Will Gillespie is a classic car guy and he knows the auto transport industry. He’s shipped a lot of cars over the years and has a less than favorable opinion of auto transport brokers. He recently moved from Everett, WA, To Ozark, MO, and needed to get his 1964 Chevy Impala shipped to his new home. At first he thought he’d be better off transporting it himself, but he decided to try shipping a car one more time. This time, he wanted a transporter, not a broker. He found J&S. Our customer service did the rest.
“I moved from Washington to Missouri. I’ve had the car for a couple years and I needed it shipped, because I moved.”
“I’ve shipped cars before and had a few horror stories working with brokers and all that. I’m a classic car guy and I’ve shipped three or four vehicles over the course of 10 years, but my experience was so bad that I wasn’t going to do it anymore. I was just going to haul my own stuff.”
“About four years ago I had a driver show up. He had my ‘60 Impala on his truck, and he said he’d be happy to unload it if I gave him $250. Well, I’m a big guy. I’m 6’4″, 300 pounds, tattooed arms. I can be a little intimidating. I’m nice enough; I’m a big teddy bear, but when people try and charge me for my car that’s already been paid for, yeah, I got a little irate. He ended up taking my car off the trailer, but he wasn’t happy, and I wasn’t happy.”
“I don’t think the brokers look out for the drivers like they should. And then the brokers wonder why they get a mess of complaints. Well, you’ve got to take care of your people.”
“When you’re paying for service, you’re looking for convenience. Anyone can rent a U-Haul and take it themselves. I could have rented a U-Haul. I probably could have got away with it just a hair cheaper, but it was a convenience thing which is why I decided to ship this car. I Googled auto transport companies, and all the brokers came up. I Googled something else to get rid of brokers and J&S was either the second or third one down.”
“I called about 15 different shippers, and when I talked to Joe at J&S. He explained that although they might use a different transporter to get me my car, that’s not their norm; they are not just brokers. Also, there were a few good reviews I read on your site, and Joe just, the way he explained things, he put my mind at ease, and so I was willing to give him a shot.”
“I wanted a transport company, not a broker. Joe told me that J&S do have some broker functions based on where the pick-up is and where it’s delivered, but they are hands-on the whole time. They talk to the driver; they follow-up with the driver. It’s never, ‘Well, we dumped it on the driver, and they’ll sort you out.’ It was nothing like that. So, that was nice. I think Joe and the J&S team avoided that situation by screening ahead of time, which is fantastic. The driver, he was fantastic too.”
“J&S screens the drivers because they don’t want anything happening with the loads. You always hear these horror stories about people who ship their car with a broker, but then it gets to the destination, and the owner or the transport driver tells them, ‘Well, I need $500, or I need $300.’”
Joe answered all my questions, and I like talking to someone who’s straight up. His price was a little higher than most on the internet. Most people were coming in between $850 and $1,000, and J&S $1,150. So, it’s one of those things where you get what you pay for. Do you pay an extra $150, and have complete peace of mind? Absolutely.
“And I’m real pleased with Joe. My Impala’s my baby, so I called basically daily, and said ‘Hey Joe, any updates?’ He was real patient with me. A lot of people wouldn’t have been.”
“It can be frustrating to have the owner of a car call over and over again. I buy, sell and trade Harleys as a profession, so I’m used to that. People calling and saying, ‘Hey, did the Harley ship, or did the part ship, or did the motor go somewhere?’ That type of stuff. I’m used to it, and I do the same thing.”
“This was a fantastic transaction. When the driver told him it was delivered, Joe immediately followed up with me, called me that day. He said, ‘So, is there an Impala sitting in your driveway?’ I said, ‘As a matter of fact, there is.’ He said, ‘How’d everything go?’ and I said, ‘I really have no complaints.’ So, I’m real happy with them. They did a real good job!”
“I would recommend J&S. I’m pretty pleased with them. The shipment was quick, and it got here, no issues. As far as customer service goes, Joe and the driver were fantastic. I mean just hands down.”