I talked to a dozen transport companies before picking one. I looked through reviews. I googled horror stories and comments. Here's what I found. First, of ALL the firms to whom I spoke, broker or transporter, CVS was the ONLY one to lay everything out completely and honestly. People, there's nothing wrong with using a broker - which scared me a little because of the stories I'd seen - as long as you know how things work. These folks - CVS - were COMPLETELY upfront about that, so even if I hadn't figured it out, I wouldn't be standing in the dark. Brokers arrange the deal between YOU the vehicle owner and the transport owner-operator. For this they take a cut of the agreed-upon price. Then they monitor the job and check on progress as required and keep you updated. A good broker is simply a broker who will (a) tell you how the process works (b) not mislead you about what the job will cost and (c) follows up with good customer service while your vehicle is in transport.
Any broker who gives you a price waaaaaaay below anyone else is betting - hoping and praying really - that he'll luck out and find a transport owner-operator who either (a) happens to have an opening for your route at precisely the right time and who can't wait for another load at a market price, or (b) is desperate enough to take the lower below market rate. Well, I don't really want to deal with a transport owner-operator who's at all scrabbling for work. The best ones will have work. The ones at the bottom of the barrel are the ones who are scrabbling.
So here's what happened. CVS called me with a quote after I posted the route and vehicle info online. They were not the first firm to call or email me. They were like eighth or tenth. I told them outright that their quote was on the high side of the midrange. I told them there was no way I'd consider the lowball bids because I'd read the reviews of those firms - that those lowball bidders seemed to subsist by getting nonrefundable deposits against their lowball bids and probably never actually brokered any actual transports because they can't find owner-ops to take the jobs. CVS told me that they WOULD match other quotes, but that I would have to understand that the lower the price, the longer it would take to find a transport. They told me what I'd already figured out: if you're willing to pay a little higher than average, you'll get a transport right away, and probably a good one because multiple transports will be after your business. And that if you want to pay less than market, you'll wait a little longer. This is why even reputable brokers may tell you there's a small boost in cost when a truck becomes available, because that owner-op has looked at the requirements and gone to the broker and said, "Look, I can do this, but it's just a hair less than I was looking for." You CAN reject that owner-op and wait some other one to come up, or you can facilitate the process and recognize that this is a free market at work and allow the broker to negotiate.
They got my business right there. Like I said, these were the ONLY people who actually had the wherewithal to say "you can try to pay less than market rates, but you might wait a long time for a pickup." They were also the ONLY folks to tell me that it was entirely reasonable for me, if we did start at a below-market rate, to give them a call back in a few days to bump up the rate they'd offer the owner-operators.
CVS got one transport in only a couple days. There was a glitch. That transport op looked at the info and only saw a note that said "something like a Jeep". Well, I was moving a '64 Land Rover Series II Standand 109. I'd tried to explain to CVS that a 109 is kind of like a Jeep but more like a Scrambler or an Unlimited than a Wrangler or a CJ7, and I'd filled out the form calling it a "small SUV", which is about as accurate as is possible using today's vehicle categories, but somewhere along the line that information didn't get to the driver, so he showed up with one space left, just enough space for a Jeep, decided he couldn't fit it on the transport, and left. Heck, this is '64 Land Rover! It served the Canadian military north of the arctic circle 45 years ago! Land Rovers were withdrawn from the US market in the late '70s, and the Series IV Defender 90s and 110s that came into the US for two years in the '90s are rarer than hens' teeth, so I don't expect folks to know exactly what they are or how long they might be. This is a perfectly reasonable glitch.
Especially since another transport became avaialble only two days later.
The Land Rover's seller reported that the transport driver was exceptionally helpful and patient, because the transport was a big articulated truck-trailer and couldn't get all the way to the seller's shop. They needed to PUSH the Landy a block or two and then winch it up onto the transport at the point of nearest possible approach. Everyone felt this was a perfectly reasonable accomodation. Driver was happy to get help from the seller and his mechanics. The seller was happy to get help from the driver.
Two days before I expect the Land Rover to arrive, I got a call from the driver that he was three hours outside of town. He kept me updated through his arrival in the city and through an earlier delivery he needed to make first. He gave me the choice of delivery late in the evening or early the next morning. We opted for delivery that night. I met his truck about two miles from home and led him to the subdivision, to a point where he could still get back to the interstates without needing to back up or leave a major road. From there he rode with me a half-mile further ahead into the subdivision to a point he felt he could approach safely only a quarter mile from my house. He pulled his truck up to that point, offloaded the Land Rover. We strapped it to my truck and I pulled it up the hill to home, with the transport driver steering the Land Rover. This guy really went out of his way to be helpful. Now granted, I went out of my way to make it easy for him, too... but it's like when you're standing in line at the grocery store and there are ten people behind you in line waiting to check out.... it's really OK to help the cashier bag your stuff. We all live on the same planet and it's a good idea to work together.
I do not believe this could have gone any better.
When I called them, the CVS folks themselves ALWAYS answered their phones. Late, weekends... didn't matter. They answered their phones and they knew what was going on. And when the Rover was due to be picked up, they called to check with me to make sure it had been. When it was in transit, they called to update me. When it was due to be delivered, they called to make sure it had been or that it would be soon.
I've got no complaints at all. I would call these folks in a heartbeat if I needed another vehicle moved, and I would recommend them to other people, too.
