Company Response Review Report Review
How to use Amerifreight successfully (any transport broker)

Chris Submitted this review about AmeriFreight Car Shipping
Review made Live: 1/18/2010 11:38:00 PM
Amerifreight was totally polite, responsive, all that. Questions via email were answered same-day if not same-hour. Raechel and Amy were my contacts and they addressed all my retentive questions and concerns. This was my first car ship and I would use them again.

Most complaints I've read concern carrier nightmares like scheduling conflicts, bad/no communication, etc. Help yourself by contacting Amerifreight any time you have a question. Same with the carrier once that's set up. I talked to the guy three times between NJ and KC. It worked out perfectly because everyone knew what to expect. Make sure the shipper/seller on the other end knows EXACTLY what's going on. Daily contact even if nothing changed. If you get a bad carrier, that's just the breaks. Try and make it work.

My advice for using Amerifreight (or any carrier in general) is to just go with Priority shipping immediately or whatever program they have in place to get better bait out there for your car. The initial flat rate of, in my case, $500 was a bit of a tease I think. I don't blame Amerifreight one bit but I wonder how many pickups actually occur at that initial cheap rate? I would guess that rate would be fairly low but, of course, I have no idea. All the carriers know how the system works so why would any of them pick up your car for X when they can just ignore it for 5 days or so and get it for X + Y? I would bet that there are more cars to be moved at any given time than there are spaces on carriers so why take less than maximum if you were a carrier?

The day after I switched to Priority my car got picked up and it was delivered in two business days in fine fashion. I had an awesome carrier who I bs'd with for probably twenty minutes after the drop off. If Amerifreight would have just said "Hey listen man, NO ONE is going to pick up your car unless you pay for Priority" I would have truly appreciated it and paid that second and would have shaved 8-9 days of wondering off the whole timeline. I wasn't on a timeiline so I just figured it would get there eventually. I bumped to priority because I just had to have my new car faster out of nothing more than impatience.

If time is a factor, do not go less than Priority. If you have time to just see what happens and have loads of patience, just use the basic agreement and hope that there is a bored carrier out there.

Aside from that, obviously don't send personal checks for things like car purchase payments, have your bank make a certified check and send cert'd Fedex or something that has to be signed for. Send the check with the purchase paperwork so they receive both at the same time, signed for. Don't use debit cards for down payments if you have to give a card number, credit card only for your own protection. Insure everything, loans, cert'd checks, the CAR.

Use your head and manage expectations. Good luck.
Shipment Details
Origin State:
New Jersey
Pickup:
On Time
Destination State:
Kansas
Delivery:
On Time
Customer Service
Honesty:
Knowlegeable:
Promptness:
Customer Service:
Review Details
Quote or Order Id:
912001679-UT
Quote or Order Cost:
$750

Company Response
AmeriFreight from AmeriFreight Car Shipping Submitted this response.
Response Date: 1/19/2010 12:07:00 AM
We appreciate this type of feedback from our customers. It is very descriptive and the effort shown in leaving a review of this kind is commendable. We do want to comment on the economy rate option. It is true that this is a lower rate than carriers would choose to move at, but if they are lacking a vehicle to fill a load they will consider a lower than normal rate. In fact almost 70% of our customers who choose this rate get it moved. Unfortunately that is not the same for others and we therefore have the option for customers to upgrade once they have at least tried moving at a lower rate. We are always upfront about what the implications are when opting for the economy rate and always recommend the priority rate as the best option for shipping your vehicle, especially if time is of importance.