OUTSTANDING EXPERIENCE
Larry
Submitted this review about
AutoZipper
Review made Live: 12/2/2007 12:27:00 PM
This was our first time shipping a vehicle, I input the criteria for our information in a website that stated at least 8 free quotes would be provided. Sure enough soon after entering and submitting our info I received many quotes.
Some of the companies provided links to this website to verify their companies reviews and check on possible competitors ratings. The first thing that caught my eye was a couple of companies stated that a truly honest company wouldn't ask for a deposit up front. So using that as one of my validations I researched the companies not requiring deposits up front.
Before we go into detail lets discuss what I was shipping and why: My son was serving in Iraq and called me very early in November that he would be back just before Thanksgiving, he was unsure of the actual date. The "Car" is his pride and joy a 2004 SVT Cobra Convertible Mustang, in mint condition. I had driven this car from California to North Carolina when he went to Iraq and was not really looking forward to driving it back across country. I had toyed with the idea of towing it myself behind my truck but shipping proved to be a lot less than what I would have spent towing it myself.
Ok, back to my search for the right company. I called several of the companies that required no upfront deposit, after several hours of waiting for return call I received a call from Brian at AUTO ZIPPER, he explained what was necessary to ship a vehicle and that no company can guarantee actual dates and times due to many factors i.e. trucks breaking down, vehicles being picked up not ready etc...
The most important information was why he requires a deposit upfront, he in the past had not required a deposit and when the truck arrived the vehicle was already gone, picked up by some other company, due to the customers impatience or fear their vehicle wouldn't arrive on-time.
I gladly provided the $230.00 deposit after his assurances he would do whatever he could to get my son's car to California by the 14th, remember this was the 4th of November right at the 10 day mark. True to his word the trucking company called me the same day I provided the deposit and began the process of arranging the pick-up. I live in Havelock NC, which is about 3 hours from any major interstate. Brian offered to arrange a local move from Havelock to Interstate 95 to met the truck, which would have increased the price somewhat, however I was more than willing to drive the 3 hours to met the truck.
Thursday the 8th of November I received a call from the driver, he was about 6 hours from NC heading south on 95, could I met him at the rest area around exit 144 on I-95 between 6 to 8 pm. I said sure no problem, just as Brian had stated things can happen, while driving to I-95 the driver called, he had a tire blow on his truck and would be delayed. The driver and I agreed to continue driving until we were closer to each other. The driver kept me informed on the progress of the truck repair and we decided to me at the NC, VA border, at exit 4. We arrived about an hour before the truck, when the driver arrived it was quite dark outside and he said he wouldn't be able to safely load the car until morning. However we drove the car under the lights and the driver took what must have been about 500 pictures of the car to document the vehicle condition, this in of itself convinced me we had made the right decision.
I had forgotten to ask the management of the truck stop if I could leave the vehicle in front of the store. While driving back home it dawned on me that the truck stop employees may think the vehicle was stolen or abandoned, when I arrived at home I looked up "Loves Truck Stop at exit 4 in VA and called the manager, who thanked me for notifying him about the car as they had wondered what happened to the owner, when I explained what was going on and that the driver (Ace Auto-Trucking) was in the lot sleeping he told me he knew most of the drivers of Ace and they were great people, something I had already realized after meeting with the driver. I really knew I had made the right choice.
Some of the reviews of Auto Zipper did state that some of the drivers were hard to understand do to their accents, but NONE of the reviews out of over 270 were negative, the worst was 4 stars which was far better than many other companies review.
I had not selected Auto Zipper originally due to the deposit, but after Brian called me the first time, he requested that I look up his company's review on this website to help me with my decision. I'm extremely happy I did, as stated earlier out of over 270 reviews not one was negative.
By the way, the car arrived the 14th, ON TIME. The car showed the miles traveled "dirty" but not the slightest scratch anywhere and you can be sure I LOOKED, my son well he arrived home from Iraq on Sunday the 18th of November a little weary but fine.
Would I use Auto Zipper again, perhaps the right phase would be I WILL ONLY USE AUTO ZIPPER in the future.
If necessary you can contact me for confirmation of this review.
Sincerely
Larry I
