Pasha Transport -- Very satisfied, BUT...

[pjmoore2003]

Well, it goes like this:
Contracted to have my car shipped from San Diego to Honolulu with Pasha. Heard good things, they have a roll on/off vessel. They made it easier than Matson and the other hawaii shippers (Pasha Matson being 2/3 available I believe).

Intercity lines delivered my car, BDR-656 from CT to San Diego. Totally impressed, very good shipper that meets their reputation.

Nothing noted on the receipt from intercity about mechanical problems.

Customer support at Pasha assured me that they could store the car under covered storage until loading day where it would be transported like every other car to the port and loaded aboard ship. Driver from intercity lines described the storage and assured me car arrived safely and Pasha met their promise (about July 7th).

Car available for pickup at the pier (because open top) on July 21st, professional voice communication several times with Pasha customer service rep. Went to pier, impressed again, under covered storage with many motorcycles. Looked over car, looks perfect except for a bird **** on the trunk. Sign the papers, and then go to drive off...........

Starts great... no hesitation. Ahh... miss the sound.

Go to put in gear and shifter doesn't feel right at all. Can even pickup on it like it's out of the tranny (TKO 600). Shut her off.

Port Mechanic called.

Removed 4 screws holding the shift boot. Shifter housing can pick up right in my hand and take out. All four bolts that hold it to the top of the TKO-600 plate (round piece bolts face up and screw into plate into housing) are out and jammed in the linkage. 1 rubber/plastic piece jammed in linkage. 3 bolts found 1 missing.

Mechanic says "I'm stopping here. No further investigation. Mechanical failure not going to be covered. Probably 4 bolts vibrated loose."

"Then how the hell did they drive it off the boat." Never get to talk to the guy who drove it off.

Pasha rep on phone says, ignore the mechanic's assessment, "he doesn't work for Pasha."

Seems company is setting me up to say mechanical failure, still -- not their fault. Give me a break, obviously was driven onto the ship. Looks like someone put their weight on the shifter while getting out of the car and broke the bolts loose. I even wonder where the 4th bolt went?? So did someone open it already? Mechanic argues bolts not stripped. I argue bolts don't need to strip if they stripped the shifter housing and not the threads of the bolt. Bolts had locktite.

My hopes:
-Don't need to drop the tranny to put it back together.
-Pasha proves themselves to be a great company and pays my out of pocket expense on the repairs and tow (even with roadside coverage -- another story).

I file my claim, and flat bed the car to a transmission shop I have never visited. Welcome to Hawaii bruddah...

[marco246]

Sorry to hear your tale of woe. Pasha is fairly new at this, compared to Matson, so one hopes they'll do the right thing, since reputation matters and there is an alternative. I think if you interact with them in a polite, professional, but firm manner, your odds of success will be good.

I've shipped 8 or 10 cars via Matson and have had minor damage once, which they covered when I filed a claim. So they are my default shipper, so to speak.

[Cashburn]

Phil,
I thought I replied to you somewhere about this saying I had never seen it before... well that must have been the curse. We have a new car in here for the 500 mile service and the customer complained it would get stuck in 4th (in last 100 miles). I take it out and the shifter feels loose but I can get into and out of everything... then 4th sticks on the last stretch of road.

We pull the boot and ring and look it over and nothing obvious at first, but as you move the shifter around the whole tower is wiggling... this is a first for us.

You can pull the shifter assembly off (6 bolts) if you pull the shift handle, remove the driveshaft, remove your air cleaner and loosen up the motor mounts. That gives you enough tip to get the shifter out of the car. You need to make sure you get all 4 bolts accounted for but I don't thing they have anywhere to go where they fall.

At this stage you may want to replace the whole shifter setup with another aftermarket unit or get a new replacement from Tremec (as we happened to have from a mid shift swap).