware snow is around in May. I have been stuck in snow in the first week of May in Montana and the middle of May in Colorado. That is another reason why I prefer to ship the car than drive it. Plus I am not really interested in putting 3,000+ miles on my student’s car.</p>
<p>If you decide to drive you should remember to avoid all major cities during commute hours. Denver, Nashville, St. Louis and even Twin Falls have awful commute traffic. If you decide to go through Las Vegas remember that if you choose then to drive to Arizona the interstate does not take a direct route between Las Vegas and Phoenix.</p>
<p>Many of the hotels fill up early with no vacancy - I drove around Sioux City once for almost an hour looking for a place to stay.</p>
<p>If you are not already a member of AAA you might want to join with the enhanced towing package. They have a good on line mapping software and you can manipulate the route to find the shortest way. Google maps is also good. GPS is not always reliable especially in smaller towns. Make certain you have a good road atlas or folding maps from AAA or another company.</p>
<p>Thanks to everyone for all of your suggestions.</p>
<p>When driving across the country, I used a national motel guide which I kept in the car. About an hour before I planned to stop, I’d call ahead and make a reservation. Motels start to fill around 5:30 and many are full by 6:30, in my experience. That matters a lot in South Dakota, for example, where there simply aren’t that many. (I suppose these days you could call a home-based support person and ask them to google the upcoming motels.)</p>
<p>HI mom–I used an open carrier but purchased optional extra insurance. The cost was about $1100 or so(I will check over the weekend). I think the shipping took about 10 days. (I am a little hazy about the shipping time–the car was damaged in a storm (at home, not with the shipper) and was shipped after I left, when body work was complete. The charge would have been a bit less if I had not had to pay a fee for picking up the car from the body shop and taking it to the shipper.) Once it was on its way, I was able to check progress on the computer and see where the car was each day. There was also a very helpful contact at an 800-number. The car did not come directly on a single truck–the company re-grouped the carriers at several intermediate points (ie, each coast to midwest, then midwest to a midpoint west of the Mississsippi, etc.). In part, that’s why i purchased the extra insurance–it seemed that a fair amount of risk was in the on and off as well as road hazards.</p>
<p>Just read another message above. DAS did not permit other things to be shipped in the car–would not insure those items.</p>
<p>A friend of mine had a 69 Corvette shipped cross country and the dufuses stacked boxes either on the hood or suspended them just above it. The boxes ended up cracking the fiberglass hood. </p>
<p>If you do ship a car, make sure you check into the insurance question to make sure it’s covered well for shipping damage.</p>
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Hello The price to ship your Operable 2000 Mitsubishi Eclipse from Pasadena, CA to ******, AL on an open carrier is $800. Pickup window is 1-8 business days from the first date that your vehicle is available; each route varies. You will not be charged a deposit until your pickup date is scheduled.</p>
<p>dmd77 When driving across the country, I used a national motel guide which I kept in the car. About an hour before I planned to stop, I’d call ahead and make a reservation. Motels start to fill around 5:30 and many are full by 6:30, in my experience. That matters a lot in South Dakota, for example, where there simply aren’t that many. (I suppose these days you could call a home-based support person and ask them to google the upcoming motels.) </p>
<p>National Motel Guide - I have never seen one of these - where did you find it?</p>
<p>We recently shipped our daughter’s car from Texas to NC. I went online and searched. You could get immediate quotes and one web site had a compare quote feature. The down side was that I started getting tons of e-mails from these companies. Don’t give your phone number if you can avoid it.</p>
<p>We eventually settled on one that gave us a competitive quote who is also used by our local car dealership to ship their cars (cost in high 500’s I think). So you might call your last car salesman and see who your dealership uses. Think about how often car dealerships need to ship cars, so they certainly could tell you who to stay away from.</p>
<p>In our case, shipping was much cheaper than two days of gas/hotels/meals and a return flight home.</p>