Car shipping/delivery experience

[od253]

This isn't necessarily specific to the Taycan, but I would like to hear about anyones experience buying one (or any car for that matter) and getting it shipped to another state. The Porsche dealership that I ordered from didn't give me a company name nor any sort of tracking info. All they said was, that it should arrive sometime within a 5-10 day window. Is this normal?

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[trycan]

Can’t you put your VIN in the Porsche app and see it on the map?
Depending on how far it’s going, 5-10 days seems like a typical transit time.

 

[JIP1080]

Below is a very long way to say "yeah, probably makes sense."

Distance is going to play a large factor here, as well as other loads / stops the driver needs to make.
I had mine shipped (enclosed trailer) from Oklahoma to Georgia. Dealer had the shipping company reach out to me for payment, then the dealer handled the rest. Wednesday morning they were looking for a driver. Wednesday evening a driver picked up the car. Estimate was Friday afternoon arrival. Driver must have broken a few laws as it arrived Thursday early evening ?. I was also the first stop of two on his route.
On the other side of things, my neighbor's 458 was shipped from Austin to Georgia and took a full 5 days to arrive. According to Google maps there is about 1 hour difference in drive time. The additional stops his driver had to make bumped the time up.

 

[od253]

Can’t you put your VIN in the Porsche app and see it on the map?
Depending on how far it’s going, 5-10 days seems like a typical transit time.

This won't work because the car is set to privacy mode so I don't have access to all the features on the app. And it's in an enclosed trailer so would probably have limited connectivity.

 

[od253]

Below is a very long way to say "yeah, probably makes sense."

Distance is going to play a large factor here, as well as other loads / stops the driver needs to make.
I had mine shipped (enclosed trailer) from Oklahoma to Georgia. Dealer had the shipping company reach out to me for payment, then the dealer handled the rest. Wednesday morning they were looking for a driver. Wednesday evening a driver picked up the car. Estimate was Friday afternoon arrival. Driver must have broken a few laws as it arrived Thursday early evening ?. I was also the first stop of two on his route.
On the other side of things, my neighbor's 458 was shipped from Austin to Georgia and took a full 5 days to arrive. According to Google maps there is about 1 hour difference in drive time. The additional stops his driver had to make bumped the time up.

So I'm not really that concerned about the timeframe they said, but mainly just the lack of visiblity into the entire process. Like I don't even know the name of the company and have no idea how they are even going to contact me.

 

[JIP1080]

So I'm not really that concerned about the timeframe they said, but mainly just the lack of visiblity into the entire process. Like I don't even know the name of the company and have no idea how they are even going to contact me.

Ah, I see. Has the dealer refused to provide the information or they just haven't offered it up proactively? The dealer I worked with used the same shipping company regularly, answered all my questions, and had the shipper contact me to arrange payment and a few details about delivery. I received an update from the dealer with pictures of the car being loaded and additional confirmation about departure time. There was not any tracking once in transit though. Just an estimate delivery day.
I think pushing on your dealer to answer your questions is perfectly reasonable here.

 

[whitex]

Missed opportunity to get to know you car. Two examples from people in your neck of the woods (which were also done in the winter, summer would make it easier):
https://www.taycanforum.com/forum/threads/multi-topic-but-mainly-a-trip-report.14497/
https://www.taycanforum.com/forum/threads/cross-country-in-a-cross-turismo.15020/
For more examples, see the Trip Report Logs section of this forum.

As for tracking, did you ask the dealer for the shipment information? Also, too late now, but it might have been a good idea to mail an AirTag to your SA to stick in the car for the trip (I was going to do that if I decided to ship it, SA had no problem with it).

 

[TXSchnee]

Just shipped my CT 4S from Austin, TX to St. Paul, MN. I used Montway, they are a broker. Intercity doesn't run up and down I35 and Reliable wanted $7000 for a guaranteed pick up date. Spent $1900 with guaranteed pick up, car picked up 6/5, driver assigned 6/7, Taycan in driveway 6/10. Shipped enclosed 2 car trailer. Did not have tracking info, but could call the dispatch for the company to get location.

 

[Jonathan S.]

I had my 4CT (used) shipped from your neck of the woods, across almost the entire width of the North American continent.
I used RoadRunner, which is just the broker, but everything was arranged quite nicely.
First once company transported it to a sort of collection hub near Seattle.
Then a husband-and-wife team made the longer trek across the nation with a massive truck.
All stages were communicated to me excellent visibility.

 

[WasserGKuehlt]

@OP if you paid already for the car, you absolutely need to have full visibility into the shipping process, timeline etc. If you haven't, technically it is still the dealer's property, and, in a sense, not your concern. If that's the case, it's not nice of them to be opaque, but the risk is theirs.

The vague ETA makes me think they're still shopping for a carrier.

 

[mikezhang31]

If you leave it to the dealer, you will get very vague info. Typically dealers will put a RFP to a broker and get competitive bids based on varying schedules. Schedules will also change. Also due to this process, it is likely your car will be go from dealer to point A on one carrier, to have the car be dropped off and picked by another to get to your home.

to have maximum control and peace of mind, you should contact your own and choose the small handful of covered shippers where your car is inside a specialized container that has an elevator to lift cars and in and out (like a race car trailer you see at F1 races). These are typically 3-5x more than the car shippers you see where the car rides exposed, and you can work around a more determined schedule.

if you time it during off peak season (car week, jackson auction, migration between florida <> canada), typically you can get a car from CA to NY for $3 - $5k

 

[JohnD]

I've shipped a car across states before and I definitely get your concern about not having enough visibility. When I did it, I picked my own transport company instead of going through the dealer. Having direct contact made the process less stressful since I knew exactly who was moving my car, got regular status updates, and they were easy to reach if I had questions. I never really liked being left in the dark, especially with something that valuable in transit. If you ever need to move another car or anything else, it's honestly easier to use movers who also handle storage and keep you in the loop. Some services let you track your stuff, coordinate both moving and storage, and answer all your questions beforehand. Details like that are why I look for companies that specialize in moving and storage together, like what’s listed here: https://threemovers.com/moving-storage/.

 

[Caraholic]

Mainly just used different brokers every year. Some enclosed some open never had a problem with any of them. Just make sure they are fully insured. Lately have just been doing open the cost for enclosed just doesn’t make sense anymore.

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