Moving is extremely stressful. Especially when you have a deadline to start a new job in a new city. I was under the impression shipping a vehicle would be the easier part that could be more on the back burner of priorities. "I'll get around to it" rang through my head many times in the lead up to my actual departure of Chicago. When I put in very basic info into one of the major vehicle shipping inquiry websites is when I received the unfortunate wake up call that moving my Toyota Corolla wasn't a straightforward, snap of the fingers process. I was immediately inundated with endless calls from, what I later finally found out when I talked to Christian of Olde Towne, brokers. Which actually on the surface should be a convenient thing. It would've taken me forever to individually call all of these brokers. However, the majority of these brokers were, to say the least, unpleasant. I began to realize the main message from them was "YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING. THE OTHER GUYS DON'T KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING. ONLY I KNOW WHAT TO DO!" Coercive and aggressive like crazy. And I don't think this is an accident. I actually felt tired and frustrated after a couple of hours of this. Which actually made me almost feel like the guy that sounded most confident, most aggressive was right. He is the only one that knows how to do this. These brokers attack you, wear you down, and then essentially exploit you. I know that may sound a little crazy, but trust me, until you ship a vehicle for the first time wait and see. It isn't pretty.
I was about to call that most aggressive, seemingly confident guy back, but then I got a call from Christian with a company called Olde Towne Logistics. I think he sensed the weariness in my voice. Christian asked a few questions along the lines of "have you been told this from them?" I responded with a distrusting "yes....but." Then that was followed up with "Did they say I would say this?" I honestly felt like I was in some kind of Cold War spy movie and I was just trying to ship my little Corolla from Chicago to Portland. But what I was realizing in talking to Christian was that those questions he was asking were breeding awareness within me of the absurdity of many of these other brokers. Christian even admitted this was kind of his company's shtick: being transparent and calm. "Wow, if being a decent, honest person is a shtick in this industry...what an industry," I thought to myself.
After some more conversation with Christian, I finally was confident that the other brokers, in fact, were successful in flustering me and exposing vulnerability. They know that I have to move. They know I absolutely need their service one way or another. They know the more they intimidate and confuse me the more money they can harvest from me. It really isn't an accident. Christian did not give off a vibe of this at all. It was almost like he was my inside person helping me navigate the tumultuous waters of vehicle shipment. And in navigating those waters he made me realize that, although it does take a bit of patience, it is actually a very simple process. It's just all about what company you pick. And in choosing Olde Towne Logistics my vehicle was picked up within three days, delivered in four days, all for about the average price of what all the other brokers were screaming at me. There was a small hiccup where the driver was running about an hour late (Chicago traffic) on the pickup. I texted Christian, he contacted the driver and then got back to me within fifteen minutes. My stress was relieved.
I was able to drive to work my first day in Portland (I didn't realize but public transportation is free anyways there), but hey, it was still a really nice comfort to have my car there when I needed it. I cannot recommend Olde Towne Logistics and Christian enough. This industry is not pretty, but Olde Towne is striving to change that. read more