Need to ship a car from Houston to San Jose, CA. Any recommended companies?

It's a crapshoot unless you go high-end. As a commoner, I've shipped several times with Marti:

AutoStar Transport Express - Miami, FL
Toll Free: (888) 802-8250 Ext. 2245
Office: (850) 807-4777
Sms 7862285234
Fax: (904) 212-0366
Email: martina.melnik@autostartransport.com

Website: www.AutoStarTransport.com

The way it works is this, a broker will give you a price based on the going rate for the trip. The broker will put your trip on a "board" that truck drivers can see. The truck drivers pick which cars they want to pick up to try to optimize their load and route. The truck drivers are not affiliated with the brokers. The quote that you receive is not guaranteed, if no truck driver wants your trip you may need to bump up the price as an incentive to go out of their way or to pick your trip during busy times. Houston is an easy location. Be as flexible as you can about the dates.

I shipped a car from Houston to Seattle back in January. It cost $900-$1,100, in that range. Hope this helps.

Thanks. That's helpful.

I shipped my SUV from Austin to the Bay Area last year. The process felt a bit complicated at first but ended up being smooth once I found a solid company. I chose enclosed shipping since I was moving a newer car and wanted the extra protection, and it was definitely worth a little extra for peace of mind.

If you want more options, you can check out A-1AutoTransport. They've handled a lot of routes in Texas and California so you might find the exact info and cost estimates you need there.

I used Montway to move a car from CA to TX. Like others have said, unless you're using a dedicated auto transport company like Reliable or one of those guys, it will be brokered. The brokers will give options for enclosed transport, though. The dedicated, enclosed guys are 2-3x the cost of brokered transport, which could be worth it if you have something high dollar and need to pick up at X time and have it delivered at Y time.

Montway and others will give a "window" for pick up and delivery. They can give a dedicated pick up time, but it costs a little extra. I opted for the dedicated pick-up time, and in total spent $1,125. That was about 1.5 years ago. I'm not sure if they can guarantee a delivery time. It largely depends what all is on the trailer and where you fit on the map. But, they'll probably get it to CA within 3-4 days.

Also, you don't pay until the vehicle is received. A deposit is reasonable (I think I may have put down $250, and that may have been for the dedicated pick up), but a good company will have you pay upon final delivery, not up front.

I've used Montway twice in the last year or two successfully