West Palm transporter leaves winter residents without cars

By SUSAN SALISBURY

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

WEST PALM BEACH — Having her car transported back to Newark, N.J., from South Florida has for years been a rite of winter passage for Gloria Sheldon.

But this year, the experience turned sour for Sheldon and other consumers who paid Auto Transport America LLC of West Palm Beach to bring their cars back to their northern homes but never received them.

"We dropped the car off May 16, and it was supposed to come back to New Jersey in about a week. We called every 10 days," said Sheldon, who paid Auto Transport America $700 in advance to transport her car while she took a flight back to New Jersey.

Sheldon, a winter resident of suburban Delray Beach, grew more and more frustrated over the past few weeks as her 1997 Buick Park Avenue, loaded with clothes, income tax records and jewelry, sat in the company's storage lot at 2110 N. Florida Mango Road.

She called the West Palm Beach police and other local officials, seeking help, but they told her no crime had been committed.

"As long as it was still there, you can't say it was stolen," Sheldon said.

Finally, Sheldon turned to Autolog Corp., a Linden, N.J.-based company that's been in business since 1976 and expects her car to arrive any day. She expects to pay $750 when the car arrives in town, or $783 if it is brought to her house.

Susan Levine, vice president of Autolog, said her firm has had 10 to 15 calls from customers burned by Auto Transport America.

"It's terrible. Last week people started calling us to rescue their cars," Levine said Wednesday. "They were desperate and asked, "Can you pick up my car'?"

On Wednesday, an employee at Auto Transport America who would give his name only as "Sebastian" said the company had run into trouble.

"They lost their broker's license due to complaints about late deliveries," he said.

Florida records list the company's resident agent as Ramona Iglesias and its managing members as Hector Iglesias and Michael Iglesias. They could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Sebastian said he's at the lot so people can come by and pick up their cars to be taken elsewhere. About 35 cars remain in a fenced area, down from at least 100 cars.

Chase Scott, spokesman for the city of West Palm Beach, said 20 to 30 of Auto Transport America's customers whose cars were not delivered contacted the city for help.

"We went out to make sure they were a legitimate business, and there was no auto theft situation," Scott said. "The people have legal contracts. That makes it a civil matter. They need to contact an attorney."