Auto Transportation Information

When getting quotes from several companies, many of our customers ask us what the difference is between the cheap guys and the more expensive quotes. Going with a "cheap quote" can often lead to the following situation.


Auto transport company leaves seniors guessing

Reported by: Shannon Cake Email: scake@wptv.com Photographer: Jim Sitton Last Update: 6/18 8:30 am

(WPTV Staff)
Click the video player to the right to watch the story
WEST PALM BEACH, FL -- Snowbirds who flock south in the fall and settle up north during the summer are calling and writing Contact 5.
They are frantic and worried about some of their most expensive possessions.Shannon Cake has been tracking the complaints about a local auto transport company that promised quick deliveries but instead, left a lot of seniors waiting.
It wasn’t adding up to Palm Beach Gardens resident Elana Lowy.
“They’ve been waiting 6 weeks for their car and have been told its coming, but no car!”
Her parents say they paid Auto Transport America in West Palm Beach almost $700 to ship their car to their summer home in New Jersey. Their contract promised four to seven transport days, but Lowy’s mom, Esther Schnitzler, said it’s taking a lot longer.
“I've been calling for the past two to three weeks; I can never speak to a living person! Finally my daughter went a week ago and spoke to someone. They said our car wasn't in their lot and it was on a transporter in Virginia. They said your car will be delivered tomorrow. Tomorrow will be 4 weeks and still no car!” Schnitzer said.
The biggest problem: Schnitzer's walker and cane are packed inside her car.So her daughter, Elana, decided to make another visit to the shipping company last Saturday. This time, she spotted her parent's car!
“The whole time it was in their lot,” said Lowy.
Contact Five has learned there are other families facing a similar run-around.
"We've received 20-to-30 complaints on this but we're in an unusual situation because this is actually a civil matter,” said Chase Scott, spokesman for the City of West Palm Beach.
Scott said the city would like to get involved but it has no jurisdiction. It turns out, missing cars for a bunch of seniors doesn't constitute a criminal case.
But when Contact Five did some checking, we found Auto Transport America had an "F" rating at the Better Business Bureau and The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, which licenses transport companies, recently revoked the company's brokers license.
When we stopped by the business, and inside at the company's counter, more seniors were asking questions about their cars.
"I just don't know what the real information is,” said Stephanie Barchat.
We tried speaking with the man standing behind the counter at the shipping company.
We asked employees to have the owners and managers of Auto Transport America contact us, but never heard back from anyone.
Employees at The Department of Transportation told us when a company's license is involuntary revoked, the company is allowed to complete deliveries, but they can't sign any new contracts with new customers.

Imagine you own a business and within a 3 year period your cost of services sold (the hard cost to perform the service) more than doubles. Truckers all over the country are facing this harsh reality everyday. What once cost truck drivers $0.25 per mile to fuel their trucks is now costing $1 for every single mile they drive. Drivers that once paid $25,000-30,000 per year per truck for fuel now pay over $100,000 per year per truck just to put diesel in their tanks. And rest assured, the freight rates have not come close to keeping up with the increase. The consumers have only recieved a taste of what the individual drivers are facing.

In the recent months, we have seen a significant increase in business from our friends to the North in Canada. While many of our competitors ignore these customers, we at Teeter Auto Transport specialize in moving cars from the U.S. to Canada. As with our U.S. customers, many of our Canadian customers are first time shippers and are unsure of the process. That is why we will dedicate this post to you.

Most everything you need to know about importing your new purchase can be found by visiting two websites. They are http://www.tc.gc.ca/roadsafety/importation/impusae.htm and http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/publications/pub/bsf5048-eng.html . I will highlight some of the major points.

1. How old is your vehicle. Vehicles newer than 15 years old must be approved by checking with the Canadian Registrar of Imported Vehicles (RIV). This list can be accessed by clicking on http://www.tc.gc.ca/roadsafety/importation/VAFUS/list/VAFUS.pdf .
   
2. Get a recall letter from the manufacturer or dealer before the car is shipped. Also, have the dealer perform any modifications such as day time running lights, light color (amber, red, clear), etc.
   
3. Make sure the U.S. border receives a copy of the title and Bill of Sale at least 72 hours prior to the vehicle arriving at the border.
   
4. If you are not experienced with importing vehicles, call a Customs Broker to handle the paperwork for you. This will ensure that the vehicle will be able to cross the border with little hassle. A complete list of Customs Brokers can be found by clicking on http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/services/cb-cd/menu-eng.html
   
5. At the border, you will be required to pay the G.S.T. tax and the R.I.V. fee. These fees are determined by the vehicle and the price that was paid for the vehicle.

While there are many more intricacies that are involved with importing a vehicle to Canada, this will at least get you started. The main thing to remember is to be educated about what you are doing and ask questions. If you don't understand, make sure you are talking to a company that is teaching you, not selling you.

For more information about importing a car into Canada, please call our offices at 402-933-3618 or email me at jerry@omahatransport.com . Have a great week.

Jerry Teeter, President
Teeter Auto Transport, Inc.
www.omahatransport.com

Labels: auto transport, auto transportation, Canada, importing car to Canada

Is my car covered while being transported? What does the insurance cover? Who's insurance provides coverage?

These are common questions we at Teeter Auto Transport recieve on a daily basis. The unfortunate reality is that most brokers do not give accurate information about insurance when their customers ask about it. The most common question is, "Is the car covered by insurance during the process?" The most common answer that most brokers give is, "Yes, the drivers carry $1,000,000 in coverage" and "The car is 100% covered." While these two statements are mostly true, the answers are very mis-leading. Just like automobile insurance, truckers are required by law to maintain LIABILITY Insurance of $1,000,000 or more. The truth is, this liability insurance does you the customer no good. The type of coverage that covers the vehicles on the trailer is called CARGO insurance. This type of insurance is not required by law, so it is very important to find out what level of Cargo Insurance the driver carries. Most drivers carry between $250,000-$350,000 in coverage for open and $500,000-$1,000,000 for enclosed.

Another important point that many brokers fail to point out is who is liable in the event of damage. The driver or company that physically hauls the vehicle is responsible for any damage that is done to the vehicle. If they fail to pay for it outside of insurance, then it is their insurance that will be responsible. It is at this point that the good brokers are seperated from the bad ones. In the event of damage, a good broker will assist you in filing the insurance claim and overseeing that process to make sure your car gets returned to its pre-damage state. Unfortunatly, most of the brokers out there, especially your discount ones, will simply give you the insurance companies name and number and tell you that you are on your own. From a legal standpoint, you hire a broker to connect you with a driver. The placement of your vehicle with a driver is the point that the broker is no longer obligated.

Another mis-conception is what is covered on the car. The drivers insurance will cover damage that he causes to the vehicle. This includes dents, scratches, broken glass, vandalism, theft, or physical damage. The things that aren't covered are rock chips, acts of god, fluid leakage from other vehicles, and weather related damage. Many brokers will try to sell you on a "$0 deductable policy" for an extra fee. We recomend that you maintain your own insurance on the vehicle which is much cheaper and better coverage than any policy that you would buy.

If rock chips, weather related damage, fluid leakage, or acts of God are a huge concern, you should ship the car in an enclosed carrier. In an enclosed truck, you eliminate the possibility for many of these types of damages. The cost difference between open and enclosed is far cheaper than dealing with an insurance claim.

Next post will contain information on how you as the consumer can verify a drivers insurance, the brokers repuation, and many other things. Stay tuned.

Jerry Teeter, President
Teeter Auto Transport, Inc.

Labels: auto transport, insurance, transport damage, transporter

Congratulations! You've bought your car, the paperwork is done, and you've found a shipping company that seems to be good. How do you verify that they are reputable without relying on their sales pitch?

There are several questions you can ask your broker that will help you get the information you need.

1. How long have they been in business?
2. Are they members of the Better Business Bureau and what is their status?
3. Are they a door-to-door service or a terminal service? AVOID TERMINAL SERVICES AT ALL COST--more on that later.
4. Who are some of their major clients and how often do they haul for those clients.
5. What is their MC, or Motor Carrier number. Every broker and carrier is required by law to have this. It is important to get this number.
6. If your car is damaged, how will they handle the claim? If they brush this off or tell you its up to the driver, they will most likely leave you to handle it by yourself. While it is the drivers responsibility, they should help you through the process.
7. Are they members of any consumer review sites? Remember, don't trust the "testimonial" pages that most websites have. These are hand selected and sometimes fictitious reviews. You want review sites from real customers that the company has no control of what is said.
8. What is the drivers Cargo Insurance Limit? Most brokers will try to sell you on the fact that their drivers carry $1 million in insurance coverage. The $1 million coverage they are talking about is Liability Insurance and does you as the customer NO good. Your car is covered by the Cargo Insurance policy and drivers are not required by law to carry this type of insurance or to have a certain level of it. Most drivers will carry between $250,000 to $350,000 for Open transport and $350,000 to $500,000 for Enclosed transport.
9. Ask if they are willing to supply you with their drivers MC number and certificate of insurance once they hire a company to haul your car. This way you can check out the actual company that is in possession of your car.

As you are asking these questions, listen to how they respond. Are they selling you or teaching you? Are they telling you what they think you want to hear or are they giving you accurate information. As the consumer, you want a company that will teach you about the process, not sell you on the most expensive package they can.

Once you have this information, you can verify a few things. Go to the following websites and see if what they are telling you matches up:

1. Better Business Bureau. http://www.bbb.com/ Check their status and how many complaints they have received and how many are unresolved.
2. Consumer Review Sites. One that has most of the major brokers is Transport Reviews (http://www.transportreviews.com/). There are many more out their but make sure that the company you choose is on at least one of these sites with a minimum of 25 reviews. If you can not find any information about a broker other than his website, be cautious.
3. Federal Motor Carrier Administration (http://li-public.fmcsa.dot.gov/LIVIEW/pkg_menu.prc_menu) From this page click "Cancel" then from the drop down menu click "Carrier Search." This is where you put in the Broker or Carriers MC Number and it will tell you when they came into business, who their insurance or bond is through, and if their authority is active or not.

This will get you started in making an educated decision on your transport company. Next post we will dive into insurance issues.

Have a great Easter Weekend!!

Jerry Teeter

Brokers, Carriers, and Independent Drivers. Aren't they all the same? What is the difference? How do I know if the company I am talking to is the company with the actual trucks or the middle man?

These are all common questions we get at Teeter Auto Transport. To put it simply, independent drivers are usually 1 or 2 truck operations that has the owner in the drivers seat. Carriers are larger trucking companies that have multiple trucks running along with a dispatcher available at their base location. Brokers do not own any trucks. They solicit business then hire it out to 3rd party trucking companies to perform the service.

Each type of transport company has positives and negatives. The important thing to look at when choosing is transport company is their reputation. Like I stated in an earlier post, basing your decision on price is very dangerous. As far as the types of carriers, I will outline the good and bad of each:

1. Brokers: If you go to the Internet to look for a transporter, nearly every company that comes up on the search engines are brokers. The growing popularity of buying cars online has provided opportunity for less than reputable brokers to set up shop. Many times, these people do not have any direct experience in or around an auto transport trucks. They simply see an opportunity to make an easy buck. There are good brokers out there but they are few and far between. Most good brokers are former drivers or currently continue to operate their own trucks. They understand fuel cost, maintenance, licensing fees, insurance, tolls, etc. They don't get sucked into price wars just to collect your deposit. Generally the will run $100-$300 over the average broker.
   
2. Carriers: These are the guys that operate multiple trucks. Most carriers do not advertise much because they depend on their own customer base of dealers, auctions, and brokers that they work with to get their loads. Generally you will get a cheaper rate by going direct to the carrier, however, you will either have to wait until they put together an entire load before your car goes on the truck. Also, since most auto transport carriers are less than 20 trucks, it is like finding a needle in a haystack to locate a carrier with a truck in a specific area during the time you need going in the direction you live. The last mis-conception on going direct to the carrier is that by going direct they are more reliable. There are many drivers out there that are habitually late, carry high damage ratios, and are not friendly. By finding a good broker, they can make sure that the driver that hauls your car has a good reputation through a rating system similar to eBay.
   
3. Independent Drivers: Most of these are owner-operators that run 1 or 2 trucks. They do everything from the seat of their truck as they drive all over the country. They, like carriers, have their own customer base along with getting freight from brokers. The only difference between an independent driver and a carrier is the size of the company.

In Closing, all three types of transport companies have good and bad companies within. Base your decision on the company that takes the time to explain the process, makes you feel comfortable, and has a proven track record through outside sources such as the BBB and Internet review sites.

Next post will contain links and more information on how to verify a companies validity.

Jerry Teeter

Labels: auto transport, broker, car, carriers, shipping, transporter