I am looking for a good auto transport company to ship my Mini from Sacramento to Portland Oregon.
We were originally going to have the dealer drive the car to the Oregon boarder (we have to pick up in Oregon to avoid sales tax). But I really don't want the first 300 miles on my Mini driven by someone else.
Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you,
Maryanne

 

I have brokered the sales of a lot of high end European cars over the internet. Almost every car was put on a truck and shipped out of state. I discovered a wonderful resource for doing this: FedEx.

A few years ago, FedEx purchased Passport Auto Transport. In my opinion, Passport was the best auto shipper in the business. Their trailers are specially designed to carry special cars. All trailers are enclosed. And the Passport/FedEx drivers are the best. They know their stuff. They show up when they say they will. They don't damage their cargo (your car).

Best of all, their rates are very competitive for enclosed trailer transport. And believe me, you DO want enclosed transport.

Here is a link to their site: http://passport.fedex.com/

I'm in no way associated with Passport or FedEx. I'm just a very satisfied return customer.

Good Luck!

 

Wow I would have never thought of them. Thanks for the info. The dealer didn't have any recommendations. He said he had really bad experiences with trucking companies. I googled for info. but there are a million of them, so it was hard to know who was good and trustworthy.
Thank you,
Maryanne

 

Wouldn't it be more fun to drive it yourself?

 

I would LOVE to drive it home. It would be a lot cheaper ($99.00 airfare and loads of fun). My dealer said if I take possestion in California I have to pay their sales tax, it is +7%. I personally think it is kind of stupid. If I were buying a car in Washington or Idaho they don't make you pay sales tax if you are from Oregon. Oh well.
M

 

This sounds odd. You pay the sales tax where the car is registered, not where you buy the car. Most people who buy a car do it locally so they don't really know this. I would look into this and not listen to what the dealer is telling you.

 

You have to remember that we are talking about the State of California.

Here is a some info from Pamphlet No.34 "Tax Tips for Motor Vehicle Dealers":

 

question, wouldnt you have to pay sales tax once you regster the car in your own state?

 

When we bought our MINI from Classic in Ohio, we brought it home to Alabama and paid the tax here.

Although nothing surprises me about California, this still doesn't seem right.

You will have to pay tax somewhere, won't you? I really wouldn't freak out about having someone drive the MINI to the border if it meant saving some dough.

 

We don't have sales tax in Oregon. I guess that is why the 7+% is a big deal to us. You are right most other states make you pay your own state's sales tax, which would be zero for us. California has some weird rule about it, so we can't pick it up there, even though it would be a lot more fun to
M