Vintage vehicle transfer.
Hugh
Submitted this review about
Capitol Auto Transport
Review made Live: 7/29/2008 4:04:00 PM
Capitol Auto has excellent customer service, and I highly recommend them. Andy spent a good deal of time with me on the phone explaining the transport business and was excellent in his frequency of communication. He found a transporter for me in just a couple hours. Based on what I learned from Andy and research into this incredibly competitive industry, Capitol is a broker who provides the consumer a quote, and puts an advert out to trucking companies to encourage them to take the job. Capitol's quote was among the higher ones I received, but the extra couple hundred bucks guaranteed my vehicle would be picked up, not left sitting on the street while some low-balling company took their time to get to it (if at all) because they promised a rate so low that drivers have no incentive to act because they will not make any money. My dealing with Capitol was great, but my experience with the transporter was not without issue--and this was not Capitol's fault, so I can attach no blame to Capitol. Before explaining, I would like to make a distinction between Capitol's role and the hired transporter's role. Capitol puts the rate out; a company takes it. There are hundreds of companies that can respond. And no doubt Andy is gathering a list of reliable trucking companies that have courteous, punctual, and outstanding drivers, but he can not have dealt with all of them yet (and the various trucking companies out there will no doubt be wanting to take jobs Andy finds, given Capitol's high ratings). Still, once the bid is taken and the truck is on the way, things can happen that are out of his hands. In my case, my vehicle was picked up 12 hours late--at 11:00 pm! Andy tried to cancel the job and offer it to a more punctual company, but was unable to reach the transport dispatch or the driver. Next thing we knew, the truck driver called and was an hour away. Had Andy been able to (and he did try), he would have found a more reliable company when things started going south, but he was unable to, due to lack of communication on the trucking company's side. Again, this was not his fault. Anyway, the car did get picked up, albeit late, and arrived safe and sound. The driver called me the night before delivery, but instead of showing up at 11:00 am as promised, he showed up at 8:30 am. Now, I am usually fond of early deliveries, but not when it interrupts my regular sleeping schedule. I would have preferred delivery at the scheduled time. It also was not a door to door delivery, as the company had promised. The driver could have taken streets that allow truck traffic to my house, but the driver ended up stymied by a no truck bridge by coming into town the wrong way. That meant I had to go to the car, which was not preferable (and again, notr Capitol's fault). I will say that the transporter's record sheet was thorough, and all the nicks and dings of the car before pick-up were well documented, and no additional damage occurred during transport. The drivers were not rude, they were just get it down and hit the road types (with heavy eastern European accents that made phone communication a little challenging, but not insurmountable). There were items in the truck, and the back seat, and nothing was missing, so the drivers are certainly honest. Whether Andy will hire this company again will be up to him, but he was well aware of, and did his best to resolve, all the issues and he did do his best to make the transport of my vehicle go as smoothly as possible. A highly recommended company.
