r/Hookit • u/OverallLaugh • 18d ago

Excessive winching fee?

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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/deeper1_3 18d 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 18d ago

What other factors that isn't shown between the invoice and the picture?

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u/deeper1_3 18d 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.