NEVER USE AUTOBAHN TRANSPORT (Lemont Ill) | FerrariChat
Buy

NEVER USE AUTOBAHN TRANSPORT (Lemont Ill)

Discussion in 'Chicago' started by jlonmark, Oct 25, 2013.

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

  1. jlonmark

    jlonmark F1 Rookie

    Mar 29, 2005
    3,202
    Beverly Hills, CA
    Full Name:
    Jay
    #1 jlonmark, Oct 25, 2013
    I am writing this and posting on numerous car forums. I am a car enthusiast and I enjoy the automobile. Though I am very particular about my cars, I understand that not everybody is as concerned. However; what happened to me is completely unacceptable and illegal. Here is the story: I purchased a 2008 Lamborghini Gallardo in Indiana. I went looked up several shipping companies in the area and I came across Autobahn in Lemont, Ill. The owner sounded fine and assured me that my car would be picked up the next day. And the car was picked up the next day. Notice I say "picked up" and not "picked up on a truck." That's right, my car was DRIVEN over 50 miles and then parked where it sat outside, got rained on and eventually was picked up. In addition, my car did not arrive within the 10 days as promised. IT was over one week late! When I would call and ask the whereabouts of my car, I would get, "let me call driver," and then I would get no return call. In fact, this was the only time I have ever shipped a car, and I did not have the driver's contact info. My car finally arrived and was delivered to me BY THE DRIVER! Nothing like a smelly Russian driving my almost new Lamborghini. Where is the truck I asked? "Down the street," I get. After I got in my car, that looked as it had been DRIVEN in a snow storm from Indiana to Los Angeles, I went looking for the truck. No truck. I then went immediately to my detail shop where I had to have the clear bra removed since it was stained. This cost me a significant amount of money. I contacted Autobahn and they blew me off. I then contacted VISA and filed a dispute. The nice people at Autobahn fought the claim and said that I and the ER doctor (previous owner) lied and that there was no way the car was driven 50+ miles and that the car was dirty when it was picked up from his house (rather an estate with a private detailer who comes to the house). I am posting this as a warning to all fellow car enthusiasts! NEVER use AUTOBAHN TRANSPORT!
     
  2. Townshend

    Townshend F1 Veteran
    Owner Rossa Subscribed

    Jul 20, 2005
    6,677
    Chicago
    Full Name:
    Walter
    #2 Townshend, Oct 26, 2013
    They picked up a Diablo from me to ship out east, stating they ship Lambos all of the time! Problem was, when they showed up the truck was not wide enough to fit the car lol. Had to wait a couple of days and they ended up picking it up with a semi. People make mistakes and it wasn't a big deal, but I was struck by how they didn't realize to send a wide enough truck.
     
  3. gray911

    gray911 Rookie

    Apr 22, 2009
    12
    #3 gray911, Oct 26, 2013
    Thank you for warning your fellow members about these crooks! I'm disgusted just hearing what they did to your car.
     
  4. Valenzo

    Valenzo F1 Veteran

    Dec 4, 2010
    5,069
    IL & NC
    Full Name:
    Ted
    #4 Valenzo, Oct 27, 2013
    They picked up a snowmobile that I sold on eBay. Russian guy showed up with an open car transport, for a Snowmobile?. Fortunately I have a forklift and was able to hoist it up to the top, then we had to turn it to straddle the ramps. Once I got it up here, I walked away and let him deal with it falling off. He finally got it tied down but I took pictures because I had my doubts it would make the trip to the buyer.
     
  5. jlonmark

    jlonmark F1 Rookie

    Mar 29, 2005
    3,202
    Beverly Hills, CA
    Full Name:
    Jay
    #5 jlonmark, Oct 29, 2013
    Specialize in "driving Lambos" is more like it. I guarantee they would have driven Walter's Diablo to the bigger truck had he not been there. I'm a big believer in you get what you pay for.... Though when you pay a lot of money to a place who "specializes in exotics," you never think it will be so bad. At any rate, my next step is legal action.
     
  6. scuderia1989

    scuderia1989 Karting

    Mar 16, 2010
    66
    #6 scuderia1989, Oct 30, 2013
    I work for a dealership and we set up all the shipping for our clients with transporters that have a great reputation and have done lots of business with us. Our guys pick up directly from our showroom with the truck and deliver straight to your door. If for any reason they could not get to your home they will call you and set up a spot where they can safely drop off the car and hand it over to you.

    The only thing is clients always like to get upset with me because our transporters might charge a little more, I always get the "I can get it done cheaper" The way I see it is a few hundred dollars more that my guys charge is worth the peace of mind in knowing you get the car to you in one piece on time and clean. As a professional dealer we always make sure we physically see car go on truck if driver does not have truck present car is not released we always record exact miles the vehicle left with to ensure it was not driven anywhere en route. If you guys have any question's about shipping or anything feel free to PM me I can assist with shipping anywhere in the country pretty quick.
     
  7. bball16

    bball16 F1 Rookie
    Rossa Subscribed

    Dec 2, 2011
    4,125
    NY LI FtL
    Full Name:
    Mike
    #7 bball16, Oct 30, 2013
    I learned my lesson about 10 years ago. I was shipping my H2 up to NY from Fla. I hired a company based on price and it turned into a nightmare. The car disappeared for 2 weeks and nobody could tell me where it was. When the finally brought it to my house it had 200 unexplained extra miles on it and $3k worth of damage to the roof and luggage rack. They couldn't tell me about why it had no gas in it or where it was, but the delivery driver, who was not the original guy, told me it was parked on the bottom of the truck and they lowered the top of the truck right onto the roof. Two months and a million irate phone calls later they paid the damage and refunded me the transport cost. Since then only Horseless Carriage, Intercity or a carrier that FOLI recommends to me.
     
  8. Dino V

    Dino V Formula 3

    Sep 21, 2005
    1,140
    Chicago
    Full Name:
    Dino
    #8 Dino V, Nov 6, 2013
    That is absolutely ridiculous, and I hope you can take the maximum legal action possible. I hope they didn't damage anything as I am sure they were not driving civilized.
     
  9. the_stig

    the_stig F1 Rookie

    Sep 19, 2005
    3,497
    #9 the_stig, Nov 6, 2013
    After seeing the show mentioned here on fchat I watched a couple of episodes of Shipping Wars. If that show doesn't convince you that you get what you pay for nothing will!
     

Share This Page