The world of RV transport is just filled to the brim with fraud. I contacted a number of legitimate-looking companies which I found on the net, only to have several of them attempt to run the same scam on me. Although I asked for a bid for transportation to Berkeley, several of the bids were - upon reading the fine print - for transportation to different locations than I asked, including Bakersfield which is a whole day's drive away from Berkeley. The scam is that they transport the vehicle to their lot, and then bill you at a usurious rate for storage until you can arrange to pick up the vehicle. I had no tow vehicle, so would have been severely ripped off by these guys if I had signed with any of them.
Once you get past that, there are the hard-sell people. One hard-sell is to tell you that they are one of the few companies with a federal or state certification or license. You do not need that to pull a trailer. Another is to tell you about their insurance, which they insist covers you 100%. If you look closely into the terms of their insurance, you will find that it doesn't cover trailers.
I ended up using uShip. The first thing you find out is that uShip's own insurance doesn't cover trailers, but the people who bid on your shipment will trumpet the fact that they have that insurance. You can ignore those who do. Then, you will find a bunch of them attempt to contact you offline. Definitely don't do any business with them. A bunch will ask "what are you willing to spend". Don't ever tell them that. Respond to all of them the same way: "This is an auction, please bid."
I finally found an individual who had some good feedback (don't bother with the ones who have no feedback at all) and who happened to be deadheading my way to do a horse transport job in the other direction. He bid a reasonable price, expecting to make up his gas and expenses. He did a fine job.
I knowingly bore the entire risk of the shipment. If I had paid more for the trailer, I might have spent more on a carrier with legitimate insurance that actually applied to trailers. But I don't think I found any with legitimate insurance who were charging less than half of the price I paid for the trailer. Insurance fraud is really rampant - I once met a mover ("Starving Students Movers") who paid damage claims by a set price per pound of weight of the item damaged. They could say your job was fully insured, but you would not actually get any significant compensation for damage.
The guy that I hired claimed to be an out of work net-maker who was displaced by the big gulf oil spill. He had a small cover on his pickup bed and slept on a mattress in there, and showered at truck stops. I gave him a nice tip, which he did not expect. I would rather help an individual if I can - a lot of established businesses in this space are unsavory.
He is listed as "Joseph F." of "EQUINE MOVERS" on uShip, but I don't think he's near you, and again I got him because he was deadheading to a horse transport job.
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