Hey everyone, I'm looking to ship a motorcycle engine out to the east coast.  Have any of you used a freight company to ship a similar item?  If so, what were your impressions and who did you use?

Thanks.

My boss bought a BMW on ebay and we are in the process off getting from LA to Louisville, KY.  We are using haulbikes.com  They aren't the absolute cheapest, but they were close.  Reputation and the previous experience of the guy he bought the bike from factored in.  His words were.... 'they aren't teh fastest, but they get it there in one piece'.  It should be here this week, so I'll confirm back after we get it unloaded.

Be ready though, the fuel costs add a significant amount.  The fuel surcharge at the time (about 3 weeks ago) added about $200 to the normal fee.

Thanks for feedback.  I'm waiting on quotes from a few places to see how much they will charge.  Do you know how much the total bill was???

I shipped my bike last year when I moved to MA from San Francisco. After looking into several companies, I chose to ship through bevelheaven.com's service. Bevelheaven is based in the east bay, and they use Daily Direct (same as haulbikes.com). If I remember correctly, the price was a little better than if I arranged it myself through the same company. I was nervous about shipping - having read all sorts of horror stories - but my bike was shipped to my door without a scratch. It took a little longer than originally quoted (about a month) but it was also in February so they hit some bad weather.

VERY interested in this as I am about to ship a bike from Michigan to Hawai'i. 

I used ForwardAir back in 2004 to ship a bike from NY to Arizona and was real happy with them.  They provide the container.  You bring the bike, tie downs, combo locks to lock the container.  With them, it was my responsibility to tie the bike down.  Back then I shipped a 500LB bike for about $400...but I recently checked their prices and they have gone up substantially.

-Craig

I have used Allied Van Lines - a nice experience, from NY to SoCal.

I just shipped one from RI and prices are way up last time 800 this time 1100!!

PM me for details

Quote from: bozcorob on June 24, 2008, 08:20:29 PM
I have used Allied Van Lines - a nice experience, from NY to SoCal.

These are the guys that I will most likely use.  They quoted me a rate of $1547 from Michigan to Hawai'i, and all things considered that doesn't seem too bad.  The one thing that does make me worry though is the fact that they do not put the bike inside a container when it goes on the ship.  The bike is not on the deck, or exposed to the elements, but I would rather have it in a closed container. 

used forward air three times...  no complaints.

Thanks for all the replies.  I checked out Forward Air, they wanted $500 (about what I'm selling the engine for).  I got another quote from a place called:

highwayfreight.com

They want $300 for commercial pick up and $375 for residential.

I'll check out a few other places for quotes.

The deal we set up w/ haulbikes.com (dailydirect)  was from LA to KY

standard fee                         640
fuel surcharge                       200 (approx; can't remember the real $)
residential pickup                     30
$0 deductible insurance            50

total (approx)                        920

And unfortunately for me, it seems that Allied/Pasha are the only ones that will ship over the Pacific to us. 

Quote from: DRKWNG on June 26, 2008, 04:16:30 PM
And unfortunately for me, it seems that Allied/Pasha are the only ones that will ship over the Pacific to us. 

I know it seems like a lot. I get sticker shock whenever I get a freight quote on anything now.

But they (Allied) take excellent care of your bike, and that is worth a great deal in regards to repairing/hassling with shipping damage. JMHO

Whats w/ the site that you have freight companies bid on you...

                  http://www.uship.com/

                                       ...anyone used it?

  - Matt