Brand new car will never be the same again!
James M
Submitted this review about
Dependable Auto Shippers
Review made Live: 12/26/2014 4:35:00 PM
I decided to go with DAS after a good amount of research and quotes from various shippers for one reason: A bigger company that has been around for 60 years should be able to ship a car no issues. DAS was the most expensive of the quotes, however, I thought-you get what you paid for. I didn’t want to take ANY chances that our brand new 2015 Land Rover(3 weeks old and under 400 miles) would be damaged. Making a move across country is stressful enough, shipping a brand new car needed to be done without a bump or hick-up! Boy, was I wrong!
Craig was OK, prompt to respond. We coordinated a drop off at the terminal in NJ.
I got the car washed the night before, had the correct amount of fuel, and organized a ride from the terminal. The NJ terminal was a bit rough around the edges with a strong smell of cigarettes.
Updates with the DAS website were not as helpful as anticipated. I was expecting to have a map with approximate location, or even just which state the car is located. Instead, it just has "in transit" as a status. I called Craig a few times for updates, the car was 5 days later than when he first said it would be arriving in Houston.
The night before we were scheduled to pick up the car, I got a call from Michael Saucedo. He let me know the key was "damaged in transit". He could not explain what happened to the key, but did say they would pay for its replacement-I just needed to provide a copy of an estimate for repair. I gathered the estimate for them-$723 for a new key and programming from Land Rover!
We went to pick up the car at the terminal in Houston. The car was FILTHY! We asked the terminal rep to have the car washed so we could inspect it. At first, they wanted nothing to do with washing it. A call to Craig fixed that issue-I explained that the drop-off terminal had the opportunity to inspect the vehicle clean, we should have the same courtesy when we picked up the vehicle. Craig made a call to the terminal and got the car washed for us.
First, I will mention the key. I'm not sure what happened to the key-Was it run over? Was it used as a dog chew toy? And then tried to be pried open with a screw driver?! No, it was not functional.
After the car was washed we looked it over. Our brand new 2015 Land Rover was damaged! 4 DEEP scratches and an abnormally large chip in the hood. We had the pick-up terminal make note of the damage.
Shaneka took several days to get back to me in regards to how to handle correcting the damage. When she did, she had absolutely no remorse for the situation. I made sure to tell her my feelings about that. I asked Michael Saucedo to call me back in and email and in a voicemail-to date I have not heard anything from him. Shaneka instructed that we needed to go to a body shop to have an estimate completed to repair the damage.
We went to the body shop that the local Land Rover dealership recommended. The estimate to repair the damage including a rental vehicle while our car was being repaired-$3,204. As instructed, I submitted that estimate to Shaneka on Monday, December 22nd. Shaneka let me know it would be 1-3 business days before we got "approval". I'm not sure what approval was needed-The key had been through a WWE fight and the car with no damage(as was noted at drop-off) had $3,200 worth of damage to repair!
3 business days have passed, I have not heard anything from Shaneka, Michael, or Craig. I sent an email and tried to call-Shaneka is out of the office until the 29th, and Michael until the 5th?! I tried to call DAS directly, it appears they are just completely closed.
Our original plan was to send a second car down VIA DAS in January. After this experience, absolutely not! I'll be driving it myself across the country.
Thanks DAS, for damaging our brand new 2015 Land Rover and for the huge headache during an already stressful move!
