Quick and easy car shipping experience
Jay B
Submitted this review about
Ship a Car Direct
Review made Live: 8/22/2016 8:28:00 AM
This was my first time shipping a car, and honestly this process can be pretty confusing initially (how do you pick the best carrier, what's the most appropriate price to expect, etc.). After initially submitting for quotes from several carriers that showed up on my google search, I did some more digging and found some pretty abysmal reviews for those carrier. I decided to start looking again and came across almost all positive reviews with Ship a Car Direct, which is why I ended up using them.
Overall, the process was very easy. The car was picked up from directly outside of my house in Los Angeles, and then dropped off at a closed-down Walmart Location in Baltimore (it's where the truck could fit), only a few-minute Uber ride from my house. I think the agreement I signed said "door-to-door" service, but honestly this was good enough and I just appreciated being able to get my car from point A to point B so painlessly.
So why 4 stars rather than 5? One of the things I learned in this process is that most (if not all) of these car shipping companies are coordinating pickups and deliveries via a bulletin board where they post the cars that are in need of a transport. For example, when I was talking through this process with Eric - the person I worked with at Ship a Car - he said at that time there were ~ 400 cars in Los Angeles alone that were looking for a transport. Why is this important information to know? Well, when your car is submitted to this board - it's listed with a quote for how much money is being offered to ship your car. This is typically the amount that the shipping company quoted you, minus their fee. This becomes important because if the amount offered to ship your car is lower than the other cars posted, you are less likely to get a carrier that wants to carry your car (why should they ship yours for $850, when someone else is offering $1,000). When I was submitting for quotes to ship my car, I was doing what most other consumers likely do - just trying to get the lowest price. The problem is that if you receive a low quote AND the company you are shipping with is still taking the standard fee from the total, then the remaining balance posted to the board for shipping your car will be lower, and you are less likely to get on a carrier.
In my case, my car was posted for just under a week, with no response. Once I talked with Eric and got a better sense of the process - he offered that we add $100 to the amount posted, to be split between us ($50 from me and $50 reduced from their fee). After we did that, I think I received a response within a few minutes that my car had been selected for a pick-up. As I was right in the middle of moving, I was obviously pretty stressed out about making sure my car got on a carrier before I left town, and had I known that my initial lower amount was likely not to be picked up, I would have just posted at the higher amount and had this process cleared up earlier. One of the reasons i went with Ship a Car Direct was both because of all of the positive reviews, and because their rate was a bit lower than other companies. Once we increased the amount, their rate was about the same as other companies, so that cost savings wasn't as much of an incentive then.
Would I use Ship A Car direct again? Absolutely. Would I just go with the higher price up front so we can get the car secured on a carrier and so I don't have to have that stress - absolutely. Do I wish that had been explained to me more clearly up front, so I could have avoided going through that process? Again, absolutely. Overall, the experience with the company was good. Eric was very responsive and helpful, and the whole process was about as painless as it likely could have been. I will use them again and I will recommend this company to friends. Just know, if you try to low-ball the drivers via a lower amount, your car may not get picked up. Just raise the price a bit up front and save yourself the stress :)
