All's well that ends well.
Bryson Jacobs
Submitted this review about
DIY Transport Inc.
Review made Live: 7/25/2018 8:33:00 PM
I learned a lot about auto transport during this process. It wasn't seamless, but my car did make it from California to Connecticut at the agreed-upon price ($1,350) and it even arrived a day ahead of schedule. At times, I was incredibly frustrated and stressed. Here's how it all went down:
I received a quote from DIYTransport via email after soliciting via some website. It was not the lowest, but still one of the most competitive, so I called to inquire about military discount. None was offered, but the quote was still competitive and Nathaniel was confident and easy to talk to. He was also transparent about expectations regarding pickup and dropoff windows. Well, mostly transparent. The biggest problem with this whole thing was that I was relying on relatives to be my releasing agent, since I had to report for duty on the other side of the country. I had confirmation the pickup would occur on 7/10/18. Great, they would be available. The big day rolled around, but nothing happened. No carrier, no phone call. Inquired w/ DIY and was told the originally scheduled carrier demanded more money, which was declined. So a new carrier was found and they said pickup would occur on 7/11. Same deal, no-show, said they'd be there the next day. Same on 7/12, 7/13, and 7/14. On 7/14, they missed the pickup because the suspension broke before they could leave Valencia to get to Riverside. Finally, on 7/15, the carrier arrived a few hours late. After that, this car movement thing was pretty smooth. They delivered on 7/19 (at a convenient time for me, but a couple hours after they originally planned, due to a midnight tire blowout 60 miles down the road), took the agreed-upon amount of cash, were very professional and convenient about it, and I now have my much-needed car. Success.
A note on DIY's fees. For that original 7/10 pickup, I was charged $295. With the change of carrier, DIY's fee dropped to $150, so I was owed a partial refund. I sent multiple inquiries to their accounting department from 7/11-7/17, but never got a response until I posted an unfavorable review on Transport Reviews (my older, also unfavorable Google review went unnoticed). Almost immediately, Nathaniel called me and said he'd get me confirmation of my refund, which he did. I took down the review. About a week later, the refund posted to my card.
So everything worked out. I just wish I hadn't obligated my relatives to house arrest for a week waiting for a pickup which, at times, had the appearance it would never occur. It sucks to try to manage this kind of thing while on the road. What would have made this less stressful is more proactive communication from DIY. If they could have called me and/or my releasing agent on every day there was a no-show, providing an explanation or letting me know they were doing their best to manage the carrier, that would have given me a lot of assurance. But communication seemed to mostly be initiated by me, my wife, and my releasing agent, which was frustrating, because we felt mostly blind and were left wondering if this thing were even being managed. To his credit, Nathaniel did a great job of keeping his composure and upbeat attitude. Just please, DIY, please be more proactive with your communication if things aren't proceeding as planned. All I needed as a 1 to 2-minute "I'm sorry they didn't show. We're disappointed too, but we called them and determined they're trying their best, it's just that they also encountered some no-shows for their particular pickups/dropoffs, which delayed them longer than anticipated. We're working on it and, if need be, we'll try to find a more reliable carrier if this keeps up." Try to get your contracted carriers to follow through on their scheduling commitments. This business seems to run at the mercy of the carriers; sometimes the scheduling has luck mixed in and everything is smooth, and sometimes it's not as smooth. Will I consider using DIY Transport again? Actually, yes. I can't imagine things would have been much different if I'd gone with a different company at a similar price point, unless their luck happened to be particularly that day. I can't in all honesty leave 5 stars, because of the frustrating pickup week and the fact I had to solicit for updates daily whenever the carrier would no-show and not provide any updates.
