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Got a quote for $1,650 to ship my Jeep from Phoenix to Minneapolis, then my neighbor Bud said one thing that made me hang up
I sold my Wrangler to my brother in Minneapolis and got a quote from a broker for $1,650, open carrier, pickup within 3 days. Sounded fair to me, so I had my card half typed in. Then I'm out front washing the other car and my neighbor Bud wanders over, he drove a truck for 22 years before he retired. He asks what I'm doing, I tell him, and he says the number isn't the problem, it's who actually shows up. He told me brokers just post your car on a load board and the cheapest guy grabs it, and a lot of those guys run one truck held together with zip ties and hope. Told me to ask two things before booking anyone: the actual DOT number of the carrier and whether they carry cargo insurance, not just the broker's. I called back, asked for the carrier's DOT number, and the guy got real squirmy, said he'd email it, never did. Found a small outfit out of Mesa that runs their own trucks, $1,720, driver called me himself the night before pickup and texted me a photo of the empty trailer. Jeep showed up in Minneapolis in 4 days with zero new scratches. So now I'm the guy asking for DOT numbers. Has anyone here actually had a broker come through clean, or is going direct with the carrier always the move?
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norag551mo ago
My DOT number story is that I once booked a "carrier" who turned out to be a guy with a Dodge and a dream, so I'm basically Bud's cautionary tale. Back in 2019 I shipped a Civic from Tucson and the broker swore up and down it was their own truck, then a random dude showed up with a trailer he clearly rented that morning. The car made it, but the guy asked me for gas money at drop off, which felt like a bad sign. Now I just do what Bud told you and ask for the DOT and the cargo insurance up front. If they stutter, I'm out. The Mesa outfit sounds like the real deal, four days with no new scratches is a win every time.
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