Car Trouble - Remember this name...

As some of you may know we shipped our Honda Pilot to Saudi Arabia. Steve checked out the used car market when he arrived in March, and quickly decided that it wouldn't save a lot of money to buy one here. In addition to the financial aspect, the driving is CRAZY here (for those of you who visited us is in China - it's very similar, but with a lot less people and higher rates of speed! I've never been as thankful for airbags and seat belts!). With a very high number of accidents, you have no idea what the history is on the used car you are buying. I'm not aware of "Carfax" history reports for Saudi Arabia!

So, we checked around and settled on a shipping company. They picked up the Pilot at the end of April, told us it would be in Saudi Arabia by the second week of June. Super! If only.


It has been nothing short of a nightmare dealing with this company: Schumacher Cargo. Remember that name now: Schumacher Cargo. Tell all your friends to not use them for anything!! They took our 30k vehicle, title and all, and haven't initiated one line of communication the entire four months.

The car did not arrive mid-June. In fact, it didn't even get on a boat until after the beginning of July. We had to repeatedly call them to find out what was going on.

It eventually arrived here on August 2nd. We were excited because the boys and I would be here with Steve on August 4th. But in speaking with the agents that were going to work with customs to clear the car, we found out that the paperwork - the bill of lading - was illegally combined with another car coming to the same location. The agents here wouldn't touch it -- and our car was stuck at the dock (hopefully still in the container, and hopefully still with all four wheels on it) forever in no man's land.

Schumacher Cargo (remember that name!!) apparently used a subcontractor to ship the car, and pointed their fingers to them for the mistake. It has taken an unimaginable amount of phone calls, emails and threats to get anyone to take responsibility and reissue the paperwork correctly. One delay after another. Add in the fact that the workweek here is Sat-Weds, and in the US it's Mon-Fri., and that just adds more delay.

It is now August 17. The paperwork has been issued correctly, but won't be released in the states until the wrong paperwork has been sent back and received there. Then the correct paperwork will be sent to the agent here, who hopefully can go get our car. There is going to be fines, fees, storage fees to be charged to us. Schumacher Cargo (remember that name!!) WILL be reimbursing both us and the other poor guy whose car is living with ours at the dock, but probably not without many more phone calls and threats.

In the meantime, we have been very blessed to have been able to borrow vehicles from other expats. Matt and Julia loaned us their SUV while they were out of town, so we had something to drive for a week when we first arrived. They're back now though, so we are borrowing one of Steve's co-worker's son's car. It's a rattle-trap, manual transmission Land Rover. The a/c only works in the back seat (the boys can't understand why I get so crabby when we go anywhere). Second gear grinds everytime. It's already rolled backwards out of the driveway into the street once, unbeknownst to us at the time (you MUST put it into first gear AND set the parking break when parking on a hill). Here is a picture of the beast:



However, I am soooooo thankful for using it (THANK YOU BOB!), as much as I grit my teeth getting into it everytime. It would be a much more difficult or expensive transition here if we didn't have a car, or had to rent one. It sure would have been nice if Schumacher Cargo (remember that name!!) had done what we paid them to do - and had the Pilot here in June. I will never be so happy to see my car as I will when it finally gets here! With some patience, it will.

Until next time,
Lani