OK so I have done this a couple times now. I have realized that when I was searching for my last 2 trucks that opening the search up nationwide increased my chances of finding exactly what I want with lower miles and then just pay to have it shipped. First time, the dealership arranged it for me, and it was $725 to ship it from Phoenix to Dallas. This last time, the dealership quoted me $1,500 to have it shipped from Coral Gables, FL to Dallas, so I said I would get quotes and do it myself.

So how it works is if you request some quotes online, your phone and email will BLOW UP with texts, calls, and emails. You will see quotes from $600-$1,900, but all of these brokers use the same carriers and those quotes are NOT actual quotes, but indications. What happens is once you choose a broker to work with, they take your information and post it on a dashboard for all the carriers and drivers to see. Depending on how quickly you want it or if price is more of an issue will dictate how much they post the job for. If they want it picked up immediately, they start high because someone will see it and snatch it up. If cost is more of an issue, they will start low and slowly start to increase the price until someone decides they will take it. I needed my truck relatively quickly, so I told my broker to get me a deal within a day. He started at $700 and eventually ended up at $1,100. Also, if you decide to engage with multiple brokers and have more than one post your information on the dashboard, it apparently isn't good because it scares away some of the carriers and drivers to see the same information with multiple brokers as they don't want to bid and then not get it.

So anyways, that's my experience. It is a beating and given the chance over again, I would likely just let the dealership handle it for the $1,500 because the phone calls and emails I STILL get are annoying as hell. Plus they may tell you it is expected to arrive on X date, but they can never guarantee it. Mine was supposed to be picked up from the dealership on a Saturday and be in Dallas about noon on Monday. Didn't get it until 11:00 PM on Tuesday because the driver had delays at previous stops and then blew a tire at one point. I ended up using Empire Auto Shipping but I didn't love the guy. Felt a little sleazy to me. Best of luck!

Not sure widows situation or what her plans are for the van but if she's not planning on keeping she might just ask the dealership to sell it on consignment for her. Would save shipping cost if she ultimately plans on getting rid of it. Sorry to get off topic but just thought she might not have thought of that in the fog of war she's been in

Can that van tow a ~3000 lbs vehicle? I am headed to Idaho Falls end of month to drive a vehicle down to TX that was out of service for a bit, if you can trust a younger lad to drive that thing I'll drive it down to San-Antonio with a stop in DFW.

Edit: dfw stop not needed since I can just drive that truck home.

Fly and drive?