Salon Wanderlust | In the driver's seat

[Salon Wanderlust: Travel with a passion]

T A B L E_T A L K
Hitting the slopes? Discuss snowboarding and other winter sports in the Wanderlust area of Table Talk

R E C E N T L Y
At home in Tuscany
By Ferenc Máté
The slow-paced pleasures of rural Italy come to life for two new residents
(12/02/98)
The belles of St. Mary's
By Jennifer Moses
A Jewish writer learns about the Old South, and herself, in the most unlikely of places
(12/01/98)
Afoot in the South African bush
By Lance Gould
A New Yorker ventures on a walking safari into the wild world of wildebeest, Cape buffalo and dung beetles
(11/30/98)
The Khan men of Agra
By Pamela Michael
In India, a moment of trust opens the door to a traveler's richest reward
(11/25/98)
The rabbis of Bangkok, Part Two
By Douglas A. Konecky
A live sex show reveals more than flesh to an American musician in Thailand
(11/24/98)

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IN THE DRIVER'S SEAT | PAGE 1, 2
- - - - - - - - - -
"If you want to see the States, the best way to do it is in an automobile," says Michael Parzick, the manager of the South San Francisco office. "It lives up to the American tradition of adventure." If his comments sound like a 1950s ad for an American automobile manufacturer, it's because the principle behind the company's -- and other car-delivery services' -- matchmaking of cars and drivers is based on an equally old-fashioned concept: trust. People hand their car keys over to a complete stranger and hope that this person, who isn't even an employee of the contracted company, will keep his word and deliver the car in the same condition it was left in (and in a timely manner).
Times have changed since the freewheeling days of trust, when Halloween candy was gobbled up without inspection and teens entered school through wooden doorways, not metal detectors. And that lack of trust is the reason why some in the industry say there has been a decline in the number of cars transported the casual way. When people call up to have their cars transported, they have a choice: It can be delivered by a casual driver, which is the cheapest; driven by a professional; or piggybacked on a car carrier, which is the most expensive but keeps miles off the car. While Parzick himself doesn't see the new reluctance of car owners affecting casual driver service in the future, a representative from Auto Driveaway's corporate office does. "Cars are so expensive and [people are worried] about having someone you don't know or someone who isn't a pro behind the wheel of their car," says Hank Ryan. "The number of casuals has gone down." For many car owners, to save a few bucks, the stakes are too high.
"Basically, these vehicles are being given to the general public with little or no screening of a person's background," says Rich Dennis, who used to own an Auto Driveaway in Atlanta, Ga. "You have people, a lot of them foreign travelers, who come here and can go into a drive-away office, put down $300 in cash and walk out the door with a $30,000 car to drive across country." Dennis and several other Auto Driveaway franchises left the company in 1997 to start their own company, AmeriFleet, and decided to specialize in transporting cars by professional drivers (called expedited service) instead of the "standard" or "casual" driver service because he thought that was a dying form of doing business.
While most drive-away services -- like Auto Driveaway, A. Anthony and National Auto Transporters -- photocopy driver's licenses or passports, with some offices fingerprinting and running DMV background checks, there is a large risk in loaning a car out to someone who basically walks in off the street. Although Ligman is a lawyer in his native country, he thinks he could have bluntly written "auto thief" in the section that asks for a job description and no one would have noticed. According to a number of employees for various companies, drive-away cars have been used in a bank robbery, for drug deals and for high-speed joy rides -- and have been impounded, driven on the wrong side of the road, returned smashed-up, returned late or not returned at all. Parzick even recalls the time one lady was pulled over by a policeman -- who subsequently found 60 pounds of psychedelic mushrooms in the trunk of the car she was delivering.
Just looking at the numbers shows how the industry is veering away from casual drivers. Auto Driveway's standard service used to make up at least 60 percent of the business, but in the last 15 years it has shrunk to 30 percent, while the expedited service has doubled to 62 percent. A. Anthony Transportation Company of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., one of its main competitors, has also cut back on its casual service and increased its expedited. "We see [casual drive-aways] as a thing of the past," says Anthony Violi, owner of A. Anthony. "In the summertime, there are a lot of drivers, but in the wintertime, they're nonexistent. And the American people don't drive that many cars anymore. Air travel has become inexpensive."
Also, since corporate clients make up a large portion of Auto Driveaway, A. Anthony and AmeriFleet's business, AmeriFleet's Dennis says some are shying away from the cheaper shipment option because of their fear of being sued. "In today's day and age, with lawsuits the way they are, if a corporation entrusts a vehicle to someone off the street and that person goes out and gets in an accident and kills somebody, that company can be opened up to potential liabilities in lawsuits," says Dennis. Also, Violi says, the astronomical insurance rates companies like his have to pay to cover this random assortment of drivers discourages others from coming into the casual driver field.
While the future is in question, most skeptics agree that the casual service won't completely die out -- there will always be some car available for the traveler jonesing for the open road. Over time, the service will just get smaller, with fewer cars and destinations as options. But without question, the big loser then will be travelers who want the experience of the great American road trip -- with all of its greasy food, blinking neon signs, cattle crossings and bad country music -- but can't afford or don't want to rent or own a car.
As Ligman fired up the engine on the Thunderbird and left the parking lot behind Auto Driveaway's office, he started on a journey that, when combined with his two other drive-away trips, will have taken him through 26 states. "The funny thing is, I've now seen more of America than Australia," he says. Plus, he's saved about $900 in rental car fees.
SALON | Dec. 3, 1998


	T A B L E_T A L K Hitting the slopes? Discuss snowboarding and other winter sports in the Wanderlust area of Table Talk R E C E N T L Y At home in Tuscany By Ferenc Máté The slow-paced pleasures of rural Italy come to life for two new residents (12/02/98) The belles of St. Mary's By Jennifer Moses A Jewish writer learns about the Old South, and herself, in the most unlikely of places (12/01/98) Afoot in the South African bush By Lance Gould A New Yorker ventures on a walking safari into the wild world of wildebeest, Cape buffalo and dung beetles (11/30/98) The Khan men of Agra By Pamela Michael In India, a moment of trust opens the door to a traveler's richest reward (11/25/98) The rabbis of Bangkok, Part Two By Douglas A. Konecky A live sex show reveals more than flesh to an American musician in Thailand (11/24/98) Browse the Wanderlust Road Warrior archives Wanderlust's Official Travel Book Partner S A L O N E M P O R I U M FREE! 12-ounce bag of Salon Blend with a purchase of $30 or more. While supplies last.		IN THE DRIVER'S SEAT \| PAGE 1, 2 - - - - - - - - - - "If you want to see the States, the best way to do it is in an automobile," says Michael Parzick, the manager of the South San Francisco office. "It lives up to the American tradition of adventure." If his comments sound like a 1950s ad for an American automobile manufacturer, it's because the principle behind the company's -- and other car-delivery services' -- matchmaking of cars and drivers is based on an equally old-fashioned concept: trust. People hand their car keys over to a complete stranger and hope that this person, who isn't even an employee of the contracted company, will keep his word and deliver the car in the same condition it was left in (and in a timely manner). Times have changed since the freewheeling days of trust, when Halloween candy was gobbled up without inspection and teens entered school through wooden doorways, not metal detectors. And that lack of trust is the reason why some in the industry say there has been a decline in the number of cars transported the casual way. When people call up to have their cars transported, they have a choice: It can be delivered by a casual driver, which is the cheapest; driven by a professional; or piggybacked on a car carrier, which is the most expensive but keeps miles off the car. While Parzick himself doesn't see the new reluctance of car owners affecting casual driver service in the future, a representative from Auto Driveaway's corporate office does. "Cars are so expensive and [people are worried] about having someone you don't know or someone who isn't a pro behind the wheel of their car," says Hank Ryan. "The number of casuals has gone down." For many car owners, to save a few bucks, the stakes are too high. "Basically, these vehicles are being given to the general public with little or no screening of a person's background," says Rich Dennis, who used to own an Auto Driveaway in Atlanta, Ga. "You have people, a lot of them foreign travelers, who come here and can go into a drive-away office, put down $300 in cash and walk out the door with a $30,000 car to drive across country." Dennis and several other Auto Driveaway franchises left the company in 1997 to start their own company, AmeriFleet, and decided to specialize in transporting cars by professional drivers (called expedited service) instead of the "standard" or "casual" driver service because he thought that was a dying form of doing business. While most drive-away services -- like Auto Driveaway, A. Anthony and National Auto Transporters -- photocopy driver's licenses or passports, with some offices fingerprinting and running DMV background checks, there is a large risk in loaning a car out to someone who basically walks in off the street. Although Ligman is a lawyer in his native country, he thinks he could have bluntly written "auto thief" in the section that asks for a job description and no one would have noticed. According to a number of employees for various companies, drive-away cars have been used in a bank robbery, for drug deals and for high-speed joy rides -- and have been impounded, driven on the wrong side of the road, returned smashed-up, returned late or not returned at all. Parzick even recalls the time one lady was pulled over by a policeman -- who subsequently found 60 pounds of psychedelic mushrooms in the trunk of the car she was delivering. Just looking at the numbers shows how the industry is veering away from casual drivers. Auto Driveway's standard service used to make up at least 60 percent of the business, but in the last 15 years it has shrunk to 30 percent, while the expedited service has doubled to 62 percent. A. Anthony Transportation Company of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., one of its main competitors, has also cut back on its casual service and increased its expedited. "We see [casual drive-aways] as a thing of the past," says Anthony Violi, owner of A. Anthony. "In the summertime, there are a lot of drivers, but in the wintertime, they're nonexistent. And the American people don't drive that many cars anymore. Air travel has become inexpensive." Also, since corporate clients make up a large portion of Auto Driveaway, A. Anthony and AmeriFleet's business, AmeriFleet's Dennis says some are shying away from the cheaper shipment option because of their fear of being sued. "In today's day and age, with lawsuits the way they are, if a corporation entrusts a vehicle to someone off the street and that person goes out and gets in an accident and kills somebody, that company can be opened up to potential liabilities in lawsuits," says Dennis. Also, Violi says, the astronomical insurance rates companies like his have to pay to cover this random assortment of drivers discourages others from coming into the casual driver field. While the future is in question, most skeptics agree that the casual service won't completely die out -- there will always be some car available for the traveler jonesing for the open road. Over time, the service will just get smaller, with fewer cars and destinations as options. But without question, the big loser then will be travelers who want the experience of the great American road trip -- with all of its greasy food, blinking neon signs, cattle crossings and bad country music -- but can't afford or don't want to rent or own a car. As Ligman fired up the engine on the Thunderbird and left the parking lot behind Auto Driveaway's office, he started on a journey that, when combined with his two other drive-away trips, will have taken him through 26 states. "The funny thing is, I've now seen more of America than Australia," he says. Plus, he's saved about $900 in rental car fees. SALON \| Dec. 3, 1998