Experience needed on shipping a car to Nationals with Reliable

[Michael J.]

I would like to ship a car out for the Nationals in French Lick (from New Mexico), so I can be on a road tour. Has anyone used Reliable for shipping to a National that can give me some feedback on how it works out? Thanks.

[Joseph S.]

Re: Experience needed on shipping a car to Nationals with Reliable

Mike, I have used both Reliable and Intercity numerous times to transport my cars and customers cars. Reliable has moved the 2 Race Cars several times for Regionals, Las Vegas National and down to Hendrick for the NCRS display we had at the fall Bloomington meet. I have never had an issue with them. The cars are always well cared for.

I hope this helps. Joe

[Michael J.]

Re: Experience needed on shipping a car to Nationals with Reliable

Thanks Joe, very helpful. I am also wondering if they can be relied on to pickup and drop off the car in a timely, as promised manner, since timing is very important at a National.

[Brian D.]

Re: Experience needed on shipping a car to Nationals with Reliable

Never used a corporate shipper myself, but I have heard John Ballard say (on multiple occasions) that he used/uses Reliable.
One condition John mentioned is that you want your car on the upper level, and not below another car.

[Mike T.]

Re: Experience needed on shipping a car to Nationals with Reliable

Mike - I understand your question is more focused on time constraints more than anything else. I've used Intercity twice and Reliable once just a couple months ago when I needed to bring a newly purchased 65 396 NOM Roadster down from Portland to Arizona. At the time, there were no major Auto Auctions going on but none of them could tell me exactly when the pickup would occur. That was due to the pickup location as they seemed to refer to that area as . All carriers were up front with not being able to set a date and one of them indicated it could be anywhere from '2 weeks to 2 months'. In the end, I signed on with Reliable on 11-6 and the car was picked up on 11-15. I worked with Damon Sewell at

dsewell@reliablecarriers.com. Good Luck.

[Michael J.]

Re: Experience needed on shipping a car to Nationals with Reliable

Yes, timing is my big issue. I have attended a Shelby American Auto Club National once in Pocono, and transporting my car from here in NM to there and back, with a strict arrival and departure schedule was something only one company would guarantee, and that was expensive. I have used Reliable before when timing was not an issue, they treat the cars well and I was pleased, but I never needed close timing. I am hoping, since NCRS recommends Reliable and has a contact for you to use (listed in the Driveline), timing gets handled properly so the car arrives in time for Ops, and can be loaded when you are released from the show area. I will call and ask them, just hoping someone has used them for an NCRS National and they worked well timing wise. Joe seems to indicate they can perform on a deadline.

[Harry S.]

Re: Experience needed on shipping a car to Nationals with Reliable

Michael, rent the whole truck if you can. Then you control arrival and departure dates and times. But, you need to have others that are going from your area be at a meeting place to load their cars. You also get a better price. We did this from New England to the Hampton Roads Regional in Virginia. All went well.

[Mike T.]

Re: Experience needed on shipping a car to Nationals with Reliable

That's a good suggestion, Harry. The first time I used a carrier it was Intercity and pickup was in Austin Texas to Sonoma County California. Pickup date wasn't overly hard to schedule. Next time a few years later in 2013, we were relocating from Sonoma County to Prescott AZ and had '6' cars to ship. With us needing a completely empty truck, we were able to narrow down the pickup date a lot better than if we only had one vehicle to move. Also, the cost was much cheaper.
It all depends on whether you have 5 friends in New Mexico that are also headed to the National.

[Michael J.]

Re: Experience needed on shipping a car to Nationals with Reliable

Thanks guys, yes that is what I had to do when I sent my Shelby to their National in Pocono. And it was expensive to have your own truck for one car. I was hoping not to have to spend that kind of money this time. I doubt there will be any other Corvettes coming from around here for the National in French Lick. Most everyone seems to be on the east coast these days. I'll have to do some more research, that is just a long way to trailer, considered it last year to SC, and decided to just do the road tour and Sportsman. I may be forced to do that again. Thanks.

[David S.]

Re: Experience needed on shipping a car to Nationals with Reliable

We used Reliable years ago. The service from the drivers was great, car was well attended to etc. My displeasure came from the front office being highly unprofessional. I wouldn't use them again over it.

That being said, we shipped our 67 out to Vegas for the 2018 National with another carrier. I also wouldn't use them again due to terrible communication (and equipment). We now have a couple mom and pop owner/operators that we will go to and no one else. Small fleets, well insured, well cared for and top notch service.

I will caution - most of the bigger carriers will jockey the car enroute. Meaning one truck will pick up the car and take it to their depot. They'll move it onto another and sometimes another after that. Make sure you know the facts before consigning your car to one of them.

[Harry S.]

Re: Experience needed on shipping a car to Nationals with Reliable

We used Reliable years ago. The service from the drivers was great, car was well attended to etc. My displeasure came from the front office being highly unprofessional. I wouldn't use them again over it.

That being said, we shipped our 67 out to Vegas for the 2018 National with another carrier. I also wouldn't use them again due to terrible communication (and equipment). We now have a couple mom and pop owner/operators that we will go to and no one else. Small fleets, well insured, well cared for and top notch service.

I will caution - most of the bigger carriers will jockey the car enroute. Meaning one truck will pick up the car and take it to their depot. They'll move it onto another and sometimes another after that. Make sure you know the facts before consigning your car to one of them.

David, this is why I recommend filling and renting the entire truck. You have control of the Driver, the truck and the time. Also, it put the driver at ease as he has one customer and one load of cars.

[Dave S.]

Re: Experience needed on shipping a car to Nationals with Reliable

David, this is why I recommend filling and renting the entire truck. You have control of the Driver, the truck and the time. Also, it put the driver at ease as he has one customer and one load of cars.

I'll second Harry's suggestion. With the scheduling problem at National Conventions the only reasonable and cost effective way is to purchase the truck for basically a week. I've done it on three occasions with Intercity and things worked very well each time. Depending on the total cost of the truck/trailer you will need at least 4 cars with 5 or 6 helping to reduce the cost per car. For the events that I organized we were able to pick cars up along the way allowing us to ultimately get a full load. Now is the time to explore this as scheduling ahead of time makes things more attractive to the driver team. At all 3 events I was involved with the driver team (often a husband/wife team) chose to use it a vacation for themselves as they are off from Sunday to Thursday. The difficult part is to get everyone to commit early to pay in full to lock things in place. Cancellations are not anything you can have. If someone cancels they become responsible to find a replacement.

[David S.]

Re: Experience needed on shipping a car to Nationals with Reliable

David, this is why I recommend filling and renting the entire truck. You have control of the Driver, the truck and the time. Also, it put the driver at ease as he has one customer and one load of cars.

I'll second Harry's suggestion. With the scheduling problem at National Conventions the only reasonable and cost effective way is to purchase the truck for basically a week. I've done it on three occasions with Intercity and things worked very well each time. Depending on the total cost of the truck/trailer you will need at least 4 cars with 5 or 6 helping to reduce the cost per car. For the events that I organized we were able to pick cars up along the way allowing us to ultimately get a full load. Now is the time to explore this as scheduling ahead of time makes things more attractive to the driver team. At all 3 events I was involved with the driver team (often a husband/wife team) chose to use it a vacation for themselves as they are off from Sunday to Thursday. The difficult part is to get everyone to commit early to pay in full to lock things in place. Cancellations are not anything you can have. If someone cancels they become responsible to find a replacement.

Couldn't agree more, that's the way to do it.

I investigated that going to Vegas. Reliable wouldn't provide a discount on a full truck all other companies I spoke to would have.

[Dave S.]

Re: Experience needed on shipping a car to Nationals with Reliable

Couldn't agree more, that's the way to do it.

I investigated that going to Vegas. Reliable wouldn't provide a discount on a full truck all other companies I spoke to would have.

i can't think of any reason why a legitimate shipper would not be willing to commit a truck and driving team to do what we are thinking here. As I mentioned the hard part is getting 6 car owners to commit and pay in advance. This hobby is full of people that are well intended but when they are asked to commit payment things change. Organizing a load from the Northeast may be easier than from other parts of the country but it can be done. With this years convention being in the Midwest that also makes things simpler.

[Michael G.]

Re: Experience needed on shipping a car to Nationals with Reliable

Back in November Reliable handled my relocation from New Jersey to South Dakota. I had 2 vehicles but was not able to solidify departure time and had to make adjustments on my receiver end accordingly. I agree with Harry and Dave. If you can fill the truck, you will be in a position to narrow the travel times. Service was all I expected and would use them again.