Find The Right Car Carrier For Your Move

I got a quote from these guys once to ship a vehicle. I never went through with the service, HOWEVER, I did get a disturbing email from someone who claims to be a former employee of this business. This person claims that this company was engaged in the accumulation of personal and payment information with the aim of its future sale on the black market and they were also preparing to steal your money and/or extort you, conduct attacks on your email address or phone number.

This person also claims that Sonic Auto Transportation is just a DBA for Crystal Car Shipping Inc, and they illegally operate as two different companies under one FMCSA license and one BMC-84 Bond And also they have an additional company ALPHA ONE TRANSPORTATION INC (USDOT – 3670557), where they are posing as carriers (basically conducting illegal double-brokerage of loads).

Usually I would think this was a spam email, but too much seems to line up with the email.

He also gave the name of the owner, Genadiy Katsov, who supposedly has ties to the Russian mafia and various money laundering schemes.

Be careful if you are considering this business, even if the claims above are false, this business DOES have many poor reviews in regards to this company scamming/stealing customers money for a terrible service.

I would love to get a response from the business regarding this matter.

We searched for options for car transport and went with Sonic Auto Transport because it was the lowest cost for the timeframe we requested. We declined all our other options and fully planned on shipping with Sonic Auto Transport. A day prior to our move, we received a call that that price and possibly our option to ship was gone. Given we were moving that weekend, we had no other options but to accept the $425 higher price. I was additionally quoted that, even with the change, my car would be picked up on 7/8, and delivered on Tuesday 7/12, yet it wasn’t delivered to me until Friday, 7/15.

Moving is an incredibly stressful process so relying on the quotes from providers should be a baseline expectation. They said on the phone that prices can change was disclosed in the contract but that is a poor business tactic in my opinion. Many people would refer to that as a bait and switch. You lure a customer in with a lower price, and then, when they have no other options, you increase the price. This is supported by the fact that they only accept immediate payment methods (eg: cashier’s check, Venmo, Zelle). My guess is they realize that many consumers would file a chargeback with their credit card company.

We requested a refund and they declined.

Terrible, please please please stay away, these guys use very weird techniques, intimidating and manipulating. I think they are pure scam and I am happy I did not fall for this crap. Here is my story. I don’t like driving, I have an old car and zero intentions of buying a new one because I don’t really care about vehicles. However, you must have one as we all know. I was thinking, OK my car is old so I dont want to spend too much in shipping it and I hate driving so doing so from San Jose to San Diego would be a nightmare. Then I checked prices on Yelp and somehow got to this company or they contacted me, don’t recall that detail. Next I know is that I have a nice talk professional but suspiciously nice with a guy with French accent. He sent me the quote and it was like around $400. I thought great, it would be same price as gas minus the driving, lets do it. I signed the paperwork and did not hear from him for a month (I did my homework way in advance from the moving date). I keep calling from time to time to make sure they were getting a driver for me, and nothing, no answer no nothing. I keep emailing and nothing. I was already getting desperate and checking other options. Then one day the French dude pick up the phone, reassures me he is looking for a driver to do my route and will get back. Then 2 days before moving date, I get stressed, called and was the same woman others have mentioned telling me she is finding a driver and will pick my car the arranged date. Day D arrived (and i had alternative plan of driving with a friend because it was smelling like a scam) this girl calls me asking for credit card immediately and that the prices is now $900. I said no way, furious. She said oh you dont have another option. The driver is coming, we need to act fast. I was like what is going on. I told her the estimate was 400, and not the day arrives and is more than doble. She started to threaten me to ‘report me online’ if i did not pay (thanks god i did not give my credit card). She was desperate and told me she could de 700 saying i was a veteran. But i am not a veteran, that is a lie, I shouted back. On top of that I was feeling sick and I told her let me think about. Then it was a constant harassing via text, phone, email. For weeks. terrible terrible terrible. Stay away.