66 Vette from PA to MN
Jason
Submitted this review about
Specialty Mobile Systems
Review made Live: 6/25/2008 11:10:00 PM
Don't get me wrong moving a vehicle is an arduous tasks; in most cases a necessary evil. The more your research, the more that you realize that you do not want to hand over the keys to a beater, never mind a classic, or the only car that you own.
I was looking for door to door service from PA into Alberta Canada. Realizing how difficult that was, and that not very many companies did this service directly (without your car sitting in a depot facility) I opted to try PA to MT. That sat on the boards for over 14 days with out any company picking it up. On day 14 I contacted SMS to see what the status was. It would have been great if they contacted me, but in my overall impression of SMS this did not hurt my ranking. Realizing that no one was going to drive it to MT, I spoke with Natasha and we opted to add several different locations, she was fantastic to work with. It was not 15 mins later that we had a hit on one of our destinations. As it worked out, one of the options was to move the car from PA to MN, and then we would have to complete the rest of the transportation by ourselves; not ideal, but doable.
Throughout the transportation I spoke with the driver more than 3 times, he also contacted the seller in PA and a third party person that I arranged drop off with. The driver was delayed by weather, by almost 24 hours, but through good communication, we were all aware.
SMS worked extremely well with me. I placed some restrictions on the driver, in terms of when the car was available for pick up, and when it could be dropped off; they worked around them. The driver was excellent, and I had his cell phone number if I ever needed it. They even allowed me to pay by billing, as I was not going to be on site to receive the car once it was dropped off.
I can not say enough about SMS and the work they did for me. I am happy, and my car was in the same condition as the last time I saw it.
Things to know about transporting a car:
1) Do your research - best place to look is online. Read reviews, and ask questions.
2) Realize that in some instances you may not be able to get your vehicle right to the location that you are looking for, unless you are willing to pay a hefty premium.
3) Realize that there are companies that are brokers, there are companies that are carriers, and there are companies that do both.
4) If you go with a straight broker, realize that you are handing over money to a company that really has no vested interest in you vehicle. Even though you pay them a lot of money, they are going to try and find the cheapest carrier, so that they make the most money. That to me is not a good situation to place your vehicle in.
5) Ask who is carrying you vehicle. If you go with a broker / carrier ask them who will be doing it. Chances are that the company that you hire will not run a truck into the area that you are looking for. You need to know who has your car, and who to contact.
Bottom line is if you have no experience in moving a vehicle, it is going to be a leap of faith. Educating yourself with all of the terms, and by asking the right questions, you will be able to weed out the good carriers from the bad.
If you are looking for a good enclosed carrier, I highly recommend Specialty Mobile Systems.
