Bike shipper - West coast

[Luap McKeever]

Might be needing to get a bike from Seattle to Missouri soon.  Thoughts or recommendations?

[RinkRat II]

     Get a price from Federal, they treated me very well.

                    http://www.funtransport.com/

      Paul B

[radguzzi]

Second that for Federal, funtransport.com

Used them twice from West to East, once from East to West.

AMA discount and they offer to ship to a regional warehouse that will save you some money, if that works in your plans. 

Best,
Rob

[fotoguzzi]

Haulbikes.com..  motorcycles is all they do and they know how.

[Scud]

Haulbikes.com..  motorcycles is all they do and they know how.

 :1:

I had a very good experience with HaulBikes and would use them again.

[leroysch]

uShip got my Guzzi to...well...just down the road from you. Had to spend some time vetting candidates, but it worked out very well for me and the bike.

[Ncdan]

+1 haulbikes

[Huzo]

Might be needing to get a bike from Seattle to Missouri soon.  Thoughts or recommendations?

It's an "out there" notion, but could you......Ride it ?

[Guzzi Gal]

:1:
I had a very good experience with HaulBikes and would use them again.

Ditto.  Seattle to AZ with zero drama.

[Antiquar]

I’ve had a great experience with MotoShippers.

http://www.motoshippers.com/

[ITSec]

I recently used Haulbikes with good results. They fall down a bit in terms of communication, but do the job professionally and for a fair price. I do recall something about charging a premium and/or taking longer for bikes going to or coming from the northwest, though.

As far as another reader's question re payment and documents, I try to get someone to visit on my behalf and look at the bike before sending any money (though in my recent purchase from Eric I was able to get his bona fides here and on the Griso Ghetto). Initial deposit can be by PayPal, with some kind of preliminary bill of sale that shows the VIN and terms of finalizing the process. I send any major payments by bank draft and Priority Post, so there's a documented record that can be used if needed. It also makes waiting for checks to clear a non-issue for both parties. Title is returned by Priority Post separately from shipment of the bike, and if I were to not receive it promptly I could start action. Obviously, when buying from a remote dealer the process may be routine for them.

[kirkemon]

I've used Forward Air from Salt Lake to L.A. They have containers for motorcycles and seemed reasonable.
https://www.forwardair.com/forwardair/servlet/fwrd.unix.servlet.StartPrepaidServlet

[Mike Crenshaw]

I've used MotorcycleShippers. com to ship a BMW R1100R from Chico, CA to DFW.  It was almost $600 after a 10% discount with my MOA membership.  They did a good job, took about three weeks from start to finish.  I would use them again.

[Guzzi Gal]

It's an "out there" notion, but could you......Ride it ?

When I purchased my Anni from Moto International, we used the same bank.  I just transferred the funds, sent an email asking them to verify receipt, and went from there.  The whole process took all of ten minutes, was super easy and stress free.

[Motormike]

I've shipped bikes to the west coast and back several times.  I've ALWAYS had light to moderate paint damage every time I've shipped on any of the "open palette" shippers.  It's so common I've just come to expect it.  If your bike has saddlebags, their going to get dinged.  The shippers just pack em in too tight. Plus there are usually multiple truck transfers from warehouse to truck on a long shipment.  Each transfer is another chance to bang it up.  I've used Federal several times and Motorcycle Shippers (ATI trucking) several times.  If you can hang around and supervise the loading and strapping down of the bike it helps, since you can make sure they do it right. Padding the hell out of the bodywork helps some, but it gets so hot in those trailers, my best padding efforts end up peeling off by the time the bike shows up.  The worst case for me was when I shipped a Ducati from Reno NV to Atlanta, I had to catch a flight so just dropped off the bike at a dealership and left it.  When I picked the bike up, they had criss-crossed the straps over the fuel tank, worst of all, they ratcheted the bike with the side stand down...a BIG no-no on a bike like Ducati (or MG?) where the side stand is bolted to the sump!  Very lucky it didn't crack the cases.  As it was, there was over $1000 dollars of paint damage to the bike.  I think I got about $350 from them with my damage claim.  "Previous existing damage" they always say.  The last bike I shipped was a BMW K100gt flying brick.  Came in with a raspberry on the saddle bag lid about the size of a fifty cent piece.  Didn't even bother with a claim...just got the lid repainted.  My experience has been the freight shippers treat your bike just like they would a refrigerator.  A broken refrigerator.




how to upload image online
  This is a VFR I shipped.  When I arrived at the warehouse, it was hanging by two straps! 

[egschade]

:1:

I had a very good experience with HaulBikes and would use them again.

 :1: :1: Had to wait a little for them to schedule but they did a fine job getting my Griso from NJ to LV

[twhitaker]

I would be surprised if Dick Guthrie wouldn't do a ride and fly for you if you were to buy his return ticket.