Anyone have any experience with shipping bikes across country? Looking at buying a track bike, and all the good stuff seems to be in the east and southeast parts of the US, which is too far away from me to drive over and pick it up so I'm considering shipping, but I've never done this before. If anyone knows of any companies that do this and a relatively inexpensive way to ship a bike and how everything gets handled, let me know. I've seen someone on here a while ago from GA selling a bike and saying they could ship to IA for 200 bucks (i'm in NE but close enough). That seems pretty cheap to me though...
I had a bike shipped from GA to MI a few years ago. Used UShip. I believe it ended up costing about $300. Pretty smooth and fairly self explanatory.
I have shipped a couple. Expect to pay at least $400. I believe the guy shipping for $200 sells a bunch of salvaged bikes so he probably gets a discount. UShip is hit or miss, but you will probably be better off using a broker. I have one I have used who I felt was competitive and responsive when I had questions. His email is mike@safewaycartransport.com.
Sorry that I don't have a name of a company for you (been awhile and don't remember) but I found a guy on Craigslist who had an ad for shipping motorcycles. He did this own his own and would make trips from east to west and back east a couple times a month using a large (like 30') enclosed trailer. It cost $200 to ship from St Louis to Los Angles which seemed like a great deal to me. He was bonded and insured. Try searching Craigslist or google even.
Thanks for the quick replies. Someone had suggested Uship so I checked it out and submitted a request. Interesting shipping concept...tell them what you want to ship, when and where and you'll get bids from various shippers. Haven't received anything yet, but I'll see if I get anything in the next few days. I'm hoping that with gas being so cheap now, I can get a lower cost (like no more than 300). I will check craigslist as well Paul. 200 bucks from St. Louis to LA is a hell of a good deal IMO! So what about the handling aspect. Is this something that's generally arranged with the seller? Or does the shipper just pull up to the seller's house and take care of it all? I imagine if they're shipping motorcycles, they have all the right stuff for transporting them without issues? Sorry for all the questions, just trying to learn and get a better feel for this. I'm still a bit skeptical of buying a motorcycle without seeing it in person at least. I told myself I'd never buy a bike without riding it first, but around my area track/race bikes are not that common for sale, and it's a lot more expensive to buy a stock one and then upgrade it to make it a proper race bike.
My shipper was arranged by me contacting him. He gave me a time frame of when he would come to my house and pick up the bike. The day we arranged came and he called when he was within a half hour of arriving. He had a nice diesel pick up truck hauling an equally nice trailer. I filled out a form while he loaded the bike. His trailer was set up specifically for transporting motorcycles and I did get to see that the bike was secured properly. He was very professional and pleasant. I can't remember exactly how many days he quoted for when the bike would be delivered but it was on time and the person who bought it was equally pleased with the transaction. I hope you have the same luck as I had....