How much to ship a truck?

Watched tundradudes recent video and he pointed out that while most dealerships have limited supply of tundras a dealership he knows of in Houston has over 200 in stock right now. Obviously this is because they are made in Texas. I'm just curious, if I struggle finding the truck I'm looking to buy this year I may expand my search nationally. If I were to buy a truck in say Texas how much would it cost to have it shipped to Minnesota? Just looking for ballpark thoughts.

 

The other thing a lot of folks will do is fly to a dealer with lots of stock and drive your new truck back. Makes economic sense if you can get a good deal on a truck and cheap flights (so it's only for the U.S., not Canada). Also depends on if you're comfortable flying these days.

 

Look at toyota.com and see whats inbound to your zip code. The hard part is getting a dealer to tell you where a VIN is going if its not coming to them. You need to talk to an inventory manager at the dealer, not a salesman or general manager.....they won't know.

 

Find one, fly down and drive it home.

 

....or depending on distance....rental car one way. Ask dealer to pay half. Can't hurt. Peanut $ for the dealer.

 

...or just buy a kuul Camaro locally. Ouch....

 

Or Two.

 

...at least rent a Camaro to go pick up the Tunny....

 

Talk to the dealer and see what kind of a deal you can swing that includes shipping it to you. Texas to Minnesota is on helluva drive.

Montway is a reputable car shipper

 

Actually driving from Denver thru to Anchorage is a hell of a drive. Texas to Minnesota is a Sunday drive....start early of course.. ha!

 

A guy I coached with had a Tahoe shipped from Alabama to west Texas for $500 if I recall right. Took less than a week

 

My brother works at a Ram dealership (also Toyota and ford dealership right next door) and from what he has said in the past I believe about $1500 to ship give or take. He has shipped from North Dakota to TX/Carolinas etc...

 

Shipping it to you is a one-time, one-off transaction. A dealer is not magically going to have an available truck going to an out-of-state buyer. They are going to go use a freight service the same as you would. They are also going to have to make a little money on this for their time and effort. They are going to get the same $1,000 quote you will. They will add a couple $100 to it and tell you $1,300.....

I would highly advise to fly down or take a couple days off work and a rental car.

I did this one time when we bought a new GMC Acadia 10 years ago. I got a rental car, drive 8 hours. Stayed the night and drove the Acadia home the next day. It costs me $400 for that trip to save $6k less than any dealer in the Knoxville are.

Me no good at math, but I think it was worth it!

 

My Taco was $1100 from WI to ME in 2017, the Tundra was $750 from KY to ME this past May. I was going to do mileage math but.. I dont wanna

 

Thanks all. Great suggestions and appreciate the first hand accounts

 

In my experience it depends on the dealer. Back in March, while they obviously said they could do a better deal with a truck on the lot, they also told me that within reason, they could easily swap a truck with pretty much any dealership within a reasonable distance (he said 750 miles or so).

 

I bought my 2020 CM Limited 4x4 in PA and had it shipped to FL. I got a steal of a deal at $700 via open trailer.

I ship cars about 5x a year. You should be able to find a shipper for $1100-1200 with no problem, depending on where you are located in the state - very isolated vs. near interstate and densely populated area. If you are in an isolated area, maybe $1400.

 

I’ve shipped through All American out of Burlingame, CA twice - it cost about $1300 to ship a BMW 330i wagon from a DC dealership to SF Bay Area. It was a little less than $1k to ship my RCSB with camper shell from a dealership in Lake Havasu to SF Bay Area. I’d use my shipper again, that’s why I’ve used them twice. They’re all just brokers and frontmen for the outfits that do the dirty work, but their job is to connect the dots, communicate, and be more or less accountable for the timetable. In my limited experience, the dealerships are happy to work with the customer and their shipper to ensure things go smoothly. Buying site unseen and trusting a shipper and all the 3rd parties involved will “do the right thing” isn’t for everyone, but plenty of business gets done that way.

 

I had a car shipped from Texas to Michigan a few years ago, it was around $800. So now I would estimate around $1000ish

 

In February I shipped a 4Runner and Mazda 3 from AZ to VA, $1500. Asked about shipping 18’ boat also, 6k. Sold the boat.

 

I see a lot of youtubers buying cars on eBay and other online auto auctions and they have them shipped to them. Now, they don’t show the whole process but they do seem to be happy with the results. As long as the seller is honest, It seems to be a reasonable way to go.

 

Gulf States Toyota(not a dealership but one of five Toyota distributors) is located in Houston, and that's where Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi Toyotas are distributed. I wonder if that is what he is talking about? In the Houston area i bet there is 200 Tundras in stock, but i cant imagine in this time with inventory like it is, one dealer having 200 tundras. With that being said, there are some BIG dealers down there so I guess it could be possible. I would say the best bet is to locate one that you like, confirm it is on site, put a deposit down and hop on a plane. Also just for everyones info, if you are looking at a dealers website and the stock number has a "K" at the beginning that vehicle is not on site, but at another dealership and possibly avalible for dealer trade. Right now you can not count on dealer trades, they are not giving up inventory easily. You will defiantly pay top dollar if a dealer has to trade for the truck you want.

 

My past investigation of car shipment by reputable car haulers (no dealer involvement) matches several posted estimates of $1000-$1500. Shipping cost will be dependent on distance. Car hauler internet sites provide estimates or quotes. Convenience is expensive, but so is risk of Covid-19 exposure.

Invite a friend, take a Southwest flight down, close the deal, spend the night, start back the next day. To Minnesota, it's going to be at least a 2-3 day drive. Two days was OK when we were younger; that third day is going to begin the butt-kicking. Another life adventure for the elderly.

The Houston dealer has a lot of stock, not because it's close to San Antonio plant (freight is flat rate everywhere), but because they sell a lot of Tundras and other Toyotas. Because of their volume, they are allowed to order a lot of unit "allocations" every year. Covid-19 has curtailed sales, but the dealer is still committed to buy the number units he has allocated, or he risks reduced allocations next year. All of us, especially business people, have to believe this "plague" is going away someday.

 

Arrange the shipping outside of the dealer. Cost is going to be all over the place - if you're shipping to a small town, it won't be cheap. Last new car I bought came from TX and I had it shipped to FL for $400. It was painless and here in like 2-3 days. This was several years ago and I've been meaning to look into it again as the dealerships in FL have little inventory and usually no desire to deal.

 

+1. Pre Covid, my brother had a RAM diesel shipped from Idaho to Boston for about $1500. Back in '99 my dad and I hopped on a cheap flight to PA and drove back one of the first of the first gen tundra's. I saved about 3K on that trip.

That said, when I was shopping this time, I simply got in touch with a small local dealer, told them exactly what I wanted, put down a deposit, and they ordered it. By "ordered" I mean that they looked up the build schedule and had the next truck in that configuration allocated to them.

 

I went through the same question in September. I was quoted $1750 to ship a Tundra from Youngstown Ohio to Grand Junction CO by a Vehicle Shipping Company.
I flew there and drove it back.

 

All good points listed. I had a vehicle shipped for free as part of negotiation once.

 

I've had good luck with Uship. I've used them to get bids for shipments of motorcycles and cars/trucks over the years. The bids vary a lot, so you have to be patient. Had my Tundra shipped for IL to TX two weeks ago for $910 and I got it in two days. Probably could have gotten it a couple of hundred dollars less if I waited longer, as the bid I accepted was from a broker and he had his mark up in there.