DAS Auto Shippers / Ebay Rant

[asphaltgambler]

Short Story is I bought/Won, on Ebay, a BMW Z3 from a salvage yard in Pa to fix and flip. The car is too far (approx 210 miles) for me to go get it and bring it back to my shop. No issues................so far
.
Upon winning the vehicle, I selected the "ship" tab on Ebay and five shippers come up with instant quotes based on zip code to zip code; starting with the lowest bid first and ending with the highest bid last. I selected DAS shippers for a quote price of $277 with a quote # and phone to confirm. They were not the cheapest. I call, give them the quote # and after some key punching and a few grunts the guy says " OK that'll be $477...........how do you want to pay?"

I say ....." Your quote was for $277 where did the extra $200 come from?" he states it is for "shipping insurance" I say no way am I pony-ing up for an extra 2 bills. If I pay you to ship it and damage occours while it is still on your trailer or rollback. CHIEF, it's on you................

He says ok then........... that'll be $277. I pay him by CC. He then tells me it will be 1-5 days before it is picked up, they have to schedule a driver, truck, blah, blah, blah. I say ok.

Several days go by until the fifth day..................I have not heard anything. I call, get same guy and he says the 1st day of pick up doen't start until AFTER the day of availabilty, so they still have one more day to pick up.......I say.............uh-huh.................

Call next day at 1:00 pm EST and get same guy again. I say I have not heard from you and today is the last day according to yuor schedule. The business closes at 5PM EST.......where's the truck??

He says give me 10 mins and I 'll call you back. I say no thanks, I'll wait on hold. He says That he needs time to locate the driver. An hour and a half go by ...........no phone call. I call back............ and get this.................. he says they can't get any drivers to pick the car up because the quote is too cheap.

I then promptly launch into outspace and tell him "Hey f*chwad..............YOU quoted me this price !!!!!! WTF !!!
Says he si sorry but no one will work that cheap........................................

I tell him that there better be a semi in Pa in 15 mins or I'll contact my CC company and report you for fraud..................then he states he can only offer my money back, he can't do the job. So he credits my CC, time passed is 7 days and the car is still there

[McLovin]

DAS is the WORST shipper out there. Period.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

They were fine to me.

My only complaint was that the pickup hours at their yard suck and aren't particularly convenient, but you can always pay extra to have door-to-door delivery, so I'm told.

[McLovin]

I'm sure that makes asphaltgambler feel a lot better.

Car shippers need to be judged by how they handle their worst transactions, not their best ones.

DAS, in my personal experience, has engaged in acts that are borderline criminal.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

I'm just saying it might be an isolated incident and not systemic.

I agree if things went down the way he's describing them, it's inappropriate.

Is 210 miles really all that out of the way? Hell, I'd go pick up a car myself probably <500 miles, but that's just me...

[McLovin]

It is not an isolated incident. They are the MotorMeister of the shipping world. It is systemic in the way DAS does business. They take orders to move cars, give dates for delivery, collect money, and THEN try to figure out how to get a car somewhere. They let cars build up, sitting in lots, while they get trucks filled, before moving them out. They can be MONTHS late in delivering a car (can you imagine being told you are getting the car in 2 weeks, then be stalled for MONTHS?). Then during the delay, they will avoid you, not take or return calls, so you have no idea what is going on. Their logistics are the worst in the business, and they just don't care.

There are a lot of truly exceptional shippers, who provide remarkable service, such as InterCity. There is no reason to take a risk on DAS, IMO.

Just want this here for the future in case someone doing their due diligence searches for DAS.

[asphaltgambler]

As stated above is exactly how they do it. I have been "schooled" on auto shippers. I called and started to book with yet another shipper whose price was @$450 and told them what happened and that guy started to laugh and said " Man, those guys and others do that ***** all the time!" "They bait, book and hopefully switch you the real price"

Just as interesting is that Ebay is avoiding my complaint big time. When on the phone with Ebay live the rep said it was the sellers doing. i said it absolutely was not. Go to Ebay Motors, vehicles, then just randomly select any car, truck and then click on shipping tab...........................same shippers, in order of price comes up everytime

[tchanson]

Originally Posted by McLovin

There are a lot of truly exceptional shippers, who provide remarkable service, such as InterCity. There is no reason to take a risk on DAS, IMO.

Just want this here for the future in case someone doing their due diligence searches for DAS.

+1.

I had a car shipped several thousand miles a few months ago by Intercity.

Definitely not the cheapest, but good communication at all steps from the dispatcher and the husband/wife driver team all along the way. And, most importantly, all their drivers are employees of Intercity, intead of trailers/loads being subcontracted out to God knows who at the lowest bid.

Full insurance coverage, along with a copy of the insurance cert, attached with the bid and included in the quoted price.

I wouldn't use anyone else to carry a car I cared about.






Tim

[NICKG]

i used DAS to ship my 914 from Cali to nj...they were great

[Gogar]

200 miles? That's "buddy with a trailer" distance. Sorry about your troubles.

[kaisen]

Originally Posted by McLovin

They take orders to move cars, give dates for delivery, collect money, and THEN try to figure out how to get a car somewhere.

Most auto shippers are merely brokers. They 'think' they know what a contractor will do the work for, mark it up just enough to undercut the next guy, win your business, THEN post the job on a clearinghouse. When a truck needs work, they look on the clearinghouse and subcontract. But what happens when there's no trucks needing one spot filled in that location, for that price? Your load (car) just sits there. As you've seen.

SOME (not many) auto transports actually 'own' the load and send THEIR truck to fetch your car.

[McLovin]

Originally Posted by kaisen

SOME (not many) auto transports actually 'own' the load and send THEIR truck to fetch your car.

Those are the only ones to use. Intercity, Horseless Carriage, FedEx, Thos. Sunday, and there are others.

[asphaltgambler]

You know it is close enough to tralier except I do not own a car trailer............. utimately I hired a friend of a friend with truck and trailer to arrive tomorrow evening...................$450 cash

[K9Torro]

Dude rent a U-haul car carry and go and get the damn car if you need a truck to tow the car carry they rent them too, 210 miles wtf ???

[asphaltgambler]

Uh...dude I own a shop, am very busy and can not donk-off a full day........too many more important issues for my business currently at hand. I'll know next time though

[john70t]

I hired DAS "Enclosed shiping" to ship the 911 pcar from CA to Mi. I wasn't on site.
What a mistake!

Remember, this was a couple hundred dollars premium for "enclosed"..........
-First they "lost" the car, and couldn't find it.
-It arrived weeks late.
-1/8 inch of sand on the surface.
-Small chip in the paint.
-Clutch was gone. It was was so-so/good before.
-The headliner, which was installed perfectly two years before(3M ahesive), had melted and was hanging down inside.

My guess is that someone in a NV-area transit yard had taken it for a joy ride.

[AbbyAk]

Wow,

Recently moved a car using Cascade out of WA. I Almost selected DAS. I am very happy with what I got from Cascade--enclosed, pick up within 3 days--and delivered safely within a week at a very competitive price.

A.B.

[asphaltgambler]

John, Man I guess I was lucky it did not go further........................................Kin da reminds me of other "moving" companies IE: furniture, goods, etc

I remember a story about a familys' belongings held hostage when the mover jacked the estimate up after arriving

[s_morrison57]

I used DAS and paid a big price for enclosed shipping and never got it I fought with those Priks for weeks about it until I just gave up, it was a lesson learnt the hard way, I wouldn't let DAS near any thing I own.

[cashflyer]

I know this doesn't help you now, but I have posted before on Pelican:

FedEx Auto Transport: http://passport.fedex.com/
They are both the broker and the transport company. No third party will be involved. ALL vehicles go in fully enclosed, purpose built trailers.