I was talking to a man from the safety dept. at a trucking firm nearby the other week and while he had nothing to offer me as far as part time employment, he did offer me a lot of his time and advice. We talked for about 2 hours about the trucking business and at one point he was talking about breakdowns and how expensive a tow truck can be. He told me that on one occasion it cost them 15000.00 and on another it was 7000.00. Now both these figures were for accidents where the wrecker came in to tow it away but that is still alot of money. I was a little surprised at these figures and wonder if anyone would share any experiences like these.

Would a regular tow the nearest shop cost this much? If so I'm buyin a wrecker :lol:

 

Accident clean up is more than just the tow. Its also the labor to get freight off the ground, winching and uprighting a rig, getting the wreck stable enough to tow and other things. Also, as you know a semi is expensive to operate and you use it daily. A big wrecker is also expensive and you dont get to use it daily. You cant use a class8 wrecker to tow illegally parked cars. Well I guess you could My dad was in the tow business from 1959 to 1985. I've seen some wrecks.

 

I have paid as little as $275 for a tow when I blew an engine on a truck I had several years ago. I had estimates as high as $850. This was for about 50 miles. I would say the average today is somewhere from $500-850 for a standard breakdown tow, providing it isn't too far.

 

If the guy was in an accident then his insurance should pay the tow bill if he's turning in a claim.

 

Thanks guys. I thought those numbers were more for accident than normal towing.

 

THis is why I rented a truck when I was operating. $15,000 and $700 and my first born to get a tow are all things I never had to worry about 8)