How did you guys ship your RS4 if you purchased it from a distance?

[Blue AWD]

I’m looking for recs on shipping on shipping companies equipped to moving and RS4 across country. Thanks!

[CarterRuss]

Enclosed:
Intercity if you want white glove. Based in MA.

Plycar is also a good company usually a little cheaper than Intercity.

[bardwell02]

Sorry no recommendations, but I have done it a couple times when moving (open car carriers); It's a business with multiple layers of brokers and websites and fierce competition - you may deal with someone good when you set it up, but the drivers are independent so you take that chance - mine seemed competent and the cars arrived safe. For moving my RS4 from Colorado to Michigan, I wanted covered because it was summer and I'm very paranoid about hail. I thought I might be in good shape because 2 large carriers (Reliable and Pilot) are located within an hour of my home - empty trucks should = good prices right? It didn't seem like it I think I was quoted $1500-$2200.

My solution was a 1-way plane ticket and a couple days off. Mapped all the Sonics and car washes close to the route for hail protection. Had a blast. I'd never even driven one, so feeling that first time when rolls from 80 to 100 - and then starts accelerating faster - was pretty cool.

[DOCEVG]

CarterRuss is right: use a bespoke shipper like Intercity or Plycar. I've used Intercity to ship RS4s between Cleveland and Denver, and between Denver and Florida. They're expensive, and you'll be on their schedule (that is, whenever one of their trucks is in your area) rather than them being on yours. They are reliable and use only covered transports (essential if you're shipping a nice car). The other car shipping world is the one mentioned by bardwell02 where you, knowingly or not, contact a broker who then bids your shipment out to any number of independent carriers, whose quality will be all over the board, but cheaper than someone like Intercity. If you go that route, be prepared to be inundated by calls and emails. I've also done that, and am not sure the heightened anxiety of watching your car get stuffed onto an open transport with a bunch of beat up cars is worth the couple of hundred dollars worth of savings. You can find recommendations for other highend shippers on other car forums, like 6speedonline.

[Pyromatic177]

Enclosed:
Intercity if you want white glove. Based in MA.

Plycar is also a good company usually a little cheaper than Intercity.

This, NEVER go cheap. Made that mistake with my charged RS from WA-NY as I knew little to nothing about shipping cars. They ended up replacing my bumper because they destroyed it

[usmc_s4]

Just don't use a broker. I'll add to the ones mentioned above, Horseless Carriage and Thomas Sunday Transportation.

[GrandMarkie]

Intercity all the way. I've used them 4 times to ship cross country.

[ssc_rs4]

Intercity Lines the best. Absolutely no worry process. Best in the business. Used them twice now.


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[Audifile]

FYI - I've successfully shipped cars (4 Mercedes) between Los Angeles and the Southeast (GA,NC) without any problems, 6 times using Direct Express Auto Transport. Choose between open and enclosed, they ship a number of athlete/celebrity cars in and out of LA. usually runs $900-$1,000 out of LA and $1,000 - $1,100 from east coast to LA.
They are a broker but I've never had any problems. I have never had any marketing calls or emails from using them.

Edit - used them to ship my RS4 from CT to CA in Aug '20...$1,150 was the bid price I added an extra $150 for incentive. No problems at all...that makes 7 cross country shipping trips (East to West and West to East) and not one incident.

[mercury26]

I used Intercity to move my RS4 from Bay Area to Denver. No regrets.

[b6bydesign04]

For those that have used the carriers mentioned above, is it cheaper to have the car dropped off at a commercial/business vs residential? I live in a city, so I have the option of either.

[87vr6]

For those that have used the carriers mentioned above, is it cheaper to have the car dropped off at a commercial/business vs residential? I live in a city, so I have the option of either.

Whatever has wide open roads, wipe open parking lots, and is closest to the interstate.

[usmc_s4]

For those that have used the carriers mentioned above, is it cheaper to have the car dropped off at a commercial/business vs residential? I live in a city, so I have the option of either.

No. No cost difference between a shopping mall parking lot or your house.

[DOCEVG]

In the fwiw category, I need to ship an RS4 from FL to CO and reached out to Intercity, having had good luck with them before, but they advised FL to CO is a tough route for them to cover so I solicited quotes from all of the other shippers listed in this thread. What a mistake, especially since to get a quote you have to supply contact information. I asked for quotes from 6 shippers, and got 20 responses, some by phone call, some by text and some by email, only one of which was from a shipper I actually contacted (Plycar). All the rest of the responses were from shippers or brokers I'd not heard of before, which tells me Reliable, Pilot, Horseless Carriage, Thomas Sunday Transport, and Direct Express Auto Transport are all brokers instead of a direct supplier of shipping services. Now I'm afraid I'm looking at weeks of fending off sales calls from reps for the shippers to whom the brokers distributed my contact information. As much as I'd like to use Plycar as the shipper, they're ridiculously expensive ($2000+).

[CarterRuss]

In the fwiw category, I need to ship an RS4 from FL to CO and reached out to Intercity, having had good luck with them before, but they advised FL to CO is a tough route for them to cover so I solicited quotes from all of the other shippers listed in this thread. What a mistake, especially since to get a quote you have to supply contact information. I asked for quotes from 6 shippers, and got 20 responses, some by phone call, some by text and some by email, only one of which was from a shipper I actually contacted (Plycar). All the rest of the responses were from shippers or brokers I'd not heard of before, which tells me Reliable, Pilot, Horseless Carriage, Thomas Sunday Transport, and Direct Express Auto Transport are all brokers instead of a direct supplier of shipping services. Now I'm afraid I'm looking at weeks of fending off sales calls from reps for the shippers to whom the brokers distributed my contact information. As much as I'd like to use Plycar as the shipper, they're ridiculously expensive ($2000+).

I would venture to say Direct Express Auto is the culprit here. The others you mentioned all have trucks in house and looking at DEAT website leads me to believe they are a broker. Once that happens the vultures are off to the races. FL to CO at $2k is probably close to inline with any of the other white glove enclosed transporters. I paid $2200 NJ to CA with them and Intercity was $2600 at the time I believe.

I would happily drive it for you. However if euro seats don't make it to the destination, I am not at fault :)

[DOCEVG]

I would venture to say Direct Express Auto is the culprit here. The others you mentioned all have trucks in house and looking at DEAT website leads me to believe they are a broker. Once that happens the vultures are off to the races. FL to CO at $2k is probably close to inline with any of the other white glove enclosed transporters. I paid $2200 NJ to CA with them and Intercity was $2600 at the time I believe.

I would happily drive it for you. However if euro seats don't make it to the destination, I am not at fault :)

Thanks for the insights and, haha, the offer!:)

[usmc_s4]

In the fwiw category, I need to ship an RS4 from FL to CO and reached out to Intercity, having had good luck with them before, but they advised FL to CO is a tough route for them to cover so I solicited quotes from all of the other shippers listed in this thread. What a mistake, especially since to get a quote you have to supply contact information. I asked for quotes from 6 shippers, and got 20 responses, some by phone call, some by text and some by email, only one of which was from a shipper I actually contacted (Plycar). All the rest of the responses were from shippers or brokers I'd not heard of before, which tells me Reliable, Pilot, Horseless Carriage, Thomas Sunday Transport, and Direct Express Auto Transport are all brokers instead of a direct supplier of shipping services. Now I'm afraid I'm looking at weeks of fending off sales calls from reps for the shippers to whom the brokers distributed my contact information. As much as I'd like to use Plycar as the shipper, they're ridiculously expensive ($2000+).

Reliable, Horseless and Thomas Sunday are not brokers.........not sure about pilot. Never heard of direct express auto transport.

[ThatBlueS3]

Is driving the car that distance out of the question? I was prepared to take a few days off from work to drive a RS4 from AZ to MD a few weeks back until the car fell through my hands. I'm still on the hunt for one, but will probably be driving whatever car I find back to MD.

[blubusdrvr]

Is driving the car that distance out of the question? I was prepared to take a few days off from work to drive a RS4 from AZ to MD a few weeks back until the car fell through my hands. I'm still on the hunt for one, but will probably be driving whatever car I find back to MD.

I drove mine back from Quebec to MD. Not nearly as far but I wouldn't do it any other way after that trip. Good way to introduce yourself to your new car. Oh, and bring your checkbook to the DMV with you. MD has to get their percentage! ;-)

[ThatBlueS3]

I drove mine back from Quebec to MD. Not nearly as far but I wouldn't do it any other way after that trip. Good way to introduce yourself to your new car. Oh, and bring your checkbook to the DMV with you. MD has to get their percentage! ;-)

Oh trust me I know. How did you end up getting it home. Did the seller let you leave their tags on for transport. I’ve talked to a few title places here in MD and the only way to get the 30 day temp tag is if they have the original signed title, which is impossible to do if you’re buying from out of state. Really stupid setup in my opinion.

[blubusdrvr]

Oh trust me I know. How did you end up getting it home. Did the seller let you leave their tags on for transport. I’ve talked to a few title places here in MD and the only way to get the 30 day temp tag is if they have the original signed title, which is impossible to do if you’re buying from out of state. Really stupid setup in my opinion.

I actually bought it from a small specialty car dealer so they put Canadian temps on it. It took me awhile to clear it through our backasswards DMV before I got real tags. Nobody ever questioned the paper one before that.

[chunk_split]

I would venture to say Direct Express Auto is the culprit here. The others you mentioned all have trucks in house and looking at DEAT website leads me to believe they are a broker. Once that happens the vultures are off to the races. FL to CO at $2k is probably close to inline with any of the other white glove enclosed transporters. I paid $2200 NJ to CA with them and Intercity was $2600 at the time I believe.

I would happily drive it for you. However if euro seats don't make it to the destination, I am not at fault :)

When you say you paid $2200, you're referring to Plycar, is that correct?

[CarterRuss]

When you say you paid $2200, you're referring to Plycar, is that correct?

Yes

via Pixel 3 XL

[philbegas]

I used Autozipper to ship a G35 from Oakland to Philly, and then a S60R from Philly to San Jose. Both times were in an open trailer for ~$1300. Everybody in the process was communicative, but they are technically a broker. You can also ask if they have enclosed, or if you can pay for a specific spot (like maybe behind the cab on the lower level if you want more protection) but I wouldn't know anythiing about that.

Edit: Oops didn't look at the dates on the original post ignore me haha

[Audifile]

I would venture to say Direct Express Auto is the culprit here. The others you mentioned all have trucks in house and looking at DEAT website leads me to believe they are a broker. Once that happens the vultures are off to the races. FL to CO at $2k is probably close to inline with any of the other white glove enclosed transporters. I paid $2200 NJ to CA with them and Intercity was $2600 at the time I believe.

I would happily drive it for you. However if euro seats don't make it to the destination, I am not at fault :)

Carter, I've used Direct Express 7 times and not once have I received marketing calls or emails associated with them...must be one of the "reliable carriers"

[RAudi Driver]

I only use Reliable Carriers. Carrier for Porsche USA.