Autozipper was good choice.
David Y.
Submitted this review about
AutoZipper
Review made Live: 2/2/2007 8:17:00 PM
Thanks for everyone that has contributed to this forum! After carefully reviewing comments from this forum, I narrowed my choice between 2 vendors - Specialty Mobile and Autozipper (both of them have good feedback from this forum), to ship a BWM Z4 from NY (Long Island) to CA (LA). I called both vendors and got quotes from both of them. Specialty Mobile quote was $1195 and Autozipper was $995. I wasn't really looking for the cheapest one, instead, I was looking for a vendor that I feel comfortable to handle the transaction. After asking a long list of questions and concerns that I had in mind to both vendors, I selected Autozipper because Brain gave me the confidence that I was looking for. He listens and answers all my questions, promptly and professionally.
So I place my order with Autozipper on 1/8/07 and the next day he found a trucking company to haul my car. On the 10th at night, the trucker went to my brother's house to pick up the car and told my brother that he needed to drive the Z4 to George Washington bridge area for loading. (FYI, that's a good 40-50 miles drive.) My brother was caught off guard on this request because he thought it's a door to door service. He was expecting a flat-bed truck to handle the local transportation or he would drive to the drop off location if it's close by but not a 50-miles drive-off. So my brother called me immediately and I got a hold of Brian right away to get this issue squared away. While I was talking to Brain to figure out the issue, my brother told me on the other phone line that the trucker was really pushy and had a bad attitude. My brother really didn't feel comfortable to proceed with that guy. I told Brain about that and we all agreed to call off the pick up at that night. Brain told me that he would immediately look another trucking company to haul the Z4.
Two days later, Brain told me that he located Blue Angel Express to haul my car. He told me this time the pick up location is very close to my brother's house in Long Island and they will send a flat-bed truck to pick up the car. My brother asked if he could drive to that location to load the car and Blue Angel said that fine. The drop of location is a towing company parking lot and someone there will do the pre-delivery inspection. My brother scheduled to drop the car on 1/15/07. He droved the car there in the morning but the worker at that location said he couldn’t do the pre-delivery inspection due to the weather. It was drizzling lightly in NY that morning, but the guy put down on the bill of lading stating it's raining and heavy fog and asked my brother to leave the car that location until tomorrow when the actual trucking arrives. My brother didn't feel right and called me immediately. When I got the call, I contacted Paul @ Blue Angel Express right away and he said we can drop off the car tomorrow when the truck arrives instead of leaving the car at that location. So my brother drove the car home. At that night, my brother got a phone call from the trucker and he gave my brother the drop off time. Next day, my brother drove to the drop off location, the trucker inspected the car and load up the car at that time. Finally it went well.
Over the next few days, I called Paul @ Blue Angel to check the status. He was able to tell me the approximate location of the truck. He told me that his driver was trying to beat the storm in the Midwest area. 4 days later at Saturday, I got a phone call from Paul to let me know that my car will be delivery on Sunday and I should expect a phone call from the trucker for the exact location and time of delivery. However, the delivery didn't happen on Sunday. Then I contacted Paul and asked him if i could change the delivery location to the LA downtown area. He said NO because his driver had been scheduled to delivery my car at my house and the route was planned and it's impossible to change. So I said that fine but I need the driver to give me a few hours of head-up so I can come home to pick up the car.
Instead, I got a phone call on Monday around 1 pm in the afternoon, the driver told me that he will drop off my car in the downtown area at around 2 pm. I didn't expect the car to be dropped off in the middle of the day without giving me a head-up. I asked if he can wait until 5 pm but Paul told me that my car was the last car on the truck and the driver had been on the road for 15 days and he really needed to drop off the car soon. So I had no choice but to comply. The driver told me to exit Alameda off 10 and his truck was there waiting for me. When I arrived, I was shocked that the 18 wheelers stopped right in the middle of the street - the cross over area and the driver unloaded my car right there, in the middle of the street. I had no choice but to watch it and hoped for the best. Luckily, it went fine and nothing bad happen. The driver parked the car on the side street and we did the paper work there. My Z4 was fine and I was relieved that it's finally over.
Overall, it's a good ending. I got my car shipped from NY to CA in less than a week and my car arrives sounded and safe. I was happy with my experience with Autozipper and I think they did their job professionally. I was satisfied with Blue Angel Express overall because they delivered my car soundly and quickly. Paul was pretty good in letting me know the progress. However, I was not too happy with the fact that i was forced to pick up the car in the middle of day because that's more convenient to them instead of me. I will use Autozipper again in future if I have to ship cars again.
