Fine broker, but took 3 weeks to find carrier. Had to pay $120 extra.
H.H.
Submitted this review about
AmeriFreight Car Shipping
Review made Live: 4/13/2010 2:24:00 PM
I will say that AmeriFreight's staff was curious, professional, and for the most part, communicative with me. I don't believe it is their fault that it took so long to secure a carrier, but I would have liked a warning at the time of the quote that my area, Reno, NV, is a problematic location to find carriers because "the terrain is not preferable", and therefore, I'd have to increase the COD to lure in a driver quicker. They did not tell me this until 15 days after placing my order when I asked why it was taking so long. At that time, they told me that securing a carrier out of Reno had taken as long as a month in the past, and that I should upgrade my order from economy to priority (increase the COD) to entice a carrier. They did forfeit some of their deposit to pay to the driver (the COD) which is part of the deal when things take longer than they should. But, I ended up spending more money ($120 more) and waiting longer than I originally planned to. However, they found a good, trustworthy carrier in the end, and I felt that AmeriFreight made a genuine effort and followed through past the delivery, so that's what mattered in the end. The delay might have happened with any broker as it seems to be a problem with the carriers. This was confirmed by the truck driver. However, I just would have liked a warning at the time of the quote, though I'm guessing they don't want to scare away customers with that kind of information.
I had to ask a couple of times before I got a breakdown of the charges. For people new to this, know that the "deposit" should really be called AmeriFreight's service charge, because that's what it is, and it will not be refunded to you. The remainder of the quote is paid to the carrier upon delivery in the form of cash or cashiers check.
The only other mistake was that AmeriFreight failed to get the updated pickup contact information to the driver. I had to change pickup contacts when my original pickup contact had to leave town for a week on business. When that person returned, I told AmeriFreight that my original pickup contact was available to be my primary pickup contact again. The next day, a carrier was secured for my order, but they gave the temporary contact to the driver, confusing things the day of pickup. I guess it was an easy mistake to make because once things got moving, it all went very fast.
All in all, I think they're a fine broker company, and a person wanting to transport a vehicle on a busy trucking route shouldn't have the same problem I've had.
