How does an individual shipper find a good carrier?

Contract with a licensed and bonded carrier, pay the extra few hundred bucks. You are playing with fire in most cases if you don't. And not saying there are guys out there like you are looking for, but quite honestly, I would not take the chance. To many fly by night outfits still out here. Trust me on that. Just because they have the equipment and a DOT number... Get my drift?

 

I agree with Justrucking2 . You may never see your cars or tractors again !!

 

you could try Uship.com as an option. With uship, the carriers bid against each other, to haul your load the cheapest. Reverse of Ebay essentially. I've used guys off there in past to ship motorcycles. There are some big rig haulers on there too. I think the site verifies all carriers have insurance and/or transport authority, you can ask carrier to send you a copy of coverage so you know your stuff is covered, peace of mind.

 

You could not have been more wrong. Worst advice you could offer.

The problem with finding a carrier directly is that you will be attempting to find a carrier who
1 Is in your area empty
2 Is already heading to Central TN
3 Has room for your vehicles (only potential issue in this case is that not all setups can handle a tractor)

So even if you do contract directly with a carrier they nearly always have to end up listing the load for someone else to haul, which then makes them what? That's right, a broker.

If you're looking for cheap as possible, then go on over to uship, of course that's where the illegals hang out so there's a good chance that your vehicles could be damaged or stolen.

 

WEe

Well Terry, I knew someone would reply with the negative view, but if you do your homework and verify with the carrier about their insur cov and authority like I wrote too, it is an option. I have used that service and there are reputable carriers on there. Its not the best service of course, and I'm a consumer that wanted to save some money too in the past. On like four cross-country motorcycle moves and different carriers, I never had a problem. But sure we've all heard horror stories about the fly by nights. I'm a very reputable carrier myself.

 

So you're suggesting that someone who knows nothing about this business verify operating authority and call their insurance and get listed additionally insured?

 

@kansastransit

 

In your original post, you made it sound like no big deal. 2 small cars and a SMALL tractor. Then in your last post admit that the tractor is up in the 6000 lb. range. Then say you could do it yourself for a grand in fuel. An you were expecting all this for LESS than a grand????
Do it yourself or pony up the actual fair cost of a move like this.