*BEWARE* DAS Auto Shippers

NYSpeed Automotive NYSpeed Off Topic
1

I recently bought a 1992 Nissan 240SX Coupe from a seller on carolinanissans.com. RB25 Swapped coupe, great condition, 5,500.

I send the guy the money, he sends me the title, I register the car in NY and send him the tags to drive it to the Greensboro NC terminal.

Day 1
I ordered the shipping on March 14th estimated date was the 28th to get here. The car was dropped off the 18th. The car sat there untill the 22nd and was then at the Linden terminal in NJ where is has been sitting this this very minute. The problem is here. I set a date to go pick up the car at the not-so-local terminal 190 miles away. I was told the 28th is when I was to get the car, however the 24/7 Track Your Car via GPS! said the 29th. I called customer service yesterday to hear on the IVR the date was now April 2nd. I called back, got a live rep (coincidentally my sales rep) and he said he cannot track the car and wait and he’ll transfer me and call the linden terminal and email me with the results. Both of which never happened. Call ended.

Day 2
This morning, I call customer service yet again. Keep in mind this all started as an inquiry on when I could expect the car to be there. For kicks, I use the IVR for tracking, it now says March 31st. Meanwhile…the website tracking still says 3/29. A live rep told me that the automated system always adds 5 days as a security estimate. Then why the inconsistency between last night and this morning? She didnt have an answer. I asked for the number to the Linden terminal itself, and in the interim, I was searching online for the number and found a CRAP LOAD of horror stories. Employees joyriding the cars, cars being stolen etc etc. All from the same terminal thats handling my car. So the response I was given by customer ‘service’ was “they cant really help you, but if it makes you feel better I’ll give you the number.” Yeah…thanks.

I call the Linden terminal and speak to Kim. Kim seemed like a peach, was really egar to help me and told me the dispatch coordinator was in a meeting and would call me back. Never did. So I call customer service yet again, and they insist on telling me the car is on schedule and will be here the 28th. Every call to customer service yields a different ship date, and an uncertainty on where the location of my car is. After several calls to the Linden location, I start to worry and figure it’s time to start a paper trail in case anything happened to the car. So I call the Linden Police Department. A couple of officers there confirmed the theft cases. So adding more to my worry, I speak to an auto theft detective who really seems enthusiastic about taking the case. I give him the exact same information I had, he calls back less than 10 mins later informing me I’ll be receiving a call from DAS momentarily. Who calls but 2 minutes later…the owner of the terminal

Speaking with the owner of the terminal, Scott, he informs me that they cant dispute the claims found online and even the better business bureau has some pending cases about damage done to vehicles to the tune of $20,000 or better on each case. In his attempt to alleviate my worry, he’s only confirming it and shooting himself in the foot. He assured me however my car was being loaded on the truck at that very moment and he was able to lay eyes on it. He confirmed it was en route, safe, and will be here at 1am tomorrow morning. I asked and got the truck ID number, and got the phone number to the terminal so I’ll be calling tomorrow if there is any issues. I asked about the mileage discrepancy with the operator before speaking to Scott, and she mentioned that the mileage can vary from 5-10 miles. Scott from DAS was appalled by this estimation and asked for her contact info to set her record straight.

Where I’m at now is another promise that the car will be here on time, and with the exact mileage that was recorded when it was dropped off. In addition to this horror story, feel free to search on google DAS Auto Shippers Linden NJ and you’ll see what I mean by horror stories.

I’ll add to this thread when I get the car.

Wish me Luck,
Chris

2

goto place…look at car…buy car…trailor or drive car home on temp. tags…in this case…truck and trailor it home

autoshippers IMO are all shady unless your a big dealer…hope it all works out for you

3

ouch… g/l

keep us updated

4

ahh sry about all that

5

Huh, my brother used them when getting his evo from Southcoast Mitsu in California. It was here on time, perfect and with exactly the mileage we anticipated. Not one extra. Car was kept inside too. Overall very good experience.

Also his car came into Port Byron (outside batavia).

Jeller

6

research, research, research… Good luck man, hope everything works out.

7

Fuck man that sounds like a PITA. Glad that the 3 cars that I’ve shipped were cheap and on time if not early. Sorry to hear about this I hope it all works out for you.

8

I used Trusty Transport after Nikuk recommended them. I was pleased. Essentially door-to-door from the seller to my home.

9

I used DAS before.

Actually I used them two times.

One from Texas to Buffalo, one from Buffalo to Texas.

No problems.

They CONTRACT out their work to whoever will ship the car the cheapest.

Make sure the car is fully insured by YOU (in addition to DAS) before you let them have it.

I had a guy the first time drive up his personal owned rig with a 5th wheel on it, and he was going to take my car to Texas himself. His rig only held 2 cars.

I really thought they would use the big car movers, but then the second time, a guy from North Tonawanda arrived at my door to pickup my Truck and take it to Texas.

His rig only held 3 cars.

Both transports went perfect, they were on time, and not a scratch on the vehicle.

10

still can’t believe you got rid of the bird man

11

Man, I bought a 1 way ticket to Wilmington, flew down, dealer picked me up in the GTO, signed some papers, drove her home. Seems so much easier.

12

your car was brand new, or very lightly used.

i would be extremely hesitant to drive a 16 year old swapped car from nc to buffalo, but maybe thats just me…

13

Trusty transport FTW. Door to door 3 times now. Not one real concern.

One of em didn’t run, and honestly - all three of em were cheap summer cars, wether or not I trusted them to make the drive, it prolly wouldn’t have been worth it… the most expensive transport was ~$600, which was close to the cost of a 1way ticket & gas back.

14

yep… ive always drove my cars back

15

True. Even for a GM you don’t expect too much for problems with 1600 miles on the odo.

16

i’ve used DAS twice… granted, when i had the rx7 shipped from oregon, we set the rev limiter to 2700 rpm :wink:

17

Well unfortunately my Apexi PFC is in my bedroom rather than in the coupe where it belongs. :stuck_out_tongue:

18

good luck.

my experience with DAS was the same.

took like 7 or8 days more than they said it would. bastards

19

I’ve had 3 cars shipped with 3 different companies, one of them being DAS. One thing I’ve learned- if they tell you it will take a week, count on at least 3. Once they get your money, they don’t really give a shit. They’ll ignore your calls and give you the run-around, and you will get your car when it works out best for them financially. You’re better off driving it back if it’s a newer car, if thats not practical don’t count on it being there on time.

20

So far, why is it a problem? You did get conflicting information, true. But that isn’t a reason to “beware”. Why not wait to see how it turns out before coming to a conclusion? I could see where you might want to talk about it here, but we are only in the second act of a three act play.