Auto Shipping/Transport

The name Kowalski just popped into my head.

Most of my knowledge about the US is from movies and what I learnt from "Vanishing Point" is that at least in the 70s, there were car delivery agencys where you could hire someone to drive the car to the destination for you. Maybe that would be an option if you want to avoid the hazzle of driving yourself?

(I'd just recommend to drive, but if you don't want to...)

But part of the issue with driving it is the mileage I'd put on my car... coming down here I did a scenic route and enjoyed myself over the span of a week so it was worth the 2,600km on the odometer of my new car.

I'm not keen to double that just to get my car back home without any enjoyment involved, that's why I'm looking at shipping and why getting someone else to drive it isn't an option in my case.


Our family shipped our minivan from the SF Bay Area to the East coast of Saudi Arabia for $1k in 2004, and it came through in excellent condition (before they took the car, they did a very exhaustive inspection of the bodywork in front of us, noting down the tiniest of scratches so they couldn't be blamed for any of them). I'll ask my mother what the name of the company was when I chat with her tomorrow morning.

EDIT: The company is Dependable Auto Shippers.

Just $1000 to ship it all the way to the Middle East? :blink:

That's a hell of a deal... even economy class plane tickets for one person to that part of the world are more than that last I checked.

They want about $800 to ship it just three states or 2,000km for me...

I think I might just wait out the winter here and then do a fun roadtrip back up myself... this shipping thing doesn't look like a good idea. The whole process is so precarious... they give you a multiple day pickup window and a multiple day dropoff window, and they don't even guarantee those in any way.
 
Keep in mind this was six years ago, it was shipped via boat, and we brought it to their dock and picked it up ourselves from the seaport in Saudi Arabia, not their door-to-door option (it also wasn't exactly $1000, more like $1,200-1,500ish; I forget the exact amount).
 
But part of the issue with driving it is the mileage I'd put on my car... coming down here I did a scenic route and enjoyed myself over the span of a week so it was worth the 2,600km on the odometer of my new car.

2000 miles are not that much both in terms of a car's lifetime and in terms of lost resale value. I'd seriously doubt if it's economically sound to pay for the freight just to save a few miles on the odometer.
 
You can either get a good shipping company, or a cheap one; but you're not going to find both. I would buy some chains and head north on the I-5, Put in the hours driving and you'll be home in two days. My family did that drive frequently
when I was a child and we never had any problems. If my passport hadn't expired I would have offered to drive it back to Vancouver for the cost of a plane ticket and expenses.
 
2000 miles are not that much both in terms of a car's lifetime and in terms of lost resale value. I'd seriously doubt if it's economically sound to pay for the freight just to save a few miles on the odometer.

Yeah, you're right that in the overall scheme of things 2,000km is not much at all. It was kind of a combo of things that lead me to look at shipping, wanting to spare the odometer a few thousand clicks was just one factor... and with the responses in this thread and some thinking it over on my part I'm doubting the shipping idea anyway.


You can either get a good shipping company, or a cheap one; but you're not going to find both. I would buy some chains and head north on the I-5, Put in the hours driving and you'll be home in two days. My family did that drive frequently
when I was a child and we never had any problems. If my passport hadn't expired I would have offered to drive it back to Vancouver for the cost of a plane ticket and expenses.

What if I pay your passport renewal expenses, too? :p Kidding, I'm super anal and one reason I am uneasy with shipping is that I'd have to trust someone else with my car.

I don't think I'm gonna do I5 this time of year... most probably it'll be totally clear all the way up to BC, but you never know. I was looking for reasons to help me decide whether I wanted to stay in Cali for a while longer or go home now, was having a super hard time deciding for a couple of days... guess I'll just take this as a sign to spend a bit more time down here.

As much as I enjoyed my five day trip down the Pacific Coast in November, I'm still not mentally prepared to drive all that distance again alone just yet. I know for some of the folks on here 2,600km seems like nothing, but hey, not everyone's the same. :)
 
Why leave California in the middle of winter?

Ha!

Not the only reason I thought of leaving... but the weather hasn't been as stellar as expected either. Either is seriously cold (12C right now, it's noon on a clear day) or raining cats and dogs. It was t-shirt weather for one weekend a couple of weeks back but it's more or less not what I would have called SoCal weather - so much for global warming.
 
Ha!

Not the only reason I thought of leaving... but the weather hasn't been as stellar as expected either. Either is
seriously cold (12C right now, it's noon on a clear day) or raining cats and dogs. It was t-shirt weather for one weekend a couple of weeks back but it's more or less not what I would have called SoCal weather - so much for global warming.

It's too late, Shawn. You've already become a Californian. :mrgreen:
 
It's too late, Shawn. You've already become a Californian. :mrgreen:

Hey, 12C is cold! :shakefist:

No, but seriously, weather is better here compared to Vancouver... just not so good to make me not miss home.

Although it did rain harder here for a week straight than I've ever seen in Vancouver.
 
Haven't you only been there for a couple months? Pretty much all of California's rain comes during the winter.
 
Fuck, I am stuck in SoCal quite literally.

I was just thinking about heading home early next week while taking a shower... walked out to a news report talking about the I5 having just opened after a 23-hour shutdown due to inclement weather.

And we're not talking about Oregon or even Northern California... we're talking about the Tejon Pass, a bit over and hour from LA. :wall:
 
I can think of worse places to be stuck...

You're doing it wrong... you're supposed to despise SoCal if you want to fit in with the FinalGear masses. :p

Yes, there definitely are worse places. My plan was to live down here for six months, but the last couple of weeks I just can't stop thinking about home.
 
Has the weather atleast turned a bit better?
 
Has the weather atleast turned a bit better?

Meh, I guess so. It wasn't raining today but rather bitterly cold, it's sitting at about 8C right now and wasn't that much better during the day. I know Vancouver is even worse right now...

Only thing I know for sure at this point is I don't want to ship my car any more. Why pay some truck driver $800 when I can spend the same amount or less on gas/hotels and drive it myself? Even taking the boring I5 isn't all that boring in the GTI.
 
Fuck, I am stuck in SoCal quite literally.

I was just thinking about heading home early next week while taking a shower... walked out to a news report talking about the I5 having just opened after a 23-hour shutdown due to inclement weather.

And we're not talking about Oregon or even Northern California... we're talking about the Tejon Pass, a bit over and hour from LA. :wall:

WTF? Caltrans FTMFF.

Personally, I'd just strike out northward and grope out a route with old fashioned dead reckoning navigation. But I'm slightly insane like that.
 
Personally, I'd just strike out northward and grope out a route with old fashioned dead reckoning navigation.

How do you mean? Like through the woods?

The routes are available are pretty clear; either it's I5 all the way up to BC, the 101 all the way up to BC, or SR-1 in California and then the 101 through Oregon and Washington (the epic route which I took down).
 
This is how the 5 looks like btw.

163785_1620837394266_1036350496_31711268_4813355_n.jpg
 
When was that photo taken? Recently?

I don't mind snow on the sides of the road so long as my FWD hatchback can keep a decent pace. There are only a handful of mountain passes, and I can make a point of not pulling off the interstate when there is snow to be seen.
 
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