Company Response Review Report Review
Selecting a car transporter

Kevin N Submitted this review about Ship a Car Direct
Review made Live: 2/1/2016 12:35:00 PM
I confess I rarely write reviews as I just don't have the time. I am doing so here for two reasons. One I found the process of selecting a car transporter very difficult and secondly because I found other reviews helpful in selecting ship a car direct. I was transporting a brand new $60,000 Lexus from one coast (CT) to the other (CA.) Here is what I have learn't and my own experience which of course is not to say that others will have the same experience..

I started looking for some one circa 2 months before the move and while never too early it would appear doing so circa 7 days before the move is fine. It became clear that this industry is bifurcated, there are "distribution firms" who deal with the customer but don't have any trucks and then "manufacturing firms" who actually have the trucks and do the transporting but get their business from the first group. I could not find anyone who does both. I suspect this is because no one is big enough in terms of numbers of customers. Thus I had to recognize that the firm I went with were not actually going to be directly responsible for transporting the car.

In terms of selecting a firm while price is inevitably a factor the key issue to me was having the best chance of a quality experience. We were moving home so for us a $100 here or there was a fraction of the cost of the move including the cost of buying and selling our home. After contacting a number of firms I went with Ship A Car Direct mostly on what what I perceived was a strong customer service culture, see the CEO videos. I originally spoke to Jason and subsequently to Scott who were both articulate and helpful. I went with a covered transporter given the cost of the car which cost an additional $200.

The transport company I was allocated was D & D transport. (I have little knowledge re D&D, they could be a big firm or a one truck operation owned by the driver.) I had a call on my cell from Daniel, the driver the day before the due pick up asking me if I wanted to be picked up first or last the following day as he was collecting cars in various locations in CT / MA before heading back to NY. I opted for last which turned out to be some 3 hours later than the original estimate but Daniel called at regular times to provide an update. We agreed to meet at a service station on I95 which worked well and they took the car from me there. My wife had driven a car we were hiring to the service station and thus gave me a ride back home. Looking inside the transporter there were other cars, some antiques all wrapped in plastic and this together with Daniel who was a very nice guy gave me the confidence that all would be ok..

At the other end I similarly had a call from Daniel the day before the target delivery date confirming the date and this time he actually arrived in the am as opposed to the pm, as another customer had to re-schedule his delivery. This time I was by myself so was not sure how I was going to get to a drop off point as there was no way Daniel was going to be able to drive the very large truck to our house. He actually got it within a mile and then drove the car to the house and I gave him a ride back to his truck. The car was in very good shape and Daniel had even put a cloth on the seat when driving it the one mile to me.

While all the interaction was with Daniel, Ship A Car Direct were in the background and I was confident would get involved as needed. While I paid Ship A Car Direct up front, I did not get any sense that once they had my money they would leave me alone, far from it. D&D I paid by a cashiers check on delivery which is the norm.

In my case all worked very well and I would recommend both Ship A Car Direct and D&D based on my experience. The only thing I would say Ship A Car Direct need to change is that they send out automated emails albeit with the agents name. Sometimes these are ok but mostly redundant or duplicative, i.e. asking me to do something I had already done. These should be vetted by the agent before they get sent..
Shipment Details
Origin State:
Connecticut
Pickup:
On Time
Destination State:
California
Delivery:
On Time
Customer Service
Honesty:
Knowlegeable:
Promptness:
Customer Service:
Review Details
Quote or Order Id:
474659-EF
Quote or Order Cost:
$1800

Company Response
Michael Strickland from Ship a Car Direct Submitted this response.
Response Date: 2/4/2016 5:42:00 PM
Thanks so much for your detailed feedback, Kevin! We think customer reviews are really helpful to future shippers too. Your positive comments will certainly help lots of other folks with their car shipping concerns!