Take an inside look into the vehicle transportation process of a Boat, from Florida to Kentucky! Listen to a recorded phone conversation between We Will Transport It, Inc. and Al, a real customer.
WWTI: Transport.
Customer Al: Yeah is Doug there?
WWTI: Yeah this is Doug.
Customer Al: Doug this is Al Palmore, I was on the other line when you called so…by chance…I’m doing fine.
WWTI: Alright Al, tell me a little bit about the vessel. We have the specs on it, I’m very pretty familiar with the boat. When are you looking to get this moved?
Customer Al: Well one transport company tells me if I move it now it costs more, if I move in a month it cost a lot less. I don’t know what your…you know how do you work?
WWTI: Well…if somebody wants it moved…if they want it moved…if you need it moved tomorrow or the next day or something like that…
Customer Al: No, no no no no. I mean…yeah I mean I’m flexible I mean it’s going from St. Petersburg up to Somerset, Kentucky which is Lake Cumberland, and so anytime around June 1st is fine if I got it there by then or whenever, if there’s time before that, great, if not I just need to kind of like get an idea of the estimate so I can decide what I’m going to do here so…
WWTI: So the vessel is paid for or it’s ready to go basically?
Customer Al: Well yeah. I left it yesterday in St. Pete, I’m really outside Atlanta going home. I did double line and everything cause of they told me that the hurricane in June. I said I hope my boat won’t even be here in June but you know I did it just as a precaution, and if it’s not then I’m…you know it’s there. Yes, so it’s ready to go if I want to…whenever I want to take it.
WWTI: Sure…yeah, basically, it’s up to you, we work along with…if we work with the agreed-upon price and everything like that I can usually have somebody out there within about 72 hour period…
Customer Al: I’m no super hurry, I just want to…you know I’m trying to just get a feel cause prices go from one extreme to another evidently, so it’s not that I’m looking for the cheapest because that doesn’t mean you’re the best cause you’re cheap, but I don’t want to pay an outrageous amount of money to…
WWTI: No, and I’m glad you said that cause you know you have other people in this industry unfortunately that low-ball quotes enticing you into business with them and…reputation, it’s all reputation. One of our biggest customers are Balm & Dutch, so we do a lot of hauls for them, I can give you references, that’s not a problem. The question is, loading and unloading on this vessel, is that available on both ends?
Customer Al: Yeah…you know down there they have those big…for 60/70 foot yachts. I watch them from right in my marina and then… so I mean I can either do that marina…the marina I bought the boat at which is the Marine Max Marina…I mean place, they have their own marina where they do all their boats, I know what they charge me to take it out on their lift so it’s just a matter…I don’t know what they charge at the marina, I actually have my boat, but that other marina is only around the corner so it’s not far for me to take the boat there. But yes, the boat will be taken out and then dropped off at a sea-ready dealership in Somerset, Kentucky off third lift. So that’s…
WWTI: Okay that’s the biggest hurdle, so it’s taken care of then, so we’re good on that. The only other thing we have to do consider …of course you know the weight, it’s in the height so we need to get permits…to due to the beam itself, 30 foot beam. So basically on this right here I have my truck driver, I showed them this order, he was checking out… I’ll check with him see what he came up with as far as availability.
On this route right here you’re looking about 39 hundred dollars, that’s of course loading and unloading provided…Our guy will come out, do a bill of lading inspection on the …make sure it’s…whoever the contact is in St. Peter’s, walk around the vessel and make sure that it has no scratches or anything out of the norm will be noted and once it’s loaded on to the trailer it becomes insured, full premium, no deductible whatsoever. We’ll front all the insurance prior to transport so you know that we’re covered, and then once it’s transported and it gets to you whoever the point of contact is in Somerset would again do the bill of lading on the vessel and make sure it’s in the same condition as when we picked it up, and then you just sign off on it. On loading you just pay a small loading portion, activate the insurance coverage, tolls, and whatever the case may be to cover the escort; and then you pay the majority of it on delivery.
Customer Al: Okay now you understand it’s coming from St. Petersburg, Florida, all the way up to Somerset, Kentucky, now you did correct…your figure was correct? I may have heard your number incorrectly, could you say that number again?
WWTI: Three 900 dollars.
Customer Al: Say that…I couldn’t catch the first number you’re saying…there’s a sound…I meant there’s some kind of noise coming through the phone so I’m not hearing you real correctly.
WWTI: Is that better?
Customer Al: I don’t know, give me the number again, see if I can hear the number.
WWTI: Thirty nine hundred dollars.
Customer Al: Thirty nine…see I couldn’t hear the three. I couldn’t hear the three, that’s what I was saying. Yeah. Well you’re definitely in the ball park to do this for me and so you know I was looking for…I mean there are no hidden other fees that I would be charged?
WWTI: Absolutely not. That’s door-to-door, all inclusive. What I would do Al is beforehand I will send you…all we’ll need is a pickup address and the drop-off address then I will send you…to your email and I’ll try to e-sign everything that we discussed, I’ll try and do an agreement…you can look over…it comes back to us, and then I’ll go ahead and send…our dispatch will send a driver. I will send you all the driver’s information, I will send you all his insurance information as well so you know that your vessel’s fully insured, and then we proceed and you give us what day you want to get it out there. Like I said, you give me the green light to move forward with it then I can go ahead and get the ball rolling on my end and have this out of there well before hurricane season for you.
Customer Al: Yeah. Okay the only thing is you know like I say I just left Florida just yesterday so I need to call my sea-ready guys in Somerset which you know…and then I need to call the marina. I had my 24-foot sea-ready there but this is a 38 so I got to see if they have a place for me, but I just want to get that done in the next few days. So as long as I get all my ducks in a roll I’d say… if you want to send me out any information, fine, I’ll be ready to throw it out and send it back to you. But this is where I was hoping it would be, I gotten others that were a whole lot more than this, so I’ll just…I met other people that have this done and they’re just saying the snow birds are taking their boats back. “Okay, alright well I’ll wait.” Even their waiting price is a lot more, so.
WWTI: Well you’re at the worse time of moving vessels because everybody, like you said, are moving. But listen, we do this on a daily basis, this is what we do so… and the well being of your vessel is our main concern. So I want you to …customer cause if you’re moving your boat once chances are you’re going to move it again, so…
Customer Al: Where are y’all located at? Where will they be coming from…?
WWTI: Our headquarters is out of Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Customer Al: Oh you are Fort Lauderdale. Well I’ll be down there on July 1st to take a seven-day cruise with my daughter, son-in-law and my grandson, so I’ll be right there with you. And I love being right there in that marina and then I get to my 20 bucks and get on my water taxi all day long and enjoy the…
WWTI: There you go…be here a little while and …a restaurant…yeah.
Customer Al: Yeah, that’s where I eat, that’s the first place …I used to have lunch right there.
WWTI: Have you ever eaten at Cafe Martoranos?
Customer Al: No, I haven’t. No…
WWTI: Oh my gosh!
Customer Al: That’s nice uh?
WWTI: Yeah, it’s the best damn food you ever eat in your life, I’ll tell you. Oakland Park in A1A there.
Customer Al: Wow! Yeah there’s great places down there, I mean I really enjoy them. Alright so what do we need to do if I want to get the ball rolling. We need to get started so I’m…
WWTI: Well basically all I would do is basically just send you the e-sign. You have the physical pick-up address and drop-off address?
Customer Al: Yes.
WWTI: Okay.
Customer Al: I’ll… the marina in Somerset I don’t …call me right now. I actually…
WWTI: This is what I’ll do, I’ll go ahead and set…for the pick-up address I’m going to put ‘To be determined’ alright. And the contact I’m going to put ‘To be determined,’ so this is just for you to look at right now so that you know exactly who you’re dealing with for you to feel comfortable. Even the delivery address, do you have that available, or…?
Customer Al: No, I just know it’s Somerset, Kentucky…I know where it is but I have to look that back up. I want to call and let them be sure everything’s okay on their end, so I mean I’m …how many ducks in a row. But my first duck is you to find somebody to do it for the price I’m…As long as you’re not telling me there’s no hidden fees that I got to pay to have it hauled out and I know what that cost me to do that. I’ve had it done twice so I know what that cost me, but I just don’t want something coming up from the left side of me that I didn’t see.
WWTI: No I understand and that’s why I’m going to send you this so you can look at it. I’m going to put a…if you were want to move forward with this what date do you think you’d want to do it?
Customer Al: Well I just got back…I just left there so I kind of want to go home to see my kid, I haven’t seen him for four months so I’d love to have the boat there before June 1st…I mean before June 1st, so the middle of May would be a wonderful time to kind of move it. Let me stay home for a few weeks before I fly down because I’ll either fly down there and watch them get it all done on the thing and then fly right home cause St. Pete Clearwater Airport is only 20 minutes from my marina so I’ll fly down there and then I’ll just turn right round and fly right back home and then I’ll meet them in…Somerset when they get there. So you don’t think…it shouldn’t take more than a couple days I would think to get there, that’s all it takes for me to drive so. It’s day and night non-stop…
WWTI: This is…at the most you know… (Inaudible)
Customer Al: Yeah, cause it’s in a …spot, you’re going 75 all the way. All the way to your exit.
WWTI: Yeah normally you’re …about…they travel about 600 miles per day, that’s their DLT…so he’s going to take his time to get it there so he shouldn’t be more than two days so.
Customer Al: Thank you. I appreciate it, thank you.
WWTI: No at problem Al. Take care.
Customer Al: Okay thank you. Thank you Doug. Bye bye.
END
