Shipping a truck EC/LB

z79outlaw

Member
Apr 20, 2007
793
0
16
37
Salem WI
Has anyone here dealt with any shipping companies I'm looking at a truck at a dealership in Houston, either way seems like a gamble 1 way ticket to look at a truck on a used dealer lot and hope its good $300 ticket and hopefully drive it back for fuel and tolls or take a gamble buy it sight unseen and have it shipped up here, no plane hassles, no tolls no vacation used, but have to put a lot of faith into a slimy used dealer I don't know what the shipping cost would be but imagine it would have to be break even?...tough call
 
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Tyler_LBZ

Member
Feb 26, 2015
96
0
6
NC
I had my truck shipped from Oregon to Mississippi and it cost me around a $1,000. I got quotes from several companies and they all were around the same price give or take a $100.

Personally I would fly out there and drive it back, I already owned my truck and would have done that if I could have.

I wouldn't buy a vehicle that I didn't see in person.
 
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duramaxdiesel

Dmax Nut
Oct 23, 2008
1,378
0
36
47
Montreal, Canada
You could always ask a member here who is close to the truck if he could check it out for you. I've seen a few threads here about the subject and it worked out.
 

TheBac

Why do I keep doing this?
Staff member
Apr 19, 2008
15,610
1,866
113
Mid Michigan
Before I bought BBT back in 05 from a dealer in Houston, Trey (old friend from the DP days) went and looked at it first for me. On his OK, I bought a plane ticket for me and my Dad and a buddy of mine, and we turned it into a 3 day "vacation" over the July 4th weekend for the drive back. Trey even came to the airport and picked us up. We turned it into a DP GTG while we were in Houston, too. Fun times.

I also Next Day Air'ed a box of common tools and things I thought I might possibly need for the trip back, as I couldnt carry them on a plane.

I saw a recommendation on CompD concerning vehicle shipping, that the costs are usually in the $750-$900 range, depending on distance....and to only trust shippers who have been in business at least 5 years.
 

Ne-max

I like turtles
Nov 15, 2011
3,361
64
48
Lincoln, Ne
Fly down there. To big of investment to risk. Also some peoples opinion on clean is different then others. I use to try to buy trucks out of state for cheap. After many wasted miles I just pay a little extra for local ones.
 

z79outlaw

Member
Apr 20, 2007
793
0
16
37
Salem WI
Before I bought BBT back in 05 from a dealer in Houston, Trey (old friend from the DP days) went and looked at it first for me. On his OK, I bought a plane ticket for me and my Dad and a buddy of mine, and we turned it into a 3 day "vacation" over the July 4th weekend for the drive back. Trey even came to the airport and picked us up. We turned it into a DP GTG while we were in Houston, too. Fun times.

I also Next Day Air'ed a box of common tools and things I thought I might possibly need for the trip back, as I couldnt carry them on a plane.

I saw a recommendation on CompD concerning vehicle shipping, that the costs are usually in the $750-$900 range, depending on distance....and to only trust shippers who have been in business at least 5 years.

My LMM came from Colorado, 9W3-HD checked it out for me, but that truck was only 2 years old and had 13,000 miles on it at the time so a little different story as there really wasn't a whole lot of risk, this one is a LBZ with a little over 100k on the clock, shipping in that range would be extremely reasonable in that range. If anyone from the Houston area sees this, is close and wouldn't mind lending a hand, I'd do what I could to make it up to them.

Fly down there. To big of investment to risk. Also some peoples opinion on clean is different then others. I use to try to buy trucks out of state for cheap. After many wasted miles I just pay a little extra for local ones.

I would love to find a good local one, and pay the premium to have the peace of mind and no hassle but in the rust belt your on borrowed time, there is quite a few dealers that specialize in selling trucks from the south up here but 9/10 there 300,000+ work truck units and prices that don't reflect it.
 
Mar 28, 2015
267
0
0
Blue Springs, MO
My LMM came from Colorado, 9W3-HD checked it out for me, but that truck was only 2 years old and had 13,000 miles on it at the time so a little different story as there really wasn't a whole lot of risk, this one is a LBZ with a little over 100k on the clock, shipping in that range would be extremely reasonable in that range. If anyone from the Houston area sees this, is close and wouldn't mind lending a hand, I'd do what I could to make it up to them.



I would love to find a good local one, and pay the premium to have the peace of mind and no hassle but in the rust belt your on borrowed time, there is quite a few dealers that specialize in selling trucks from the south up here but 9/10 there 300,000+ work truck units and prices that don't reflect it.

I bought a truck from Wisconsin. I swear that thing rusted just on the drive back! I have bought all my trucks out of state though. A couple hundred dollars in a plane ticket is a lot cheaper than buying a lemon. We all know how "cheap" diesel parts are. When I bought my LMM I also drove an LML..... after warming it up I found out the LML had a huge amount of blow by, and that truck only had 80k miles.
 

duratothemax

<--- slippery roads
Aug 28, 2006
7,139
10
0
Wyoming
Cannot verify odometer is accurate to good to be true then it probably is, no going to Houston for this guy.

Even though the mileage is only stored in the instrument cluster on our trucks, and therefore its pretty easy to commit odometer fraud....there IS a way to tell.

GM keeps records of all major component serial numbers that each truck left the factory with. IE, ECM, TCM, airbag module, airbags themselves, ABS module, instrument cluster, steering column, engine, transmission, transfer case, axles, etc...

So if you are suspicious of a trucks mileage, you can have your dealer print out the trucks build sheet, and then look at the cluster in the truck you are buying...if the serial numbers match, then its legit...if not, then you know the cluster has been replaced and/or swapped.

Just a little trick that not many people know about... :thumb:

Ben