In May, 2017, after examining and test drive, I purchased a 2016 Mercedes Benz E400 with a total mileage of 5321 from an auto dealer in Perkasi, PA. I paid $950.00 to ALFA Transportation Inc to ship my new car to Oceanside CA. On May 15, 2017, this vehicle was uploaded to the truck of ALFA Transportation. On May 21, 2017, after the vehicle was unloaded from the carrier’s truck in Oceanside, CA, I drove home and then realized right away that this car was pulling toward right badly and the steering wheel was off center counter clockwise. A local Mercedes dealer found a bent rear left suspension arm and attributed the off center steering wheel to the bent arm. The bent section of the arm clearly shows damage marks of chain or other tool from the carrier’s truck that wrapped around the top and two sides of the arm. I have contacted ALFA Transportation Inc. multiple times regarding the vehicle damage caused by the driver negligence. The owner of the company refused the compensation for the damage saying that the driver is not responsible for damage underneath the vehicle per the Bill of Lading and I have signed the Bill of Lading on delivery.
My complaint against ALFA Transportation Inc. is that the Bill of Lading of ALFA Transportation clearly states “The Transporter will be Responsible for Damage Directly Caused by the Driver” and the company should honor the statement. My new vehicle was apparently damaged by the driver during shipping. I took a few images of the rear bottom section of the vehicle from distance when it was still high on the ramps of the carrier’s truck before unloading without realizing that the vehicle suspension arm was damaged. After the Mercedes dealer notified me the damage, I zoomed in the images and saw the arm was bent when the car was on the ramps of the carrier’s truck as pointed by the red arrow of the attached image. The Bill of Lading only shows diagrams of surrounding bodies of the vehicle without any way for inspection underneath the vehicle. I signed the Bill of Lading based purely upon my limited inspection of the surrounding bodies of the vehicle. If ALFA Transportation Inc does not change the service practice and admits the shipper’s fault, many customers will suffer like me because vehicle underneath damages caused by the shipper can occur, but are not easy to be detected.