Moving soon. How to tow this car?

[xenarc]

I am in the process of selling my house and moving shortly after.
I do not want to drive my BRZ from South Florida all the way to Fort Worth Texas. That is roughly 1,500 miles of bugs and highway rock chipping.
Anyway, what is the best way to tow the the car? what company and if any of you have done it before how much alone will the cargo trailer run me?

[cliff]

How about a bra? I have used mine through love bug season and had good results.

[Tcoat]

Tape up the bumper and hood and enjoy the drive. It is a car and it is meant to be driven not trailered around.

[korhun]

I wish I had a chance to drive 1500 miles with a BRZ on the US roads. It would be great.

[Sapphireho]

A friend of mine had his El Camino shipped from San Jose to Austin TX, about $1800.

[WolfpackS2k]

Enjoy that you'll no longer be confined to straight flat boring ass roads.

[xdavidx]

Originally Posted by Sapphireho

A friend of mine had his El Camino shipped from San Jose to Austin TX, about $1800.

Unless this is a garage decoration/collectible that you never drive, I'd recommend saving the money, driving the car, and then in several years if you feel there are too many chips in the paint repaint the bumper and hood.


Otherwise, you will pay $1,800 to ship your car and then someone will ram a shopping cart into it the next day.


I saw some youtuber go through a bunch of trouble to wrap his car all up in tape, buy a second set of rims, take off parts, etc to drive his car from chicago to florida when he moved.... He daily drove the car to work for years. Not sure what people think is going to be any different about one long drive vs several short ones. Miles are miles and you are just as likely to get a rock chip going to a car shows as you are driving to Texas.

[Dadhawk]

I'm with @Davidx and @Tcoat on this one. Unless you have too many cars to drive there or some other such circumstance, gas 'er up and enjoy the trip. Pick some non-highway stretches, only eat at local restaurants and make an adventure out of it.

Of course, keep in mind during the month of June I put over 4,700 miles on my FRS, so this trip is nothing. Heck, I'm ready to go now.

[Vital]

Originally Posted by WolfpackS2k

Enjoy that you'll no longer be confined to straight flat boring ass roads.

Actually, Texas isnt any better unless you're down south in the hill country...

[Sapphireho]

Originally Posted by xdavidx

Unless this is a garage decoration/collectible that you never drive, I'd recommend saving the money, driving the car, and then in several years if you feel there are too many chips in the paint repaint the bumper and hood.


Otherwise, you will pay $1,800 to ship your car and then someone will ram a shopping cart into it the next day.


I saw some youtuber go through a bunch of trouble to wrap his car all up in tape, buy a second set of rims, take off parts, etc to drive his car from chicago to florida when he moved.... He daily drove the car to work for years. Not sure what people think is going to be any different about one long drive vs several short ones. Miles are miles and you are just as likely to get a rock chip going to a car shows as you are driving to Texas.

Just giving OP an example. My friends '67 El Camino is a show car, and SJ to Austin is similar distance.

[DandoX]

I would say just drive it 1,500 miles, sounds like a fun tour in the twin. However I get you don't want to drive it. I would have it loaded onto a truck or something and not just tow it with the wheels touching the ground. Contact a good moving company and have them transport the car in a way that it doesn't touch the ground on some sort of vehicle transport carrier. Also review the owners manual section on towing.

That being said I honestly think the chances of scratches and dings or damage is more likely to happen with a tow than it is for you to lovingly drive it. It will also be much cheaper to drive it. Dude just drive it, it isn't that far, what 2 days of driving?

[Clutch Dog]

Its about 600 to change a front bumper from blue to SWP

and it seems like 1800 for towing.

drive the car, make memories, if the paint chips bother you, spring for new paint.

[xdavidx]

Better yet, sell the car, buy a motorcycle and head out on the highway!


Best time of my life was a cross country ride from NYC to LA on a Triumph Bonneville when I moved out here. They wanted $500 to ship the bike. I think the trip ended up costing around $1,500. Money well blown.

[extrashaky]

I moved from Austin to the Tampa area a few years back and had three cars at the time. There might be something helpful in here for you:

I drove the BRZ down for my second visit to finalize my move. It wasn't a bad drive at all, especially since I used to live in Lousiana and knew where to stop for food. I can provide suggestions along I-10 if you decide to make the drive.

I left the BRZ in Florida and flew back to Austin. The flight on Southwest was less than $200, but my company actually ended up paying for it. It wouldn't have killed my bank account if they hadn't.

I moved my crap in a Uhaul truck with a Uhaul auto transport attached to the back with my Gladiator on it. THAT was a long-ass drive. I still stopped in Louisiana for food, though, so it wasn't all bad. The truck drove fine with the auto transport on it. But if you do this, get the full transport. I wouldn't use one of their stupid dollies.

I used Uhaul's "Moving Help" service to get people to load it in Austin and unload in Florida. That worked out great. It cut thousands off the quotes I was getting from moving companies, and all I had to do was drive.

I had an audit scheduled for a month later in the Rio Grande Valley, so I left my Cherokee in Austin for a month and went back for it when the company paid for my next flight to Texas. It was just parked out on the street in front of my old place, and my landlord agreed to keep an eye on it for me and let me know if anything went wrong with it. I flew into McAllen, got a rental, did my audit and then drove the rental to Austin to pick up the Cherokee. Enterprise even gave me a ride right to the Jeep. Then I drove the Cherokee to Florida.

You'd think I would be sick of that drive by then, but you'd be wrong. I stopped in Louisiana again for dinner.

Moral of the story is that it's not a bad drive, but you can tow it pretty easily behind a Uhaul. Otherwise you'll just have to ship it. I got ridiculous quotes from shipping brokers through U-Shit, and I continued to get quotes from brokers for months after I had already moved. I wish I had never signed up on U-Shit. It seems to be just a bunch of crooks and spammers.

Originally Posted by Vital

Actually, Texas isnt any better unless you're down south in the hill country...

I've driven all over Texas and all over Florida. Unless you're in the Big Bend area or up in the panhandle where you can drive in a straight line for hours, most of Texas has Florida beat for interesting sports car roads. Even up in the high plains you can just go southeast until you find a canyon with a road in it.