I've looking for a 996 and I'm fairly close to purchasing one. Most likely it wont be in the area I'm in (Viera Fl) so i'm looking at shipping it. Any tips on companies or general advice on the process? (or one for sale in the area!? : )
I used JC to ship my bike from Miami to San Francisco. The whole experience was pretty good overall but they tell you that they'll cover the bike during transport and that they'll give you the cover at the end of the journey. In my case, the bike was never covered and they lied about it. I called them to point out that the bike was not covered when picked up from my home and was told by the supervisor that it would be covered at one of the warehouses along the way. This never happened.I've used JC Motors before. They're a motorcycle centric shipping company. Not only were they on-time for me, but they were friendly, did a great job packing and are bike nutz themselves. I was mistreated by several other companies before choosing JC, which had a simple on-line form to fill out and they got back to me right away. Pricing for me, across the country, was only $800 bux, which also included 12k of insurance.
Two notes; 1) You don't have to pack it yourself, JC shows up and packs it for free. 2) Any extra's are shipped separately, they won't take them on the truck and this goes for most agencies.
I highly suggest buying a bike from a non-ocean based community in a part of the country where its always sunny. Texas, Arizona, California, New Mexico, stuff like that.