Complaint Review: Fidelity Auto Shipping - Miami Florida

If you use this company to transport your car or powersports vehicles, you are seriously risking your vehicles, time and money.  Avoid these incompetent scam artists at all costs.

Originally I had contacted (in)Fidelity to ship two 7/10 scale race cars from Ontario, CAN to my home in CA.  I contacted them approx a month and a half in advance as well as received another quote from a competing company.  They were higher but upon calling them to discuss my shipment needs they seem to ask all the right questions to avoid importation issues that can arise.  Not being a stranger to importing vehicles, I was delighted to hear they would handle everything.

After speaking with them about a few things pertaining to shipping a race car & timelines, I was confident they could handle the job. For two weeks they would call me like a rabid telemarketer to book shipment. I had discussed when this shipment would be ready but the caller seemed like she hadn't even looked over their notes/details of my quote/call. Finally I gave them my credit card 3-4 weeks before shipment which they immediately ran for $5740 & included customs paperwork filing. Pricey, but I had not researched this company as thoroughly as I needed to. It was a little before Christmas and they told me they had trouble scheduling a driver (like many others have complained about) due to the holidays. I gave them the benefit of the doubt and told them it that was fine.

Finally the cars were picked up around 1/7/15. No mention of any issues and I was informed of the pickup. They were delivered to a warehouse in MI where they said they had trouble unloading the race cars as they would not roll. I was called on 1/20 (or approx a week after my cars were delivere to this warehouse) as they were having issues with my cars, and I told my contact at Fidelity how to release the brake.  Apparently they ended up using 5 guys to coat the trailer ramp in snow and lift/slide the cars off - worrisome.  The cars had rolled out to the truck in Niagra Falls.  Now they wouldn't roll?

On 1/26, I get a call from one of the truck drivers they brokered the load to (normal procedure for most shipping companies) and a new story emerges. Apparently my cars were sitting in the warehouse for two weeks as Fidelity was trying to broker the load at the lowest cost to them. The warehouse workers told this driver that he was the third driver to come pick up and then reject my cars. Fidelity had told all the drivers that these were just 'go karts' and when drivers asked for dimensions and weights my contact said he did not have that info. The dims and weight were furnished in an email on Dec 1st to Fidelity during the pre-ship process and on the shipping contract the weight was listed. I can only surmise that Fidelity would mask this info in order to get a driver to show up and accept the (presumably smaller) load for less money.  I have had this same exact scenario happen when drivers have picked up vehicles from me that were entirely misrepresented.  The brokers figure since the drivers make the effort and spend the fuel to drive out and pick up the load, they will eat the cost of picking up a misrepresented vehicle.  That is about the worst thing for anyone, to have an ill-equipped or misinformed driver transporting my vehicles.

In the call with the driver, he said I would need to pay him an additional $1100 cash on delivery for him to accept my cars. Fidelity was closed & I accepted the offer to get my cars out of MI, where they were loaded and unloaded multiple times (by manhandling - the term Fidelity used in an email to me), moved, and hopefully not damaged during a two week stay. 

I emailed Fidelity to which I received an apology, then another email basically stating that I shouldn't have accepted that offer, and that they could have worked with that driver to get the additional request lessened (or charge commissions on top of it, probably). I had origannly told Eddie at Fidelity that I would gladly compensate if there was indeed a problem with my cars.  My accomodation and honesty was about to be exploited, however at least the additional $1100 payment is going directly to the driver instead of Fidelity for misrepresenting my load to the drivers, wasting their time and fuel.  I was blamed that the cars were not in running condition and for the aforementioned problems.  In the original call during the quote process I had said these were RACE CARS and they would not be able to be driven gently up a trailer at 1/2MPH & they would have to be rolled on (only 800lbs each).  I was sternly told that no discount or reimbursement of any kind would be given. They went on to complain about the $15/day storage fees that were piling up (they are the victim, right?), however it was almost entirely because they spent weeks trying to broker the last leg of the load, and not the weather. I was informed this was a "bum run" or basically a wash for them. The driver stated he was receiving approx $2300 from Fidelity plus the $1100 I have to outlay upon delivery. Keep in mind I have paid $5740 to Fidelity already, & a $940 duty that they didn't tell me about or work with me to appeal. The cars were manufactured in the US and returning to the US. The mfg is defunct I cannot get an affidavit that they were built in the US. I am researching to see if I was falsely charged.

So, $5740 plus $940 (a surprise), plus $1100 (another surprise) equals $7780 to move 1600lbs of race car 2500 miles and it's a "bum run." It is now 1/27 and I am in contact with the driver who thankfully has removed the cars from the warehouse.  I will update this review once the cars get here. I am hoping the cars are not damaged or weathered from improper handling and storage. Thankfully their condition is well-documented to prove my case if need be.