Moving soon. How to tow this car?
 

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?

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

You're probably more likely to have to get peppered by rocks if it's on a trailer, to be honest. At least when you're driving it, you're not stuck 5 feet behind a vehicle.
If you want to be ghetto, when it's on tjhe trailer get a king ssize blanket and use c-clamps to pin it to the tow hooks and in the windows with them rolled down slightly.

its a subaru brz, not a Bugatti. just drive it bro

https://media1.tenor.com/images/a055...temid=11757659

With my luck that would be when one of the clamps comes loose and batters the side of the car while stuck to a flapping blanket for several hundred miles.

I rent a car trailer from time to time from my local U-Haul. $50 a day but I return it to where I picked it up.


I've done Miami to Houston a few times over the years. Two day trip for me.

Guys I am not driving the BRZ. I would like it but my wife and 2 dogs are coming along. I have a 2019 Altima SR and a 2017 Corolla XSE.
I am also moving 2 full bedrooms, all my tools and a Sofa.
I want to keep the BRZ with really low miles because I want it as a weekend drive. It's a 2017 with 7,600 miles.
My plan was to rent the Big Uhaul and load the car on the tow dolly.
Just like the picture below:

https://i.imgur.com/zMyiT0Eh.jpg

This would be my 1st move. Thanks for all your input on this. I been reading every post and it seems like the move will be around $2,000 plus fuel for the other 2 vehicles

I did that drive 2 years ago, from Austin to Fort Lauderdale, car was in the back on my Penske rental truck on a trailer. But buy a car cover cause the truck always throws crap back, found a few chips on the bumper, then I had a 2016 Scion Tc last edition. Next Friday, we are moving to Boston, and we are shipping all the house stuff with PODS, came much cheaper than renting a truck and all. So we will be driving both of our cars only to Boston. I got the new brz and a new crosstrek. Can’t wait to have the drive. If you taking the truck, the trailer would be around $350 for it. Good luck on the move. And enjoy the drive.

The only time we moved long distance and had to deal with cars it was from DC Metro to South Florida. To move our two cars at the time we took the AutoTrain which was great. Since we were moving in May it was opposite the "snow birds" so we got a heck of a deal on it. With a sleeper cabin it was less than the cost of the gas for the same trip.

The only downside was when we arrived and they unloaded the cars.

One of our cars was the first one off (top deck in the back) so we thought we were golden. After an almost two hour wait while other cars were unloaded it turned out our other car was the last one off.

Basically, when they load cars they load them top row, front to back, then bottom row front to back.

When they are unloaded they are top row back to front, then bottom row, back to front.

Our cars had been loaded following each other, except we ended up being the last car loaded on the top, then first car on the bottom, which made us first and last off.

@ NARFALICIOUS, I plan on doing that to the Altima, The Corolla already has the Clear Wrap installed.

It's pretty boring. I did 2200 miles in two days in my BRZ.

My 2018 tS has 9,000 miles. 2017 with 7,900 miles, keep it in a showroom.

OP, I just went from Indiana to Tampa and then tampa back to Indiana. Just tape up the front end and GTFO of Florida. Once you're past Tampa, it's relatively smooth sailing traffic wise. If you leave at the right time, you'll avoid any and all traffic, aka rock chip city.

Drove my tS both ways. 20k miles in one year so far.

Come on.. Is this boring?

https://media.timeout.com/images/103.../472/image.jpg

If I were you I would take an extra loop like this one :)

https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media...gqqhaegkbv.png

Actually, I would drive anywhere.. I've made ~860 miles in 5 days. Between my house and work, with some little extras :)

I would use a full trailer at the back of the Uhaul truck you're renting. Do not, whatever you do, use their towing dolly; the risk to the differential is too high.

If you go to the pinned posts in the maintenance section of the forum, you will find the 2012 frs service manual. In it, there is a section on delivery (PDI). If I remember, they have very detailed instructions on how to properly 4-point tie down the car on a flatbed. Otherwise, the owners' manual will show you the basic tiedown points (although a quick look under the car makes it pretty obvious haha).

I would recommend NOT trying to cover the car with any blankets or sheets or whatever to prevent rock chips. Any sort of cover (even a proper car storage cover) will flutter in the wind and scratch the living hell out of your paint. As others have said, you can mask the car with painters tape or have it clear bra'd. But no loose covers under tiedown straps; you'll regret it.

It might be worth it to tow the car trunk first to help limit damage to the side skirts and such (the car widens from front to back along the rocker panels and fenders). But I wouldn't worry too much; remember, expensive cars are towed on car trailers all day every day and they usually make it just fine.

If you want to ship it, I can tell you from experience shipping my neighbor's BRZ that you'll be looking at $1200-1500 for that distance. And they'll use a fully covered trailer and be moving your car around as they make stops every so often. The risk of paint damage from all that movement in such tight quarters is probably the same or higher when compared to just trailering it yourself.

Dude that's a simple, easy drive. Just do it then wash the car when you get there. $150 or less in gas and a nice drive along the coast, take an extra day and stop and jump in the water along the way. I do 3-5k/mo from March to October and can't think of many cars I'd rather do it in.

Damn, that's a lot of miles in one year. I just hit 9,700 miles since July last year (wrong miles typed in the previous post).

I do 1500+ a week from March >October. Perspective.

North Americans who haven't driven in the rest of the world tend to take our highway system for granted.

At the same time, it's a DIY move. They're just plain hard work. Interstate highway driving can be mind numbing. I don't know how long haul truckers do it.

I've always said I should have been a long haul trucker, I love long drives, even on the highway.

Actually that road is pretty boring, lol.

I totally get that. I love it but only because I can choose where and when as I please. My worst moment of driving along the most boring highway is when I say to myself, "Wow, this is an amazingly boring stretch of highway. I'm glad I don't have to do this every day." Does that make sense?

Yep totally get that, it just not something that goes through my mind even on the longest stretches of straight road.

I practice making sure my scan doesn't break down. Need more instruments to keep busy. :D