Reliable but Eventful

Chris Submitted this review about Auto Transport Connection
Review made Live: 7/23/2007 3:10:00 PM
Like nearly every other review on this board, I was consumed with researching the most cost-effective and trustworthy carrier for my car across the country (NJ to CA). What I settled on, mostly due to the glowing reviews on boards like this, was Auto Transport Connection. I first spoke with Jeff who works with Elsie and he was absolutely fantastic and stressed that they treated the customer's car "like it was their own, striving for the very best." We painlessly established the basic facts: payment, pickup/dropoff location, deposit, etc.

I next spoke to Elsie a few days later and the conversation was just as easy. The trouble came when the car actually needed to be picked up. The carrier called me at 9:45pm on a workday and said he was "an hour and a half away." When 10:45 hit, I received another call telling me to meet him on the street with my car. After he chastised me for "not having any light" to inspect the car (no wonder! It was the middle of the night) he began marking up every possible dark spot or trick of the penlight he was using as a dent or a scratch. After 35 laborious minutes, he hands the paper back, completely marked up so that it resembled a derby car on paper more than the new BMW coupe in front of my eyes. I still trusted ATC enough though to sign my name and pray that nothing would befall the car. It was trust well-placed because the car DID arrive just fine, albeit incredibly muddy which can be expected from a cross-country trip.

As the driver walked back to the truck, I had to stop him to ask when I'd be getting the car. Thank God I did because he said that I would have it "by Thursday." It was a Tuesday and I quickly told him that I was not even going out to California until the following Sunday. The language barrier was difficult to overcome so he had to get his supervisor in Syracuse, NY on the phone to tell them there'd been a mistake. She was difficult to understand as well and I nearly got back in my car and drove home due to the confusion--I was told the car would get there a few days after I arrived and here the carriers were telling me that it would arrive almost a full week before I got in AND that I'd have to pay for them to store it.

The issue was eventually resolved (by now, nearly midnight in the middle of my neighborhood) and the car was taken to eventually arrive in California a day after I landed. I would do service with ATC again because I truly believe that Elsie and Jeff mean the best, but I would not use the specific carrier which they chose.