[AMC-List] auto transport

[Arfon <Arfon@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I have shipped a total of 4 cars (2 from California and 2 from Colorado to 
Texas)...

There's ALOT of shady auto-transport companies out there and ALOT of 
crooked-ness.  All of my transports went fine BUT, the first company 
(Southerland transport) that I used (and was happy with) later stiffed ALOT 
of people on the internet.  I couldn't believe the crap that they pulled on 
other people.

Here's a small sample: 
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/auto_trans/southerland.html

MOST people you contact (and get quotes from) are brokers.  They do not 
move the car.  They take your info and money, and post the pick-up/delivery 
on a auto-transporter's network.  They will charge you say $700 and they 
will skim about $300 off and then offer $400 for the transport to anyone 
going near your destinations.  They don't seem to have any quality control 
either (especially for us 'beater-car people').

Now that I have scared you, let me tell you how this works...


LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION:
If your pick-up and drop-off locations are along a major transport 
corridor, you prices will be low.  You can ship a car from LA to Northern 
Virginia cheaper than a car from North Carolina to Tennessee.  I get stuff 
delivered to Austin, Texas fairly cheap because it's off I-10 which is the 
southern east coast to west coast route.

SPLIT TRANSPORTS:
Brokers can be good because they can split the hauling between two 
carriers. One carrier can pick it up and drop it off at a lot then the 
other carrier can pick it up. This is DANGEROUS because if the second 
carrier doesn't pick up the car, you get charged lot fees and can EASILY 
lose the car.  Yes, you can sue the broker but, you won't get 
anything.  They just bankrupt that paper company and open a new one the 
next day.

NON-RUNNING:
If the car is non-running or the brakes don't work, alot of carriers won't 
touch it.  The ones that will, will charge you a $100-150 fee just for 
handling.


MY RECOMENDATION:
For the first two transports, I used brokers (and didn't think to get the 
name of the actual transporter).  For the third transport I located an 
actual transporter and not a broker.  I was happy with them so for my 4th 
transport, I called them back. They did 2 good transports for me.

	All in One Transport
	20854 Hwy 59 South, #11
	New Caney, Texas 77357
	281-354-6699
	All in One runs carriers all over the country.


MY TRANSPORTS:
1) Denver, Colorado to Austin, Texas / Southerland (broker) / ~$700 
(running car)
2) Northern California (coast) to Austin, Texas / ??? (broker) / ~$400 
(running car)
3) Flager, Colorado to Austin, Texas / All in 1 (transporter) / ~$700 
(non-running car)
4) Los Angeles, California to Austin, Texas / All in 1 (transporter) / 
~$500 (running car)



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