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There was a thread on Rennlist asking about shipping a car from coast to coast. Every time I see one of these threads I always feel like I need to respond to it just to put my $.02 in. But my $.02 could have been a lot bigger mistake if it weren't for having the proper insurance. And as the title of this thread states yes I had a 997 GT3 RS 4.0 be destroyed by fire in shipping.
Delivery Day at Porsche of Bucks County
My sons still says the GT3 RS 4.0 is his favorite car!
Thanks to the great Mooty on Rennlist I had a gentleman contact me about buying my 2011 997 GT3 RS 4.0. I really didn't want to sell the car but when the prices started going higher and higher I couldn't justify keeping it and I also couldn't justify driving it around like I really wanted to. And yes looking back I regret this sell everyday. So the new buyer of the car and I work out the details on pricing, he gets a PPI done on it, and everything checks out. The deal is a go. Buyer wires me the money, I send next day the title, bill of sale and any paperwork to him.
The next step of the deal is to arrange shipping of the car. I sold the car as FOB Atlanta, Ga so the shipping was the responsibility of the buyer. He and I chatted briefly about shipping companies and who to use. He was in the business of manufacturing heavy machinery so he had a few contacts in the Pacific Northwest for shipping companies. He wanted to use one of his contacts and since this was now his car I didn't have any say. He contracted with Pacific Auto Delivery Inc out of Milton, Washington. The truck was scheduled to pick the car up at Motorwerks Racing in Cumming, Ga (They performed the PPI) and I made sure I was around when they arrived. It was an old, dirty looking auto carrier. It had the curtains on the side with a lower and upper level for cars.
Looked something like this but a lot dirtier
I didn't have a great gut feeling about this one and I almost refused to ship the car with the company. But this wasn't my call since I didn't arrange the shipping and the new owner of the car said it was a company he deals with on a regular basis. So I signed the Bill of Lading and texted a copy of it to the new owner so he would know the car was picked up heading his way.
Two days later I get a call from him. I was busy in my office and let it go to voicemail. When I check the voicemail he simply asked if I could email him some pictures of the car before we shipped it. Not thinking twice about it I immediately shoot him the email with the images. As soon as I hit send I picked up the phone to call him and let him know to be looking for the images. We get to chatting about what is going on and he tells me he received a call from the trucking company saying there was an issue with the truck. There had been a fire somewhere in Arkansas. He didn't know how bad the damage was but he needed the images to start the insurance claims in his direction. Well as it turns out the fire was about as bad as one can imagine. Everything on the truck was a total loss. The fire was so hot it melted some of the aluminum parts of the GT3 RS 4.0. The motor dropped out from underneath car onto the car below it. It was a complete loss.
2011 GT3 RS 4.0 Destroyed by fire. Scroll to the bottom for more images.
Now for the pain in the *** part about this transaction. The buyer of my car is told by his insurance agent the trucking company does not have enough insurance to cover his loss or the loss of the other 8 cars on the truck. He said this can't be because he checked their insurance when he contacted them about shipping the car, they provided the proof and Pacific has enough insurance. Well it wasn't Pacific that picked the car up. It was another company that was subbed out by Pacific to do the job. They had all the Bill of Ladings for for Pacific and they were picking up all the cars for Pacific. Now the two companies were pointing fingers at each other of who is at fault while the owners of the cars are out money and without a car. In the end the buyer of my car had to settle with his insurance company under his under insured or uninsured motorist. They paid it out and then went after the trucking companies which supposedly were a father/son combo running shell businesses.
As all of this started calming down I learned a couple very valuable lessons. When I get ready to ship a car from coast to coast the $500 savings isn't worth it when a situation like this pops up. It is better to go with a reliable source than to deal with the hassle. The other lesson is all the details in the Bill of Lading are very important as to who is at fault. So if another company shows up to pick up your car other than the one you contracted with refuse the service. The new company might not have enough insurance and then you get into a game of who is at fault. The bill of lading will help to point the fingers in the right direction but even they can be vague enough to protect both companies.
So now I only ship with companies like Reliable, InterCity, Horseless Carriage, Plycar (met the CEO of Plycar and he is a great guy), etc.
When I shipped my Spyder to a buyer in NY, he cheaped on the shipping and a truck like that showed up, albeit a little cleaner. I was nervous, but it was his deal, he owned the car, etc. I would never use anyone but a top line carrier in a hard sided closed trailer.
08-08-2017, 01:16 PM
997 GT3 RS 4.0 Destroyed by Fire
