The guy at the Georgia docks in Savannah taught me more in 10 minutes than any broker ever did
I shipped my dad's old F-150 from Savannah to Denver back in March and the whole thing almost went sideways at the port. The dispatcher I booked with told me the car would be picked up Tuesday, then it sat there for 6 days while I called every day getting the runaround. When I finally drove down to the terminal myself to see what was going on, one of the yard guys walked me through how the whole thing actually works, which carriers are solid, which ones just broker out and vanish, and why you should never pay the full amount up front. He said something I still think about: "The cheapest quote is the one that costs you the most." I ended up pulling my booking and going with a smaller outfit he mentioned, and my truck showed up in Denver 4 days later with zero damage for $340 less than the first place quoted. Now I won't book anything without talking to someone who has actually seen the trucks roll in. Has anyone else had luck finding a carrier through word of mouth at the actual terminal instead of going through the big online brokers?