North Carolina to Washington State
Paul
Submitted this review about
Agape Auto Transport LLC
Review made Live: 4/17/2008 11:41:00 AM
This was my first time having a car transported. I was a little apprehensive considering all of the horror stories I have heard. But, I went ahead and jumped in with both feet.
My criteria was pretty simple. I wanted my vehicle to get to me undamaged. But, I didn't want to wait forever to get it. I wanted a reasonable price. But, I didn't plan on taking the lowest price (you get what you pay for) and yet I didn't want to get taken to the cleaners either. Most importantly, I wanted a company with integrity.
My first step was to do research. After several days of on-line research I was ready to delve in. I submitted my requirements to some website that requested quotes from anybody and everybody. My inbox was soon full. Most of the quotes were within $200 of each other. I weeded out the more expensive ones and also tossed the lowest quote when I discovered they had three different websites. Something just didn't seem right with that company. Then I began to read on transportreviews about each of the companies that were close together in their quotes. I looked at their overall rating. If it was 4.5 or better, then I read all the reviews that were bad. I wanted to see how they dealt with problems. This is because it is likely that something will go wrong in the transport of a vehicle from one coast to the other. Most of the rebuttals from the companies either blamed the customer or else explained why nothing was their fault. Then I saw Agape Auto Transport. Their big claim was that they were a Christian outfit. Being a Christian myself, I explored their reviews. I was pleased to see that, for the most part, they accepted responsibility when something went wrong and tried to resolve it. And ultimately, that is why I chose their company. I have dealt with Christian companies before who simply slap a fish on their bumper and expect you to come running to them with your money. Agape seemed to actually hold themselves to the higher standard. By the way, they were toward the lower end of the transport quotes. So, I called them up and booked the order.
It took two days until I received notification of who would be transporting my car (Agape is only a broker) and when they would be picking it up and dropping it off. The company was Jimmy Hopkins Trucking out of North Carolina. My car wasn't picked up as scheduled. So, I called the next day. I got the driver (Jimmy Hopkins himself) and he was there picking it up at the dealership I had bought it from. He said they didn't have it ready the day before. As it turns out, it was ready. But, the driver thought the dealership should do a better job prepping the car for me (as in fixing paint chips, etc.). The driver was great in that he treated my car as if it was his own. Obviously, he doesn't want to pay for any damages, so he was very careful with my car.
The delivery date came and went (I added one day to it since the car was picked up one day late). Nobody called or emailed me. That is my only complaint about Agape is that they are reactive in their communication instead of proactive. But, I fully understand that they are probably used to dealing with dealers who don't care about proactive communication. I thought it would have been nice to elect to receive a daily status update (via email, phone, or whatever). But, I understand why they don't. However, some of the other companies do provide this service.
After the vehicle was a day late, I called the driver. He explained he had been delayed a day because of an ice storm. I was fine with that. This is what I mean about being flexible. Would you rather have your car damaged in an ice storm or have it delivered a day or two late? I'll go for getting it undamaged. When talking with him, he said I could expect my car the next morning. The next morning and afternoon came and went and still no car. So I called him again. This time he had gotten stopped at a weight station for being overweight (he had just filled up with diesel, which just put him over the top). In Washington State, they won't let the truckers leave until they get back under weight. So he was waiting for another truck to come take one of the vehicles. As soon as it did, he delivered our car that night (after first asking if it was okay to do so or if we preferred it in the morning). Agape also called us that evening to let us know what was happening.
When unloading the car, we could tell the driver cared about each vehicle. Our vehicle was a little dirty from the trip. But, it was undamaged. We paid and went home very happy.
As I said earlier, when you ship your vehicle from one coast to the other, you can expect some things to go wrong. And that is why I selected Agape. They, and the auto transport company they contracted to, handled those situations well. We were very pleased with both Agape Auto Transport and Jimmy Hopkins Trucking.
