How the rich transport cars

My son in law needed to ship his car from his current home in the suburbs of Seattle to the family’s new home in Northern NJ. He hired a shipping company and they drove the car cross country. It wasnt inexpensive but the company has an impeccable reputation and excellent insurance.

Back in the 50s I think they experimented with shipping the cars vertically. So you could ride like in a space ship.

That was Vert a pac, developed by GM and the rail co to ship Vega’s. Late 60’s

I’d buy a 3 or 4 year old used $50K car, maybe a nice convertible, for $30K, pay the $800 a year insurance and reg but save by dropping collision and liability insurance when it is parked over the summer and match the $1500 investment rate with $100 left over from the $2400 shipping.

I’d eat the depreciation for the convenience of being able to have a car there when I get there even if I come down for a weekend.

But again, to each his own! :smiley:

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It probably depends if you own or rent and have to maintain a household. If you own and the place sits vacant six months, a car is the least of the expense. If you rent or go for one to three months, you drive anyway because you pack a lot of stuff to bring with you.

I’m pretty sure that people’s concerns about the state of the global political economy and related inequality are a little more complicated than “jealousy.”

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How do those concerns extend into a discussion about shipping cars around?

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They shape attitudes.

So aspirational attitudes? The aspiration to be able to ship your Bugatti with you wherever you go. I’d think that would be a good thing. Inspires the drive to become wealthy.

:man_shrugging: I didn’t even notice the “polarizing” comment in the OP - I looked at the piece on shipping cars. You seized on that and basically said “I’m going to run to a pole while saying it’s not polarizing.”

The first line in the OP’s post stated " here is a polarizing article"

I asked (the OP) a sincere question about that comment.

You waded in with a comment about that and now state;

So why enter the discussion?

And I’ll request you stop misquoting me. I said nor wrote anything of the kind.

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There are special railroad cars for shipping automobiles. Back when I hopped freight trains I chatted up a RR worker who told me that they were the only RR cars of concern for hoboes riding them - they were worried about them getting in the cars. The rest of the stuff on trains is indestructible, at least by a hobo. You can’t ride in your car on them. You can’t ride in the autotrain either; I think it comes with tickets for passengers.

You’re right about getting to see the country you can’t from the highway.

Amtrak’s Autotrain has covered cars for auto transport so no riding and nothi g to see. Likely a better way to avoid damage from trackside debris an idiots on overpasses dropping things.

I looked up some pricing. The car rides for $250 to $350 or so. People prices depend on accomodations. About another $200-300. I watched a video of a YouTuber who took his car from Virginia to Sanford Florida. Had to arrive waaaay early so his car wasn’t the last off the train. There were delays and some difficulties in serving dinner and had to wait a while to get the car. It took more than 24 hours for the entire 900 mile trip. Dark much of the way. Still looked like an interesting trip.

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If I was quoting you I would have done it like that ^^. I think that’s obvious. I was basically “translating” what I read as the gist of your jealousy comment. Ease up man.

So I’m only allowed to respond to the OP? Besides, when I wrote that I was responding to you.

No, it is not obvious as each poster here has somewhat different skillsets with regard to the site.

Quotation marks are punctuation marks used to identify direct speech, a quotation, or a phrase so you post incorrectly attributed the statement to me.

No, you can respond to anyone you wish.

Ok, well, my apologies for that and for getting under your skin.

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Just don’t take a standard shift car on the auto train, if you are unlucky enough to have your car on the upper deck it could be catastrophic. I watched my car wait half way up the steep ramp as the car ahead was stopped. The driver held his position on the steep ramp and I never saw the brake lights come on. I was too far to hear anything but I’m sure he was revving the engine and riding the clutch. The engine ( a water cooled VW Vanagon) developed a tick right after unloading and was totally shot a short time later.
(I was a mechanic on the RR, I worked for Amtrak so I rode for free, from then on I took only automatic transmission vehicles)

It’s the Amtrak Auto Train. It loads at Lorton, VA outside of Washington, DC and it unloads in Sanford, FL near Orlando. My father-in-law used to use it and, towards the end, my wife and I had to transport his car that way for him. It’s ok. Because the train travels overnight, it ends up being a two day adventure. I much prefer just taking the two day drive and stopping for the night at a nice comfy hotel where I can go out and get a nice meal. They used to serve a meager dinner on the Auto Train, but now they don’t even do that.

It really only serves an elderly crowd for whom a two day drive would be too difficult. I’m young enough to live without it. Plus, if we ever do the snowbird thing with our condo in Naples, FL, I would likely get a winter car that stays in FL and just fly down and back. The cost and time of driving or transporting cars back and forth is a losing proposition. Based on another post here, we could probably get a Dodge Hornet pretty cheap!!!

Now that I know it’s overnight, it would take a pretty rare situation for me to choose the Auto Train over either driving myself or flying and renting a car.

In SC it is illegal to drop the insurance and there is a annual car tax, about $400 for a $30k car.