After I filled out a form on some site to request a quote, multiple carriers called me, with quotes varying from $575 to $975. I contacted a few but eventually decided to go for Done Right (Transport, Transportation… the name of the company is still not clear to me), as they seemed to have a good story, owning 22 trucks, not being a broker (which could explain their somewhat lower fee), etc. For $588, they could pick up my car on Monday morning from Florida to bring it up to New York State and have it there three days later. That sounded good as I had to meet the truck to take delivery of the car and then drive 4 hours back home across the US/Canada border. The logistics were not simple (due to other commitments on my part) and I liked the idea of a relatively firm arrival commitment. They understood the restriction.
When I did my research to check out the company (licensing, insurance, reviews, etc.), many discrepancies were noted. However, the people at Done Right weaved a good story that seemed to hold true. They told me that Done Right is a subsidiary of Transcar Auto Transport (west Palm Beach or Kissimmee, FL), which I could not verify at the time but which is true, as I discovered later. Transcar is another company I don’t know but which appeared to be more solid.
After numerous phone calls and emails (most of them unanswered, unfortunately), I found out that my car had not been picked up on Monday, as expected. I will spare you the details (they don’t know where their driver is, can’t reach him…), but on Tuesday, I was told that the truck was broken and needed to have its transmission replaced in Louisiana. That could take up to about a week. This was unacceptable to me as other commitments would have prevented me from meeting the truck then.
Danny eventually convinced me that he could get a subcontractor from New York State to carry the car up to arrive on the following Monday, but that this carrier wanted to charge him $850 due to the short notice. Danny, who was “losing money left and right with this thing”, was “willing to pick-up $250 from the bill if I could pay the subcontractor $600 upon arrival”. He already had my $100 non-refundable (?) deposit and I was stuck as I could not wait for his truck to get repaired. I accepted and so, my cost, which was initially supposed to be $588, increased to $700.
Honesty does not belong in Danny’s vocabulary. I discovered later that the subcontractor was only charging $600 total, to me, and nothing to Transcar (i.e. Done Right). So he still made $100, not lost $250, as he told me, even though he did not meet the conditions of our agreement. Note that the contract says nothing about a 10-day pick-up window. It only has a firm pick-up date.
If you ever decide to use their services (which I do not recommend), make sure that you clearly negotiate the conditions of the contract in writing, especially if you get into a bait-and-switch situation (bait you with one of their trucks and switch to a subcontractor). They may be a good carrier, I don’t know as they did not carry my car, but they are lousy at communication, honesty and holding a commitment.
