Anyone know of a dependable vehicle transport service from Ontario to Calgary?

[heavyD]

I have had good and bad experiences shipping vehicles in the past and I don't trust Google reviews. Does anyone have any experience shipping nice vehicles across the country that aren't going to scrape lips or scratch paint getting them on and off the truck? I assume there has to be some services that deal with higher end cars.

[killramos]

Thorsons was the top recommendation when I was looking a couple months ago before I bought locally. Not the cheapest but exactly what you are looking for.

If you are buying from a dealer, try to see if they have some preferred vendors or discounts they can pass on?

Form what I was seeing, dealer sources open transport was ~ half dedicated enclosed transport.

[you&me]

TFX or Thorsons are your best bets.

[heavyD]

Thanks for the advice guys. I'm budgeting the entire thing before pulling the trigger. It is a dealer so I will discuss with them and also get estimates from Thorsons and TFX.

[Twin_Cam_Turbo]

TFX or Thorsons +1

[bjstare]

I have nothing useful to add, but curious what kind of car?

[killramos]

I have nothing useful to add, but curious what kind of car?

Em try?

[heavyD]

I have nothing useful to add, but curious what kind of car?

2020 M4 Competition. There's a bunch of unsold 2020's in Ontario and I'm nickel and diming some dealers to see if I can get one on my terms.

[ExtraSlow]

2020 M4 Competition. There's a bunch of unsold 2020's in Ontario and I'm nickel and diming some dealers to see if I can get one on my terms.
Attaboyeee.

[bjstare]

Nice.

[killramos]

2020 M4 Competition. There's a bunch of unsold 2020's in Ontario and I'm nickel and diming some dealers to see if I can get one on my terms.

Hopefully you can put the screws to them and get an awesome spec for less

[JfuckinC]

came through downtown behind a chalky grey M4CS this morning, those taillights look so cooool. Nice car.

[BavarianBeast]

The train is the cheapest way

I’m not sure who does the service but just make sure the kids that take the car from the train car to the lot that they don’t wrap it around a pole in the process (happened to a friend shipping his s4 from Calgary to Toronto).

[killramos]

A good point, Hansen’s shipped my FJ cruiser from Halifax to Calgary and they did a good job. Took forever though if that matters to you.

[heavyD]

Hopefully you can put the screws to them and get an awesome spec for less

It's a delicate balance of dealing with the dealership morons in sales and massaging my wife as I'm the middle class version of shakalaka when it comes to burning through vehicles.

[ExtraSlow]

The train is the cheapest way

I’m not sure who does the service but just make sure the kids that take the car from the train car to the lot that they don’t wrap it around a pole in the process (happened to a friend shipping his s4 from Calgary to Toronto).
Hansens is one of the "train" options. They have an office right in the CPR yard in Calgary.

[riander5]

It's a delicate balance of dealing with the dealership morons in sales and massaging my wife as I'm the middle class version of shakalaka when it comes to burning through vehicles.

Im living middle class wrong apparently

[ThePenIsMightier]

Refer to Mar thread for essentially a database on how to deal with exotics.
*up to and including Boxsters

https://forums.beyond.ca/threads/413465-Who-Insures-Your-Exotics?highlight=Exotics

[you&me]

If speed of delivery is a priority, you might also want to check with Blueline Distribution. They're a traditional transport company, but they'll fit a car in their LTL trucks... You'll need either a flat deck truck or loading dock at either end of the journey to load/unload the car. All told with the cost of the flat deck, they'll be about the same cost as Thorsons or TFX, i.e more expensive than open or train. Unless you're extremely lucky to snag the last spot on a load with Thorsons/TFX, Blueline will be much quicker.

[heavyD]

Im living middle class wrong apparently

What can I say? I'm an overachiever. Maybe I'm in that area between middle class and baller. I definitely feel middle class here.

[killramos]

That is the nature of the “middle class”. Everyone is a part of it.

[VTEXTC]

I've used both Livingston and Thorsons for BC->AB shipments over the last year. I wouldn't recommend Livingston again as it took two weeks for the car to arrive, and communication/tracking was mediocre at best. (There were periods of days where I had no idea where the car actually was). In contrast, with my other car, Thorsons provided 5-star service, shipping the vehicle in an enclosed trailer, albeit at exactly twice the price of Livingston. Get what you pay for, ultimately.

[Team_Mclaren]

It all depends on what you're looking for, enclosed/train/open.

I wouldnt recommend train as it goes through a million people, enclosed obviously is best and I have recommended Thorsons before and will continue to do so. Shipped a GT3, DB9 and E63S with them all with good experience.

Dealer option is usually open trailer with big shipping companies, which really there's nothing wrong with. But they usually only ship from dealer to dealer.

[Kg810]

+1 for Thorsons

Nothing but a positive experience after the recommendation from Team_Mclaren. Dealer was able to arrange Thorsons to deliver to my door without any issues.

[heavyD]

I have never purchased a vehicle from a dealer out of province. Will they have to charge me PST. I know you can fill out that form with a receipt to get your money back eventually from the government but I would rather not pay that upfront.

[killramos]

Definitely don’t pay HST up front.

[ThePenIsMightier]

I have never purchased a vehicle from a dealer out of province. Will they have to charge me PST. I know you can fill out that form with a receipt to get your money back eventually from the government but I would rather not pay that upfront.

If it's being delivered to you, in Alberta, you should not have to pay. My Egg Sandwich buys all her Infiniti vehicles from Kelowna and claims to get teh better dealz than Calgary.

[heavyD]

What's the connection between Egg Sandwiches and Infinity?

[ThePenIsMightier]

What's the connection between Egg Sandwiches and Infinity?

The connections are infinite.

[ExtraSlow]

We have to go deeper.
98603

[adamc]

I'll drive it there for you, for the cost of fuel.

Have done this a few times for people, currently live in Toronto (Kelowna summers), but used to live in Calgary 10+ years :)

Also owned several generation of M5s.

[killramos]

Even if you had the equipment ( truck and trailer ). Even just accounting for fuel and sleeping in your cab there is no way it would be cheaper to get it yourself even if your time was worth nothing.

I thought about it a few times last year, while it would be fun it’s definitely cheaper to just pay someone to transport it.

[heavyD]

Thorsons quoted me just over $2k which isn't cheap. I could save money by flying out there and driving it back but it would be 4/5 days I would never get back as the drive from Manitoba to Alberta is very forgettable. Also not a fan of driving a new vehicle cross country without ppf. Still dicking around with dealers though so not sure if things will go through as I'm over the days of impulse purchases as if it's not on my terms I walk away.

[killramos]

Just over 2k sounds fair and in line to me.

Cheapest I was quoted was 1,500 from a dealer and that definitely wouldn’t have been enclosed transport.

It’s also an extra 4,000km on the odometer to drive it if that matters to you. Some years that’s more than I even drive my summer cars lol

[Kg810]

Thorsons quoted me just over $2k which isn't cheap. I could save money by flying out there and driving it back but it would be 4/5 days I would never get back as the drive from Manitoba to Alberta is very forgettable. Also not a fan of driving a new vehicle cross country without ppf. Still dicking around with dealers though so not sure if things will go through as I'm over the days of impulse purchases as if it's not on my terms I walk away.

Negotiate with the dealer. See if they are willing to cover the cost to make the sale happen. If they won't do the full cost see if they'll do half.

[heavyD]

Negotiate with the dealer. See if they are willing to cover the cost to make the sale happen. If they won't do the full cost see if they'll do half.

Not likely to happen especially with these Ontario dealers. Maybe their market is different but they are don't seem as willing to deal like Calgary BMW dealers. I will never understand the mentality of dealerships willing to sit on cars only to end up selling them for the same price or less later on. I'm sure there are parts of the business I don't understand but I know that overhead costs money and they have to move cars out to be able to bring new ones in. It seems to me so many are short sighted. I made an offer five weeks ago to a dealer and their response was that my offer was so low they won't even bother with a counter so I said okay thanks. Two days ago they come crawling back saying they are willing to work with me. I told them my offer expired and I have moved on. Ridicule me for a perceived low ball offer only to decide a month later it wasn't so bad? Fuck them.

[Kg810]

Not likely to happen especially with these Ontario dealers. Maybe their market is different but they are don't seem as willing to deal like Calgary BMW dealers. I will never understand the mentality of dealerships willing to sit on cars only to end up selling them for the same price or less later on. I'm sure there are parts of the business I don't understand but I know that overhead costs money and they have to move cars out to be able to bring new ones in. It seems to me so many are short sighted. I made an offer five weeks ago to a dealer and their response was that my offer was so low they won't even bother with a counter so I said okay thanks. Two days ago they come crawling back saying they are willing to work with me. I told them my offer expired and I have moved on. Ridicule me for a perceived low ball offer only to decide a month later it wasn't so bad? Fuck them.

You never know until you try. I know every dealer is different and current situations are different than a couple years ago, but I was able to sweet talk them to cover the EVT.

Good on you for not working with those scumbags. Not worth your time and money.

[nismodrifter]

Not likely to happen especially with these Ontario dealers. Maybe their market is different but they are don't seem as willing to deal like Calgary BMW dealers. I will never understand the mentality of dealerships willing to sit on cars only to end up selling them for the same price or less later on. I'm sure there are parts of the business I don't understand but I know that overhead costs money and they have to move cars out to be able to bring new ones in. It seems to me so many are short sighted. I made an offer five weeks ago to a dealer and their response was that my offer was so low they won't even bother with a counter so I said okay thanks. Two days ago they come crawling back saying they are willing to work with me. I told them my offer expired and I have moved on. Ridicule me for a perceived low ball offer only to decide a month later it wasn't so bad? Fuck them.

A+ principles sir. Good man.

[adamc]

Who were you dealing with? Pfaff is pretty good in my experience.

[heavyD]

Who were you dealing with? Pfaff is pretty good in my experience.

I have been dealing with Pfaff on this particular one and they are fine although the no haggle pricing is annoying. Unfortunately the one I was interested in was part of a B&E on their storage lot and $17k of damage was done to the car that they didn't disclose until I was ready to pull the trigger (the salesman said he didn't even know of this until he went to take photos of the car for me). They say it's repaired but I'm just too anal to buy a new car that's already got a carfax repair so the search continues.