Terrible Experience

Frank Submitted this review about AutoStar Transport Express
Review made Live: 5/21/2013 12:51:00 PM
My uncle passed away and I decided to buy one of his cars for sentimental reason. I contacted AutoStar after reviewing others. Told the representative that it was a time issue because my aunt needed the car gone due to sale of home. I was given a price of $695.00 to transport my 1976 Cadillac Fleetwood from California to Colorado. She said that it normally takes up to 5 business days to get vehicle picked up. The price was good, the time frame was good, so I signed a contract and gave a deposit of $195.00. Then the nightmare began. Day after day, I was told they could not find a carrier. Days passed, and I was told maybe if I put more money on the deal, it would move. Needless to say, I ended up paying $845.00 to move my car. It took 22 days to pick up my car from the time it was available. Then another 11 days to get from California to Colorado. When the car arrived, it was not even brought to my place of delivery. The carrier parked a block away and around a corner! Upon unloading of the car, I noticed, (hard to miss), the brand new white vinyl top and the grill and hood covered in splattered oil! I asked the driver and he said it was on there when it was picked up. I find out that it was not on there, and that the driver actually told the person at place of origin that his carrier truck had a hydraulic leak, but it was getting fixed. My classic car, loaded on the bottom level at the tail of the truck was covered in oil! Contacted AutoStar and was informed that insurance does not cover leaks of fluids on carrier truck. So basically, brand new top needs replaced and paint is splattered with oil that will not come off.

Company Response
Mike Cannon from AutoStar Transport Express Submitted this response.
Response Date: 5/22/2013 3:38:00 PM
Hi Frank. We appreciate you taking the time to write about the transport of your vehicle and we are sorry for the problems you experienced. We worked very hard with you to find a carrier as quickly as possible on a route that was very quiet for this time of year. We make every endeavor to find a carrier at the price we quote and in this instance we also reduced our deposit to pay part of the carrier fee so that the increase in price was minimized, and that increase was only to pay the carrier, not ourselves the broker. We kept up regular communication by phone and email throughout the transport including regrettably when the carrier broke down which caused part of the delay. Unfortunately neither the carrier nor the pick up contact communicated to us that there was a problem with the truck at pickup or we would have been able to follow that up, the carrier has let us know that it is not possible for this to have been caused by the truck but potentially another vehicle they were transporting. The issue of oil leaks is covered in our contract, and although this is an industry wide exclusion, we are working with the carrier to find a suitable resolution as this type of damage is not usually permanent. AutoStar Transport and Logistics 888-802-8250