BigApe

Anyone familiar with TheAutoShip.com??Just trying to see if anyone has ever used this shipper before? thanks

machild

I have only shipped one car last summer. My take away from from the process of doing that is (and I may be wrong about some or all of this) all of the so called shipping companies are nothing more than brokers and as such they come and go with the moon cylces. As a broker they skim their fee off the top and once that has happened you will have no contract with them and they will likely not return your phone calls. The actual transport company seems to be a one guy and his truck setup. There is a bullentin board that the brokers post their deals that he watches, bids on deals, and picks up cars to be transported as he is in certain areas. Prices between the broker and the truck driver is often negotiated throw the bid process.

My cost to move a car from the Portland, OR area to the Northern Virginia area outside Washington, DC was $1,550. When I accepted the broker's terms I paid him $150 and when the car was delivered to me I paid the driver $1,400. You can clearly see the broker's vig (fee) and the drivers compensaton. I don't think there is any deeper connection between the broker and the transport guy than that. I hope that the broker knows if there is a problem driver out there (I can't imagine there isn't some level of chatter about the so-called guy that fell asleep and all the cars were destroyed) but money drives these deals. A driver that has some issue just bids lower which puts more in the broker's pocket and and the driver is still moving cars - issues or not.

Bottom line, make sure the driver has plenty of insurance to cover all the cars they are moving at any time so when stuff hits the fan you can recover your loss. That and faith is what you have. I hope this is helpful.