Hire an Amish with a wagon before Auto Rail - Slow but at least honest
S. Mitchell
Submitted this review about
Auto Rail Forwarders
Review made Live: 6/15/2016 8:12:00 AM
Let me begin by stating that is been one year since Auto Rail was paid to ship my vehicle and I'm fly up to pick it up myself next week to get it, as well as paying for import a second time, since Auto Rail failed to ship across the border within the 30 day timeline from US Customs the first time around. If you use Auto Rail, you can expect your vehicle to sit for months in storage (that you will be billed for) until it develops a dead battery or flat tire. One of my many mistakes was also to not winterize the vehicle in June, so when the vehicle still had not shipped in December, the diesel not have congealed in the lines. My other mistake was to not pull all of the fuses except for the starter, which caused the battery to go dead and bad after months in storage. This added another battery replacement and service fee tack on from Auto Rail, which I again had to pay for a battery replacement in April of the next year because the vehicle still had not shipped and the congealed fuel in the lines had not been address. Oh, and don't forget you will still have to pay storage fees for the next couple of month's while Auto Rail fails to ship your vehicle. This was the case until Auto Rail illegally dumped my vehicle at a Canadian Toyota dealership, without notifying the dealer, who serviced the vehicle at my request and found that the battery Auto Rail "replaced" was bad and the injectors were clogged with crap from sitting. They also found a fresh gouge on the front axle, most likely a result of tow hook looped over the drive instead of the axle or front hooks. All the while, Auto Rail was scrabbling to find a way across the border, requesting the dealer to put on dealer plates and get it across (grey market, no possibility of title) or running the vehicle through a Registered Importer and me pay the fees (not required, vehicle is older than 25 years). Auto Rail's office has no idea what they are doing, you can be more knowledgeable researching your own move on Google. The broker that originally handled this move last year said that in 15 years he has never seen a move as bad as Auto Rail and would refuse to service them. Once you finally have had it, demanded a refund and contacted an attorney, Auto Rail will then tell you that the amount of storage bills and service charges exceed what is required to ship your vehicle and you need to make alternate arrangements for delivery as they calculate the amount you owe for them having to store your vehicle (God knows where, they won't tell you - I only found out because the police department called on an abandon vehicle dumped at a dealership) due to their own incompetence. So, not only will Auto Rail not perform on contract, everything will be your fault and you will be billed for it. Then your attorney will tell you that the owner Gerry will refuse to pay out any court determined settlement, so you're probably wasting your time. You could call and complain, but you will never receive nor be able to talk on the phone with anyone after your order has been placed. So do yourself a favor, find an honest Amish with a horse team and a cart that can wagon your vehicle. It may take longer, but you will actually receive what you pay for and it will still be faster than using Auto Rail. Auto Rail is the poster child reason why Canada needs to regulate freight companies. I've read Auto Rail's response (post-mortem) and they ship 1,000s of cars a year...So what? I only care about 1 car and they failed miserably. No, my failure, this company is a scam and I should have done more research.
Since the failures from Auto Rail have responded, let me be clear. The vehicle was not taken to a Toyota Dealership in Sarnia at my request. It was dumped there by Auto Rail's truck without my knowledge or the dealership's knowledge. The Sarnia Police department had to call me to confirm if the vehicle was stolen and I made a deal with the dealership to service the vehicle to keep it out of impound. Vehicles that sit for a year while waiting for shipment can develop flat tires and dead batteries and should not be required to be in storage for a year because Auto Rail is incompetent to arrange for shipment. WHAT AUTO RAIL FORWARDS WAS NOT ABLE TO ARRANGE IN ONE YEAR MY OFFICE COMPLETED IN FOUR DAYS WITH GOOGLE RESEARCH. This company is a scam, avoid at all costs.
