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Cross-Country M5 Transport

2K views 7 replies 5 participants last post by  M Falcon 
#1 ·
Friends: This week, I flew to Atlanta to complete my purchase of Mike0804's beautiful '00 Dinan M5 and load it aboard a long-distance transport truck for the long trip to California. In preparation for the trip, I contacted several of the best-known auto transport companies, and I thought you might be interested in what I found.

Each of the carriers I contacted have excellent reputations for transporting fine cars in enclosed trucks. For the trip from Atlanta, Georgia to Monterey, California, here are the quotes that I received (including fuel surcharges and insurance):

$1,566 Reliable Carriers, Inc.
$1,780 Intercity Lines
$1,815 Passport (FedEx)
$1,980 Horseless Carriage

None of the carriers could promise that they would have a truck in Atlanta to pick up the car during the two days I was scheduled to be there this week. But Reliable said they do lots of business through Atlanta and frequently have trucks transiting the city. The others said they'd need a week's span to pick up the car. Intercity said they were so busy that they could not guarantee pickup for two weeks!

Since Reliable was both the least expensive and the most likely to be in Atlanta when I was there to supervise the loading, I decided to go with them. I had seen their trucks at the Pebble Beach Concours, so I knew they had a good reputation.

Sure enough, a Reliable driver called me on my cellphone when I got to Atlanta, ready to schedule the pickup. Mike0804 and I asked him to meet us at the dealership where the M5 was being serviced in preparation for the "passing of the torch". The driver was there as promised and the loading went smoothly. Here are some photos:





Reliable's truck had a cab big enough to sleep the driver's entire family!



Inspecting the car before loading.






On to the ramp for loading.



You could tell the driver had done this a few times before!



The hydraulics had no trouble lifting 4,000 lbs worth of M5.



And into the truck. . .





The M5 will be in good company for its journey: a Corvette, Jaguar, and Ferrari.



The driver had to squeeze out the window of the M5 once he'd finished loading it!



The truck will be in Arizona by next Thursday, and with any luck my new Beast will be delivered to California shortly thereafter!

Mike
 
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#3 ·
Mike,

I'm so pleased that you finally found the right M5 for you, and that I could help in making that decision a little bit easier. The car looks great! But, I might suggest some Silvervision blinkers for the front and rear, to get rid of that egg yolk affect. ;)

Take care,

Travis
 
G
#4 ·
The one difference with Intercity lines is that they use a car cover on the lower cars, in addition to a plastic tarp as extra protection from above (but the cars stored above have completely solid bottoms, so not sure why that is required).

How did they strap the car? Intercity uses ratchet tie downs that ONLY touch the rubber of the tires (allowing the suspension to move).

When I spoke to the Intercity driver a few months ago, those rear carriers are $100,000 custom units. FWIW.
 
#5 ·
Ben Liaw said:
The one difference with Intercity lines is that they use a car cover on the lower cars, in addition to a plastic tarp as extra protection from above (but the cars stored above have completely solid bottoms, so not sure why that is required).

How did they strap the car? Intercity uses ratchet tie downs that ONLY touch the rubber of the tires (allowing the suspension to move).

When I spoke to the Intercity driver a few months ago, those rear carriers are $100,000 custom units. FWIW.
Ben: Reliable doesn't use covers (I asked) because the cars are completely enclosed and aren't exposed to the cars on top.

Like Intercity, Reliable uses rachet tiedowns that secure the tires so that the cars are not damaged during transport.

My sense is that most of the high-end carriers offer service of comparable quality. It was interesting to me that the prices I was quoted for the same job (Atlanta to California) differed by as much as $414.

Mike
 
#6 ·
:M5thumbs:
M5Kid said:
Mike,

I'm so pleased that you finally found the right M5 for you, and that I could help in making that decision a little bit easier. The car looks great! But, I might suggest some Silvervision blinkers for the front and rear, to get rid of that egg yolk affect. ;)

Take care,

Travis
Travis: Thanks for your note. I can say without a doubt that absent this Board, I would not have found the car I wanted. Nor would my decision have been as well-informed as it was. This forum is a wealth of information and the members are terrific!

Buying a car from another enthusiast is a completely different experience than buying from either a dealer or someone who simply doesn't know one end of an M5 from the other. :M5thumbs:

Mike
 
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