Have you ever been ripped off by a towing company?

I have a friend with a big towing company and his expenses are enormous , between the price of equipment, insurance , payroll and money owed to him ,$1.3 million in accounts receivable that’s over 30days last time I spoke with him .He does a lot of repair work also , and extends a lot of People credit.He does some big wrecks but his prices are fair. I’ve also dealt with and have heard horror stories about crooks in the towing business
And over doing minor incidents with lots of equipment to inflate
The bill. I had a friend get charged $800 to pull him about 20 feet with an empty dry van when he got stuck in some mud in Jersey turning around in a Parking lot and that was 20 years ago. I also knew of a crooked DOT cop who would pull over trucks with over weight permits and measure them and say they were 9 inches over
What there permit stated and wouldn’t allow you to re measure it and would void your permit and call his buddy who owned a towing company 5 minutes away who would immediately show up and tow you. He did that to 12 trucks in one month from the same company along with a bunch of other trucks from different companies And the owner of the company had his attorney file charges against the DOT cop. He did it to me last summer Never had anything like that happen to me in 31 years. I took it to court and beat his little crooked ### ,but it still should have never happened.

 

Friend is full of fecal matter. Yes, the police may have stopped him feom trying to pull it out himself for his own safety. You fellas have no idea the danger you are in trying tonuse a chain and "tug" a truck out of the snow bank. People get killed when the chain breaks from the shock load and sends a hook flying into traffic.

A call like that, in the snow and police request would be between $500 and $1,500 assuming the facys as you presented are correct. I will say feom experience, most drivers have nonidea what it really takes and I can't count how many times I was told it is only a little stuck to find it almost ready to roll into the ditch.

 

That is insane.

On the job I mentioned above, as I said, we had a 265 ton crane on the job. The rate for that crane is $520 per hr. There is no way a 50 ton wrecker should cost anywhere near that much.

 

We had a idiot crane operator get a 175 ton crane stuck at a cell tower site. Took two 50 ton wreckers to pull him out. The rate was $150 per hr per wrecker. Probably a 4hr minimum but that seems reasonable.

 

All in all. the key word usually is "Police Call."
When they call - you got a big bill.
I don't agree with it,
but the fellows on that call rotation list
see it as an entitlement to rob you.

 

That depends. First, you can't compare a wrecker to a crane, even the rotator type wreckers. The ratings are vastly different, meaning we can actually pick 50 or 60 ton with our truck where a 200 ton crane may only be able to lift 50 actual tons in a similar situation typical to tow truck use.

Second, depending on the area of the country and volume of calls for that truck $500 or more per hour is justified, simply divide all related ownership and operation costs by the number of hours the truck is dispatched on billable jobs each year and it easily can equal $500 or more per hour in some rural areas.

Third, useful life. In many regulated states tow trucks have a short useful life. A 50 ton rotator type wrecker, most comparable to a crane, costs upwards of $700-800,000 dollars (not to mention tow trucks are on-highway trucks and subject to the 12% federal excise tax that cranes are not) and will only be in service for the first buyer for 5 to 10 years. Mobile cranes may easily see double that useful life and about 5 times the revenue hours a tow truck will see while being used for recovery.

Last point on rates, compare a crane company's hourly rate for the whole crew that accompanies the crane to a towing company's rate, usually you have several other personnel on a crane job, at additional ost above the crane per hour rate.

Now, I will say cranes are cranes and wreckers are wreckers and although they have similar functions they are not interchangeable. Generally cranes do not belong on towing or recovery jobs, with some extreme reach and lift situations excluded, and tow trucks do not belong on construction sites. You can't compare the types of services and rates effectively as each industry has unique costs and challenges

 

Well.. I trust this guy to tell me straight. He was there. You and I were not. I know him and have spoken to the o/o who got the bill. 10k. The shoulder there is wide he was just into snow and spinning, could have pulled it out with a good 4x4. Robbery. Just robbery.

 

He's referring to a case where the cops and tow company were scamming and over billing trucking companies for work they didn't do

 

That never happens. sarc./

 

I toed the line once but it was costly the 2nd tym and it wernt in WY.