NTT Transport & Go 2 Transportation: Problems and Lessons Learned
Gents – as some of you know, I purchased a great Ferrari 458 out of California about 2 months ago. After finishing the deal, I chose to use a transporter recommended by some, NTT Transport (Norwalk Tow and Transport Inc). Several folks have asked me about how the shipping went, as they heard whisper of some of the problems. This is in no way a criticism of anyone who recommended them – but rather I hope it to serve as useful information for folks who are considering shipping a car and may have to deal with issues later.
I spoke with the owner of NTT Transport shortly after buying my car. He arranged a very timely pickup within 1 day. I was told my car would stay on the same truck from California to Florida, and not be off loaded anywhere or swapped to another truck, as some companies do. I had to pay him in advance via bank wire to transport the car. Because the price seemed good, and some good guys here recommended them, I went with NTT Transport.
Car arrived about at my house a week or two later, as promised. First thing of note, I contracted NTT Transport to ship the car, but it arrived on a truck labeled Go 2 Transportation out of Arizona – not sure if an affiliated company, or NTT Transport sub-contracted shipping out – which he was not supposed to do. (Lesson 1 – best to get this all in writing, which I did not). When car was off loaded, I immediately saw some big road rash on one front wheel and a big chip on the other. Since I had the car inspected the day before pickup, and had photos, I knew it wasn’t there on pickup. The Go 2 Transportation Driver assured me it was present when they picked up the car, and even gave me a copy of his pickup inspection report showing both wheels damaged at pickup. I asked him if it could have happened when car was off loaded to change trucks (baiting him as it wasn’t supposed to be), and he said it was only off loaded once in Arizona and they checked it there. Hmmmm. I had to sign for car as his inspection papers from pickup showed damage and I already paid them. I figured I’d deal with it later. ( Lesson 2 – best to pay at pickup if at all possible)
I called seller and inspector, both of whom assured me no damage at all was there at pickup. Fortunately, seller kept his copy of the pickup inspection report (** LESSON 3 – make sure seller keeps this for you). This was critical, because his paperwork was different – it did not show any damage to wheels. Somehow, trucking company must have changed paperwork and falsified the pickup records. After speaking to seller, he also said he was actually so concerned with how driver was loading car on truck (approaching ramp at sharp angle, not straight on), he actually took photos of him loading it because he thought something could happen to wheels. He saved them too (VERY HELPFUL).
I immediately contacted Vick, the owner of NTT Transport and described the story. I had already got a quick price to replace the 2 wheels from the aftermarket company that made them. Trying to be a nice guy, and because the owner of NTT Transport is a bud of some guys here, I said in effect that I know sh-t happens - just pay me for the 2 wheels and I’ll handle mounting and balancing costs and getting car to area Ferrari dealer, and we’ll call it a day. Sadly, after being run around for a week or so, I was told to contact Go 2 Transportation, as they delivered the car. I’m still not sure if it is a subsidiary company of NTT Transport, or affiliated, or ?. The manager at Go 2 Transport then was offered same deal by me – settle quickly and I’ll take care of mounting etc… He said no way. In fact, he denied they changed paperwork, in spite of me providing copies of both, and said his driver must have just missed the damage on pickup. He then directed me to his insurance company. When I emailed him the photos of the 2 paper works, he didn't really know what to say.
Their insurance company, like most, loves to drag things out as much as possible. I provided them an estimate for replacing the 2 wheels, and now to pay for the transport of the car to the nearest Ferrari dealer and labor to mount/balance/align. This added quite a bit of money to the claim. It was a very straight forward claim. 2 invoices – one for the 2 wheels and one for labor. What the insurer tried to do is to keep low balling me and dragging things on and on to get me to take less money. I gave them receipts for everything and they tried to sneak in a long document for me to sign for a different price, at 30% less than the claim. I called insurance rep and said no way. It took another week, then they sent me another document, this time about 15% less than claim. It then took another 2 weeks and finally they settled. I had to threaten them with loss of use and loss of value claims to get them to resolve it. (Lesson 4 is never let an insurance company short change you). I am sure they thrive on desperate folks who might need whatever portion of claim money they can get to get their only car and transportation fixed, so they try low balling. It’s sad, and made me feel bad for desperate folks who have little leverage. Of course, a typical Ford GT or Ferrari buyer is not going broke if 2 rims are damaged. I was ready to have an attorney make their life hell for another $30,000 claim if they didn’t take care of it.
NTT Transport and Go 2 Transportation handled this horribly. What would have been a simple problem easily fixed, became a royal hassle for me. On top of all that, they lied about transferring my car to another truck on route. They falsified their paperwork, and weren’t even concerned enough to accept my overly generous offer to settle quickly at a less than fair price to me and call it a day. I have been advised to forward copies of their falsified documents to the ICC. Personally, I think they should also refund my transportation fee and reimburse me for time spent handling this. Overall it has been about 7 weeks since they were first contacted with a simple claim. I finally deposited the insurance check today. The 2 replacement wheels I ordered are still on their way from the aftermarket wheel company.
Gents – as some of you know, I purchased a great Ferrari 458 out of California about 2 months ago. After finishing the deal, I chose to use a transporter recommended by some, NTT Transport (Norwalk Tow and Transport Inc). Several folks have asked me about how the shipping went, as they heard whisper of some of the problems. This is in no way a criticism of anyone who recommended them – but rather I hope it to serve as useful information for folks who are considering shipping a car and may have to deal with issues later.
I spoke with the owner of NTT Transport shortly after buying my car. He arranged a very timely pickup within 1 day. I was told my car would stay on the same truck from California to Florida, and not be off loaded anywhere or swapped to another truck, as some companies do. I had to pay him in advance via bank wire to transport the car. Because the price seemed good, and some good guys here recommended them, I went with NTT Transport.
Car arrived about at my house a week or two later, as promised. First thing of note, I contracted NTT Transport to ship the car, but it arrived on a truck labeled Go 2 Transportation out of Arizona – not sure if an affiliated company, or NTT Transport sub-contracted shipping out – which he was not supposed to do. (Lesson 1 – best to get this all in writing, which I did not). When car was off loaded, I immediately saw some big road rash on one front wheel and a big chip on the other. Since I had the car inspected the day before pickup, and had photos, I knew it wasn’t there on pickup. The Go 2 Transportation Driver assured me it was present when they picked up the car, and even gave me a copy of his pickup inspection report showing both wheels damaged at pickup. I asked him if it could have happened when car was off loaded to change trucks (baiting him as it wasn’t supposed to be), and he said it was only off loaded once in Arizona and they checked it there. Hmmmm. I had to sign for car as his inspection papers from pickup showed damage and I already paid them. I figured I’d deal with it later. ( Lesson 2 – best to pay at pickup if at all possible)
I called seller and inspector, both of whom assured me no damage at all was there at pickup. Fortunately, seller kept his copy of the pickup inspection report (** LESSON 3 – make sure seller keeps this for you). This was critical, because his paperwork was different – it did not show any damage to wheels. Somehow, trucking company must have changed paperwork and falsified the pickup records. After speaking to seller, he also said he was actually so concerned with how driver was loading car on truck (approaching ramp at sharp angle, not straight on), he actually took photos of him loading it because he thought something could happen to wheels. He saved them too (VERY HELPFUL).
I immediately contacted Vick, the owner of NTT Transport and described the story. I had already got a quick price to replace the 2 wheels from the aftermarket company that made them. Trying to be a nice guy, and because the owner of NTT Transport is a bud of some guys here, I said in effect that I know sh-t happens - just pay me for the 2 wheels and I’ll handle mounting and balancing costs and getting car to area Ferrari dealer, and we’ll call it a day. Sadly, after being run around for a week or so, I was told to contact Go 2 Transportation, as they delivered the car. I’m still not sure if it is a subsidiary company of NTT Transport, or affiliated, or ?. The manager at Go 2 Transport then was offered same deal by me – settle quickly and I’ll take care of mounting etc… He said no way. In fact, he denied they changed paperwork, in spite of me providing copies of both, and said his driver must have just missed the damage on pickup. He then directed me to his insurance company. When I emailed him the photos of the 2 paper works, he didn't really know what to say.
Their insurance company, like most, loves to drag things out as much as possible. I provided them an estimate for replacing the 2 wheels, and now to pay for the transport of the car to the nearest Ferrari dealer and labor to mount/balance/align. This added quite a bit of money to the claim. It was a very straight forward claim. 2 invoices – one for the 2 wheels and one for labor. What the insurer tried to do is to keep low balling me and dragging things on and on to get me to take less money. I gave them receipts for everything and they tried to sneak in a long document for me to sign for a different price, at 30% less than the claim. I called insurance rep and said no way. It took another week, then they sent me another document, this time about 15% less than claim. It then took another 2 weeks and finally they settled. I had to threaten them with loss of use and loss of value claims to get them to resolve it. (Lesson 4 is never let an insurance company short change you). I am sure they thrive on desperate folks who might need whatever portion of claim money they can get to get their only car and transportation fixed, so they try low balling. It’s sad, and made me feel bad for desperate folks who have little leverage. Of course, a typical Ford GT or Ferrari buyer is not going broke if 2 rims are damaged. I was ready to have an attorney make their life hell for another $30,000 claim if they didn’t take care of it.
NTT Transport and Go 2 Transportation handled this horribly. What would have been a simple problem easily fixed, became a royal hassle for me. On top of all that, they lied about transferring my car to another truck on route. They falsified their paperwork, and weren’t even concerned enough to accept my overly generous offer to settle quickly at a less than fair price to me and call it a day. I have been advised to forward copies of their falsified documents to the ICC. Personally, I think they should also refund my transportation fee and reimburse me for time spent handling this. Overall it has been about 7 weeks since they were first contacted with a simple claim. I finally deposited the insurance check today. The 2 replacement wheels I ordered are still on their way from the aftermarket wheel company.
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