(Continued from Part One)
Now, I don't expect every person to be an M.B.A., but I just couldn't conceive of any sort of business establishment that was so stupid that it never even occurred to their employees to LABEL THEMSELVES. No sign identifying who they were- just a dirty gray door. Completely invisible, so no customers could find them. Brilliant. And as I mentioned before- this was the cream of the crop of autoshipping companies.
I didn't want to be rude, but I couldn't let it go. I was intrigued. So I said: "You know Al, the worrying thing for you is that I actually was on the loading dock, speaking to guys who were only a few yards away from your office, and THEY didn't even know you existed here."
His response: "Yeah, but if you had told them that you were looking for Al, they would have known."
At that point, I aborted my Marketing 101 lecture attempt.
Al was a nice guy though- I rather liked him. But things deteriorated rapidly when he casually told me that my car would be scratched when driven up onto the elevated loading dock platform.
NO. No it won't Al. That's not acceptable. All that painstaking research to try to find a place that wouldn't damage my car, and the first thing this guy tells me (Well, other than the fact that he doesn't have a sign) is that my car is going to get scratched?!What the hell was going on?! But when he showed me the angle of the ramp, I saw what he meant...he told me most cars had their underside scrape as they drove up the ramp. And my Porsche has been modified for racing and has an even lower ride height than factory standard. Lovely.
Al, possibly disturbed by the increasingly homicidal look on my face, graciously suggested that I could drive the car up myself (not the usual policy), seeing as I was so concerned.
That reminds me, make sure you get a separate insurance policy (you can do it through the autoshipping company) before you start this endeavor. You have to get a separate, specialized policy because your normal insurance company will have no way to cover you on overseas shipment etc.
Needless to say, I made sure that the pre-shipment insurance inspection etc. was signed before I got in the car and drove it up that dreadful ramp, teeth gritted. I heard a horrible grinding noise momentarily as I gingerly neared the top, but thankfully that turned out to be the tires spinning on the sawdust that was strewn all over the place- I don't think it scraped, thank God.
I wanted to watch them load the car into the container, but despite promising me that privilege, they couldn't honor their pledge because apparently my container hadn't arrived yet; it was running late. I called Rinkens and there was nothing they could do about it; they told me that there are usually such delays, which is probably true. I had a plane to catch- I told them to be very careful, crossed my fingers, and flew to the UK the next day, leaving my car in the hands of...Al and friends.
The car was on the ocean for roughly a month and a half. Expect it to come a bit later than promised. When it arrived, I paid for the portion of the charges which pertained to the paperwork processing/unloading etc. on the UK side. Did I get charged more than my original estimate? Of course, but by around $225 dollars, which wasn't too bad considering I've heard many people paying 50-100% more than their original estimates. Another tip- Make sure you get the paperwork etc. signed and bills paid as soon as the car arrives in the harbor, because any delays cost you more money in the form of per diem rental/storage charges etc.
So finally one day I took the train to the warehouse where my car was waiting for me, in a town called Felixstowe. I steeled my soul, preparing to experience the horror of not only seeing my car damaged, but also engaging in hand to hand combat with cretinous, soulless freaks. I mean, seriously, what were the chances that the car arrived unscathed?
But it DID! A bloody miracle...especially considering that the place I picked it up from seemed to be run exclusively by dodgy-looking high school dropouts. No matter...within minutes, I was suddenly in my beloved car, accelerating down the highway of a completely different country, CD player blasting appropriatley energetic music- what bliss! It was such a cool and unusual feeling to suddenly be in your familiar car, but in a different country.
Okay, so I know this was long-winded, but hey, I'm a writer. Hopefully this will be of use to someone- I wanted to "give back" somehow because I've received lots of good advice from this site.
Best Regards,
The Sun King
