Your car is now in: Frankfort, Illinois

Your car is now in: Frankfort, Illinois

So far so good with DAS – Dependable Auto Shippers. They’ve gone about 340 of the 2400 miles.

They are who are bringing my car out, and are one of 4 shippers recommended by ebay motors. In talking to a few folks about auto shippers, here’s what I learned:

  • Happy Bob drives it: Never NEVER use the services where someone drives it out to you unless you don’t care about the car. They pay some kid/person with a license (hopefully) to just drive your car. One friend had their car totaled when the driver got t-boned just a few blocks from the destination. Another friend said he got his car – and it was full of wrappers, McDonalds bags, and other filth, etc. The guy had probably been sleeping in the car most of the way, and smoked about 10 cigars a day. He never did get the smells/cigar smoke out – not to mention the new ‘mystery stains’. And when he complained, nothing ever came of it. The guys that do this are usually the kind of folks who would have taken Greyhound, but found a way to do the drive and make a bit of cash while doing it. They may not have even had to pass a background screen.
    • Good: super-cheap
    • Bad:
      • You add all the mileage and wear/tear of the trip
      • No tracking – it’ll arrive when they feel like it’ll arrive.
      • Don’t know if the person driving will treat your car with any more respect than a rental – odds aren’t good if they’re doing this for a living…
      • God only knows how/where it’ll be driven and what will happen in your car along the way.
  • Generic car carriers: Most of these car carrier companies will quote you based on mileage because they don’t transport the car themselves. They just call up the pool of truck drivers and find anyone to carry your car. These are the most cost-effective way, but you don’t know who will be carrying it.
    • Good:
      • car is carried – no mileage or wear/tear added
      • Usually fully insured against damage/collision
    • Bad:
      • The guy that transports your car is the one who would take the least amount of money. Nuff said.
      • You have no clue who has got your car at any time – and the carrier usually has no idea where it is since they’re pairing out the work to whomever. One coworker thought they lost his car when it didn’t arrive and no call came 5 days after expected delivery date. (the company just kept saying ‘It’s in transit’). His car showed up weeks late – and no explanation of where it had been.
      • It might be sitting in the parking lot in downtown Detroit all night if that’s where the driver parked it to swap off with another guy.
      • Getting damage claims may be a nightmare, as they’ll need to track down the guy that had the car during the damage – and everyone can circle point or never respond until you give up.
  • DAS or owner/carriers – these guys own the trucks and the distribution centers.
    • Good:
      • no mileage/wear/tear – nobody driving it around.
      • carried by guys with good insurance – and since they had it the whole time – no way to back out.
      • Written inspection before acceptance and sign-off required after delievery.
      • You could pay a bit more for a top-load or even closed sides to avoid road debris (I went top load for $150 more)
      • Cars kept at their distribution centers between hauls – so they aren’t just sitting out somewhere.
      • online tracking
    • Bad:
      • not always the cheapest, but mine was within 10% of regular carrier
      • Seems to take a bit longer – 3-4 weeks estimated for me.

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