Transporting a vehicle is a luxury and can be daunting if you do not have the right information to navigate the waters, so to speak.
There will be brokers who are more than willing to tell you the consumer, exactly what it is you want to hear- the YES MAN/WOMAN!!!! Whatever price you tell them you want to ship for, they will tell you yes.
This sounds absolutely wonderful and you the consumer, feel as If you have made the deal of the century. Unfortunately, the bubble has to burst.
As brokers, not a single one of us, can force a driver to take less than they demand on a route. In spite of the dip in fuel prices, as of Feb 2016 everything else for drivers did not adjust when fuel prices dropped.
How can you get scammed?
For example, a customer puts in a quote request to ship a car from Miami, FL to Los Angeles CA.
The customer receives a range of quotes. Then the flood of phone calls begin. The customer tells a broker, the website told them they could ship cross country for $599. The unscrupulous “broker” tells the customer, “Yes, you can. I just need you to sign paperwork agreeing to have [XYZ Transport (insert name here] transport your car.”
Now the customer says to themselves, “Oh boy, I got an awesome deal!” and signs on the ‘dotted line’.
Here is what really happens.
The shady broker switches the price from the quoted price, to the price they know the vehicle would be picked up for by the independent transporter. The driver has absolutely no clue that there has been a “Bait and Switch” (see http://transportscams.com/lowball-limbo/) and they call in to pick up the vehicle at the price posted on the board. Now the broker assigns it to the driver for pick up. The driver begins his job by picking up the vehicle. Once the broker has determined that the car has been picked up, he/she then sends the new invoice with the new price. When the customer calls in to find out what is going on, it is at that time, they are informed they have to pay the higher price or the car will not be delivered to them.
How do you avoid falling into this trap?
Do your research. Check the track record of the company that was eagerly willing to say “Yes to the price”, especially if it is a lowball price.
Review companies with the Better Business Bureau ( www.bbb.org), Transport Reviews (www.transportautoreviews.com) and Transport Scams ( www.transportscams.com)
If a company is insistent on your paying an up-front deposit, this is usually a red flag.
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