We completed our move of a 1992 Acura NSX from Wake Forest, NC to Ennis, MT recently. This relocation covered a distance of 2,248 miles inside an enclosed trailer, and was priced at $2,775.00. This means that the price was $1.23 per mile.
The Acura NSX was driveable at time of pick-up. The use of the trailer on this move was obvious. First generation NSXs are low, light, and have been around for over thirty years. They are also worth much more today than they were ten years ago, and they have been made using a material that is less forgiving than steel.
The route
The journey from Wake Forest to Ennis covers 2,248 miles and proceeds diagonally across the country from North Carolina piedmont to Montana mountains.
The starting point is Wake Forest that is right next to Raleigh, which means that the driver will go down to I-40 and proceed west from Greensboro and Winston-Salem, then across the Blue Ridge towards Knoxville, Tennessee.
Then from Knoxville the trip follows I-75 to Lexington, Kentucky, then to St. Louis via I-64. I-70 takes the driver to Kansas City and here the driver will proceed north via I-29 to Omaha and then Sioux City and Sioux Falls.
Then at Sioux Falls the truck joins I-90 heading west and proceeds in such direction until reaching Bozeman, Montana. Then via US-287 the driver goes southwest through Madison Valley to reach Ennis, Montana.
An aluminum car is not a steel car
It’s what makes the difference between an NSX and pretty much any other thing we transport.
The original NSX was the first production automobile in the world that had an all-aluminum monocoque body and chassis. It’s how Honda saved weight, and it has proven effective. The car weighs about 3,000 pounds, which is a fairly lightweight build considering it is a mid-engine sports car of this construction.
Transport-wise, the difference between aluminum and steel is that aluminum reacts differently to impact than steel does.
Steel forms a dent and can then be hammered back into place due to steel’s memory. Aluminum, however, tears and creases and work-hardens under impact, meaning that a shop won’t be able to just hammer out the dent like they do on a steel bumper.
The repair work itself needs a specialist as well. Aluminum requires its own tooling and its own training – often in a completely separate area of the workshop, since aluminum cannot be worked on in proximity to steel because of contamination concerns. The list of shops capable of doing that sort of work properly on a thirty-year-old NSX is a very short one indeed.
But the panels will be replaced, not repaired. In cases where the repair is impossible, the solution is a replacement panel for a car that is twenty years out of production, which is another parts availability issue as well as another cost issue.
None of the above is in any way making this car hard to transport. It is making the costs associated with doing it wrong prohibitively expensive compared to the average modern steel-bodied vehicle.
Declared value on an appreciating car
An NSX is currently valued significantly higher than it was ten years ago. It alters a question that our clients sometimes don’t even consider asking.
Ask about the upper cargo insurance limit instead of simply about whether it is covered. Our partner carriers carry cargo insurance policies for a maximum of $1 million each. The important point here is that this limit must be above the replacement cost of your car, and the price will increase in case of a collector’s vehicle.
Inform your coordinator about the value of the car. Do not rely on approximate estimations. If you have an updated valuation or an agreed value policy on your car, then it must be considered when scheduling, as it defines the carriers who will carry your vehicle.
Take photos of the vehicle prior to pick-up. Every panel of the car, during daylight hours, with timestamps. This is common practice for any vehicle transportation and required for collectible cars. The Bill of Lading inspection at pick-up is your starting point, and photos are your leverage.
What $1.23 per mile reflects
Two factors act against each other in this case.
The enclosed trailer service drives the figure up. The enclosed trailer transports fewer cars per haul and is more expensive to operate compared to the open trailer; moreover, it represents a smaller proportion of the total fleet used. It will be the premium price for any enclosed delivery.
The additional cost comes from the Ennis delivery as well. The southwest part of Montana is far away from the main routes taken by enclosed trailers, and a city of one thousand people is not even close to their regular delivery point. The truck either covers the extra miles starting from Bozeman or waits for an occasion to travel through the valley.
Distance brings down the rate since at 2,248 miles it is hard to cover the fixed costs of the pick-up, securing, and delivery over a large distance.
Enclosed transport and low clearance
The NSX is 46″ high and sits low, such that a standard ramp is too steep. Loading was done using a liftgate that would raise the car to the same height as the deck and eliminate the need for the angle created by the ramp.
Securing the car involved the use of soft straps on the tires instead of chains that would be attached to the car’s suspension. In this case, where the vehicle is made up mainly of aluminum, that aspect becomes very important, since there is no forgiving structure that can handle the strap in the wrong place.
The sides of the trailer took care of everything else. The route takes the car through the Blue Ridge, the plains, and the northern Rockies, and 2,248 miles of that on the deck is not a risk you take with such a car.
Transport summary
- Origin: Wake Forest, NC 27587
- Destination: Ennis, MT 59729
- Distance: 2,248 miles
- Service cost: $2,775.00
- Cost per mile: $1.23
- Vehicle: 1992 Acura NSX
- Condition: Operable
- Trailer type: Enclosed
- Route: Wake Forest, NC → I-40 west through Greensboro and Winston-Salem → Knoxville, TN → I-75 north to Lexington, KY → I-64 west → St. Louis, MO → I-70 west to Kansas City → I-29 north through Omaha to Sioux Falls, SD → I-90 west through Rapid City, Sheridan and Billings → Bozeman, MT → US-287 southwest → Ennis, MT
