Shipping a bike.

[Philippe Sommer]

I am moving to LA in the fall. I look forward to joining on the club rides, but I need to get my bike there. We are driving a car so can’t ride out. Does anyone have experience with shipping companies? Thanks. Philippe

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[Ron Zablocki]

Sorry, no experience with shipping companies, maybe others can chime in.
But perhaps renting a trailer for the car would work, and possibly cheaper?

[Colin Willoughby]

I’ve used HaulBikes in 2019 to move a bike from Louisiana when I moved to California and I had a good experience. The transport trailer was enclosed and purpose-built for motorcycles, no palleting or crating needed, and they didn’t subcontract out their work to other carriers.

The only negatives I saw while researching online reviews at the time was that they aren’t good about hitting exact pickup/dropoff dates, but this wasn’t a concern for me because when I shipped it, I had stored the bike at a friend’s house in Louisiana and was already living in California, so it wasn’t an issue if they were late picking up or dropping off. If I didn’t have that flexibility, it might have been an issue.

The caveat is, my experience is pre-COVID, so YMMV now. I’ve heard that across the industry (not just HaulBikes) there are driver shortages making delays common, and rising costs making it considerably more expensive, so this may not be an accurate review anymore.

[Philippe Sommer]

Thanks, very helpful.

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