Shipped our car from Honolulu to Maryland. It took about 3 weeks & 3 days to get here. We paid for…read moreport to door, enclosed. Made shipping arrangements through phone with Alex Duran. We tried to ship our car on the 24th, but wasn't able to get the lien holder permission letter in time, since or car wasn't paid off yet, we don't have the title yet, so you'll need a Lien Permission letter/authorization. I was worried that Thanksgiving day and that Friday, Matson would possibly be closed, Alex said no worries and that we could drop our car to the Matson port anywhere from Nov 24th- Nov 30th. We flew out on Nov 30th, so we were worried if we would have enough time to bring our car to the Matson port for shipment. The Matson port is located at Sand Island in Honolulu. We ended up able to get our Lien Permission letter by the 25th and we were able to ship our car on Nov 25th. It was super easy, but only one person (need to wear your mask) is allowed in the Honolulu Matson office to do paperwork to drop off the car. Fast forward to today! We just got our car today in Maryland! It was enclosed and our car looked like the day we dropped it off, clean and unblemished. We did pay extra for enclosed, otherwise shipping your car from Hawaii to the mainland, it will only be enclosed in a shipping container from Hawaii to their pick up port in the West Coast, ours was LA. If you don't specify enclosed for throughout your auto transport, I believe from the West Coast port to your final destination, they will drive it in an "OPEN" Auto Transport carrier which is "unenclosed." I wouldn't have minded "open" auto transport IF we were shipping our car in the spring or summer time, but we moved during winter time here from Hawaii to Maryland, so I was worried about our car being exposed to the elements that winter time will bring, hail/snow/etc. It was worth it getting enclosed, our car arrived clean & unblemished. The auto transport truck drivers were super nice, too.
TIPS & INFO from my experience;
1) PAYMENTS: you will make 3 payments through the time you make arrangements for your car to be transported to when you receive your car. First payment, when you book with Coastal Auto, they will take partial payment then, we paid with credit card. Second, you will pay another partial payment at time you drop off your car to the port to ship off, also paid with credit card, and thirdly, you will pay the Auto Transport carrier driver! They will ask you to pay the Auto Transport carrier driver in cash, cashiers check, or money order, but you can also pay credit card, but you have to contact Coastal Auto and they will take your payment by emailing you a DocuSign to make your payment online. We completely the payment the day before our car was to be delivered, and we had no problems at pick up.
2) PORT TO DOOR: we are military and we wanted to have them deliver our car to our address, but the auto carrier driver will inform you that they will be arriving with the enclosed carrier and they need space to maneuver, so instead of them delivering to our address which is on a military installation, we were able to quickly communicate with the truck driver and ended up meeting at a location near the military base, which was in a parking lot of a mall nearby which was clear and open. Throughout the process when they were ready to deliver, they communicated often through text or a call to inform/update you. We were able to pick up our car today, it is in pristine & clean condition as the day we dropped it off to port. The driver & assistant were super courteous and nice, and they were wearing their mask at all times. Since we paid Coastal Auto online yesterday, we just had to sign off some paperwork with the driver and off we go!
3) PAPER WORK: IF car is paid off, you will need your Title along with your car registration to show to Matson, IF your car is not paid off, if you're still making payments on a car loan for your vehicle, you will need a LIEN HOLDER PERMISSION LETTER from your loan company, ours was from Honda Financial, and you will have to call your INSURANCE company to update your car insurance to cover the estimated time your car will be in transport, you will have to give them a window/timeframe of how long it will take to arrive to final destination. You need to make sure your auto insurance will cover your car (if it's on an auto loan) during the time of auto transport.
4) CAR CONDITION: car needs to be thoroughly cleaned inside & outside and personal items must be taken out before shipping. Gas tank needs to be 1/4 full.
5) TIME DIFFERENCE: I think Coastal Auto is based out of Florida, so just keep that in mind when contacting them on the phone during their office hours. I communicated with Alex Duran, he was very responsive throughout the process.
6) MILITARY DISCOUNT: they offer Military discount! You just need to ask about it when you book with them.
Would recommend this company to my family & friends.
