freightliner recovery fee

[roxy8073]

i work for a trucking company and we had a driver slide off the road in the snow in VA and a tow compay came and moved it off the road the trailer had little to no damage in the before pics and the after pics from them turning the trailer back up right they totaled it they also moved it to there yard 300 miles away they sent us a bill for 40,000 dollars does this sound right or way over the top

 

[PayrollHRGuy]

Crap breaks when you have to roll it back over.

A 300 mile tow of a trashed trailer and maybe a Freightliner can get costly.

Good thing you have insurance.

 

[roxy8073]

well insurance only pays 10,000

 

[FlyingRon]

Also rates go up in emergency call-outs in storms. You've probably paid $1000 for the callout alone, several thousand to right the truck (if it's off the wheels it's considered a major recovery). If they had to bring extra crew (likely), you pay for that and yes, 300 miles is a long way to drag a disabled rig.

 

[PayrollHRGuy]

Learn from this roxy. Get more insurance.

 

[xylene]

On a 40 grand bill you get a lawyer and pro adjuster involved.

I get the angle "recovering the truck is recovery and extra damage will happen." That's true. A tow operator however has a duty to minimize that damage. Its part of their highly paid and regulated proffession. That's why you need your own advocate. Especially when the tow bill alone is 40gs.

 

[xylene]

You need an itemization of those charges too.

Bluntly, I suspect the high charges are an oblique sort of cover up or CYA for dropping the vehicle hard.

 

[HighwayMan]

...we had a driver slide off the road in the snow in VA and a tow compay came and moved it off the road...

So the truck slid off the road and the tow company moved the truck off the road?

...moved it to there yard 300 miles away...

To me, it makes no sense that their yard was 300 miles from their service area.

 

[FlyingRon]

To me, it makes no sense that their yard was 300 miles from their service area.

He doesn't say where it is but much of Virginia interstates run through pretty rural territory. Do you think every podunk small town has a heavy tow/rescue capability?

The heavy tow guys I deal with charge by the hour, not the mile, but if this was in the middle of the recent snow, traffic was horrendously awful on I-81. I could definitely see how charges stacked up.

 

[LdiJ]

He doesn't say where it is but much of Virginia interstates run through pretty rural territory. Do you think every podunk small town has a heavy tow/rescue capability?

The heavy tow guys I deal with charge by the hour, not the mile, but if this was in the middle of the recent snow, traffic was horrendously awful on I-81. I could definitely see how charges stacked up.

Still, 40k is way out there. Even if it happened right in the center of VA it wouldn't be 300 miles to a major city. VA is only about 300 miles high and 600 wide at its very widest point.