r/TransportSupport

Doesn’t matter if it was slow, ugly, unreliable, or falling apart.

Something about your first car just stays with you.

Maybe I’m getting old, but early car YouTube felt way more inspiring.

People worked regular jobs, saved money, bought imperfect cars, and slowly built them over time.

Now every week there’s another:

• exotic collection
• massive garage
• 20 year old with unlimited money
• “first mod” that costs more than most cars

The cars are cool, but the content feels harder and harder to relate to.

I think viewers connect more with progression than perfection.

Watching someone fight to build their dream car is way more memorable than watching someone casually buy another supercar.

I see the same advice here a lot:

get a PPI
run the VIN
check title history
look at maintenance records
don’t trust the seller too much

All makes sense.

But I’m curious what people actually do in real life, not the perfect internet answer.

Like before you hand over money, what do you personally check?

Do you pay for a Carfax/AutoCheck on every car or only when you’re already serious?

What makes you instantly walk away?

Salvage title? Weird mileage? No service records? Dealer being pushy? Seller won’t give VIN? Rust? Too many owners?

Also for people newer to buying cars, what part is most confusing?

Trying to understand what actually helps buyers avoid bad deals, because there’s the “correct” process and then there’s what people actually do when they need a car and don’t want to get screwed.

So I started looking into car shipping options in order to get my car from NY to California. No particular timing but sooner better than later. Got a bunch of quotes and among them ASG was a clear low quote of roughly 1300. To get the quote I had already filled out the main info such as addresses, year model make of car and availability. When it came time to authorize them to be my broker and post my vehicle, I first called the rep to check on the price quoted and expectations around process. That’s when the excuses and run around started. “Oh well your vehicle is actually an SUV so the actual price will be higher” (what? I entered the year make and model per their request before getting the quote). “Our quote is just a computer generated number and may not be up-to-date”. (What? Isn’t that why we ask for a quote?) so consumer beware, ASG definitely was a bait and switch operator in my case. I dropped them at that point. Similar experience with AmeriFreight except I was even more cautious and had the rep lead me through a bunch of calls first to understand what to expect. Their quote was around 1500 and I actually did list the vehicle with them based on promises from the actual rep that that was a good quote. HOWEVER, once it was posted radio silence for 24 hours so I called to ask for a status update and she said the exact same thing ASG in terms of my car being an SUV (it’s a small subcompact) so will actually cost more….hello, you knew the exact make and model when promising me the quote was accurate! So i ended up delisting it and decided to drive the car cross country with a friend and make a road trip out of it. All for the best in the end, but totally understand all of the complaints about bait and switch in this industry.

Maybe it broke down constantly.
Maybe it was slow.
Maybe it made no sense financially.

But for some reason… you still miss it.

Not online.
Not “my friend’s cousin.”

A car you actually saw in real life.

What was it and how many miles?

okay so i've been calling around getting quotes for shipping my car and i'm genuinely just confused about how the pricing works. same route, same vehicle, same timeline every time i call, and the numbers are just all over the place between companies.

one place quoted me something on monday and when i followed up wednesday it had already gone up a bit. i'm sure there's probably a reason for it, carrier availability or fuel or whatever, i just wish someone had explained that upfront so i knew what to expect going in.

like is there a formula to this or does it just fluctuate that much naturally? i feel like i'm missing some basic knowledge about how this industry works and that's making it hard to know whether a quote is reasonable or not. it's kind of like shopping for a used car except i don't really have a way to look up what other people paid for the same thing so i have no baseline

not trying to throw shade at anyone, most of the people i've talked to have been pretty helpful honestly. i just think the pricing transparency could be better or maybe i need to ask different questions. if anyone's done this before and figured out what actually drives the cost up or down i'd genuinely love to know what to look for

Talking e-bike, scooter, public transit, whatever. Curious if anyone has actually made the jump and whether it was worth it - especially if you rely on your car for work or travel.

I spent $1700 with Montway for a guaranteed pickup. My car was picked up but they did not have a driver (i wish they would’ve told me) so it’s been sitting in a storage lot for days (which it couldve done in my driveway. So now I’m stranded halfway across the country. And my work starts on Monday.

Ive been texting someone from Aegis Auto since Monday and yesterday he told me he could have a driver sent out in the morning.

Does anyone know if Aegis Auto Transport Is legit?
Also if anyone has any advice please lmk
If any brokers can get a 2022 toyota corolla from 30824 to 77058 by Sunday, lmk.

Hi! 30F relocating from Nevada to North Carolina in about 5 weeks for a new job. i'd normally just drive it myself but it's a 2,400 mile trip and i've been dealing with some back issues that make long drives genuinely painful. flying out there is already handled so i just need the car to follow somehow

got a few quotes but still on the fence... it's a 2017 honda crv, nothing special, i just need it there without something going wrong

don't really have anyone around me who's done this before so i'm kind of figuring it out alone which makes it feel bigger than it probably is.

My brother gave his car to me, and we shipped it. After I called my insurance company and added the car to my policy, I got a letter in the mail that a new policy was created with a different company. Someone had my address, but used a fake email address to create the policy. I didn't submit any payment because I didn't create the policy. However, when I cancelled the policy, the insurance company sent a refund to the identity thief. And the original payment bounced, so the insurance company asked me to pay it back.

My neighbor is an insurance salesman and speculated that the person might have reported the car as stolen in the future to try to get payment, if I hadn't cancelled the policy.

When a broker gathers quotes from drivers, I don't know how much of your personal information goes out. Assuming it's not broadcast to the universe of drivers, then only 5 parties knew my car was being shipped - my brother, me, the broker, the driver, and my insurance company.

That quote is not a deal. It is a door.

https://preview.redd.it/qolpyvginr0h1.png?width=735&format=png&auto=webp&s=8c12dc9b3445e41ce78f2e2036f739e08fba3c6c

Transportvibe ran the math so you do not have to.

Diesel is hovering around $5 to $6 a gallon right now. A cross-country haul burns roughly 350 to 450 gallons. That is $1,900 to $2,500 in fuel alone for the carrier -- before insurance, before the driver's pay, before the truck payment.

So why would a carrier take your $500 job? They would not. That number is not a price. It is bait designed to capture your deposit. The real number shows up later, usually after your leverage is gone.

https://preview.redd.it/jik4mtqpnr0h1.png?width=1018&format=png&auto=webp&s=69a070e6921e7e766bd397e18fd886daf0c2eb5a

Transportvibe has tracked this pattern across thousands of complaints. The BBB alone logged over 4,000 auto transport complaints in recent years. Most of them started with a quote that looked completely fine -- until it wasn't.

https://preview.redd.it/yhct9livnr0h1.png?width=1013&format=png&auto=webp&s=2d5e94455452bd15731f7e2d0ec9a13908d3fa8e

Here is the checklist Transportvibe recommends before a single dollar moves:

• Check the DOT number at the FMCSA SAFER server. Takes 60 seconds. If they are not listed as "Authorized," the conversation is over.
• Ask for the insurance certificate. Not a verbal yes. The actual document.
• Read at least three review platforms before trusting any star rating. Google, BBB, Trustpilot, Transportvibe, Yelp -- pick any three. Look for complaint patterns, not just averages.
• Get a written contract with locked pricing before any deposit leaves your account.

The math always tells the truth. If the quote does not make sense for the carrier, it does not make sense for you either.