I recently purchased a car from the East Coast (more on this very soon!) and needed it shipped across the US to my home in San Diego. I’ve bought and sold several cars across long distance, and in the past I typically shipped using the cheapest carrier I could find on uShip.com. Inevitably, those experiences were frustrating with missed deadlines, price increases, and overall just a lack of transparency or communication.
A good friend of mine recommended I try Plycar (Plycon Van Lines) with this latest purchase, so I figured I’d give it a shot – and what a wonderful experience it was.
I was skeptical at first as the shipping costs were much higher than uShip ($2400 from Baltimore to San Diego in an enclosed trailer, versus $1700 from uShip) but I know that 99% of the time with uShip after you accept the offer they ask for more money or tack on surcharges. Nonetheless, I wanted to see if Plycar was worth the extra money, so I splurged a little and went with the more expensive option.
Plycar delivered – both literally and figuratively…it was absolutely worth every cent, and I’ll never go the “cheap” route via uShip again.
They picked the car up when they said they would, it got to me lighting quick (5 days from coast to coast), and they took amazing car of the vehicle. While that might sound like table stakes to some, if you’ve ever gone with a budget carrier then you know that you can’t count on any of those necessarily being true.
The other cars in the transport were all high-end cars (collectables and exotics, mostly) and you could tell the drivers worked very hard to deliver the cars with care. In my trailer was a new Aston Martin, Porsche Panamera Wagon, a Hot Rod, and a few other delightful rides.
Best of all, they had GPS tracking on the truck so I knew how close it was, and the driver called me 2 days out to keep me posted, and again a day out, and one last time when he was 30 minutes out, so I could plan my day in advance to be available for delivery…and he arrived exactly when he said he would. I spent an unreasonable amount of time tracking my car across the US which made delivery day even more exciting.
Best of all, there was also no gimmicks or hidden fees – in fact, they didn’t even collect payment until after the car was delivered, whereas uShippers want payment upfront then will often sit on the order for weeks until the perfect route is lined up to maximize their profit. Instead, the cost was exactly what they promised, not a penny more, and I could pay by credit card after receiving the car rather than giving a budget shipper a free loan / advance payment. In the past I’ve had uShip drivers go weeks without picking up the car, only to eventually cancel the order entirely and have me start all over again in the process.
Finally, the quality of their equipment is top notch – perfect for lowered cars with a hydraulic lift that brings it down to ground level without having to worry about scraping the bumper. While I’ve only done open transport in the past, I can see the value of enclosed transport now and it’s more than just keeping your car clean, the entire trailer is nicer and far less sketchy.
The drivers, too, seem to be more comfortable with nice cars and are very detail oriented about how the cars are loaded in and out of the trailer, rather than cheaper carriers that are all about speed and are generally transporting used cars to dealers that don’t really care if the car is babied or not. They even upload a picture of the odometer to their car tracking portal to prove that the driver doesn’t take the car for a joyride, making you feel completely at ease with who is transporting your car.
While no one likes spending money to ship things, sometimes when you find the right car you’ve gotta buy out of state and bite the bullet…and if you do, I highly recommend spending a little extra money for a quality transporter like Plycar, rather than spinning the wheel of fortune with uShip and hoping that the carrier shows up and knows what they’re doing.
A big thanks to Nick, Dave, and my driver Paul from Plycar for a fantastic experience!
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