It always seems to be an intimidating task as long as you do not get a hold of a good shipping company to transport your car. Same happened with me when I planned to ship car across country for the first time in my life. With so many options open in front of me, I always discovered myself at a vacillating state, knowing nothing about how to take the right decision.
I did a lot of research before I reached to my final decision. While the end result was quite satisfactory, I have lost long hours in the process. So, today I am writing this article to help my readers how to point out 6 critical warning signs of questionable auto shipping company, so that it saves your time and save you from future hassles.
Too Cheap or Too Expensive
Always go for market rate. Don’t choose any company offering too cheap or too expensive rate. At least this is what I did while shipping my car. I chose only those companies that offer standard market rate.
Too Many Complaints Listed on Better Business Bureau
No matter how nice their testimonials are or how good reviews they have in online community sites and forums, be wary of those companies having too many complaints listed on Better Business Bureau website.
It’s common to have some complaints when a company is running business for quite a long period of time – there is always a difference between 3-4 complaints and 30-40 complaints. Also check out how promptly the company is giving response against the complaint.
Asking for Huge Upfront
Typically the upfront amount varies within a range of 10-25%. Reputed companies never ask you deposit more than that unless they fulfill your shipping requirement. It’s recommended that you pay the upfront with credit card, just in case any future dispute happens.
Making Huge and Unrealistic Promises
When I was doing my research and looking for right companies to ship car across country, I have discovered some interesting facts on unscrupulous transport companies. Most of them promise you big and try to make you convinced, so that you become ready to pay them the upfront and book their service. Beware of those companies that quote too cheap, next-day delivery, guaranteed pickup and delivery date, etc. If you find their promises really convincing, ask them to get everything in written and see what they do.
Not Ready to Prove their Credibility
If the company you choose is not ready to show you its operating license that carries USDOT and MC numbers, discard the company immediately. Also by visiting safersys.org, you can verify if the company is authorized to ship car and if the company holds valid safety and insurance certificate or not.
Not Ready to Share Their Real Address or Contact Number
Many unscrupulous companies use fake address and phone number or even some of them do not want to share their real address or contact number and encourage consumers to conduct the entire operation through websites. Since you are about to give them the responsibility to handle your precious object, you should not just get convinced with their virtual presence.
If the company is not willing to share their real address or contact number, count it out from your list of transporters.
So, these are the six most vital warning signs that separate an unscrupulous transport company from a reliable one. In fact, during my research to find out a reliable transport company to ship car across country, I found all these six warning signs really handy to analyze the company profile. Hope you will too.
