Not Cheap, but I got my car!
Kelli
Submitted this review about
AmeriFreight Car Shipping
Review made Live: 3/4/2015 12:24:00 PM
I recently had to move for a new job I landed in California, 2600 miles from home in Pittsburgh. Unfortunately, since this is my first time moving out of state, I wasn't experienced in how car transportation worked.
It turned out I needed to be able to start my new job in about 3 weeks. After researching and researching, random phone calls and emails from MULTIPLE different companies, for a full week, I researched AmeriFreight and saw the great reviews. I decided to go through them, based on the reviews alone. And because I was on a time crunch, I really needed to go with someone.
I got a quote for ~$980. Of course, the final number did not end up to be in that amount.
I contacted AmeriFreight. Unfortunately, Graham was out, but I got a friendly person on the phone (cannot remember his name, but he was great!). He explained to me that for about $1200, he couldn't *guarantee* a delivery date 2 weeks out but that it was a probability. He explained that for my quote, he would try to get my car out near the date (2 weeks away) anyhow, and that he had noted that my pick-up date would be the upcoming Thursday, and that they would be in touch. I decided to wait to hear from them.
I waited for a few days with no response from AmeriFreight. I called a couple times, spoke with Graham, who explained to me that they're still looking for someone to take my car.
By Wednesday, I got nervous - I still hadn't heard anything about anyone picking up my car, despite being told that my pickup date would be Thursday.
I called Graham again, and told him that I'd be ok with paying more to get my car out as long as I get some sort of guarantee that my car will get to California by the time I get out there. I told him I initially was told it would be ~$1200.
Graham gave me a quote of $1400. With that price, I wanted some sort of "guarantee" that they could get my car out by the date I arrived. Sadly, he could not guarantee anything. He was a little pushy, mentioning that he had already talked down the price with the carrier, and that he couldn't get it any lower.
Had I known that they wouldn't get back to me that entire week, I would have gladly paid the $1200 as originally mentioned by the first person I spoke with at AmeriFreight. And, actually, with that price of $1200, I could have *easily* chosen someone else.
Bottom line is - do your research as early as you can! My friends/family who have shipped their cars out multiple times in the past were shocked at the amount that AmeriFreight charged me to get my car out to CA. Ultimately, I feel ripped off.
On the positive note, my car DID arrive on the date I suggested (although it was technically the next day because it was at midnight, but.. whatever).
The carrier was great - there were a few hiccups (they called me telling me that they lost my key, and that they purchased it out of their expense and would reprogram it for me. Called me again because they realized that the key would need reprogrammed with the car, and would need the vehicle in Cleveland. Obviously my car is being shipped to CA... so how would I be able to do that? THEN I got one last phone call explaining that it wasn't my key afterall - they had lost someone else's key.) Car was clean when it was picked up and completely dirty upon arrival, but that's to be expected!
