OG,

I'm sure every carrier has issues at one time or another but, Intercity damaged 50% of the cars they hauled for me. Granted that's only a four car sample but when I look back on the experiences I don't remember having that warm and fuzzy feeling the last two times. They seemed rushed and hurried. They just didn't seem to care as much as they did when they delivered my first two cars. I felt terrible about the damage they did to the cars because I recommended Intercity to the buyers.

Intercity is probably the best known carrier in the industry due to all the advertising they do including the Speed Channel shows. Could you imagine if they ever damaged a car they were hauling for Speed Channel? Even if they did, I doubt we'd ever see or hear about it because Speed Channel is not going to want to PO an advertiser.

I wouldn't go near a carrier that is not insured and bonded and nobody should. Most reputable carriers are going to have adequate insurance. This last time I called my State Farm agent and got coverage on the car while in was in transit.

Like you, I am sharing my experiences with the group and I'm sure the majority of what they haul is without incident. But, they have lost my business forever.

 

Intercity - A must use - I used them in the Past getting my wife's ///AMG from Altanta - Very Professional - Your going to love the 986S - what a blast to drive. I really loved mine for the short time I had it. Best of Luck...

 

Reply to: Chuck Z.

I came across your post while scanning the Rennlist forums. I don't recall the damage that you are referring to. Please provide me with the trip details so I can research and answer your complaint. To our credit we ship about 15,000 cars per year and had 8 damage claims in 2003 of which 6 were less than $500. Fortunately Porsche Cars feels strongly about our service as we are the ONLY Transport Company allowed to deliver the new Carrera GT.

For the record Intercity Lines is still privately held. My wife Linda and I have turned down two legitimate offers, of which one was from Fedex. We are dedicated not only to our customers but to our Employees as well. Usually a sale to a large corporation results in the "Bean Counters" cleaning house shortly after the buyout. Should we decide to sell, it will probably be to our fine Employees.

David M Wilson
President
Intercity Lines, Inc.

 

Hi David,

Wow, this is an old one!

I appreciate your concern regarding the two cars that were damaged while being shipped on Intercity. I'd be happy to provide as many details as I remember. Lucky for me, these were both cars that I was sending to CA and not cars being delivered to me or you probably would have known about both. I'm sure other carriers have had some of the same issues, these were two of the four experiences I had dealing with your company.

One happened on a trip from Charlotte to San Diego in the fall on 2000 and the other was last summer on a trip to Los Angeles. The fall of 2000 car was a 1989 Porsche 928 GT, the car that went to LA was a 2003 Audi S8.

The damage to both cars happened when the driver raised the platform too high and the roof antennas hit the roof of the trailer. The 928 GT was damaged somewhere between my home and the buyers home in San Diego. This car required body work to fix.

The drivers on this trip were a husband and wife team that live(d) somewhere within 50 miles of Charlotte. What bothered me about this incident was the drivers actually called me and insinuated that the damage was done prior to them picking the car up. Of course I had pictures of them unscrewing the antenna that proved otherwise.

The second was almost as upsetting because the driver was basically being lazy. He had a MBZ G-wagon on the first level and didn't want to unload it to load the S8. He drove the car in the trailer and I could see the antenna was going to hit and started yelling for him to stop. When he finally realized something wasn't quite right, he put the car into reverse and started to back up. When he did that he tore the roof antenna off the car. The roof antenna didn't break off until he backed up due to the way it sits on the car. It is only about 3-4 inches tall and points at about a 45 degree angle toward the back of the car. Luckily, there was no roof damage as wasn't the case with the 928 GT. I do believe the antenna had to be replaced. I have pictures of this broken roof antenna as well.

After these two incidents and especially after the second one, I just got the feeling that your drivers do not exercise the same level of care they did when they delivered two other 928s to me a couple years ago.

BTW, the driver that damaged the Audi ultimately ended up taking the G-wagon off the truck and doing what he should have done in the first place. Of course I have pictures of this too.

I stand corrected on the Fed Ex comment.

Perhaps both incidents were taken care of by the drivers so you never knew about them?

 

Thanks for the heads up Chuck. It's possible that the Drivers took care of the damage upon delivery. I personally handle claims but don't recall these two incidents. Everyone at Intercity takes a great deal of pride in their jobs...however, there are times when we all travel at too quick of a pace. It's then that things go wrong.

My main concern was your statement that we've damaged 50% of the cars we shipped for you. I guess that's what happened but it certainly sounds worse than it was.

Anyways, thanks for the quick reply. We're still here, offering the best service that we can and are still privately owned.

I came to the Rennlist sight as a potential sponsor and hope to make that happen. What a terrific websight!

DMW

 

8943post wrote:

Quote:

It's possible that the Drivers took care of the damage upon delivery.

Perhaps this is more prevelant then you might think? Is this an accepted practice? Perhaps it might skew the number of damaged cars that actually get reported?

8943post wrote:

Quote:

My main concern was your statement that we've damaged 50% of the cars we shipped for you. I guess that's what happened but it certainly sounds worse than it was.

Sounds bad because it is, the way I see it you only get so many chances before one has to say enough is enough. I'm sorry to say, I will not be shipping or recommending Intercity to anyone, in fact just the opposite.

I'm only one individual and based on some of the posts on this thread, you've still got some people making some strong recommendations for Intercity, I'm just not one of them.

 

No it's not prevelant or a common practice for our Drivers to deal with the problem themselves. As I said before our claims ratio really speaks for itself. We have a close relationship with most of our customers. If there is a problem I'm the first to hear about it.

My advice to anyone shipping an automobile long distance is to check references and insurance of the Carrier you use. To check a Transport Companies safety and insurance records go to www.safersys.org. This is a Gov't sponsored site that monitors the safety records for all licensed Motor Carriers.

Last of all....AVOID Brokers like the plague! Make sure your Carrier owns and operates their own equipment.

Finis!
Dave Wilson
Pres.
Intercity Lines, Inc.

 

8943post

Quote:

No it's not prevelant or a common practice for our Drivers to deal with the problem themselves. As I said before our claims ratio really speaks for itself.

Dave,

This is my final post on this too.

I'm not trying to be argumentative (especailly with a potential Rennlist sponsor but, you do not get a pass either), if the drivers DO handle damage issues without you knowing about it, how accurate can your ratios be? Seems as though I pointed out two instances you did not know about.

Welcome to the group and I hope this does not deter your willingness to become a sponsor. Information on this site has been most useful throughout my Porsche ownership and I would highly recommend the site.

 

Dave as I said in my original post I will and do recommned Intercity.
I had waited 35 years for my twin turbo. Your husband and wife
team treated my car like it was their own. They worked with me
on delivery when I contacted them and wanted it early. Just a
great company to do business with. I hope you join our fine
web site and become a sponsor Good luck and I hope you
deliver another 'baby' to my house sometime in the future!!!

 

I too would like to put this to bed. It is not our policy to allow our Drivers to handle any claim themselves. This is discussed with them during their orientation. To be blunt but sincere I can say that there is very little that goes on behind the scenes with our Drivers that i'm not aware of. We are a small 35 truck fleet which enables me to "take the temperature" of our Drivers on a regular basis. Furthermore our Drivers like their job and will often point out situations to me that need to be addressed.

Once again, our Customers know that there is a direct line to my desk for any questions, concerns or problems they may have. It's unfortunate that neither you nor your customers took the time to contact me when the antenna damage occurred. I would have looked into the problem immediately.

I stand on Intercity's reputation to provide damage free transportation, good Customer service and good value for our transportation serivces.

Thanks for the "thumbs up" Old Guy!

Dave Wilson
Pres.
Intercity Lines, Inc.

 

Okay, THIS is the last post.....

8943post

Quote:

our Customers know that there is a direct line to my desk for any questions, concerns or problems they may have.

Intercity shipped FOUR cars for me, I did not know that!

OldGuy,

I had two great experiences with Intercity. I also shipped four times as many cars with them as you have! They are not perfect, nobody is. Two of the four were damaged. Not a great record in my book.