I'm giving Fred 5 stars because my vehicle was eventually picked up and did arrive at pretty much the perfect time. He contracted the hauling out to Zareba Auto Transport, who were great. They kept me very well informed and worked very well with me to make sure they picked up and dropped off at convenient places at convenient times.
If I were to use a broker again, I'd probably use Fred. I will probably only deal direct with carriers in the future. In my case, I set up the move for 9 days before I left CA forever and a quote of 850 dollars. I found out later that it was listed for 900 dollars, but did not get picked up. After three days sweating it out, I phoned Fred and asked him how my quote stacked up against those around me. He said it looked fine, but I wanted to bump it up by 50 dollars (at this point I'm now at 100 dollars more than the quote). Fred said sure, and that he would further bump it up by 50 dollars out of his own pocket! Very generous, I thought and swore to him that I would give him a glowing review on this site. Oh, and the car was contracted suspiciously quickly, within 10 minutes. Was this just a money-squeeze? I'll never know.
Then Fred asked for the 50 dollars back, and that still seems fair and reasonable, except now my 850 dollar quote has come in at 1000 dollars. That's over 15% more. On the other hand, gas prices went up by 20% between when I got the quote and when I actually shipped the vehicle. So, fair enough. Would I use Fred again? If I had to, sure. Would I prefer to deal direct with a carrier (DAS, or similar)? Yes. When I initially got quotes they were the cheapest around but they only had 3 stars on this site. I subsequently spoke to three people who had very positive experiences with them. Next time, I'll use them. I expect they'll be cheaper and they won't put me through the wringer. To be fair to Fred, that's the way this industry seems to work, and if I have to navigate it again, I'll definitely phone Fred.
In summary, I don't like the way this industry operates, but Fred was courteous, prompt, relatively efficient, pretty effective in the end, and contracted with a great transporter. My particular car came down to the wire (so much so, that I was planning my cross-country drive...), despite plenty of advanced planning on my part.
