Medov S.r.l.

The Medov staff in Livorno are fantastic. I recently shipped a vehicle from the USA to Livorno and they handled all the receiving port actions and customs clearance in a very professional manner. I had zero problems and the truck was ready to go when I arrived. Communication in English was perfect and I could not be happier. Grazie Mille!

Main problem: Communication and lack of empathy. Full story: We moved from the US to Switzerland and shipped our car to Livorno. We wanted to pick it up in person and make it a family vacation. First problem: Medov staff were not very helpful in helping us time our trip to pick up the car; they were generally not very forthcoming with information and not very responsive to questions - generally seemed unaware of or uninterested in the fact that people have to take time off work, etc to do this kind of thing. Second, and much bigger problem: They told us once in passing (buried in a long list of other things), and then again more explicitly only TWO DAYS before we were going to travel to Livorno that we needed to provide a proof of insurance to get the car through customs. Now, if you're importing an American car into Europe, your American insurance won't cover driving in Europe and no European insurance will until after you registered the car in your new country. This took me about 1-2 frantic days to find out, after which I was despairing about how to do this. Again, not much empathy or help from Medov. After much prodding and pleading by email (they never answer their phones), someone mentioned the ACI (automobile club of italy) without any further information. Having talked to numerous insurers this did not seem like a good lead, and the ACI website certainly didn't provide any relevant information. Luckily, I happened to have an aunt who lives in Italy and called up the ACI main office in Milan and their Livorno branch. It turns out they DO issue temporary insurance for non-European cars, so I was able to jump on a train and get the car a day later than planned. Without her, I would never have trusted this weak lead and would have had to organize an auto transport at the last minute at great cost. Once at their office, the Medov staff were nice enough, but it still took them most of a day (from 9am to 3pm) before I could actually leave with the car. Partly this wasn't their fault - the port terminal has a lunch break from 12 to 2.30 - but partly they were also just unprepared and uninterested. They either have very little experience working with private people who want to pick up their cars and are unaware of the concerns and difficulties one might have, or they just didn't care.