Auto Transport -Just Like The Wild West
Posted 05-03-2009 at 02:44 PM by StayRightPassLeft
So here goes nothing...
Let me preface this post by letting the blogging community know this is my first EVER post. At first I didn't understand the fuss. However, after reading several blogs myself I find it both thrilling and necessary to post about a subject that has become near and dear to me -the auto transport industry...and occasionally sports!
Many years ago, I started a job hauling cars for an auto transport carrier. I loved the freedom of my job. I had the enjoyment of seeing this country, with all it's splendor and all it's warts. Probably the most enjoyable part was delivering the vehicles to their new owners. The looks on their faces was often that of pure joy. Especially if it was a classic car they remember from their youth or the first vehicle a teenager ever owned. I was happy to be a part of that transaction.
However, the honeymoon did not last very long. First and foremost I realized the people pulling the strings of this industry were ignorant, crooked liars. Most brokers lied to the customer to get their business, took more than their fair share when offering payment to the drivers, and then duped the carriers in order to get the vehicles picked up, often several weeks after they promised the customer it would be picked up. Over time I also realized being on the road was no treat, either. Sure it's great in the middle of the summer when the sun is setting over the horizon and you have a great song on the radio. But it's the damn fool who thinks it's fun to climb underneath the trailer in freezing rain, back to the pavement, in order to strap these cars to the trailer. Also, driving down the highway with a few inches on the ground and a deadline to meet is an awfully difficult choice to have to make, for 3-4 months straight, each winter. Couple that with all the breakdowns, shady mechanics, ball-busting state troopers, steep 7% grades into Salt Lake, Denver & Tahoe, disappointed customers, and it's a wonder anyone would want this thankless job.
In the coming weeks and months I hope to do my best to educate people to the horrors of the auto transport industry, the people that are leading it back to respectability, and why deregulation is often a bad thing -if, of course, the current economic crisis has not taught you that already.
Stay tuned...and please, tell me how I'm doing!!
Let me preface this post by letting the blogging community know this is my first EVER post. At first I didn't understand the fuss. However, after reading several blogs myself I find it both thrilling and necessary to post about a subject that has become near and dear to me -the auto transport industry...and occasionally sports!
Many years ago, I started a job hauling cars for an auto transport carrier. I loved the freedom of my job. I had the enjoyment of seeing this country, with all it's splendor and all it's warts. Probably the most enjoyable part was delivering the vehicles to their new owners. The looks on their faces was often that of pure joy. Especially if it was a classic car they remember from their youth or the first vehicle a teenager ever owned. I was happy to be a part of that transaction.
However, the honeymoon did not last very long. First and foremost I realized the people pulling the strings of this industry were ignorant, crooked liars. Most brokers lied to the customer to get their business, took more than their fair share when offering payment to the drivers, and then duped the carriers in order to get the vehicles picked up, often several weeks after they promised the customer it would be picked up. Over time I also realized being on the road was no treat, either. Sure it's great in the middle of the summer when the sun is setting over the horizon and you have a great song on the radio. But it's the damn fool who thinks it's fun to climb underneath the trailer in freezing rain, back to the pavement, in order to strap these cars to the trailer. Also, driving down the highway with a few inches on the ground and a deadline to meet is an awfully difficult choice to have to make, for 3-4 months straight, each winter. Couple that with all the breakdowns, shady mechanics, ball-busting state troopers, steep 7% grades into Salt Lake, Denver & Tahoe, disappointed customers, and it's a wonder anyone would want this thankless job.
In the coming weeks and months I hope to do my best to educate people to the horrors of the auto transport industry, the people that are leading it back to respectability, and why deregulation is often a bad thing -if, of course, the current economic crisis has not taught you that already.
Stay tuned...and please, tell me how I'm doing!!
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