Just bought a car on Cars & Bids , but not Sure how to get it shipped back to you ?
Cars and Bids Auto Shipping Service Review
HERE IS OUR REVIEW OF THE CARS AND BIDS AUTO SHIPPING RECOMMENDED SERVICE PROVIDER.
So you have recently found your dream car on the popular auction site " Cars & Bids " , and now your considering your options as to how to safely get your new ride back home to you. You have done a brief search on auto shipping, and can't seem to make sense of the industry, so your inclined to go with the shipping service provider recommended by Cars & Bids. It seems like an obvious safe bet , since the same site you bought your car on , is endorsing the said option.
Now, from there, you may also assume that this shipping service is associated with Cars & Bids, which would also be a typical conclusion one may have. But unbeknownst to you, and really every other consumer out there , the shipping service that is being recommended has zero affiliation with Cars & Bids, but is entirely it's own operation. Furthermore, if anything goes wrong within the course of the shipping process, Cars & Bids will have nothing whatsoever to say or do about it - you can read their terms on this for yourself,
directly at this link, that we found on their own process, stating exactly that : Cars and Bids Shipping Terms and Conditions
A Verified Recent Experience With The Cars & Bids Auto Shipping Service came from a client of ours in March of 2023 - This is how it went.
The vehicle our client purchased was this beautiful 2022 Rivian R1S
The particular direct link to the vehicle purchased, we believe with about 99% certainty is here : 2022 Rivian R1S - Sold FEB 2023
We recently had a customer book on order with us on airRyd.com - this was after he had purchased a new 2022 Rivian R1S SUV on Cars & Bids. He had done his homework over the course of a week, and had decided to go with our services. So he went online and booked his order with us, and within 48 hours, we had located a fantastic setup with a company called Finest Carrier Logistics (Click To View Their Company Profile on airRyd.com ) , a company we know well that uses high end Kentucky enclosed trailers, and has been doing it for years. So we notified our client, and he signed off on the transport. About 48 hours after we had dispatched out his vehicle , the carrier made contact with the seller to arrange the pickup of the vehicle (pickup location in TX) - only to find out that the car had already been picked up by another carrier! But how ? But who ? These were the initial questions we were pondering, along with our client. So our client got on the phone and contacted Cars & Bids as well as the shipping company they recommend, which is known to be "Pre Owned Auto Logistics ". A company we have never heard of. So it turned out, that this company dispatched out a carrier without ever getting final confirmation from the client , or authorization to even move the car ! They never once notified the client that his Rivian had been setup for transport, never confirmed a final rate, never collected a payment or deposit, never received final authorization, - but amazingly, went ahead and dispatched out his vehicle and authorized a carrier to pick it up. And once a vehicle is picked up or loaded for transport, the customer is now forced to pay whatever that carrier was contracted out to move the car for, that is if he wants his car back - not a great situation to be in.
This is a classic tactic used by auto shipping brokers
Now as shocking as this story may be, it is not at all shocking to us at airRyd. These are the exact same types of tactics commonly used within the industry to ensure a broker gets paid, as again, once a unit is picked up, the clients hands are tied. The client is now forced to deal with the broker / trucking company that are now hauling the car. And to no fault of the trucking company, as they are just accepting a contract on a load , at a particular price (that the client is unaware of) , and since the company is a licensed FMCSA transportation broker, they believe the load to be fully within their authority to broker. In most cases, brokers or transport companies do not move this quickly, but in this case what likely occurred, is that after the client booked with us at airRyd, the company saw our load ( The Rivian R1S ) posted on the nation's primary vehicle transport load board - currently utilized within the industry, ( Central Dispatch ) - and decided they were not going to lose the business, even if it meant acting in bad faith . So to ensure they didn't lose the load to airRyd, Pre-Owned Auto Logistics quickly put out a listing to have the vehicle loaded, without any authorization from the client, and dispatched it as fast as they possibly could. And in many cases, this means you may very well end up having a very inexperienced or low rated trucking company coming out to load your 100k vehicle. Why ? Because the top rated trucking company's are not necessarily sitting on standby down the street. Typically a few days to a week is needed source the best equipped and most experienced trucking companies. If you don't care at all about quality, (as a transportation broker) then you will simply dispatch out the load to the first imaginable company that calls in or inquires on a load. This is also exactly how most major brokerages operate, like Montway, Roadrunner, SGT, Nexus, Amerifreight, the list goes on to almost infinity. It's essentially a "race " to dispatch out said load as fast as possible to ensure they secure a deposit. (This is yet another problem with the $0.00 down deposit model.) Little to ZERO concern is hardly ever given to the actual quality of the trucks or experience of the company's being dispatched. Not really a great feeling if your looking to ship a highly valuable auto, which many are exactly that on auction sites like Cars & Bids or Bring a Trailer.Circling back to our story regarding the Rivian, when we spoke to our client later in the process, after he had learned of all of these facts, he informed us he did not have the trucking company's name or information, even after he had spoken to Pre Owned Auto Logistics - the company recommended by Cars & Bids. We asked if he was given any information at all on the company moving his vehicle. The answer was a shocking " no ". According to him, he had to forcefully demand the trucking company information to actually obtain it, and this is after they are literally hauling his 100k Rivian R1S. You can view our text exchange below on this particular issue.
Once Pre Owned Auto Logistics reluctantly provided the company information on the particular trucking company, we did a quick search and found that the trucking company they had dispatched out the load on, had not even been on Central Dispatch hauling cars for a full month. There account became active in FEB of 2023. See the photo below:
Although their DOT dates back to 2019, they have not been actively hauling cars on Central Dispatch since February of 2023 - so there is no history on the company as it relates to hauling cars at all. Going from hauling freight to hauling cars is no small transition.
Now, in all honesty many trucking companies do come in and out of business fairly regularly , and Atlantic Pacific may very well turn out to be a great trucking company, but when it comes to higher value vehicles, you likely don't want a company moving your new ZR1 Corvette or 488 Ferrari that has less then 2 Car Hauling runs completed in their entire existence. Having hauled cars myself, I can personally tell you that you make all the mistakes in your first year when breaking into the car hauling industry.
The story continues, but that is the end of it for us, for the most part. He wasn't too thrilled, but he didn't have any options at that point, so he was left dealing with the company that he never hired, via Cars & Bids to move his Rivian.
The points we want to stress here are quite simple. When shopping online for cars, whether it be Bring a Trailer, Ebay, Cars & Bids, Autotrader, Manheim, Copart, make sure you do your due diligence ! Do not blindly trust that a company is the right answer simply because the auction your buying the car from is steering you in that direction. Also, just so those out there have the information. The company that Cars & Bids is pushing, is a company called Pre-Owned Auto Logistics. They are primarily a broker , and although there is of course nothing wrong with that, we feel many companies try to hide this fact. So if you use the service recommended by Cars & Bids - your car will be brokered out to a carrier off Central Dispatch most likely. There is no in house service being provided here by Cars & Bids.
To view the Yelp Page for Pre-Owned Auto Logistics , you can go here : Pre Owned Auto Logistics Yelp Page
If you scroll down , you can see we have included another screenshot of the Cars and Bids auto shipping terms, that were designed and created by Pre-Owned Auto Logistics, and directly within their own terms they even acknowledge that they cannot and do not ever guarantee transport dates, yet they are selling a product in such a way that the unknowing client believes their car will arrive by the particular dates they are indicating on their quotes.
We also went ahead and included this screenshot from their company, which although typical of online brokerages, dressing up a transport order with these false date ETA estimates is a complete ruse. No one can give you pricing estimates relative to your date requirements on the front end, it's simply impossible to do. You can provide ball park ranges, and eta ranges, but specific dates at specific rates are a laughable joke . These are complete gimmicky tricks to get you to hopefully select the higher costing option, with still no guarantee these eta's can be met ! Do not fall for these tricks, there is no way any company can give you a guaranteed delivery date or a guaranteed rate relative to that date requirement on the front end of a quote. Ask any auto hauling car carrier you find at a truck stop if a broker can guarantee those things. They cannot. We have to wait for options, which are usually found within + or - 1-3 days before or after your "first available date " - and once different options are located , we then can give you ETA estimates directly from whatever carrier is inquiring on the load. That is how the process works every time. Of course one can still give you "estimates" or "projections" on how much it may take to move a load by a certain date, or have it delivered by a certain date, but the keyword here is ESTIMATES. Far too often these auto transport companies do all they can to manipulate clients into thinking that these are rock hard guarantees. They are nothing even remotely close to that, so be aware of that fact.
Now, we decided to dig into what Cars and Bids is advertising, VS what we located at their terms and conditions page. You can visit their terms and conditions page here : Cars and Bids Shipping Terms and Conditions
Here is what you'll find Cars and Bids describing their shipping process as :
So, on Cars and Bids own website, they do what they can to also somewhat engage in manipulation, by making the client believe that the auto shipping process will be covered and handled directly by Cars and Bids. Obviously, once you take a look a their actual terms and conditions below, they fully acknowledge that they have no hand in the process at all ! In fact the entirety of the process is handled by a company named "Pre-Owned Auto Logistics" . Furthermore, even Pre-Owned Auto acknowledges in the same terms, that they CANNOT GUARANTEE DATES, furthermore they also acknowledge that they have no liability whatsoever within the shipping process. Now, of course we at airRyd fully understand this, but the question is , why not be transparent about these details ? Here are two additional screenshots highlighting some important parts of their terms of service.
Our Conclusion on the Cars & Bids Auto Shipping Service
- Cars and Bids is recommending a shipping service as though they are the ones providing it, when in reality the entire shipping process is handled by a company called "Pre-Owned Auto Logistics".
- Cars and Bids is advertising a service that has a a modern fleet, is fully insured, etc. etc. , when in reality there is no fleet at all, your car is being shipped by a third party broker who will have to contract the load out on Central Dispatch or other load boards.
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The language used by Cars and Bids " Cars & Bids Shipping is powered by the best in class automotive transport company to deliver a seamless integrated shipping experience, from initial quote through vehicle delivery, every aspect of your shipment is fully integrated into your Cars & Bids portal".
We aren't really sure what "best in class automotive transport company " means, but it obviously doesn't mean them. It would be a whole lot easier to just say "we've partnered with Pre Owned Auto Logistics to have your car shipped via the load boards ". But again, the engagement in deception is truly astonishing. We expect it from transport companies, but not from large auction sites such as Cars and Bids. - Real Time Updates ? When does that happen ? Our client's car was dispatched out, loaded, and headed his way without him receiving a single notification on the final pricing, the trucking company hauling the vehicle, the driver information, nothing whatsoever. It was all also done without his authorization or payment, which Pre Owned Auto Logistics requires, ( if you check their terms online ) - but in this case they randomly made an exception. All we can do at airRyd is nod our head and laugh. Same game that we see all the time, deceive, deceive , deceive.
- Transport Quotes - although we are not completely sure how their quote process works, what we can almost say with certainty, is that it is also not as advertised. Any quote you receive on Cars and Bids or from Pre-Owned Auto Logistics, is not a guaranteed quote, nor are the eta dates guaranteed times. Make sure you understand those facts. No one in the car hauling industry, that is brokering or facilitating vehicle transports, can make those types of guarantees. The only thing that is possible, is to provide "close approximate projections " or "estimates". Anytime these words are not paired next to a quote you see online, the one guarantee you will have at that point is that what they are selling are bold faced lies.
Final Thoughts
It is somewhat troubling that Cars and Bids has chosen to walk down the manipulation path rather then be straight up about the process with their customers. We find that quite odd considering they are so adamant about properly displaying the information on the cars on their site, and verifying data on each individual car. They may want to do the same when it comes to the shipping process. Let us know your thoughts below !! And if you shipped a car through Cars and Bids, or Bring a Trailer, please let us know what you think !!Also, we have just launched a new Car Transport Forum, for all things related to auto transport, you can check it out at : CarTransportTalk.com
To get a quote from us, please go to airRyd.com
For even more information on the world of auto transport, be sure to check out our growing YouTube Channel at Auto Transport For Dummies
Happy Hauling out there folks !!
Written By: Wes Hopkins / Founder of airRyd.com & Auto Transport For Dummies
Wes has extensive experience in the auto transport industry, having been a professional car hauler himself for over 5 years before launching the YT Channel, "Auto Transport For Dummies" as well as airRyd.com - which is now a leading provider of auto transport services. He also has appeared on sites such as "Shoutout Arizona" for his outstanding achievements in the industry.
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