Cons
$1600 in car damage, four lost vacation days, unhelpful customer service department

The Bottom Line
I would never pay for a trip another trip on Amtrak again.

Full Review
We chose to take AutoTrain to Florida for the following reasons:

1. Our daughter required a car seat since she was only 9 months old. The car seat is difficult to install and had been inspected by the local fire department recently. We really did not want to have to move the car seat into a different car, since we could not guarantee that it would be installed safely and correctly, despite our best intentions. The ability to have our own car transported for use in Florida was paramount in our minds.

2. Traveling with a small child, we had a large amount of baby equipment that we wanted to take with us including a Pack 'N Play (portable crib/playpen), a good sized stroller and all of our luggage. Since the weather in Florida is unpredictable during the early spring, we needed to pack both winter and summer clothes, doubling our normal amount of baggage.

3. We have a number of relatives in Florida, including a great aunt who is 90 years old. She lives in Jacksonville and the only day we could see her would be our arrival day, March 9th. Had we flown into Florida, a trip to see her would have been out of the question entirely since the bulk of our stay was centered around the Fort Lauderdale area. Taking AutoTrain would enable us to see this relative.

4. We wanted to avoid the hassles of airports, post 9/11. While we have flown since the tragedies, the very thought of hauling a baby around an airport if there should be security problems requiring the evacuation of an entire terminal was not a pleasant one. We thought the train might be easier.

5. We have taken AutoTrain in the past and never experienced any problems other than a slight delay (less than two hours) arriving into Florida because of track flooding in southern Virginia.

The Good

I'll give you a few basics about AutoTrain. You arrive at the station and check in your car. They videotape the car to check that there is no prior body damage, put a magnetic number on the door and drive it onto a special automobile transport car.

AutoTrain only operates between Lorton, Virginia and Sanford, Florida. The terminal at Lorton is quite large and has an air conditioned interior with plenty of seating and televisions. The terminal at Sanford is rather small and has an extremely limited indoor seating area. There is a small playground for the older children.

Be sure not to take too much luggage aboard the AutoTrain - just what you need for overnight and leave the rest in your car. Be forewarned that AutoTrain is not liable for anything that may disappear from your car in transit - my parents once had a radar detector stolen from their glove compartment between auto check in and check out.

Amtrak uses SuperLiner cars for the AutoTrain and you can choose from coach and a couple of different sleeper configurations. I've ridden in coach in the past and it's not uncomfortable. You have an oversized seat that almost completely reclines. It has a footrest that raises up to expand the length of the chair. The main problems with coach are that I find it hard to get completely comfortable and there are other passengers who tend to be rude. I really like being seated in the "children's car" where they tend to place groups traveling with small children. The kids go to bed early so it's fairly quiet. The problem is that the senior citizens come charging through the quiet car, shouting to their companions at the top of their lungs.

This last trip, we decided to get a small sleeper compartment. These are really tiny and we barely found room for one small overnight bag and our daughter's diaper bag. The baby slept at my feet on the lower berth while my husband took the upper. There were approximately five inches between the side of the lower berth and the sliding doors to shut off the compartment. You can only look out the windows from the lower berth. When the beds are not laid out, they convert into two seats that face one another.

The SuperLiner cars are double deckers. Most of the seating is on the upper level but there are a few seats on the lower levels for the handicapped. The restrooms (unless you are in a deluxe sleeper) are on the lower level.

Near the stairs on the upper level, usually there are some snacks laid out (such as cookies) and some magazines are available.

Both dinner and breakfast are included with your ticket. You'll be assigned a dinner seating when you check in at the terminal. Depending on the length of the train, there are either two or three seatings. For dinner, there are usually three entree choices (one is chicken and one is beef), a salad consisting of iceberg lettuce and some carrots with a couple of grape tomatoes, bread, three dessert choices and two types of complimentary wine (red and white). The wines on my last trip were basics from the Williamsburg Winery. It's basically reheated food which is a step up from a tv dinner but don't expect gourmet dining. A children's menu is available. My daughter dined in the evening on macaroni and cheese (Kraft's Easy Mac).

Seating in the dining car is in groups of four, in booths with two people on each side. If you have a smaller party, you'll be seated with another couple. The tables are set with linens, real plates and cutlery. If you need a high chair, you're out of luck and the booths are too narrow to accommodate a baby carrier. Our daughter sat on the inside of the booth next to my husband and was snug and secure. The dining room attendants doted on her and kept saying how well behaved she was.

Breakfast is open seating starting at about 6 am to 8 am. You may have to wait for a seat if there are none available. Breakfast is very light and consists of muffins, bananas, cereal and other items usually found on a continental breakfast menu.

If you are hungry before or after your meals, there are light snacks available for purchase in the club/lounge car. This is also where you can purchase beer or choose from a limited number of other alcoholic beverages. There are two showings of a recent movie each trip and there is a different film southbound and northbound. The films are shown on small televisions and the audio can be difficult to hear if there are raucous people playing cards or conversing in the car.

There is no smoking anywhere on AutoTrain except on the lower level of the club car.

The Bad Part

To begin, we arrived at the Lorton terminal on March 8th, 2002 at approximately 1:30 in the afternoon. The car we took with us was a 2000 Nissan Maxima SE. We have no complaints about service on the southbound leg of the trip and the dining room staff in particular were very nice. Before disembarking on March 9th, we were quite satisfied with this AutoTrain experience.

We waited approximately an hour for our car, which appeared to be fine. After changing the baby's diaper and getting her into a sundress instead of a heavy sleeper, we departed from the terminal. About a mile and a half from the terminal in Sanford, once the car went over 20 mph, we noticed a loud "roaring" noise coming from the front wheels.

We immediately stopped at the first auto repair place we encountered, Sanford Express Lube. They diagnosed our car as needing new hub bearings and referred us to Bill Ray Nissan in Longwood, Florida. The Nissan dealership is less than 5 miles from the Sanford terminal and only a couple of minutes from Sanford Express Lube. Sanford Express Lube charged us $29.43 for inspecting the car and we were not reimbursed for this expense.

Bill Ray Nissan looked at our car and the service manager, Richard Morris, seconded the diagnosis and told us that we needed replacement of the front left and right side wheel bearings as well as the right side center axel bearing. These parts were not in stock and would have to be ordered. Mr. Morris stated that the damage was caused by AutoTrain because the vehicle was clamped down too tightly on the train. He also stated that he has worked in the Sanford/Longwood area for 20 years and has regularly seen 3 or 4 cars a month with this problem at just the dealerships where he has worked. Multiply that by the numerous dealerships in the area and that adds up to one or two cars per train.

We called the Sanford terminal where we spoke with Mr. Larry Goffman who told us that the only person who could help us was Ms. Debra Richmond who was not in the office since it was a Saturday. The calls to Ms. Richmond's office were long distance for us since she is located in Washington, DC.

Luckily for us, it was a Saturday so we were able to get our car seen by the dealership. If we had arrived on a Sunday, we would have been stuck with an undriveable car and nowhere to turn for help. The dealership assisted us by helping us arrange for a rental car through Enterprise and we received the last car of the day since they were about to close for the remainder of the weekend. We were originally offered a small subcompact car but our belongings would not fit in it so we needed an upgrade to a larger car. We still found ourselves leaving some of our belongings behind.

Unfortunately, our daughter's car seat did not fit properly in the Mercury Sable we had rented. The rental agency did not have any other cars available. We were forced to drive with her in an unsafe situation and we are extremely unhappy that because of Amtrak's negligence, she was put at serious risk if we had been involved in an accident. One of the reasons we chose to use AutoTain was so that we would not have to move her car seat. We were forced to do so.

Because of the late hour that we were leaving Sanford/Longwood, we found ourselves in the position of needing to cancel our trip to Jacksonville to see our great aunt. She is 90 and in failing health. This was going to be a rare chance for her to see the baby. Instead, we drove directly to Coconut Creek (near Fort Lauderdale). Upon arrival, we moved the car seat into one of my parent's Nissan vehicles where it stayed for the remainder of our trip. This created an inconvenience for them as well as for us, as they needed to drive every time we wanted to go out with the baby.

On Monday, March 11th, we spent most of the day making phone calls instead of taking a planned trip to the Everglades. At various times we spoke with Mr. Wayne Parker and Mr. Gene Rollins (both with Customer Service) and Ms. Debra Richmond who told us that we needed to deal directly with Ms. Sony Bacon Howard, an adjuster at GAB Robins and that no one else could assist us. We made numerous long distance calls to Washington, DC, West Palm Beach, Florida and Longwood, Florida.

When we first called Ms. Howard Bacon's office, she was not in and was not expected to return until nearly 1 pm. We spoke with her assistant, Martha, and explained our situation and that we needed to run an errand and would return after lunch. Martha asked us for information including our home address which we gave to her.

When we returned from the errand, there was a message on the answering machine from Ms. Howard Bacon stating that a check might or might not be mailed to our Virginia address within 2 to 3 weeks and that they would cover a basic rental car for three days. Since we had to rent a car on Saturday and it was already Monday, our rental time was up and they still didn’t have the parts for our car. We were not prepared to pay over $1,600.00 out of pocket. Also, we were now over 4 hours away from the dealership which was fixing our car. It was not in our plans to return to Sanford before our train northbound on Sunday, March 17th.

Unfortunately, when we did return the call to Ms. Howard Bacon, we found her to be rude and abrasive. Her tone of voice was sarcastic and she was very short with us. She was extremely unprofessional. Eventually, she agreed to extend the amount of the rental until the car was fixed but when we explained that we could not return to pick up the car until Friday. After much hemming and hawing, she agreed to cover the rental for that amount of time. There was much confusion over the way that the car repairs would be paid and she eventually agreed to have the dealership fax her an estimate and then a check would be sent to us for the amount of the estimate plus the rental. The check would be made out to the two of us and to Bill Ray Nissan. A major point of contention was that Ms. Howard Bacon said that she was not in control of when a check would be sent out and that we might receive it by Thursday, when we had to leave for the dealership early on Friday. There were no guarantees and we were not told what to do should the check not arrive. We were told that someone needed to be at home all day Thursday, in case the check did arrive.

Ms. Howard Bacon also told us that we needed to fax the receipts from Sanford Auto Lube to her. The fax was sent on Tuesday, March 12th. We requested a phone call acknowledging receipt of our fax, but none was ever made. We do have a confirmation that the fax was received. Those expenses were never reimbursed.

A check arrived via Airborne Express from GAB Robins on Wednesday, March 13th. Thankfully, someone was home at that time because we originally had not planned to be there.

On Friday, March 15th, we left Coconut Creek at 6 in the morning in order to pick up our car. This involved an unplanned round trip between Longwood and Coconut Creek. The mileage was 214 miles each way (428 round trip) and we incurred bills of $11.40 each way ($22.80 round trip) in tolls on the Florida Turnpike and the Bee Line Expressway. We also had additional gasoline expenses and we were never reimbursed for any of them.

Our first stop in Longwood was at the Enterprise rental car agency to return the rental car. The bill there came to $169.86 which was billed to Bill Ray Nissan.

We were driven to Bill Ray Nissan where we finally picked up our car, almost a full week since we left it there and only two days before we planned to return. The check from GAB Robins mostly covered the repair bill and the rental car. We had to pay a couple of dollars out of pocket and again, we were never reimbursed for that.

We spent the last two days of our vacation in Vero Beach at Disney's Vero Beach Resort. We specifically remember looking up the phone number for this resort before we made our reservations with Amtrak and I specifically asked the reservations assistant if he wanted the number where we could be reached in Florida. I was told that it was not necessary and there was "no place on the form on the screen to input it".

On Sunday, March 17th, we arrived at the Sanford station to check in our car, shortly before 2 pm. At this time we discovered that the train was going to be delayed but no one knew exactly when it would arrive. We were never told by Amtrak staff at any time why the train was delayed. We pulled up, were told to get our seat assignments and then be back by 7 in the evening. We were also told to make sure we ate dinner before returning to the station since no meals would be served that night on board the train.

The train didn't actually arrive until 8:45 that evening and didn't depart until 10:45. Waiting at the terminal from 6:30 until well after 9 to board the train was very difficult since we had an extremely tired baby who we had to carry. She didn't walk yet and we had to check our stroller with the car. There was no available indoor seating so we were outside the entire time, being bitten by the mosquitoes.

Our train did not arrive in Lorton until 4:45 in the afternoon, more than 8 hours late, forcing my husband to skip work for the day. He missed a training class he was supposed to attend and also was forced to use a day of vacation that he had not planned to use which forced us to cut back another trip we had planned for later in the year.

On a positive note, our porter on board the northbound train, Mike, was incredibly pleasant and helpful. He is quite personable and went out of his way to make our trip as pleasant as he could. We know it was difficult for him because he worked such long hours.

Upon arrival at home, we found that Amtrak did call our home number to tell us the train would be late leaving Sanford but no other information than that was given. To receive a call at our home, when we are not there, was not helpful.

To conclude, our AutoTrain experience was not pleasant. We paid for our car to be transported to and from Florida, yet we didn't get to use it and our daughter's safety was jeopardized. The car was driveable before they damaged it and we were without its use for all but two days out of nine. The entire cost of transporting our vehicle round trip should have been refunded to us in my opinion but Amtrak claimed that all they had to do was transport the car which they did do, it just wasn't in the same driveable condition that it was when we entrusted it to them and we had no use of it for almost all of our vacation.

We also had to completely change our plans for Saturday, Monday, Thursday and Friday (and then the following Monday) which was a large chunk out of our vacation, especially when you consider how many of our plans had to be completely discarded.

We spent five months making multiple phone calls and writing letters to Amtrak's "Customer Service Division". By the way, if you call Amtrak's customer service number, you'll speak with call representatives in Philadelphia who will then tell you to write a letter to the Washington office. To add insult to injury, we sent our original letter our priority return receipt mail and never received confirmation back from the postal service that our mail had been delivered.

We discovered that our case had been assigned to one person and no one else is allowed to intervene. Marietta G. Paraiso only works one or two days a week and those days are worked at home, not in the Washington, DC office. The first letter she sent us said that Amtrak apologized and there was nothing they could do for us. The letter was filled with typographical errors and was quite condescending in tone.

More phone calls were made and our "customer service representative" doesn't appear to have a supervisor - at least we were never able to find out if she did.

In the end, we were awarded a paltry $200 voucher for use on a future trip. All I really wanted was to be reimbursed for our out-of-pocket expenses (car repairs, gas, tolls and phone calls) caused by Amtrak's negligence. They refused to do that. On the bright side, at least they paid the majority (although not all) of the major expenses.

Take a trip on Amtrak's AutoTrain at your own risk.
(From www.epinions.com)
Member:JDhauer

This article shows you Amtrak's flaws.But I still like Amtrak. Just because you have a bad experience one time does not mean it will happen again.
 

Any ideas?
 

But their car did make noise right after the train trip, so it was likely Amtrak's fault.

Pretty bad report though, and I'm not a big Auto Train fan so this only furthers my dislike of this train.
 

I have played the car seat game with 5 children and at least 3 of my grandchildren, and have never had significant problems with getting car seats in place correctly or getting them from car A to car B to car C. Remember, if all else fails, READ THE DIRECTIONS! Sure some of them took some wriggling, and some of them would have been easier to get in if I had hands the size of a 3 year old, and occasionally an extra elbow aboud half way between the one I was born with and my wrist would have been handy, but it doesn't take an engineering degree to figure them out.

Inspected by the Fire Depertment? Yeah, I know that some do that because people do get them in wrong, but surely after that you should be able to get it in and out yourself.

Remember, the car probably made its original trip to the dealer tied down to either an auto rack or a truck, probably both in succession, so the car should have been made with the ability to withstand the normal variation in force applied by the guys performing the tie downs.

How many miles did the vehicle have? Had he kept up on the maintenance? There are lots of things not said. Sounds a lot like posturing for a claim. As someone else said, sound like the car repair service has found a good game.

And, "I will never take Auto Train again? Come on! Everyone that travels will have one or most likely several bad travel experiences with any mode of transportation.

We hear his opinion of the tone and attitude of the Amtrak people, but his does not exactly sound like sweetness and light, either.

George
 

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[This message has been edited by CHATTER (edited 01-24-2005).]