Posted by Tim James on May 23, 2000 at 13:08:15:
As posted on the last forum I am in the process of transporting a 1952 M37 from Helena, Montana to Akron, Ohio which is a distance of 1,850 miles.
My lowest bid had been AAA Arrow Auto Transport (800-808-2042 or www.arrowautotransport.com) out of Wood River, Illinios for $802.00 The salesman that quoted the price was Bob Haufe, and the dispatchers that I spoke to were Rich & Juanita Richardson. HOWEVER, apparently they were attempting to broker/bid the transport rather than execute it themselves. I initiated an order for their services on 5/14 and was told that they should be able to assign a driver within a few days. Well, I spoke to Rich last Tuesday and last Friday and he said he had a couple of drivers that he was checking with. So yesterday after inquiring of them via email, I received a call from Rich stating that he could get the truck picked up within a day or so for $1100 but after speaking to him he said they had someone else that might be able to do it for the original quote so again he said he'd get back to me. So today I get a call from Juanita who says that nobody will do the job for less than $1100 as the job was way under bid ... well I wonder who did that? Though they were never unpleasant to speak with, they had to have known from day 1 whether they could do the job for that amount or not.
My feeling is that they thought that they had me on a string and as time went on I'd get impatient and they could zing out a higher dollar amount and prompt pickup and delivery and I'd just cave in and do it -- WRONG!
I have bids which I've been working that aren't quite as good as Arrow's $802 but are still less than the $1,100 they want now.
Maybe had they been forthright and said $1,100 I may still have considered them but certainly not now.
If you have received quotes or initiated an order with them I would urge you to follow it closely and to continue to line up others to transport your vehicle in case they attempt to do to you what they've done to me.
Once I have the vehicle, I'll update everyone as to who I used how much it cost etc... I know there are quite a few who are interested in this as I've received numerous emails...
Talk at you later...
Tim