My brother shipped his 69 Camaro from Tucson to Seattle back in 2019 and the enclosed guy made him drain the gas tank to a quarter and sign a paper saying no fluids could leak, which felt like a lot until you think about what happens if some old seal blows on a three day haul in August. That long run time you got, 9 days, is its own warning sign even without the chip. Open carriers stack cars at hubs and wait to fill trailers, so your car sits in a yard somewhere getting rained on and shuffled around, and every extra day is another chance for something to go wrong. Enclosed guys usually run door to door with one load because the math only works if they keep it moving. For a drop top you are also paying for the top itself, not just the paint, since sun and grit wear the canvas and the rear window worse than most people think. Maybe look at smaller enclosed outfits based out of Phoenix or Vegas rather than the big brokers, they tend to actually own their trailers and you can talk to the same person the whole time.

That line about reputation doing business development for you or against you every day really stuck with me. I read a thing from a sales coach once that said clients don't remember what you said, they remember how you made them feel, and that guy on stage made a whole room full of paying customers feel dumb. Venting feels good for about ten seconds and then it costs you deals you never even knew you were in the running for.