Vehicle Damage

Lee Mahle Submitted this review about Reliable Carriers Inc.
Review made Live: 9/15/2011 12:39:00 PM
I purchased a 1988 Rolls Royce through a dealership in southern California. The car was in pristine condition, all original inside and out. Car collectors now that this is very important to the worth of a vehicle. The dealership had the car detailed before pick-up by Reliable Carriers. (I had used Reliable Carriers twice before, each time experiencing lengthy delays in pick-ups and deliveries, not by days, but weeks!)

After Reliable picked up the car, the carrier went to Arizona, Colorado, and then to the Reliable facility in Canton, Michigan. There the car sat in the enclosed carrier while the driver had work done to his tractor. Then, the driver decided to drop the vehicle there in Canton (to evidently await another pick-up later). The Rolls Royce was still in the Reliable carrier. The driver could not start the car to remove it from the carrier and decided to jump it; unfortunately, and negligently, he left the driver's door open. The car lurched backward and jammed the driver's door into the metal side of the carrier. This caused serious consmetic and frame damage. We were informed by Bob Sellers, Reliable's General Manager, but he said he was at the Pebble Beach Car Show and would have the incident examined. I had to request photos, as no one from Reliable got back to me about the accident. The photos DID come quickly via e-mail, but NO other information. I contacted my classic car insurance carrier, Hagerty, and put in a claim. they took over trying to resolve the issue.

I checked with various classic car dealers, including the one at which I bought the Rolls, and also check with Hagerty about the worth of the 1988 Rolls Royce as a classic car now that it's had damage and will require repair. Each said that the car is now SERIOUSly diminished in worth as a classic car. It now has damage (and an accident report); it will now require repair; but, more improtantly, it will never be original again.

Hagerty has tried to resolve this in our best interest; however, Reliable is dragging their feet. They have not returned phone calls promptly, or at all. Meanwhile my damaged 1988 Rolls Royce sits at their Canton, Michigan, facility. Reliable has made NO attempt to contact me further about the damage or about assessment and repairs to the vehicle, and they certainly, according to my claims adjuster, are not responding to Hagerty.

For me this is coming to a head and may require legal action. Reliable Carriers is holding MY property that was damaged by THEIR driver in THEIR carrier on THEIR property, yet they continue to be uncooperative in resolving the matter. Perhaps the most disgusting thing about this whole accident is that Relaible didn't/hasn't even had the professional courtesy to say, "We're sorry."

Thinking about using Relaible Carriers? Be VERY wary!

Company Response
bob Sellers from Reliable Carriers Inc. Submitted this response.
Response Date: 11/25/2011 11:59:00 AM
As noted in Mr. Mahles review, we were so bad that this was the THIRD time he used our services. As noted, we did unload his RR as our truck required more extensive repairs than first anticipated and we thought it best to move his vehicle to another unit to continue on it's trip to NH. The battery in the RR was DEAD. We had to jump the battery in order to start the car. As noted, no ne expected the car to lurch backward when the battery was jumped. The driver did leave the door ajar while jumping the dead battery. We contacted Mr. Mahle immediately to let him know what had happened and apologized for the unfortunate accident.We also let him know we were going to obtain estimates for repairs to the vehicle. We had obtained these estimates when we were contacted by Hagerty Insurance and that they were handling Mr. Mahles claim. At this point, we allowed Hagerty to handle the claim and our process stopped. We worked directly with the Hagety rep and STRONGLY DISPUTE Mr. Mahles claim that we were "dragging our feet". In fact we received a note from the Hagerty claims rep Thanking us for our "speedy and professionsal" handling of the claim. Mr. Mahles car was not held captive by Reliable Carriers. It was stored in our facility awaiting final disposition by HIS insurance company.