Again please ... Shipping / Transport companies?

[fastlanecutie]

Hi guys!

Didn't keep notes previously on this topic which i have seen posted here a couple of times ... but, i am looking for the most reliable shipping co., with the best rates ...

I believe i will need to ship from Fenton, MI to Houston, TX. Dependable Auto Shippers quoted me $649 which I did not think was at all bad ... but just in case, does anyone know of anyone who would do it for less, who is dependable? And/or does anyone here have personal experience with DAS?

Thanks!!!

[MotoSook]

$649 is a good price, but I can't comment on quality of service.

[fastlanecutie]

Yeah Souk - i thought so too. They keep sending me e-mails though that say: The quote we sent you is about to expire . Hope they don't jack' it up by a couple of $100's after the fifteen day period from quote. Getting PPI this week if weather ever clears up where car is at!!!

[cactusdtd]

FLC (abbreviation for fastlanecutie)......I shipped from Houston to South Carolina using DAS. Very professional service. Could tell me where car was while enroute. Very thorough with inspection before loading and at my unloading. Would recommend.

[NOH20]

fastlanecutie,

Bad weather is on it's way. We are expecting 8 - 10" of snow starting tomorrow through Thursday. Sorry.

[fastlanecutie]

Thanks, cactus!

Noh: I know. Checked weather in the area and spoke with/e-mailed with seller amd jmar today. Not looking good. seller says he will take to ppi shop as long as no salt on the road, but weather station said snow, so i doubt that there will be no salt . On a good note, j and seller did finally speak and each thinks each other is a 'good guy'. J said fri to view - will you also be able to go? Let me know! I am such an impatient person that I've been tempted to just say the heck with it and just ship it, but don't want to regret it in the long run .......

Noah: Appreciate the link. will visit it now. Thx!

[fastlanecutie]

Noah: Wow. thx again

[frankc]

I just had my M3 shipped from Houston to Cleveland in November with DAS. I'm sorry to say that I'm not a happy customer. The people in the office and claims department are very nice and curteous. I think the problems lie with the people actually transporting the vehicles.

The people from the towing company (not DAS) that picked up the car from my house in Houston were very nice and very careful with the car - especially when loading it onto the flatbed. Upon arrival in Cleveland (10 days later!), everything appeared ok. When the flatbed driver unloaded the car, the front spoiler got hung up on the ramp because he didn't use any blocks of wood to ease it down. I was standing there watching and his reply was "they're designed to give a little bit". Then, when he opened the door, the first thing I saw was that there was a piece of my center console missing. On the BMW E36, the center console has a coin holder integrated into it. Instead of the thief simply stealing the $1 worth of coins, he/she/it simply took the whole trim piece! At first DAS did not want to pay for a replacement saying that I shouldn't leave anything in the car, but I had to explain to them that this was PART OF the car with a BMW part number. No different than if somebody were to unbolt a seat and take it.

There was also a small nick in the driver's door, that they sent out an adjuster for without a problem.

These things weren't so bad, but a couple of weeks later I was under the car replacing an exhaust hanger and noticed strands of body undercoating hanging down under the driver's seat area. Looking at the floor pan I was shocked to find that there was a huge scrap starting from about the pedal area and getting deeper until finally coming to a rest at a body seam near the rear seat. The impact near the rear seat area was so bad that it dented the floor panel up and ripped open the body seam. I know that this was not there before the car was picked up because I was under the car with a mechanic a few days before it was picked up in Houston doing a pre-purchase inspection. And I was the only one to drive it since it was picked up in Cleveland. The M3 is low (but stock height) and DAS said there would be no problem with it. I assume one of the drivers got hung up on something and decided to just "keep going". Some people may not care about the bottom of their car too much, but I do.

I sent DAS an email about the damage under the car, but by that time they had already sent me the check (which I have not deposited) for the door and coin box. I have not heard back from them yet and plan to follow up with another email soon.

Just to be fair, I also used DAS about 7 years ago to move my 911 to Texas from Ohio. The car was being picked up directly from Stoddards body shop where it was just painted, so the car was perfect and any damage would be easy spot. There were a few nicks, but nothing major. My only complaint was that the car was supposed to be transported in a covered trailer, and when I picked it up (directly from the trailer) it was open - and *very* dirty. We could not do the delivery inspection because it was so dirty.

I need to move the 911 back to Ohio now, and I am negotiating with my relo company to use a private hauler door-to-door, and I will pay the difference.

Just my $.02

Frank

[Max Von]

Intercity Lines. In my opinion, they are the most dependable and professional. I've shipped cross country three times with no problems and total confidence. Not inexpensive but you get what you pay for.

[steve911]

FLC - I used DAS 3+ years ago when I bought my Targa. Had it shipped from Houston to SF and they did do move it in a covered carrier.

Sorry to hear about the less than perfect experiences you other guys had with them.

YMMV

[Rufblackbird]

Pay for my plane tickets and I'll drive it for you

[fastlanecutie]

Thanks again guys. Went through some off of link noah posted and will wait for quotes from some, but 'instant quotes' ranged from $1,003 to $1,318, with FedEx Transporters and Intercity being the highest. I was however impressed with Intercity's website and links to customer comments, etc.

Frank: So sorry about your car - that just sucks. noah is right however, be persistent - that is not anything that should be ignored. case in point (although totally different altogether), several months back, i bought a Zenith 52" LCD TV, to which i hooked up my home pc and all my game systems to. Alot of the appeal to me was the fact that i could hook up my pc to it and in essence, have a 52" monitor. After a while though, images began to 'burn into' my screen, even though that "is not supposed to happen with an LCD tv". Anyway, i contacted Zenith the other night and today i received an e-mail that says: "Thank you for inquiring of LG Electronics. We regret that you are experiencing a problem with your Zenith product. For further assistance, you will need to contact a service center near you. In the event that you cannot locate a service center, please call (877) 993-6484 for Zenith Customer Service assistance. Image burn does not occur with an LCD TV as there is no phosphor tubes." Well, this did not sound right - after all, the image burn IS there, and not just a little, but a lot, so i ran a search for image burn on the zenith model and sure enough there were other complaints about the same thing. One guy said it cost him $1,600 to have it repaired, not once, but twice. Oh heck no - there is no way i am paying that, so i have taken pictures (in which every image is clearly discernable) and will send it to LG/Zenith tomorrow. I am not one who believes in frivelous / frivilous (sp?) schemes or anything of the sort to obtain something for nothing, but will be adamant with them in terms of getting it corrected. You should do the same and best of luck!

[Jeffra]

DAS is very good. I've used them previously and they are very dependable and rates were competitive.

[biergoat]

I also shipped my car via DAS. No problems and a great rate to boot!