Job relocation: Shipping your car to the states?

[Eibbus]

Hey guys, just landed a great job in the states and I'm trying to figure out which companies to look into to move my vehicle from Calgary to Chicago.

The only company i've heard of so far is Searail, from which I've heard good and bad things.

Has anyone used any other companies? How was your experience with them, would you recommend them to anyone else?

[s_havinga]

Honestly, if you can, sell your car here and just buy a new one down there. Resale of a canadian car in the states is useless and cars are way cheaper there anyway. Just my $.02

[Eibbus]

Originally posted by s_havinga
Honestly, if you can, sell your car here and just buy a new one down there. Resale of a canadian car in the states is useless and cars are way cheaper there anyway. Just my $.02

Thats a fair view, my car is a US car in the first place though. I've done enough work to it that I'd like to hang on to it.

Worst comes to worst I'll just drive it down myself, but if I can find a reliable service to transport it down, all the better.

[Jlude]

Are you going to be importing it back into the states? Seems like more hastle than it's worth, unless this is a car you're going to keep forever and it's probably not.

If you're only gonig to Chicago, just drive it down.

[FiveFreshFish]

Hansen's is better than Searail.

http://www.lhf.com/quotes/quote_form.php3?t=hh

[2EFNFAST]

If it's just 1 vehicle probably easier to just drive it down, no?

[japan_us]

I don't really have anything to contribute in terms of a shipping company, however, I must say ... DAMN, you're lucky. Chicago, eh? Great city! I wish my line of work would take me there. :(

As others have said, just drive it down. I've done the drive from Chicago to Calgary in one shot. (Wouldn't necessarily recommend it though.)

[Zhariak]

When I bought my Cadillac back in 08, they had none of the ones I wanted so they transferred one from a dealership in Ontario to here in Calgary.

From what I understand, dealerships use "Allied Systems" for all their vehicle moving...

I was a bit worried considering it was a new vehicle with no km on it, but when I received the vehicle it was still brand new :)

The driver of the truck accidentally scraped the front lip but it was replaced (I think it was insurance of the trucking company).

When I was having a panic attack before I received it I did a lot of research and apparently Allied Systems is HUGE in the United States.

This was the first time I've ever had to have a vehicle transported, but since I didn't have any issues I'd recommend them.

I'm pretty sure this was the company.
http://www.aag1.com/

[leftwing]

if your going to chicago, dont keep any loose change on you, i heard young chicago blackhawks players such as patrick kane are beating people up for as little as 20 cents.

[adidas]

Drive down, its a 2 day trip! Its worth it id say!

[Eibbus]

The more I look into the costs involved with shipping the car the more I want to drive it down.

What im trying to figure out now is if I'm down in the states with a work visa, technically I should not have to "re-export" the car from Canada to the US and put a US plate on for a while... I could be completely wrong though.

Also it looks like I need to have the emissions tested again to make sure it will pass.

Im actually not working in Chicago, but pretty damn close to it. Should be a great opportunity none the less, so thanks Japan_us.

[2EFNFAST]

Originally posted by adidas
Drive down, its a 2 day trip! Its worth it id say!

2days from Calgary to Chicago? I thought it would have been longer *shrug*

[BigShow]

Originally posted by Zhariak
When I bought my Cadillac back in 08, they had none of the ones I wanted so they transferred one from a dealership in Ontario to here in Calgary.

From what I understand, dealerships use "Allied Systems" for all their vehicle moving...

I was a bit worried considering it was a new vehicle with no km on it, but when I received the vehicle it was still brand new :)

The driver of the truck accidentally scraped the front lip but it was replaced (I think it was insurance of the trucking company).

When I was having a panic attack before I received it I did a lot of research and apparently Allied Systems is HUGE in the United States.

This was the first time I've ever had to have a vehicle transported, but since I didn't have any issues I'd recommend them.

I'm pretty sure this was the company.
http://www.aag1.com/

Allied does the unloading at the compounds, they are not the actual shipping company.

Contact Hansens as mentioned above or Simons. Both will use CP Rail to move the car from Calgary to Chicago.