anyone familiar with...

I used Fleming and had good luck.

aussie - you should use the search engine on this forum to investigate the pros and cons of shipping a truck or any other vehicle down here. There are countless posts right at your fingertips. Never heard of Top Of The Line.

Hi Aussie,

If you don't mind me asking, what state are you moving from? The reason I ask is because it is possible to drive the car to the port yourself and arrange for the shipping yourself. It is a fairly simple thing to do. We did this with the two cars we shipped here to STT and saved at least $1,000, if not more.

Many thanks for your responses Terry, Jessica, and Mell! I'm moving from Virginia and plan to drive my truck to the port in Jacksonville. I stayed on St Thomas from August to February and then came home to pack out my house. Blue water, here I come! I've given careful thought to bringing my truck over, researched the boards here, and I think it's a wise choice. Top of the Line Transport is quoting a lower price than Tropical and MUCH lower than Viking. They also handle all the taxes, licensing and registration. I was hoping to hear of some first-hand experience with this company.

Thanks again. See you soon!

Hi Aussie,

If I am not mistaken, Crowley also ships out of Jacksonville. Have you checked with them? Another idea is to take your truck to Miami/Fort Lauderdale. Crowley ships from Port Everglades, which is 5 minutes from the FLL airport. You might want to price that option out as well.

We shipped our cars via Crowley out of Port Everglades and then used Viking for the processing (titling, registration, customs clearance, etc.) Viking charged us $150 a car to do this, and I felt it was well worth the money.

Viking by the way, is a top-notch operation. They are well-established here on STT. I have used them a few times now and will be using them again when I ship the remainder of my worldly goods here later this year. But as far as the car portion goes, you might be able to save $$$ by doing what we did.

Best,
🙂 Mell

Thanks for the advice, Mell. I'll check out Crowley.

The Viking rep I spoke with sounded quite professional. I was impressed. Their ocean freight charge, however, was $700 to $800 more than the other companies I have contacted.

Hi Aussie,

I drove my car to Jacksonville and shipped my car out of Jacksonville through SeaStar. It was about $1100. I used Viking to clear it from customs and they drove it to my office. That was $175 for Viking. It was a little over $1,000 to get it registered, cleared from customs and all the taxes. Just be careful if it ships through Puerto Rico. I took everything I considered valuable out of my car before it shipped, but some things I had forgotten about like spare lightbulbs, tools in the trunk, and the headset for my cell phone were stolen.

Hope this helps!
-Jen

another advantage of using SeaStar is that it doesn't have to be there a week early. I drove my car to the port and it shipped out the same day after a quick inspection. It shipped on a Saturday and I got it on Tuesday.

Many thanks for your response, Jen.

Sea Star was an excellent recommendation - great rates - great folks to work with.

Viking must have had a price increase. They quoted $1,925 for just the ocean freight - much more than anyone else I spoke with. They also quoted $350 for clearing customs, licensing, and registration.

Thanks again.