Saved $300 on shipping my truck from Phoenix to Portland by meeting the driver at a truck stop
I needed to get my dad's old F-150 from Phoenix up to Portland after he moved into assisted living, and the first three quotes I got were all around $1,100 because they were charging me for door-to-door pickup. A guy I know who runs a repair shop in Tempe told me to ask the dispatcher if the driver could meet me at a truck stop on I-5 instead. Turns out the carriers hate threading a big rig through residential streets as much as I hate paying for it, so they knocked the price down to $800 to pick up and drop off at a Flying J in north Phoenix and one off I-205 in Vancouver, Washington. I met the driver at 6am, we did a quick walk around with photos of every panel, and he had the truck loaded in 15 minutes. It arrived two days later with zero new scratches, and I tipped him $40 for being easy to work with. If your car runs and you can get yourself to a major highway stop, it's worth asking about. Has anyone else done the truck stop meetup thing, or did you run into problems with the carrier refusing?