Location Transport

How to go about shipping my car from Massachusetts to California?

Please help. 1) How do I even go about doing this? 2) How much? 3) where will it ship to? (I'm going to be living in the LA area). It would make sense to just ship by car out there than to buy a new one, right?

Public Comments

1. Try www.dieselgal.com Great Company Great Service You can get a quote and info from them..........ujn
2. Why not take an extended road trip and see the good ole US of A! By the time you pay for shipping of the vehicle, you could have vacation.
3. I shipped my car from LA to Philly and it cost $1000+ They company I used was DAS(Dependable Auto Shippers), I think they are the biggest company of their type. They suck. My car was 10 days past the date they said it would be here, When my car finally arrived it was all scratched up, and someone tried to steel my Xenon headlights. I didn't use their insurance( because it doubled their price, so they said they were only liable for $150 worth of damage. I've had to spend more than that fixing the scratches. There are other companies, but mostly brokers who set up the deal and rely on another company to ship it. Many offer door to door service. Others have you drop your car at a location near by, then get it in or near LA. If you can get what its worth, it may be a good idea to sell it before you move. Getting CA plates isn't cheep either. Even if you have a new car, you will have to get a smog check(because it was purchased outside of CA) plus registration and a plate. Registration is based on the value of the car, not a set price. A 20k car will cost $300+ to register. Plus your Drivers Licence. Make sure you don't end up in the same boat I was in. It is worth the extra money to ensure your car gets there in the same condition it left in. I would not recommend DAS to my worst enemy.
4. Important, check out any auto transporter you are looking to use on http://www.transportreviews.com. They have nearly 20,000 customer reviews on about 1,000 companies that transport cars. I also get a lot of the pricing info below from the tools on there site. 1. You will need to find a company that arranges for the transport of vehicles. You can check out http://www.TransportReviews.com or get price quotes from a site like http://www.carshipping.net. 2. The pricing tool on Transport Reviews says that shipping a vehicle from MA to CA costs on average $1,142. It shows some vehicles shipping for $950 but most are between $1,000 and $1,200. 3. Most of the companies that ship vehicles ship "door-to-door". So in theory they will pick it up at your old house and drop it off at your new one. BUT, I put it in quotes because these are large car carriers, so door-to-door means as close as they can reasonably get to your door. People are frequently asked to meet the car carrier in parking lots and places more easily accessed by trucks. 4. Chances are it is better to ship it then by a new one. Depending on gas prices though... and your willingness for long road trips it may be better to drive the vehicle yourself. But for a long drive like that I kind of doubt it. I hope this helps. Good luck!