Finally received my Sapphire GTS

[hybrid1098]

Hey good people of VCA,

Finally received my GTS today and wow what an exhausting day.

I drove about 30 miles to pick up my car even though the shipper promised to take it to my doorstep. No sweat as I dont want to have them move the car around more without me seeing it so I had a friend drive me there.

Upon arriving, low and behold my extremely dirty GTS was on the bottom of the car container (specifically asked for the top and even paid more) and my front driver wheel was FLAT!

I took a close inspection and there was a rivet in the wheel so we aired it up and when they were bringing it down, it very slightly scraped the front (which is acceptable given the low nature of the car but what made it worse is that they scraped my rear tire. Some of the paint from the container rubbed on to the rim and there was a small rash on what was a perfect wheel. I may have frightened the guy since I had a video cam pointed at the process to make sure everything is documented. I'm paranoid so sue me hehe.

As ********** as I was, I decided to say forget it since these guys were working hard and just signed off on the paper grumbling. What made it worse is the guy was not apologetic, he seemed upset and even told me I had bought an old used car and a little sratch will not make a difference. He even had the audacity to ask for a cig and told me my car was hard to transport.

So when all was said and done, I realized that the DEALER I bought it from totally forgot to provide me with the temporary plates. ***?!?!

Needless to say I still drove it home since I have the insurance, bill of lading from shippers and the paperwork from the purchase in the car. Think it's ok to be driving the car in Los Angeles without temporary plates?

Found out the car had HID on both fog and headlights (anyone have 8000K bulbs wanna trade for my 6000K?

When I first listened to the sound....

HEAVEN!!! Like the sound of a Lion. The almost brand new Belanger headers, high flow cats and exhaust gave it such a deep and throaty sound not like a tin can. It sounded like a pure and mean race car. Kind of like the V-twin (or L) sound of my Ducati with Termignoni pipes.

So sad I will have to let it go. My wife gave me the thumbs down on the approval so I will be taking it out and selling it and putting stock ones on for the meantime. Says she wants to have a conversation with me an not listen to the dragon roar of the Belangers. I thought the sound would be an annoyance and VERY loud but I guess I expected too much. It was actually not THAT loud but definitely sounds like it belonged there. So sad I cannot keep it.

If anyone is interested, the cats were installed right when the car was shipped to me and the exhaust and headers must have at most <200 miles.

All in all a good day. The car will be heading to get detailed tomorrow and will get an upgraded sound system.

Pics will be up soon I SWEAR!!!

BTW- anyone know how to check the date codes for the Michelin's? Also can anyone tell me the difference between PS/2 as opposed to PS/1? I know it has the direction plus arrow on one and outside on the other but I dont know which one. Mine says outside.

Crossing fingers it's PS2

 

[RTTTTed]

Congrats, so sad, sue the B**stards! Don't sell the Belangers until your wife has heard stock (it'll make her choke). My wife really prefers the stock small tube headers, Hi flow cats and Corsa street exhaust on my ACR. Get her to check out my ACR in the video. The 98 Red/silver GTS has stock headers Roe Hiflow Cats and Random Tech exhaust (quieter). JonB can sell you these systems.

I'd like to offer to trade my near new 2001 GTS stock exhaust manifolds, elbows and flex pipe for yhour Bellanger headers?

Ted

 

[hybrid1098]

Thank you very much Ted! I am so happy right now I cant sleep lol.

I'm not going to sue them. It's hard to drive a truck that size all over the country and load and unload cars all day. Especially when a spunky lil kid (I am 30 but look much younger hehehe) is awaiting their Viper videotaping them. I wont ***** about those wheels even though it hurt me deep inside.

I would have to respectfully decline on you're offer Ted as I dont think I can trade just yet as I need the cash to schmooze her into letting me buy another system LOL. I would rather sell the system as a whole or trade plus cash. It may be hard to sell just the exhaust without the headers.

Lol I like the sound of deep sounding cars and bikes (hence the DUC as opposed to *** bikes and their wind up inine 4) and the Belanger is perfect but oh well... I gotta make her happy since she was the one who let me buy the car.

So how do I check for date codes and if it's a Playstation PS1 or 2?

 

[Roy]

look at the DOT code the last 4 numbers are week number and year, so 0499 is week 4 of year 1999 (0410 is not 1910 )This date will tell you what kind a tires they are.

The stock exhaust is also quit loud, but obviously less, but remember also with your rear exhaust the cabin will become much warmer. Maybe you should put an original under there, drive her warm and than pick up the wife without the airco activated! Those Belangers are great!

Don't mind, you've got a great car and enjoy it from now. Little thing happen with these transport guys, although i would explode, good that you didn't!

 

[ViperGeorge]

Who was the carrier? Even though you might not want to put a claim against them it sounds like a company none of us would want to use. Congrats on the car BTW.

 

[PatentLaw]

Congrats on the car. Sure sounds nice.

 

[agentf1]

You will want to keep the current exhaust or put Corsa's on it. The Corsa's are still loud but I have no problem having a conversation. Stock sounds like a UPS truck.

I am sure you already know but you bought the best color Viper there ever was. Does it have stripes. If I was you I would get the pics up fast as we do NOT like theads like this with out pics much at all.

Congrats, the feeling does not go away either. I am still on cloud 9 3 years later every time I look at or drive my Viper.

 

[JonB]

Congrats on the car.....

Just put a corsa on it, and the cabin becomes conversational....

Driving without a temp plate is the "Probable cause" to ensure you will meet law officers on your way..... Lots of 'locals' like the thrill of nailing a Viper, Ferrari, etc...

 

[Bill Pemberton Woodhouse]

Did you have the stuff written down on the damages. Sounds like, if we read your note correctly, you now have a tire with a rivet in it , as well as a damaged rim. Rim repair could be around $200 and that would not include mounting and dismounting. If you have a nail/rivet in the tire, I would not suggest patching a Z Rated tire -- there is another 300+ for a tire. Sounds like you should be putting a claim into the company ---driver is lucky as a new rim would run in the thousands. Did you contract the driver or did the Dealer?

Not a good situation , but glad you are enjoying your new Viper.

 

[Lawrenzo]

Who was the carrier? Even though you might not want to put a claim against them it sounds like a company none of us would want to use. Congrats on the car BTW.

What he said.

Congrats on the Sapphire. Take some pics in the late afternoon sun and the color will really pop

 

[01sapphirebob]

Agreed.....

What he said.

Congrats on the Sapphire. Take some pics in the late afternoon sun and the color will really pop

 

[hybrid1098]

I will post everything and name of shipper. I did patch up the tire and thank you for all you're concerns. My friend patches tires for porsche at the racetrack all the time so I think a Noob Viper owner like myself should be fine.

As for the rim, it was a slight damage, I will post pics up but the car is extremely dirty and she is shy.

Thanks for the heads up Job B, I received the caps yesterday by the way, thank you. I will post up info on carrier later. I am still waiting on my refund of $50. I told them I would give the driver and extra $50 on delivery and I also paid them $50 extra to take care of me. Needless to say they DID NOT!

 

[Venomiss]

Welcome to the fun!
Hopefully you can get everything straightened out and come join the VCA!

The SoCal area has a very active region.
In case you didn't see this before.

SoCal Viper

 

[Leslie]

congrats on your Viper!

I love my sapphire GTS...especially after a wash and when it's in the sun

 

[RevHeat]

Shipper was???? Let me take a guess, Dependable Auto Shippers?

 

[RTTTTed]

It lools like this right?

You must be registered for see images

Now, it's your turn to post

 

[PittsburghRT]

Ted,

I liked your other wheels on your GTS, but those chrome ACR wheels look beautiful on your car.

 

[RTTTTed]

Ted,

I liked your other wheels on your GTS, but those chrome ACR wheels look beautiful on your car.

Thanks, I prefer the chrome as well, but the VR1s and BBS do look very similar.

 

[chiefchad]

Dear Hybrid1098
I know you are excited for your new car - congrats.
However, I think you should make a stand on the lack of service provided to you by the carrier. There is no excuse for their negligence - especially without apologizing. I used to "let things go" but it just enables these businesses to carry on conducting in an unprofessional manner. I would ask for them to at least pay for a new rim.

 

[Twister]

weres the pics and man I would have been more than pissed..especially with the used and old car so a scratch dosent matter comment..Your old car was atleaste 35K and more expensive than many new cars that are considered nice..g35 mustang camaro ect.

 

[hybrid1098]

Sorry for not getting back to you all. Its been a crazy birthday week and had two parties lol. I am going to get the car detailed this week and will take the pictures I promised.

As for the shipping company, I did not want to go through that trouble and I saw them damage the wheel but only a slight rash which I know is fixable. The rivet on the tire "could have been there" a long time ago from what they say so I could not provide proof for something like that.

I really wanted to hold back the name of the broker but decided on just giving them a review to help people avoid the problems that I had incurred. By the way, there was a slight discrepancy on the mileage as well because the salesperson at the dealership DID NOT write down the mileage on the bill of lading so I cannot prove anything.

The company's name is High End Transport and I made the deal with the president of the company "Angel". The funny thing is I was looking for an affordable option that was used to higher end vehicles and my sales guy and I contacted the same company. I thought, why not? It was hell on earth for the 2 weeks (yes two weeks to get the car from florida to here). I was told 6-8 days but actually found out average was 6-10 days from other companies. Thing is, what irritated me the most is that when they got my money already, WHY STILL LIE? Everything that was promised to me by the broker and shipper was a lie. EVERYTHING! I asked for a lift gate or something that can be used for low cars, the truck that came here ended up slightly scraping the bottom of my bumper.

I specifically paid them $100 more (50 to broker and another 50 to the actual driver) to take care of my car and put it on the 2nd level (opted against enclosed but should have), pick it up by thursday, contact me to let me know where the vehicle is, pick it up from dealers and bring it straight to California with the pickups and drop offs that the driver will do.

Well something happened on my end and they were not able to pickup on thursday, I asked them friday and they had a truck for the pickup. They ended up picking up on Tuesday of the following week, the sales guy flipped out when he saw that while loading the vehicle, the bumper would have scraped and if he did not stop the guy it could have popped off by the angle. What made it worse was they took it to some shipping yard to leave the vehicle there for two days waiting for a truck to pick it up and bring it to california. I have NO IDEA what had happened to the car there (but the car had no plates).

Needless to say I was freaking out and pissed and calling the broker AND the dispatcher on an almost hourly basis. Finally it gets here two weeks after initial agreement and it came dirty as sin (acceptable) and on the side it said "CUBA RACING USA" written in the dirt on the 1st level (I asked for the top level. Thanks guys for scratching my car with you're fingers. I actually have the video of them unloading the car and scraping the rim but whatever.

Brought the vehicle in to DC Performance, Robert took a look at it and said everything was solid and A+. I just needed clutch and brake fluid. Seems that this car was very much taken cared off. Headlights and fogs already had HID's and the tires (PS2) were so new ******* were still on it.

I am very fortunate with the car overall but the shipping company were terrible every step of the way. I now know how these companies work as they are only brokers that send out the jobs to driver's they do not know but have business dealings with based on the insurance requirements and the dispatchers are the ones that deal with each other. It is a terrible and ugly business with so many lies and deceit. After they took my money, everything was out that they could not even be at the very least cordial with me.

My friend is a truck driver and I asked him about this as he does Chicago to LA a lot but rarely south east like Florida. He is Mongolian and he has a lot of connections with the industry as apparently they do a lot of moving too. Been thinking of starting my own to have a little breath of fresh air from all these $#!TTY companies. I mean it REALLY IS DIFFICULT to find someone to takes care of you.

I used Dependable (DAS) on my lexus years ago and they were ok, high end takes the cake for the worst.

 

[jpa99acr]

Man I sure would go after them for the scrape of the front end, that would drive me crazy. I would make them replace the wheel too not just repair it. Why in the world would anyone have a GTS put on a standard car hauler!??! That car needs to be in an enclosed carrier. Unbelievable.

Plus you have the whole thing on video, you won't have to sue they will pay if they are smart. No way I would let this go.

Oh, don't replace the exhaust until you hear a stock exhaust. They sound terrible. Definitely don't trade straight up for a stock set, Ted is out of line with that offer and will just resell the Belangers (he's looking to make some money there!). I have stock set that I would trade if you decide in the end you must, but I would pay a fair cash price with the stock set (or just buy them outright if you get a set local).

 

[hybrid1098]

Man I sure would go after them for the scrape of the front end, that would drive me crazy. I would make them replace the wheel too not just repair it. Why in the world would anyone have a GTS put on a standard car hauler!??! That car needs to be in an enclosed carrier. Unbelievable.

Plus you have the whole thing on video, you won't have to sue they will pay if they are smart. No way I would let this go.

Oh, don't replace the exhaust until you hear a stock exhaust. They sound terrible. Definitely don't trade straight up for a stock set, Ted is out of line with that offer and will just resell the Belangers (he's looking to make some money there!). I have stock set that I would trade if you decide in the end you must, but I would pay a fair cash price with the stock set (or just buy them outright if you get a set local).

The front end isnt too bad. It was on the bottom of the piece. I think it is too late now as I already signed the bill of lading which dissolves them of any responsibility they have on the vehicle. It's okay, whatever. I did not want to deal with them anymore and at least I got refunded my $100 back.

Thanks for the offer regarding the exhaust/header setup. You are quite far from me so I dont know if you would be interested still but certainly let me know if you are.

 

[RTTTTed]

Referring to me ... PM sent

 

[hybrid1098]

thanks Ted but no thanks. Not looking for an even trade. The headers have less than 300 miles on it I believe. It's so new looking it's unbelievable.