Getting a SMALL car shipped for cheap- suggestions?

I've shipped a smaller, lighter car than this (a 400-pound KV Mini 1) from GA to WA.  You may want to look into putting it on a large pallet, if it'll fit, instead of roll-on, roll-off, particularly since I don't know that a Berkeley has a wide enough track to span a standard car hauler.  That's what I had to have done and I was told at the time that this is often the solution for big motorcycles.  Shipping it as palletized freight or as a palletized "motorcycle" may end up being cheaper than as a "car."

Please keep in mind that although I've ridden in Berkeleys, I'm not at all sure of the relevant dimensions of the car or of the largest commercial pallets, so this may or may not work.

A Berkeley?  Awesome!  My friend (and fellow Tunachucker) Rob has a Berkeley he's restoring and we sort-of co-own a parts Berkeley.  If you need parts, I might be able to help you out.  I've been contemplating using the shell of the parts car as some sort of a resto-mod.

I figured between the two cars we had the market cornered on Berkeleys in SC.

BTW, we got the parts car home in the bed of my full-size pickup.  Check out uship.com, I'd bet money that someone is driving cross country in a pickup and would love to make gas money back hauling a micro-car.

This was when I purchased the KV a little over three years ago, so I was taking care of everything from the "wrong" end, too.  I contacted several auto shipping companies and eventually discovered that the key was to speak with representatives who specialized in motorcycles and ATVs, since the car people tended to think only in terms of full-sized vehicles.  Even so, you'll need to find someone who is willing to work with the dimensions instead of just punching in a make and model (much like auto parts...), but I had luck doing so.

The trick, as I recall, was that each company had a maximum size of pallet which they could handle efficiently, but anything bigger than that became much more expensive, as it would require special treatment.  My car fit just fine, so the company took care of everything, door-to-door, for around $1000.  They took it off the pallet when they transferred it from their cross-country hauler to a smaller box truck for final delivery, so I never actually got to see what they used.  Regrettably I don't recall which company I finally ended up using and I don't have the paperwork handy (or at all?) at this point.  Best wishes, though.  Should be a fun car.

I have a marble dining table that weighs nearly that much (though it disassembles into more compact components--a top and a base).  The seller contacted some moving companies and asked if the table could tag along next time a family was moving to this side of the country with a little extra space on the back of the truck.  It took about three weeks for the right combination of factors to coincide, but the shipping charges were really reasonable.

If you want to take the palletized route, perhaps there's a local cabinet shop scrapping a 5 x 10 or 5 x 12 pallet.  When I worked in the industry, we used to get those all the time under large sheets of laminate; we'd have to take a sawzall to the empty pallets to get them to fit in the dumpster because even the used pallet places didn't want them.

Bob is a friend of mine - main business is transporting art, but he can move small vehicles if his routes permit/require him to pull the double-axle trailer.

If you're not in a hurry, give him a try:

http://itransport4u.com/

Chris

To get a toy car from OR to SC - I assume you live either one or the other - go to the local truck stop (Flying J or TA if possible) and hang out in the drivers' lounge.
Bring a pic of the car on a pallet (in such a way as you could move it with a pallet jack - this could take some engineering, as in stack the spare parts in the end the pallet is on for balance)
Bring an Exact Weight
Chat up a driver or two for "back-haul" or "available space haul"

I've a Long-haul guy lives across the street from me - he'll do a mini for between $200-$600 if it's on his route. (I-80 & I-95)

Seems reasonable.  I gather I could have saved at least a couple hundred bucks had I been in a position to get my car on a pallet, deliver it to a convenient pickup point, then collect it at their local facility.  I wasn't in Georgia, though, and this was before I got my trailer or put a hitch on my MG for the Washington end, so I ended up paying the shippers for everything from palletizing and pickup at the seller's house all the way through to delivery at the end of my driveway.

When I got my second KV for parts about a year later, I had it sent via air freight from London directly to SeaTac airport (for a 400-pound car, this was the cheapest option) and got the shippers to drop the entire palletized crate on my trailer right at the warehouse after it cleared Customs.  The curator at the Bubble Car Museum

http://www.bubblecarmuseum.co.uk/

built the crate and assisted with loading for free (I bought it by remote bid as a non-runner at their auction), so sending it the entire distance came in at around $2000, which was roughly what I paid for the car itself (lot #42):

http://www.goldingyoung.com/catalogues/ … /page2.htm

Steep, but how else will I get parts?  So, have I ever flown myself across the Atlantic?  No.  Have I ever paid to have a parts car flown across the Atlantic?  Yes.  Still not sure whether that means I'm doing something right or wrong.