Shipping-??? who is best/cheapist

[frankz]

I did some calling around today asking how much it would cost to ship a zong or a lifan i got answers all over the place DHL came in first place with the rediculas quote.... they wanted 1500 dollars to ship a precrated bike yet would only insure it for 10cents per pound for a total of $35 dollars of shipping insurance if they drop it.....

anyone have any shippers they would recommend saia central trucking ect ect its very hard to get a quote from these companies as you have to register on thier web sites before they will even shoot you a quote....

anyhow any ideas????????? or experiences I have yet to find anyone under 500 dollars yet i see bike dealer websites shipping for $199

HELP 8O :roll: :lol: 8O

[Cal25]

Its all about volume discounts. If you go to a trucking company and ask about 1 shipment, you are not going to get any discount. Find a dealer that will do the shipping for you. He will get a much better deal as he is constantly shipping lots of freight. You as an individual will never be able to compete with the discounts that a dealer can get. Good luck with your quest!

[katoranger]

Check with www.freightquote.com I have used them before. They get you prices from all available trucking companies.

You can do it on the phone with them also.

[frankz]

Just wanted to give you a heads up what i found.... I used a freight quote company like katoranger suggested and my quotes went from crazy stuff like $600 to deliver bike by Fed Ex to $250 dollars
http://www.uship.com/

that was the one i used to get quotes so low and that was for shipping from coast to kansas

anyhow just thought id pass along results incase anyone gets a bike off craigs list or ebay or from a small dealer that is not set up to ship

thanks for the suggestion kato much better than what the big 3.... fed ex .... ups..... dhl where offering matter of fact only half the price of them :lol: :lol: :lol:

a tip when you post on these shipping sites...... they will tell you the ave price for shipping in my case it was $560 dollars... so I shot my first ad as saying id only pay a max price of $450 got a ton of replies too many matter of fact..... so i pulled my (auction) and placed it back in with a diff picture and put down my max bid of $300 and got a bid for $250...... im gonna repost it again and put my max I will pay as $175 and see what happens....

moral of the story of that long babble......make sure to put your (MAX) your willing to spend very very low or youll just be over paying and getting alot of high bids I started at $450 when i should have been alot more like $200 8)

[katoranger]

I haven't tried to ship with uship before.

Allen

[Reveeen]

yet i see bike dealer websites shipping for $199

The more you ship the cheaper it gets.

There is also another factor involved (that is not visible)

Warehousing, and inventory financing, some shipping companies provide either, or both, affecting the price.

[offroad1]

I got the "to the door" delivery from the dealer for $199.
California to WA. I imagine the dealers get cut rates. Individuals probably couldn't get that for single shipments.
It was by yrc...(Yellow freight joined with Roadway).

It was scuffed up, scratches and had a cracked starter switch,...but nothing major.

[Buzzkill]

How can it cost so much, heck I shipped my dodge dakota r/t from NY to GA when I moved and it only cost me $600 door to door and they said motorcycles cost about half, try contacting an automobile shipping company and stay away from UPS, FEDEX, DHL and Yellow, it seems they are taking advantage.

[PCD]

How can it cost so much, heck I shipped my dodge dakota r/t from NY to GA when I moved and it only cost me $600 door to door and they said motorcycles cost about half, try contacting an automobile shipping company and stay away from UPS, FEDEX, DHL and Yellow, it seems they are taking advantage.

Fuel. Drivers wages. Insurance. Maintenace. Fees.

If I gave you a full rundown you would wonder why anyone does this, and by the way, the above posters are correct, you have less than zero chance of getting a dealers volume rate.

Your best hope is to go through a loadbroker. Companes are always looking for backhauls. A backhaul is when a truck gets sent out to BC from ON (example) and doesnt want to come back empty. They are looking to carry any old crap to cover costs in lieu of running empty.

A specialized company may charge 20k for a run to BC (John Q Public is clueless when it comes to whats REALLY on some of these trucks) but say 4k to 5k for a trip back, possibly much, much less if they can only get a few skids of something.

Logistics is in the midst of a big shakeout right now too. Stealing loads, undercutting to the bone, and it will take awhile to stabilize. Then when the weak have been culled out you just watch the shippers go white in the face when the players that are left jack the rates as payback for the screwing over they have been taking these last couple of years.

Yeah, I'm tied to the industry in an arms length sort of way.