Auto Transport Survey and Report Card

[Dadman1950]

Auto Transport Survey and Report Card
As we approach the all important kick off to the 2014 auction season in Arizona and Florida, the automobile transport companies are swamped moving cars to the auction. And while most of these companies are well managed and reliable it might serve our readers, especially those who utilize these companies’ services to have some feedback on just how professional these carriers really are. Our friends at CorvetteBlogger ran an article picked up from The Journal newspaper of Pearland, Texas, about a driver for an automobile transport company taking a customer’s Corvette on a joyride around Houston, Texas, during a layover last week. The driver was arrested but the article gave no report on whether there was any damage to the car nor the name of the transport company. You can read it here: http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/pearland/news/auto-transport-driver-allegedly-joy-rides-in-customer-s-corvette/article_45cf86db-fd75-53a2-a376-0e9e7c7ac135.html#_=_
The costs to ship a car are costly and most of us expect to get what we pay for. Your review may help other enthusiasts avoid the unfortunate experience of the owner of the Corvette in the article. So if you have used an automobile carrier to ship your car in the past please rate your experience and let others know about the carrier you used and your comments. (In Comments please list your carrier and comment on: transport was by open or enclosed trailer,professionalism, cleanliness of truck, on-time, courtesy, condition of car upon arrival and cost). To start things off I will post my recent experience shipping my new Grand Sport from Michigan to Arizona this past fall. Join in.

Excellent (Did far more than expected in the following areas – Professionalism - Truck Cleanliness – Courtesy – Condition of Car on arrival – Arrived date promised NO Problems)
Good (Did more than expected in some areas– Professionalism - Truck Cleanliness – Courtesy – Condition of Car on arrival – Arrived date promised NO Problems)
Average (Did only what was required with no major problems)
Poor (Encountered some problems in one or more area Professionalism - Truck Cleanliness – Courtesy – Condition of Car on arrival – Arrived date promised)
Unsatisfactory (Major problems – Details below)

 

[Dadman1950]

My Carrier Rated G00D Just missed Excellent

This past fall I decided to transport my new Grand Sport convertible from Michigan to Arizona. Though I would have preferred to drive it other issues prevented me from doing that so I began researching auto transport carriers. I contacted virtually the top five carriers for an estimate on services provided and cost. This took place six to eight weeks prior to the actual transport date to allow plenty of scheduling flexibility. I stipulated the following: 1. Enclosed trailer 2. Either door to door with easy pickup and drop off locations but I also volunteered to drop off and pick up the car at a designated location in Detroit or Phoenix (whichever they preferred). 3. Car was to be picked up any time during the last week of Sept any time an delivered no later than the end of the first week in October. This gave them up to fourteen days to transport the car between the busy Detroit and Phoenix transport markets .
First I was astounded by the price variance between carriers, especially considering the companies all had over six weeks advance notice. In addition a few of the companies took over a week to return my call and the professionalism of some of the estimators was less than professional. Keep in mind these companies are the largest collector and specialty car transporters in the country and not a guy with a pickup truck an trailer. I determined that price was not going to be the ultimate decider but rather a combination of professionalism, courtesy, reputation (references) and price. I was concerned that my new Grand Sport may end up being taken for a joy ride by drivers (as happened last week in Houston) so I paid close attention to the professionalism. The prices varied from $800 to $3600. No mistake a $2800 variance. Aside from the low an high prices the others were a couple hundred dollars apart from $1200 to $1600. All were offering the same services other than the high bid which said they needed three to four weeks transport time (which indicated to me that most of their service was confined to the east coast). The low bid took over a week to return my call and the professionalism was poor.

Knowing that General Motors test cars are usually transported by Pilot Motorsports I chose them to transport my car. Overall I rated them good to excellent. The only issue keeping me from rating them excellent was the trailer that picked up the car was not spotlessly clean inside though it was overall considered clean. The driver was friendly, courteous and professional and had recently moved from one of the other top five carriers to Pilot and had not even had time to have his trailer repainted in Pilot colors. Pilot also has a terminal in Phoenix in which they temporarily stage and store cars throughout the year, especially during the all important January auction season. The Corvette was pickup up on a Wednesday and delivered by the following Tuesday. The odometer changed less than 1 mile. They were also the second lowest price.

So fortunately my experience was not like the Corvette owner whose car was taken for a joyride in Houston.