Coast to Coast Move.... too many cars

I've been offered a job on the other side of the country. Great news - but I gotta figure out how move all of my crap, as I'm not being offered relocation.

Presently, the stable looks like this:
2013 BRZ
2004 Silverado (1500, 4.8, 2wd)
1992 Sunburst Miata (DE car)
2016 Crosstrek (her car)

I also had a '97 NA, which I've already sold to make things simpler.

If my silverado was an 8100 or diesel, I'd think the solution would be to buy a massive trailer, load the BRZ + sunburst inside, and hit the road. Then have the lady follow me once she finds work in new location (I'd drive with her and make a trip out of it).

However, my truck has a baby engine and a 24' enclosed trailer with just our stuff inside would probably be hard enough to get over the rockies.

So I was thinking:

1. Sell Sunburst
2. Drive BRZ cross-country with nothing but what can fit inside
3. Fly back at some point, buy 16'-20' enclosed trailer with sunburst $, load our crap into it, then drive silverado across-country with GF driving her Subaru. Not ideal.
4. Keep enclosed trailer for future race car.

Am I missing a better solution? Should I just use this opportunity to buy a big boy truck?

I guess the lame solution would be to sell the Silverado and the Miata, then rent a U-haul ($3000) and tow the gf's subaru behind it when she can come with.

From where to where? 

Part of why I ask is if your moving from rust belt to rust free then sell the rusty cars in the rusty town.  They will be worth much less in the rust-free town.  

Another reason is places like CA are very strict on emissions.  If moving there, will your cars past muster?  If not, sell before and don't take those cars to CA.  

I AM NOT MOVING TO CALIFORNIA. :)

I'm in Philly moving to Seattle. I have lived there before and yes, I did exactly that, I bought rust free cars while I was out west and brought them back east.

WA is OBD2 emissions testing only. All of them will pass, except the miata which wouldn't be on-road anyway.

The miata has rust, but the other 3 cars don't. So that's not really a concern.

So we about a year ago did a move from San Diego to Raleigh North Carolina, previously we did moves from SD to Seattle and Seattle back to SD but the one most relevant to you is the cross country one.

We used a pod for most of our stuff the largest one they had vs a moving truck. Total cost was around 3500 bucks. We fit most of our 4 bedroom 1700sq ft house in it and we have two little kids with all their crap.

We had our 2010 Odyssey fully loaded to the gills and my wife drove it across a few months after I started my job with her friend but it took almost a week and they stayed in a hotel 5 times or so so assume 500-700 in hotels, 2,500 miles 18-20 miles per gallon 138 gallons of gas at lets even say a nice cheap 2 bucks so lets just round up and say 300 for gas.

Shipping my 2011 E350 Benz was about 1300-1400 bucks.

Selling a DE car usually means eating it hard on any modifications done. You very well will lose more than it would cost you to ship it. 

I think I would do it this way.

I would buy an open top/flat bed trailer to put the BRZ and Miata on and plan on reselling the trailer in Seattle area since trailer values tend to be pretty steady. I would load up the truck maybe with a shell on it with what I needed to get started at my new job. I'd get a pod delivered down the road closer to when my significant other was ready to move and we were ready to move house. I'd fly back and load the pod up then drive with my significant other in the subaru across the country.

My other option might be driving a larger box truck and towing one of the cars behind it, then when I came back to go with gf I would tow the other car on a trailer behind the truck.

Uship

Having moved a much, much shorter distance about 6 months ago, my plan would be as follows:  

-Sell Sunburst (how much?  What are the mods?  I'm local!)  

-Sell Truck.  

-Pack whatever you value most into the two Subarus.  

-Call an estate sale company, and tell them you've died.  Let them sell all your other bullE36 M3.  

-Collect sales proceeds, drive cross county in cars you actually like driving instead of pulling a stupid trailer, get a clean start.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ said:

Having moved a much, much shorter distance about 6 months ago, my plan would be as follows:  

-Sell Sunburst (how much?  What are the mods?  I'm local!)  

-Sell Truck.  

-Pack whatever you value most into the two Subarus.  

-Call an estate sale company, and tell them you've died.  Let them sell all your other bullE36 M3.  

-Collect sales proceeds, move, get a clean start.

https://philadelphia.craigslist.org/cto/d/1992-mazda-miata-hard-top/6493811128.html

We already have actually sold most of our crap, as we spent 2015-2016 doing international travel. So we actually don't have that much stuff, but still way more than what would fit in the cars. What we still have, we are keeping.

I guess we could start organizing everything and getting an estimate for how much actaul space we'd need to move.

Jaynen said:

I think I would do it this way.

I would buy an open top/flat bed trailer to put the BRZ and Miata on and plan on reselling the trailer in Seattle area since trailer values tend to be pretty steady. I would load up the truck maybe with a shell on it with what I needed to get started at my new job. I'd get a pod delivered down the road closer to when my significant other was ready to move and we were ready to move house. I'd fly back and load the pod up then drive with my significant other in the subaru across the country.

My other option might be driving a larger box truck and towing one of the cars behind it, then when I came back to go with gf I would tow the other car on a trailer behind the truck.

So I went through this possibility as well. Problem is is that a large trailer like that weighs about 4000lb empty. My truck is rated to 6500. That's a no-go.

Another key item is that since I have lived in Seattle before, I could very easily move with just what fits in the BRZ. All I need is some clothes, I have a bedroom at a friends place I can stay at for months.

Sell what you can.  Moving excess vehicles is a pain and buying new ones is fun!

In reply to 2002maniac :

The most GRM response yet. I love it.

If the '04 Silverado is exceptionally rust free in otherwise rather rusty Philly then sell the Silverado for max dollars while you are still in Philly.  

If you move that truck to Seattle it will just be average like all the other Seattle trucks.  Figure $1.5-$2k to move the truck to Seattle.  Can you buy the same truck in Seattle for less than $1k more than what you can sell it for in Philly?  

Sell everything but BRZ and her car. Ship BRZ. Rebuild the collection when you get settled in WA. Miata's and 1500 trucks are cheap and dime a dozen. 

I moved from Virginia to California. Sold everything but the wife's car and my Conquest. Had my conquest shipped to a friend house ahead of me and drove the wife car. Acquired a house with a 3 car garage and was up to 5 cars within 8 month lol!

Then just recently, I moved from California to Texas. Sold my classic Mercedes and bought a diesel excursion and trailer. Towed my wife car behind the truck and left my Conquest and XJR in California. Somehow, I bought a miata within a month of arriving to Texas. Now, I have 3 vehicles in Texas and 2 in California. Somehow California made me more stupid than I already was!

John Welsh said:

If the '04 Silverado is exceptionally rust free in otherwise rather rusty Philly then sell the Silverado for max dollars while you are still in Philly.  

If you move that truck to Seattle it will just be average like all the other Seattle trucks.  Figure $1.5-$2k to move the truck to Seattle.  Can you buy the same truck in Seattle for less than $1k more than what you can sell it for in Philly?  

It's not worth much in either location. It's a $3k truck in both areas. I was only considering keeping it to use as a hauler for stuff.

In reply to Blaise :

So, said another way, you can sell this one in Philly for $3k and buy near the exact same in Seattle for $3k and thereby saving as much as $2k (the shipping cost.)  

John Welsh said:

In reply to Blaise :

So, said another way, you can sell this one in Philly for $3k and buy near the exact same in Seattle for $3k and thereby saving as much as $2k (the shipping cost.)  

Exactly. The some say Craigslist is the best free shipping and storage tool on the planet.

In reply to John Welsh :

Again, the truck was only in the picture to actually COVER the shipping cost of our items.

But I'm open to just paying $3k for a POD to move everything so we can just drive the Crosstrek when she's ready to move.

2002maniac said:

Sell what you can.  Moving excess vehicles is a pain and buying new ones is fun!

Sell them all, save maybe one.  POD for moving.  I way overspent moving from GA to TX, and I already had a truck and a 24' trailer.  Cost me $1600 to ship two cars, and one of them I spent more on shipping than I spent on purchase price.  Unless your cars have sentimental value, sell and repurchase another would be smarter, IMHO.

Don't rent from U-Haul.  I did a cross-country move in 2016 and the truck broke down, our household got rained on, lots of things got damaged.  And their U-Ship took an extra month to arrive.

Take truck and one car to WA, fly back and drive other car when SO moves out there. 

+1 pods, uship, and get non-uship quotes on a whole truck.  IIRC my buddy hired a whole truckload deal when he moved across country and the price worked out pretty good.  He loaded his car and truck with his things, then they got loaded onto the (enclosed)  trailer.  LTL doesn't work out as much a bargain.  

As most have said, sell what you can, buy new to you ones. Save time and lower the casualties of moving.

Blaise said:

I AM NOT MOVING TO CALIFORNIA. :)

I'm in Philly moving to Seattle. I have lived there before and yes, I did exactly that, I bought rust free cars while I was out west and brought them back east.

WA is OBD2 emissions testing only. All of them will pass, except the miata which wouldn't be on-road anyway.

The miata has rust, but the other 3 cars don't. So that's not really a concern.

I can help. Moved from Illinois to Oregon. Sell the Miata- you can get another one out here easily. Sell the truck. They are a dime a dozen. Keep the brz, especially if you owe on it. The crosstrek will be useful out here (we get SNOW) plus the Subaru’s on the left coast carry a better resale value. 

Man where are you guys getting $3k quotes on PODS? I moved from CA to PA 16 months ago and they were quoting me nearly $6200 (edited: I just looked it up). I know it's more expensive coming back east but damn.

I ended up having my wife drive herself and the kids back with her X-Terra, I took a Penske 26' box truck and trailer with the MS3, and the RX-3 shipped via an enclosed carrier for $1800. I think I was in it right about $4800 total plus a few hundred for gas.

Blaise I am sending your car link to a buddy who is shopping

I moved FL to WA a few years ago. My advice is this.

Sell everything and start over.