rolyberkin Posted August 24, 2018 Report Share Posted August 24, 2018 Although I am still looking for a car I have seen one and am wondering if I bought it how I would go about getting it home, (anything decent seems to be 350 miles from Essex!) What are peoples views/experience on towing a car trailer vs hiring a car transporter, I can hire a car trailer for £80 for two days whereas a self drive car transporter is £225, I used to drag a shed so am not bad a towing but personally think the car transporter would be worth the extra money? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShaunW Posted August 24, 2018 Report Share Posted August 24, 2018 With a trailer you get to sit in your own nice comfy car, a transporter will have a sparse cab and probably smell of someone else's sweat given the summer we've had. That might be important to you on a long round trip esp if you're planning to do it in one day. How do the fuel mpgs compare car vs truck? £145 quid difference would be enough to persuade me though, plus comfort and economy.... Trailer every time for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dougbgt6 Posted August 24, 2018 Report Share Posted August 24, 2018 I thing I have learnt from here is this: When the engine turns the gearbox, oil is thrown around protecting the cogs. When the front wheels are off the ground and the rear wheels turn the prop shaft and the gearbox, oil isn't thrown around. Towing long distances in this way is damaging to our gearboxes so, transporter every time! Doug Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NonMember Posted August 24, 2018 Report Share Posted August 24, 2018 Doug, While I completely agree with you in respect of those nasty spectacle lift things, I believe the options being discussed here are a flatbed transporter or a flatbed (probably four wheel) trailer. Both of these put all four wheels of the car being towed on the towing platform. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dougbgt6 Posted August 24, 2018 Report Share Posted August 24, 2018 NM, I didn't see the words Flat Bed? Just trailer or transporter. db Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rolyberkin Posted August 24, 2018 Author Report Share Posted August 24, 2018 Have the option of a proper car trailer, so double axel and all four wheels on the trailer and strapped down. I have an XC60 AWD D5 so I think my mpg would be far better than that of a truck. Never thought of the comfort factor but it definately make sense! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppyman Posted August 24, 2018 Report Share Posted August 24, 2018 Trailer sounds the best bet, but as with towing a shed... It has got to be loaded right Tony. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anglefire Posted August 25, 2018 Report Share Posted August 25, 2018 I borrowed a friends 4wheeled trailer when I got my Spitfire from Norwich - but I had got a Discovery 3 tow car at the time, so made it easy to do! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AidanT Posted August 25, 2018 Report Share Posted August 25, 2018 Im one for a transporter myself and used one to pick up my car. I know it was five years ago but tbh that still sounds a bit pricey! I'm sure I got mine on a weekend rate at around the £125 price range Aidan http://www.transporterhire.co.uk/transporterhire_co_uk_recovery_truck_hire_prices.php Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Lindsay Posted August 26, 2018 Report Share Posted August 26, 2018 Having a great mate of many years who would do anything to help is a real bonus for anybody; having a great mate with his own recovery business and a fleet of recovery lorries: priceless. I used a towed car transporter once - to bring a Herald from Scotland to Northern Ireland - and it was a lot of bother booking ferries etc culminating in getting stuck on an icy hill three miles from home; the car just wouldn't pull up the steep hills. I also used a local operator who collected cars from the mainland twice a month, and charged me £120 to bring a Triumph from Birmingham to his yard, five miles from me - it's cheaper if he does it a part of a round trip for about a dozen vehicles at once, and loads a little Triumph among all the moderns. However nowadays I just have to make a phone call... and as if by magic, the lorry appears. Much more hassle-free and saves wear on the car. Re the OP's original post: twice I've gone to the midlands and driven a GT6 home via the ferry in Scotland, and I bought a Herald 948 in Southend-on-Sea and drove that all the way to Stranraer in 7 hours. It's a great way to get to know a car. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gully Posted August 26, 2018 Report Share Posted August 26, 2018 Bought mine in Tamworth and drove it back to Hertfordshire via the M6 and M1 without worrying whether or not I'd make it - don't think it even occurred to me! Gully Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NonMember Posted August 26, 2018 Report Share Posted August 26, 2018 When my brother bought his first car, a Mk2 Spitfire, he drove it back from Colchester to Chipping Norton in convoy with me in a modern (the car we'd gone out there in). Only after arriving home did he comment on the very poor fuel consumption and open the bonnet to find that the hose from the fuel pump outlet pipe to the front carb was loose and had slipped back until it no longer covered the gap. The fuel was being sprayed in the direction of the carb inlet and enough was hitting that the engine ran fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rolyberkin Posted August 26, 2018 Author Report Share Posted August 26, 2018 I have had some quotes on moving a car from Devon to Chelmsford on Shiply which are coming out at about £325, seems a no brainer to me, can get it collected fully insured and delivered to my door for about £120 more than it would cost me to hire a trailer and do it myself! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thescrapman Posted August 26, 2018 Report Share Posted August 26, 2018 There is. Triumph owner up on the fens who runs a vehicle moving side-line, I can send you Petes number if you want. cheers colin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul H Posted August 29, 2018 Report Share Posted August 29, 2018 Has anybody used www.anyvan.com/ I did a theoretical TR4 ( Vitesse not on the list ) and a move from Bury St Edmunds to Liverpool and got a price of £220 assuming not time critical - This sounded reasonable Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Lewis Posted August 29, 2018 Report Share Posted August 29, 2018 If thats the guy in Tydd st Mary he does a good job, he moved one of my locals there , lives down her road Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShaunW Posted August 29, 2018 Report Share Posted August 29, 2018 On 8/26/2018 at 5:50 PM, rolyberkin said: I have had some quotes on moving a car from Devon to Chelmsford on Shiply which are coming out at about £325, seems a no brainer to me, can get it collected fully insured and delivered to my door for about £120 more than it would cost me to hire a trailer and do it myself! It's funny how we all have different ideas of a no brainer. An extra 120 quid? ... For me that's a definite no way I'll do it myself. It probably comes down to how much £120 means to you. Also for me going to collect it would be half the adventure of getting it. Have you been to see the car? Or are you buying it on a strangers word? If I turned up in Devon and it was a pile of cr*p I could walk (drive) away rather than finding out when it's dumped on my driveway. Or at least I would negotiate a discount. Buying a car sight unseen by mail order seems to be asking for trouble. Who's paying the return trip if it's not as described, got a restamped vin or it's nothing but filler and bad welding? £120 in my pocket and peace of mind.... It's a no brainer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShaunW Posted August 29, 2018 Report Share Posted August 29, 2018 I've been called wreckless on here before, during the boostergate debacle .. It looks like I'm actually the careful one afterall hehe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rolyberkin Posted August 29, 2018 Author Report Share Posted August 29, 2018 8 minutes ago, ShaunW said: It's funny how we all have different ideas of a no brainer. An extra 120 quid? ... For me that's a definite no way I'll do it myself. It probably comes down to how much £120 means to you. Also for me going to collect it would be half the adventure of getting it. Have you been to see the car? Or are you buying it on a strangers word? If I turned up in Devon and it was a pile of cr*p I could walk (drive) away rather than finding out when it's dumped on my driveway. Or at least I would negotiate a discount. Buying a car sight unseen by mail order seems to be asking for trouble. Who's paying the return trip if it's not as described, got a restamped vin or it's nothing but filler and bad welding? £120 in my pocket and peace of mind.... It's a no brainer I haven't seen it yet it's what we might say a slow burner, I am having a photo valuation and then will be going down to check it out early next week, it's whether at that point I gamble on taking a trailer or with me with the chance that I come back empty handed or then send a truck to collect it. I do agree though that I am up for the adventure, I am all for driving a car back but the wife keeps trying to convince me that it's not a good idea until serviced and checked over etc! Unless it values up on photos I may still be looking! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShaunW Posted August 29, 2018 Report Share Posted August 29, 2018 Good stuff roly, I wasn't meaning to treat you like an idiot about not seeing it. We drove from Lincoln to Angelsey to get our spit. And I drove it back 180mls with the missus following. Boiling hot weather, hardtop on, weekend traffic, temp gauge doing gymnastics, and 7miles from home the rear bearings gave way and we had to get a flatbed home With hindsight I'd have taken a 4wheel trailer because me and the car arrived home absolutely jiggered. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badwolf Posted August 30, 2018 Report Share Posted August 30, 2018 We towed the spit home with a tow rope. Me driving the towing car. About 500yds from home there was this almighty bang and a cloud of blue smoke. The mechanic in the spit had dropped it in gear and let out the clutch and it fired up. The damage it must have done?? We were both surprised, one that the clutch hadn't ceased and two that the car actually fired up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Lindsay Posted August 30, 2018 Report Share Posted August 30, 2018 When I had the Herald estate resprayed it was loosely bolted together pending final rubber seals and gaskets etc on the screen frame and C posts before going off thirty-odd miles to the sprayers... they delivered it back to me on an open trailer, in the dark, and my first comment was: where's the roof? It had blown off during the trip along the motorway... Amazingly it had lifted off but landed down inside the rear tub, so was hanging off the back with the C-posts inches off the road. Some paint damage to both roof and tub but both still in one piece... Re Roly's car; any Triumph I've ever bought sight unseen has been considered a total restoration until proved otherwise... There's a great Herald on eBay at the moment... "drives like new inside like it just come out of showroom outside need a little TLC" and the price is £2800. The pictures tell a slightly different story... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badwolf Posted August 30, 2018 Report Share Posted August 30, 2018 I like a sense of humour. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thescrapman Posted August 31, 2018 Report Share Posted August 31, 2018 21 hours ago, Badwolf said: We towed the spit home with a tow rope. Me driving the towing car. About 500yds from home there was this almighty bang and a cloud of blue smoke. The mechanic in the spit had dropped it in gear and let out the clutch and it fired up. The damage it must have done?? We were both surprised, one that the clutch hadn't ceased and two that the car actually fired up. I did that once with a car my brother bought, a Micra with a seized engine, it wasn't seized for long after I put it in gear in a momentary loss of concentration. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thescrapman Posted August 31, 2018 Report Share Posted August 31, 2018 20 hours ago, Colin Lindsay said: When I had the Herald estate resprayed it was loosely bolted together pending final rubber seals and gaskets etc on the screen frame and C posts before going off thirty-odd miles to the sprayers... they delivered it back to me on an open trailer, in the dark, and my first comment was: where's the roof? It had blown off during the trip along the motorway... Amazingly it had lifted off but landed down inside the rear tub, so was hanging off the back with the C-posts inches off the road. Some paint damage to both roof and tub but both still in one piece... I have done that as well with a Herald Estate, neither of us checked if the roof was actually bolted on, and it took off as we went over the Orwell Bridge , luckily the ropes round the c posts holding the tailgate in kept it attached to the car, it did grind the front edge off the roof against the road, and scare the life out of my accomplice behind me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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