Shipping a motorcycle

[Balog]

I need to help a friend ship his motorcycle from PA out here to WA. What's the best/cheapest way to make that happen?

 

[AQUANOVA]

Pay someone to ride it there.

 

[hdracer]

I have used Keyboard Cartage to ship motorcycles all over the country.
Their prices are good for the service they provide.
The bike will show up on time and in the same shape you gave it to them.
Invalid Link Removed

 

[placedesjardins]

I need to help a friend ship his motorcycle from PA out here to WA. What's the best/cheapest way to make that happen?

What's his budget?

 

[Marial]

Federal
WeHaulBikes
KGM Transport

Avoid ForwardAir or any other crated shipper. Palletized is far better. I've seen how shippers treat crates and it ain't pretty. I've also received a damaged bike that was crated.

 

[MJ5150]

We used Dependable Auto Shippers to get our Ford Edge from WA to NH a couple years ago. Very professional and excellent customer service. Price was not the cheapest, but the company we were most comfortable with.

-Mike

 

[jeff62]

I've used Forward Air on a number of occasions. They are good and mir very expensive, but you need to crate the bike. This is something I would highly recommend anyway to protect it. You can often get crates from your local dealer for a minor amount of money. If its a large bike, you're probably better off getting a specialty shipper but its not going to be inexpensive.

 

[blastoff99]

I had a bike shipped to me in WA from CO a few years ago. It was kind of a pain on both ends.

My quote came from one of these online "we'll find the best price for you" places. I *thought* I was dealing directly with the shipper, but I wasn't. I'm not sure if this was all bad, because the price was pretty low, by which I mean $600. The bike ended up on a very large moving truck with somebody's household goods.

It was very frustrating that I could "watch" the bike come all the way from CO to Tacoma in a hurry (truck had GPS tracking), but then it sat for nearly a week before there was a truck to take it the last 120 miles, and no, I couldn't go down and get it.

Also, the seller had to be available for most of the day because the trucking company wouldn't give him a close time estimate on when they were going to pick it up, and the same thing happened on delivery.

They'll charge more for residential delivery, and more yet if they have to put it on a smaller truck in order to get it the final few miles to you. I was fortunate that my workplace at the time had room for an 80' truck. We also had both a loading dock and a forklift. Most people don't have this stuff at home.

The bike was on a pallet, not fully crated. Be aware that no matter what they do, the suspension is going to be compressed to the max for the duration of the trip.

Good luck!

 

[MJ5150]

Good post blastoff99.

Be careful of the sites that treat your motorcycle move like an auction and gather bids. Find the shippers, call them yourself. That is how I did it.

-Mike

 

[LakeEffect]

Road trip and cheap flight back! Probably about the same as shipping - and you get a vacation/visit for the same price!

 

[fhm555]

I need to help a friend ship his motorcycle from PA out here to WA. What's the best/cheapest way to make that happen?

1. Rent a van
2. Load scooter
3. Drive van to destination
4. Unload scooter
5. Turn in van

If you can do it during the week U-Haul usually has specials on rates for weekday rentals.

I've driven from Birmingham AL to Oakland CA in just over 26 hours so PA to WA shouldn't be too bad.