Anyone ever use www.sportsexpress.com to ship a boat? I called them about a week ago and they gave me a quote of $138 to ship a 16.5 foot plastic kayak from Pennsylvania to Michigan. That’s by far the lowest price I’ve found, but I’m just worried that they will slap an overlength charge on it once they see it. The guy on the phone said length didn’t matter…but I’m not so confident. What do you think?
"length doesn’t matter"
all guys say that
How are they shipping it?
(skipping over the start…) If they are carrying it on a trailer, or in a container on a train, they may not care as long as it is long enough to sit on the support rails and shorter than 19 or 20 feet.
bummer
Just called sportsexpress.com to schedule the delivery, talked to another person and she said that was way to long for them to ship… They only ship 8ft boats or less. It was going to be shipped Fedex ground. She said it would need to go freight and they don’t handle that. I hate getting quoted the wrong price!
Anyone have any ideas? I’m looking for a shipper that charges $200 or less.
here are some
http://www.paddling.net/message/showThread.html?fid=advice&tid=472191
KAS transport is a good operation.
Also try this guy:
Brian Thomas at FreightQuote, 1-800-323-5441 ext 1307.
yeah
I think I will try freight quote again. I keep getting quotes and then afterwards people go, o wait, there is an extra charge because it’s 16.5 feet…
I wanted to use KAS but I got an initial quote from them for $150-$175 but then it ended up being $275 when I wanted to book the delivery…
shipping
I had one shipped via Roadway for $100 from Wisconsin to Michigan.
?
How long ago was this and did you go directly through Roadway? How long was the kayak? Seems like anything over 14 feet they consider overlength. Not sure how everyone is getting these great prices.
I used Forward Air
It was $300 for an 18’ tandem Seattle to Eastern MO. You have to ask very specific questions, I once had an agent here tell me to just wrap a WW boat in bubble wrap, when the guy who was going to ship it called the Nashville terminal they wanted it in a crate. So talk to the terminal where it’ll be dropped off and get a name.
Good Luck
Randy
I might take it for you on my car.
No kidding. Just give me the details and I’ll come up with a price for you. E-mail me through pnet and we’ll get the ball rolling. It will be a done deal in a few days.
Low Balling…
Heck, when I checked on a getting a surf kayak (size of a ww boat) to Santa Cruz, going into the specifics, it was well over $300.
Better off finding one of the trucking firms.
sing
commercial address
Places that do a lot of shipping get special rates that are much lower than private individuals can get. Shipping to a commercial address is also cheaper. If you know someone who does a lot of shipping, see if you can get them to get a quote for you to their address. Best way is to hitch a ride with someone who is traveling the area you need. It helps their traveling expenses and your boat gets much better treatment. It would be nice if we had someplace to post a trip and how much we could haul. I have seen offers to haul posted on Pnet before.
Ok Everyone, It’s Shipped!
www.freightquote.com is great… so far. I got a quote from Bob Nielson at Frieight Quote, $126 insured up to $1,700 and picked up at the place I bought it from and dropped off at my office! No driving it to the terminal. Shipping to my house which is accross the street and just as easy access was going to be $90 more.
It was picked up Friday by Roadway Express. The guy at the store said the driver put it in an empty truck and then it was going on a rack in another truck. So it sounds like they will keep it pretty safe and separated from other cargo. It will arrive at my office Tuesday morning so then we’ll see if the service was as good as it sounds.
This is a lot faster and a lot less money than using a boat carrier. For a plastic boat I think it will be just fine. I just hope when they drop it off they don’t give me some BS about additional charges for length or something…