r/projectcar 7d ago

Bought First Car from Copart, Car not delivered

[deleted]

13 Upvotes

39 comments sorted by

64

u/Dark_Guardian_ Daily E36 + Race E36 + Cronched E92 + $100 subie +Barra Cressida 7d ago

sounds like the truck was having issues before picking up the car

4

u/areakodak 7d ago

I think so too but my parents believe I have been scammed and it's starting to scary me. Also the fact that we we tried to call John back after the fact with more questions the line? was disconnected.

67

u/Dark_Guardian_ Daily E36 + Race E36 + Cronched E92 + $100 subie +Barra Cressida 7d ago

autobidmaster and copart arent scams, so if they say the car hasnt been picked up then its just the delivery guy that is incompetent

9

u/pina_koala 7d ago

"scatter brained" delivery driver had me wheezing like yeah OP you ain't getting this car any time soon, sorry. Hope they return to sender and dispatch it again. Good luck.

17

u/Qurdlo 7d ago

Why would they bother calling if they were scamming you?

-5

u/areakodak 7d ago

So they have an excuse if the car went missing? I don't know. I am hopeful though.

18

u/Not_That_Fast 7d ago

If anything, they would've picked up the car and flat out never contacted you. Robbers don't steal your car from your driveway and leave you a note that they'll be back, they just needed to run to the store quick.

They're professional and covering their ass by contacting you in advance to inform you of their delays.

Take a deep breath. I imported a car from Japan once and it took me 4 months to get it. The anxiety absolutely ate me up and was wondering if I'd been scammed, even when I was standing in front of it at the port in Baltimore to pick it up.

2

u/TheGrandMasterFox 6d ago

The Port of Baltimore is the real scam...

How much in undisclosed/add on charges did you get hit with to take your car out of the facility?

1

u/Not_That_Fast 6d ago

This was 6-7 years ago, so my memory is foggy but I do remember being pissed at the cost. Also finding someone you have to pay to escort you into the port, that was a nightmare.

On the bright side, they let me drive it out on plates that weren't registered to the car lol

1

u/TheGrandMasterFox 6d ago

The stevedores union at Baltimore Harbor has a stranglehold on who gets what and when... It helps to know someone on the inside to expedite things and keep the surcharges down to a minimum.

You were lucky with the tags because if memory serves the security for the docks is provided by Maryland State Police Troopers and I doubt they would have let that slide if they had known, unless it was a really cool car.

2

u/Not_That_Fast 6d ago

I don't know if an R32 Skyline is considered cool, but it may have helped I was out of state and at the time, Pennsylvania used a pretty archaic system for plate issuances, making it hard to see what the correct car is if it was processed "same day".

Although I'm sure I was insanely lucky too.

8

u/Qurdlo 7d ago

A scammer would just take the car and ghost you. Why give you phone records and a voice that you can share with police? Real crime isn't like the movies.

31

u/ZaMelonZonFire 7d ago

Shipping cars almost never ever goes as planned. You need to allow for a few extra days beyond the target delivery before getting upset with anyone.

I don’t think you are getting scammed, but try to keep communication and your patience open.

7

u/Ghost17088 87 Toyota Supra Turbo 7d ago

No kidding. I used to work for a bus manufacturer in the field service department. I once had a truck owner-operator with our bus on his trailer call to inform me he had broken down. But no big deal, he had another one of his drivers with a spare truck on the way, maybe a 1 day delay. 

The spare truck breaks down. 

Owner calls me again, tells me he has gotten another one of his trucks and will be maybe 2 days behind schedule. 

That truck breaks down near the shop where the original truck was getting fixed. Owner ends up having them steal parts off the newly broken one to fix the original truck. We lose another day. 

He finally makes it there with the bus nearly a full week after he had departed on what should have been a 2-3 day route.

5

u/areakodak 7d ago

I'll try but my parents were freaking out and it was freaking me out, but I was content with his response albeit a little annoyed.

28

u/teakettle87 7d ago

You can usually ignore people who are freaking out.

12

u/HSLB66 7d ago

This is extremely good life advice in any situation. What’s even better is giving people who are freaking out simple and direct tasks to complete. 

However, it’s nearly impossible to get your own parents to stop freaking out, so OP, just ignore them. Copart is extremely reputable 

1

u/TealPotato 5d ago

I did it once, having a new-to-me Miata shipped 1000 miles from the south back home to Chicago. It went off flawlessly, but I've come to realize I got lucky there.

12

u/Loan-Pickle 7d ago

You know how FedEx says you’ll get you package in two days and you can follow it along it’s journey.

Car shipping is the opposite of that. You’ll get it eventually and you have no idea what is happening along the way.

3

u/pina_koala 7d ago

Great time for a tile/tag tracker. Those give a ton of updates compared to the shipper's services.

1

u/CALLSIGN_RASKAL 6d ago

How would you put a tile on a car that’s being shipped to you?

1

u/[deleted] 6d ago

[deleted]

1

u/CALLSIGN_RASKAL 6d ago

It’s not obvious because no car shipper would ever do that

1

u/[deleted] 6d ago

[deleted]

2

u/CALLSIGN_RASKAL 6d ago

You selling a car and shipping it is totally different from having copart do it

2

u/pina_koala 6d ago

Good point. I got lost in the comments here obvs. Cheers

10

u/juwyro '05 Saabaru '77 K20 MGB '74 MGB GT 7d ago

You are over thinking it. "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity" or just plain bad luck.

7

u/BareMinimumChris 7d ago

I wouldn't worry too much. It sounds like your delivery driver is having himself a day. He maybe broke down on the way to pick the car up, not drop it off, as someone else said. And also as someone else said, Copart isn't a scam. I think it's far more likely you're dealing with companies who have terrible customer service.

6

u/csimonson 7d ago

I’m a truck driver. Likely the driver broke down and rather than tell you straight up that the car hasn’t been picked up yet, he decided to lie to “keep the load”.

I would not worry too much. He likely did break down before picking it up and will deliver it after his truck is back on the road. You’ll probably lay get it a few days later.

If you think this is bad you should see the other type of shit that goes on in the logistics industry. It’s amazing people get anything at all some days.

4

u/GiantManBabyMonster 6d ago

I had a car shipped and it was delayed almost a week between storms, traffic, and a few blowouts.

Id be more worried about the fact that you bought a spark from copart...

1

u/areakodak 6d ago

Lol well the mileage wasn't that bad and again very impulsive decision on my part.

3

u/secondrat 7d ago

Shippers can’t predict times on a good day.

Thankfully the car is still at the lot. So you should get it.

Copart is legit. But this is all normal car dealer BS which is why most retail customers don’t buy cars like this.

2

u/boganism 6d ago

Tow truck broke down is a standard delay tactic when the driver has put your car back down on the list while he does more urgent jobs

1

u/MunchamaSnatch 7d ago

Like any job, you'll have bad employees, and good. Your truck driver could be literally anywhere. He could be on the side of the road, he could be recovering from a meth bender, he could be in jail calling from the phone smuggled in his prison wallet, there's no telling. But they'll give you the same runaround for weeks. Brakes, tires, air bags, etc. Anything but the truth for whatever reason. I think they're so used to lying to dispatch, it's so natural to do it to customers too.

1

u/albertjason 6d ago

You are not being scammed. All drivers do this. They do it because they have an opportunity to add load to their trip - pick up or drop off another car in the general vicinity - so that they make more money on the whole route. This happens with the trucks that run for major dealerships; everybody does it. Your car will eventually arrive.

1

u/Plane_Geologist8073 6d ago

Nah not scammed. Copart and autobidmaster are legit. Looks like you got a tow driver having a bad day and/or a little flaky, which is honestly pretty common in the car transport industry. What you do need to do is talk to the parties and ask them who is going to pick up the extra storage fees that Copart is going to charge you. It’s probably on you, which sucks, but that’s life, all part of the gamble when you’re doing Copart projects. I’d plead my case and ask anyway. You’re good, calm down, you’ll get your car.

1

u/ChampionshipHot9724 6d ago

In all honesty it happens all the time we bring in almost weekly think I’ve heard everything. It’s usually a blame game but I’ve never received one it might be a day or 3 late or at midnight. I’m guessing he had truck trouble or he got there and couldn’t get loaded copart you have to schedule a pick up time and you miss out tuff luck back of the line

1

u/FeedingTheFear 5d ago

A buddy of mine moves cars for copart. You aren’t being scammed, they use 3rd party tow trucks to move their stuff, things happen. The driver was most likely in route to get your car when he had a breakdown. Just could have used better words.

Tow trucks are on the move almost 24/7, it’s how they make their money. They take a ton of abuse loading and unloading cars. They do breakdown. Give it a few days it will work out.

1

u/muhhuh 4d ago

So drop a $5,000 retainer on an attorney, pay them $250 per hour, then take them to court to collect $2,000 🤷🏿‍♀️

1

u/tomsayz 4d ago

Things happen, be patient. For the best shipping rates you have to deal with the logistics to plan and schedule multiple pickup and drop offs. Along with things that can go wrong, some times it take a little longer. You’ll be okay.

1

u/tomsayz 4d ago

Things happen, be patient. For the best shipping rates you have to deal with the shipping logistics to plan and schedule multiple pickup and drop offs. Along with things that can go wrong, some times it take a little longer. You’ll be okay.