Couldn't have gone better.
Mike
Submitted this review about
Hilton Auto Transport
Review made Live: 11/22/2005 11:53:00 PM
I bought this car I found online. It's a '73 911, which is super desirable and very hard to find in good condition with a reasonable price. I'd been searching for this car for the past 5 years, being very picky, and hoping to land a good deal. My patience paid off and I found a gem that was going for alot less than it could've, so I pulled the trigger. I put a deposit on the car, claimed it as mine, and began to celebrate. Well, the celebration didn't last long.
I was so focused on finding the car and purchasing it that I never put much thought into having it transported. Let it be known, it deserves some serious, thought, consideration, and homework just like you're doing now. Good for you.
Now, I have to level with you, I'm somewhat obsessive. I spent many hours reading reviews, mostly the bad ones, trying to gain education about what could go wrong with the transport of this precious vehicle. I read so many that I'd pretty much decided to fly out to San Francisco and pick up the car myself. The car had to come from San Fran all the way to Jacksonville FL, which is a very long distance. Alot of distance that goes through a considerable amount of desert, where I knew for sure that the burly Bubba trucker's temptation would get the best of him and he'd pull over to take my antique for a joyride for a bit. It was my nightmare. I was having fits just considering all of the possibilities.
I finally decided to transport the car and I decided to take this approach: Get quotes from each of the 5 star rated transporters, so I did. They ranged from $875 for open to $2000 for covered. Hilton quoted me $975, so I dug a little deeper. Turns out that, not only were they reasonable, but they had the most consistent success rate shown by the reviews. Then, I compared the details. I read some horror stories about some of the other transport companies, then the few bad reviews Hilton had were silly ones like, "Car was never picked up because I live in the sticks", and it just seemed like the bad reviews were consistently a result of pick up and delivery timing issues or issues that were caused by the customer and not the company. This, I thought, was great. If the most I have to worry about is when they pick-up and deliver the car, then I have nothing at all to worry about. I live in jacksonville. If my driving time from home to work can double with bad traffic, then it's simply impossible to know exactly how long it will take to get from Northern California to Florida.
Get a load of this: I called on a Monday Nov 14th to place my order. Nicole called me that night to tell me that she'd found a transporter and it could be picked up the very next day. I got a call from the former owner of the vehicle the next day. He said the car had been picked up and was on the way. Nicole called me later that same day to tell me the car had been picked up and it should be in Jacksonville by Tuesday or Wednesday. The next call I got was from the transport driver and it came on the following Sunday night. He had good news. He was in Houston, he planned to make it to Pensacoloa before calling it a night, and he'd wake up at 5am to get my car to me by 11 am. The car was going to be here a day early, 1 week from the day I placed my order. Unreal. Simply unbelievable and improvement was impossible at this point. The car arrived as he said, a day early, on Nov. 21st and in very good condition. I couldn't be happier with my experience, and it really couldn't possibly have gone better. Every last piece fell into place seamlessly. The driver was a push over. This guy was like mom in a good mood, he'd bend over backwards for ya. He went well out of his way to get my car to me. He was very courteous and called me when he'd reached our agreed meeting spot. He actually waited for me to arrive before he moved my car. My car was toploaded, even though I hadn't requested that specifically and I hadn't paid extra for it. The driver was very careful with the cars on his transporter. The name of the company that transported my vehicle is Coast to Coast. I never even knew the driver's name, but he's a little Romanian guy who couldn't be nicer and more considerate. In the event I need to transport a car again I will not change a single thing. Thanks Hilton and thanks Coast to Coast. You couldn't have possibly done better.
