First and foremost my broker, Mike Newman of Progressive Auto Relocation, is a liar and will say anything to get your money and to work with him. He makes it out to be such an easy and simple process, meanwhile he had to hire 3 different trucks. The first broke down, the second was useless and couldn't even load my car, and finally the third damaged my vehicle.
They say door-to-door service, but that's a lie too. What they don't tell you (before they take your money and tell you you can't work with anyone else) is that if the truck can't come to you then complete strangers come to your house and take your car away. That's right. They drive up in a car and drive your car off to an undisclosed location to load it. Fun, huh? Trusting a broker and then he finally fills you in on how things "might happen."
The first carrier claimed they broke down and that they would contact Mike Newman and that he would provide another carrier. Ok, fair enough. He hires the second carrier; Freddie, from Espinal Motor. Now when I say this man was bad at his job, I mean he should not even be driving a truck. He told me he would be at my house in 20 minutes to pick up my car, 2 days prior to the agreed upon date that I made with Mike Newman. He shows up 1 hour and 20 minutes later. Seriously? I look outside my window only to see him and someone else in a Ford Taurus. No truck. He then proceeds to tell me that he had to take "the long way here" whatever that means. Sorry, but there is nowhere that you could reach within 20 minutes that would take over 80 minutes from taking "the long way." That was his first lie.
He then starts telling me he has to take my car and that I should have known the truck couldn't come to my house. Every single step of the way he tried to blame the problem on me. I flat out refused to give my car to some guy I met for 30 seconds and told him I'll drive it to wherever he has to load it up. He told me where his truck was was 10 minutes away and that he'll drop me back off at home. Fair enough. I follow him for over 40 minutes to East New York from Long Island!!! 10 minutes?! Second lie to my face. We finally arrive at his truck and he wants ME to drive the car onto his truck. Are you kidding me!? He claimed it was because I didn't want him driving my car. That's correct, I didn't want him to drive it for 40 minutes, which I might add that he was very difficult to follow and barely signaled and this is the guy who was supposed to be carrying my car to Florida.
Finally after almost destroying my car by attempting to drive it up the ramp onto his 4 car carrier and then trying to back it onto the truck, I gave up. I told him to do it because there was no reason I should have to. He attempts and fails miserably. His truck was nowhere near equipped to handle such a low vehicle and, again, he tries to blame it on me saying my car was lowered and even that I modified the exhaust and that it hangs down too low. Again, he is a failure because he blames his shortcomings on others and can never take the blame when he is clearly wrong. My car is 100% bone stock. This is the guy Mike told me he has worked with many times and that has shipped Honda s2000's with before? Is that another lie? Must be.
Freddie the driver even tried to say he owns an Acura NSX that is even lower than my car and he loads it all the time. I said, so it's lower and you load it and you damage your car cause you can't even get mine on. His reply, "Yes." So, he basically says he damages his car every time he loads it. Yup, real professional. After I lost my patience and decided I would rather my car not even be shipped than to leave it in the hands on someone so incompetent, I called Mike. He told wouldn't listen to my complains because he had no answer as to how he could hire someone who couldn't do the job and then tells me let's figure out a solution and he'll get me another truck for tomorrow.
He now hires truck number 3. Driver Giovanni Pino of Nelson Zelaya Auto transport of Ft. Lauderdale aka Reliable Auto Transport. I spoke to someone at Realible and they tell me they can't get in touch with Giovanni, but that he'll be there tomorrow (3/28) to pickup my car. I asked if they'll have the truck to my house and I was told that they would. Okay, all sounds great. I get a call from them the following morning from Nicole from Reliable and she informs me they'll be at my house between 9-11 to get my car, even though I was told that they would be there between 11-1 the previous day. I explained that to her, she got annoyed and told me she'll see me between 11-1. Nicole and her co-worker arrive at my house a few minutes after 1...in a regular car. Here we go again.
I greet her and ask where the truck is. I explained to her what had happened previously and that I was told a truck would come to my house and that my car would not be taken anywhere. Unfortunately the one time I don't get somebodies name I regret it because I didn't know who told me that, but it doesn't matter because I was in fact told that the truck would come directly to my house. Nicole assures me that they can't drive the truck to my house, but are only driving it 1 mile away. Okay, 1 mile and they'll load it up when it gets there. Oh, now the story changes when I tell her that I don't want her driving my car and that I will drive to wherever the car needs to go because I want to watch them load it up. Suddenly she has phone calls to make and is whispering about how I want to be there to watch my car get loaded onto the truck. Funny how now her stories changes completely and suddenly the car is going to some lot and someone will watch it because they don't know where the driver is and I can't watch it get loaded.
Once I told her that was unacceptable she told me the driver would come to my house and get the car now. Sounds good to me! I'm finally going to get what I was told I would receive. Wrong. I speak to Giovanni once again and am told that he's not coming to get my car because I told Nicole that I didn't want her to take it. So I have to now argue with him while he assures me the car will go on and not be damaged and this is how they do this all the time. They basically have me trapped because I have no other choice but to give up my car. Nicole comes back shortly after to get the car and assures me once again and my car will be perfect and I'll even go as far as calling her and telling her how great it is. She writes down my mileage and how much gas I have. I didn't have much so I told her I hope she's not planning on going very far. They drove 23 miles once my car arrived. So much for it only being a mile away.
I expected my car to arrive on April 2nd. It didn't. No surprise there. 3rd? Nope. 4th? Not then either. It finally arrives on the 5th. 8. Days. Later. Supposedly the truck broke down, then had a flat. I don't even believe it. When it finally does arrive, it is filthy beyond belief and is at the very tail of the car carrier and I noticed the flag hangs at the end of the truck was resting on my cars rear, right below the rear windshield on the body. Awesome. The truck is disgustingly filthy, so I couldn't even assess any damage, but there were no scratches or visible dents, so I signed for it.
Oh! How could I forget! This driver was not Giovanni either! I couldn't understand what name he mumbled to me, but his voice was not the same at all! Progressive promises "Same truck-Same Driver." Lies, lies, lies.
It has literally no gas and the light is on. So I get gas and take her for a wash, only to discover that my pain has a faded spot where that flag was resting on it. Of course I couldn't be more disappointed in the service I was provided. They don't tell you that on the back of their contract it states that you're responsible for the first $1,000 in damages to your vehicle. Not only that, but they also aren't responsible for any damage that isn't visible due to dirt. WHAT A SCAM!! They cover all their bases since I'm sure they go out of their way to prevent you from receiving any kind of compensation for their job poorly done. I will be filing complaints with the Better Business Bureau against both Progressive Auto Relocation and also with Reliable Auto Transport. Do not work with or trust either of these companies.
