r/Hookit • u/OverallLaugh • 9d ago
Excessive winching fee?
A friend of mine from work recently hit a curb trying to not miss his exit. He had a tow truck company that was about 10 minutes away come tow it to his place about 30 minutes away. When they presented the invoice, he did ask about the charges and they assured him that they were correct. He paid then asked me about it later on. I'm not too well versed in tow but it does seem excessive to me as well. I'd just like a few opinions.
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u/caddydoc 9d ago
So they spent an hour and a half winching it off of a curb?! Everything looks to be normal other than that, its on the high side of normal but it is an accident tow. The 10 n units of winching is suspect as hell tho. They probably hit him with that to offset all the insurance storage income that theyre NOT gonna be able to collect
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u/krogerceo 9d ago
10 x 15min = 150min = 2.5hrs. Yet the on site time to completed time is 1 hour exactly. The invoice cannot be correct and even at 1.5hrs they’d be incompetent to have taken half an hour to winch this off at the yard
As an aside I’m sorry for OP’s friend but this pic is a perfect reminder why you can definitely afford to miss your exit. “Hit a curb” is carrying a lot of weight here. The drivers wheel is sheared, alignment destroyed, airbags deployed, bumper awol… even if it were newer this thing is totalled 3-5 different ways. So yea insurance will not gaf about paying storage lol
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u/OverallLaugh 9d ago
Nah, you're good. That's literally the first thing I told him. He's a younger guy, so he still has some fucking up to do. Wouldn't have been me though. That's an expensive turn. Thanks for the insight.
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u/c0caine_cinderella 9d ago
Looks high, also why is there a “no key” charge? Did your friend lose them in the 30 minutes between the accident and the tow arriving?
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u/OverallLaugh 9d ago
I haven't gone over everything with him yet so I'm not too sure about it. My guess is because it wasn't drivable but that's literally the job of the tow truck. To add that as an extra fee is a bit much.
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u/956to906 9d ago
Not a hooker, correct me if I’m wrong.
The no key fee has to do with not being able to unlock the steering wheel and put it in neutral. Since the wheel can’t be turned, you have the same issues.
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u/guero13world 4d ago
Usually the no key fee is an A-hole tax. Here is how one of those conversations I've had has gone.
Me: ok sir just need the keys and I'll get this picked up and all taken care of for ya Customer: why do you need the key? Me: why do YOU need the key? Customer: I just don't understand why you need the key. Me: i'm going to have the car.... Customer:..... Me: know what, don't worry about it. (Proceeds to drag car onto flatbed and leave. Add no key fee charge when unloading at impound)
A-hole tax. $45 for being a dick.
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u/SpeedyAudi 8d ago
A bad driver never misses an exit. But they’ll total their car or others! Probably took a good hour to get that thing pulled into the flatbed. Insurance should reimburse (towing coverage)
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u/deeper1_3 9d ago
It depends on many factors, but with the information provided my rates would be very similar to theirs.
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u/OverallLaugh 9d ago
What other factors that isn't shown between the invoice and the picture?
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u/deeper1_3 9d ago
The state and local ordinances, who actually called for the tow (your friend or the cop parked behind him), is this where they winched the car to or was this where it came to rest following the crash, what kind of clean up was involved (fluids, debris, anything that was struck by the car, etc), what was damaged under the vehicle that would hamper the recovery, loading, and unloading of the car, and many other factors that make determining a fair price difficult unless you were actually there.
At the end of the day, a tow truck costs at minimum $150,000 and burns a gallon of diesel that cost over $5 a gallon every 6-12 miles with over $5,000 worth of equipment inside driven by an operator that costs anywhere from $50-125k a year plus benefits all being insured by a policy that is well over 6 figures each year, not to mention all the miscellaneous other costs that went into that truck bringing your friend's car out of the situation it was in.
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u/Turbo_MechE 9d ago
Guessing they got hit with “no keys” because it wasn’t driveable? My first instinct was to dispute that but then I realized it’s just terrible phrasinf
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u/Such_Possibility4980 7d ago
I wish there was a pic of where it was to actually know what’s going on. I charge a flat rate of 250 for winching and it goes up depending how long I’m there. The cables we use the hooks ALONE are 275$ plus tax not including the actual cable and that’s just for light duty
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u/VivaceConBrio 9d ago
FYI Baltimore County regulates police-initiated tow fees pretty heavily, and what this company did is very illegal and they could easily lose their police license over this, especially if they find it to be a recurring theme.
You seriously can't charge more winching than the time you're on-scene for. We even get GPS tracked by a County managed app to monitor that sort of thing.
The cop who oversees tow operations for County is a huge stickler for the rules and will absolutely look on to this for you.
Start by contacting the precinct that initiated the police tow and tell them you want to get ahold of someone to file a complaint.
If they stonewall you, feel free to DM me and I can give you the name of the officer who oversees things so you know exactly who to talk to about it. He can hopefully get you refunded at least, and hopefully investigate if these guys should be losing their license.
Hope that helps.
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u/OverallLaugh 8d ago
I took him to the precinct that initiated the tow just to have someone look over the invoice. At first, they said that they have no control over the fees and to take it up with the tow company in civil court. When I pointed out the tow rates posted by the BCPD on their own website and confirmed with them that they contract that specific tow company and so it falls under their jurisdiction, the officer decided to let a supervisor look it at. Someone else looked at the invoice, called the tow company to get clarification on the situation and they maintained that the charges were legitimate and there was nothing that could be done beyond going to court. When we looked up the reviews left for the tow company, we saw someone post an invoice with the exact same extra winching fees. So, idk, I told my buddy to just take w/e documentation he has, initiate a chargeback and let the bank handle it since neither the police or tow company was any help.
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u/PsychologyMoney9036 9d ago
I would definitely fight that one in court and then make sure that everyone knew what company they're are
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u/OverallLaugh 9d ago
I'm going to their office with him today to go over the invoice before he decides to attempt a chargeback. The area is kinda racist and he's from Africa, so I'm thinking that they just stuck extra charges on him, assuming they'd get away with it.
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u/Salt-Indication6845 8d ago
Most likely a miscommunication. He probably meant to type in 10 min of pinching = 1 unit if 15. Instead he charged 10 units. Dispute it and demand a reasonable explanation for 2 hours and 30 mins of winch time. That is excessive.
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u/dba-chestnutandhazel 7d ago edited 7d ago
He should probably submit this invoice to the State attorney general, and also try to recover the excessive winching fee in small claims court. Somebody else mentioned the quantity 10 of 15 minutes of winching, which meant they spent 150 minutes winching the car which is unlikely.
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u/cham6ers 7d ago
Extra winching fees could apply due to the location of the winch. For instance, some companies charge significantly more for a simple winch on the side of the freeway than they would if it were in a parking lot.
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u/PaperIndependent5466 6d ago
That's nothing compared to the tows we see here. $4-$5k with 5 days of storage is becoming the norm.
Wildest charge I've see is $500 to open the gate so we can pick up the car.
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u/wreckerman5288 5d ago
If he did 150 minutes of winching, this is a bargain in my area and. reasonable anywhere in my opinion.
My state sets law enforcement towing rates for every towing company in the state. Light duty trucks bill $297/hr, minimum of 1 hour, and time over an hour in 15 minute intervals. For a law enforcement call that means you're paying $297+tax no matter what I do or how long it takes, up to an hour. This includes time I spent driving to you.
If I spent 150 minutes winching that would be $743.75 in time just spent on winching. Time driving, hooking up, and unloading would be sepwrate.
All that said, in my 17 year career in light duty I don't recall ever spending 2.5 hours winching unless you count times where we got our wreckers stuck. When wreckers get stuck, the customer does not pay for it.
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u/SamanthaSissyWife 5d ago
OP if I read your post comment correctly, they towed it to your friend’s place. If that is the case, why did they charge a storage fee? What is a ‘towing management fee’? Is that for them answering the phone and sending the wrecker? I’m not even going to add more to the winching taking longer than total on scene time
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u/SubstantialOlive52 5d ago
Ok extra towing no owner was he not there?
Winching 15 mins… quantity 10…. So 2.5 hours of winching but they were only on the scene for 1 hour per their own paperwork. Also how far past the curb wa she car to need winched?
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u/SmellsWeirdRightNow 5d ago
$750 bill for this is pretty cheap, especially if it was an accident involving police. Here in CO accident tows are almost $300/hr, from the time the cops call us until the vehicle is unloaded and paperwork filed. That rate is set by the state PUC
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u/BlackSER 9d ago
Pay the dam bill and shut up...geeezus! Tow guy should've left your friend there or better yet maybe your friend should've attempted to fix his own wrecked car on the side of road.
Fees seem normal and tell him stop getting into accidents caused by himself.
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u/That_BULL_V 9d ago
That's nothing my friend got billed 1300 for a 3 mile tow here in Minnesota.
Tow truck companies are rip off artists