A GOOD SOLUTION FOR A COMMON SNOWBIRD PROBLEM

My regular readers know I’m from the Vancouver area and while it’s probably the best place to be in Canada during the winter, it still rains and rains and rains. Consequently I have joined the ranks of those retirees affectionately called “snowbirds,” so during the Winter I enjoy spending a few months in the American Southwest.

The drive is over 2000km and not only takes at least 3 days but goes through a couple of mountain passes and if they have an early snow, it can lengthen the trip by a couple of days.  I had thought about buying a car down South and flying down but then oddly enough, I bumped into a far less costly option with some interesting news about snowbird shipping. I am not advocating shipping myself, but I do know of several couples that have used shipping services in the past. American Auto Move has popped up in several conversations, and after checking out their site I think that they may be a pretty good option for your snowbird shipping.

Although my friends and I tend to vacation in the Southwest, they do offer shipping to other popular regions like Florida. In fact, if you check out their areas covered, you'll get a pretty decent idea of the extent of their shipping abilities.

I've actually reached out to the owner of American Auto Move, and he tells me that they do ship to and from parts of Canada and all throughout the United States. I will tell you that I'm definitely thinking about using something like auto shipping in the near future. In fact, one of the reasons that I'm writing about this service is because I really do think it would be beneficial to my readership to look into something like this.

I'm sure that many of you are making the long haul down South when it starts getting cold and even though you can do it for now, you probably won't want to do it forever. For that kind of situation, auto shipping is a really great option. Think about the benefits:

• Save wear and tear on your vehicle not to mention the personal safety factor (this last trip resulted in a new windshield because of a rock courtesy of a passing truck-a friend lost an axle thanks to a boulder on the freeway)
• No getting caught in rush hour traffic trying to pass through a big city
• Arriving at your destination a few hours after you leave home
• No worries about your vehicle getting broken into in a hotel/motel parking lot
• No having to eat every meal in fast food places and other dubious restaurants for 3 days
• And the biggest one for me is the lack of stress of not having to drive through all kinds of weather and traffic for 20+ hours.

Check out the snowbird services available if you're thinking about shipping yourself – I think this is a great way to negate the only part of being a snowbird that I don’t enjoy.

Comments

[Tom Sightings]

What a great idea, esp. for those of us getting too old and weary to make the long drive. Another option for people on the East Coast is the Autotrain, which takes you and your car from a Washington, D.C. suburb to an Orlando, FL suburb. It costs some money, but saves on gas, wear and tear, and typically a night in a motel.

[Shiela @ CH Essex]

Sounds like an excellent idea! How do the costs compare? Obviously you'd have to factor in your plane ticket to the Auto option but it still might be worth it by the sounds of it!