Auto Transport

[Inprimer]

My wife (in NY) just shipped our our "new" Caddy it belonged to Grams a 78 Coupe De Ville. After searching all over we contacted AAA. They provided us with a broker. The broker hooked us up with a carrier, for approx $1100 we had it shipped out here to AZ. Upon arrival I noticed right away that there was a problem, I'll start by saying that pixs were taken just before the car was driven onto the carrier. THe 78 had a nasty dent on the left side of the trunk. THe driver apologized profusely about the den't and stated that it happened when a '57 Caddy which was "parked" behind ours  "had no Brakes" and would not run either, and somehow smacked the trunk .For all you old timers you might remember the HUGE Dagmars w/rubber tip on those monsters, anyway THe Bill of laden(?) verified the damage. Now here's where it starts gettin interesting.( I wrote this rant in hopes of helping the next guy) I contacted "Jim" in Phoenix and explained the problem in the course of the conversation he stated that perhaps the '57 shoud have been flat towed on a seperate trailer because it basically was a2.5 ton of loose cannon.He started by being concerned about the damage, then, like a flip of a switch he became irate because I refused to drive the car to Vegas so "his people" could look at the damage Its a 155 mi  one way trip. I told him, ( never mind) then he said to take the trunk off the car and ship it to Vegas. then he hung up. So being a good husband I turned my wife on him, Let me state  that a local body shop gave him a quote of 885.00 to repair it along with a doz pix At this time he stated that 1 we had to prove that "they" did the damage( going back to taking pix prior to loading) also his people could do it cheaper (in Vegas) and he demanded a 2nd quote which by the way you don't have to complywith, its the LAW fix it where you want to. So this AM I went to the most expensive body shop in town and the guy suggested, rightfully so, that the trunk should be replaced. BTW  the Cad has 34K on it. Grams drove it in JUN , JUL, and Aug only to her cottage so the average miles was approx 1000 miles a yr. Jim also suggested that it was a daily driver (hinting a beater) the pix were proof enough that this car is nearly showroom clean. also he told me that he would send the check right to the body shop apherently he did not trust me and I told him that IT'S ILLIGAL TO DO THAT   So this PM the wife called JIM again and after tring to rile her up finally said "I'LL take care of it" and hung up.BTW the second quote HE DEMANDED was $1668.00 Needless to say  the wife called back and said where is my ck and how much is it going to be and send it to this addy, so now the waiting game begins. In the meantime the broker was contacted by my wife and they were very interested in the outcome because THEY ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO CARRY AUTOS W/OUT BRAkes so stay tuned will let you know the outcome THERE now I feel better     SERGE

[chimp koose]

The original trunk had no bondo as should the repair...replace the trunk lid. A car in that condition ,damaged by an insured carrier ,should be returned to the condition that it went onto the trailer in.Doing bodywork on the existing trunk lid only opens up the possibility of having a problem with the repair workmanship and grief with a body shop.

[Dave]

Contact AAA again also and if nothing else alert them to the problem .. They dont like or put up with crap like that and they may offer to contact the broker and the trucking company for you.. They have quite a bit of leverage in these kind of situations..
Dave