Though I don't think there's been any "revelatory expose" on the car shipping business, based on LOTS of miles driven on the US interstates recently, including 14 hours yesterday through 10 states (Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia and North Carolina) I think I can accurately sum up this business:
You can go with the dedicated carriers, such as Reliable, Horseless Carriage, Mecum's Transport Division, Passport, and perhaps a few others that I'm forgetting or missing. What separates these from the rest is they have their own trucks/vans, and their own drivers. I've used Mecum, and their classic transport trailer has all others beat hands down; as the largest auction house in the USA, they bring a LOT of cars to auction and then after they are sold, they bring the winnings to the winner. Their van was magnificent, and larger than most. I've also seen the orange Reliable vans everywhere; one of their hubs was in Canton MI, and one of their drivers lived around the corner from me and his van was parked nearby when he was starting or completing a journey. I've seen the Horseless Carriage vans on the roads too, but to a lesser extent; ditto for Passport.
All these others that you will find from searches, are merely brokers. What they do is contract with people who own a heavy duty pickup truck (think Ford F350 or the RAM and GM/Chevrolet equivalents in the 350/3500 class) AND a car-hauling trailer attachment. I cannot tell you how many of these I saw on the road yesterday alone; dozens. Many were hauling crashed cars. When we sold our Ford Edge to our sister in Seattle last year, she contracted with one of these brokers, and this guy with said truck came by, barely spoke English, and quickly loaded up the Edge and took off. Late model Fords have built in tracking and we were able to track the cars journey from here to Seattle, and boy was it a roundabout way. He stopped in many places along the way to either pickup or drop off cars from here (east coast as it were) to the northwest.
You are always going to pay more for a dedicated company with its own trucks, and an enclosed trailer. The open ones by broker can be, as you might imagine, hit or miss. Communication is often poor. Best to have your OWN insurance and check with YOUR insurance carrier about shipments. All that said, our Ford Edge did indeed make it to Seattle in about 7 days, no worse for wear, and at a good price. I would not ship my Pagoda this way however...
