Auto transport is an incredibly competitive business. Shipping cars all over the country isn’t cheap and very profitable. As you may have read elsewhere there are shady companies out there ruining it for everyone. We go over much of it in our scam page which you can visit get a full list of the most common practices we see in the industry.

The Scam

Customer is tricked into thinking that the order they placed with the legitimate auto transport company is canceled. Affected are both the customer and the legitimate transporter.

How It’s Done

You receive a Phone call from someone telling you your order is canceled or very delayed. A short time after, you received a call or message from a company coming to the rescue saying they have immediate availability. You book and they secure a deposit to lock you in all while you are already booked with another company. Your rate with them will be more expensive.

How they Got your Information

It is a company or individual you requested a quote from. You may also have filled a quote form from a lead provider. You may have also replied telling them that you already booked with someone. They may or may not ship your car..

How to Avoid this Scam

If you receive a phone call or email, call back the phone number on the company website right away and make sure the message or phone call came from the actual company. Do not follow any links to the website or call any phone numbers listed on the cancellation email to assure you were calling the right place.

In More Detail

The process of searching for quotes can provide unscrupulous and extremely unqualified individuals the opportunity to force you to book with them. If someone has to take those steps to get business, they probably don’t get much to begin with. It’s unethical to say the least.

So, let’s say you are in the process of looking for quotes. You fill out a form on various websites and make phone calls different companies in hopes of finding the best option for auto transport.

Let’s say at this point you decided to go with us, National Express Auto Transport. You place the order. You tell us the vehicle is ready next week. We begin the process of getting your vehicle scheduled. During this time, the shady competitor will follow up with you. When speaking with them may have let them know you have selected a company to go with and will no longer need their services.

This is where is the opportunity for the scam is created. A day or so later depending on when your preferred date is, (remember if you called them for a quote you already told them what your preferred date is) you get a phone call from someone claiming to be your auto transport company. They are calling you to tell you that your order has been postponed for a couple weeks due to delays or even has been canceled. They may give you a person’s name nothing else. At this point you may even accidentally give away the company you booked with. “Oh, is this National Express?”

Coincidentally and in the nick of time, you receive a follow-up be more phone call with a different number from them telling you they have a spot available and can pick you up probably for a higher amount of money. At this point you are susceptible to pay more just to finalize your booking.

As a result you are selecting a company strictly because they called you at “perfect” time without doing any research or knowing anything about them. This can create a potential nightmare for you.

How to Prevent Falling for This After Booking with Us

If someone calls you to try and cancel the order, ask what company they are with and don’t ask them if they are us. If they cannot answer, hang up immediately and call us to confirm.

If they happen to know the name of our company, ask them if they sent you the request in writing. Hang up, and even if you do get an email call 800-284-7177 and request for the status of your order.|

If you made a booking with us, we will never call you to tell you the order is canceled or delayed. All notifications are sent and from the sales person that spoke with you. Just as if you request to cancel, I will ask you to send it to us in writing to be absolutely sure it is coming from you.

Typically We Only Cancel an order Under Two Circumstances

The first one is this your payment method cannot be processed and you were unreachable. We at this point have tried all forms of communication we will send a final message saying that we could not process your booking and to call us. But even at this point, your order is on an indefinite hold until we hear from you were the original expected ship date has exceeded 30 days.

The second, will be if we suspect something with the order is strange or a fraudulent. In this instance since each situation is unique, the steps we will take may differ from order to order. In any case, you will not simply get an email telling you that you will be cancelled.

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