Questionworking on a case with a 18k tow bill. Propane truck rolls over. tow company waits 4.5 hours while Fire dept figures out what to do. after freezing propane meter due to leak, and uprighting it, its towed to landfill where the propane is to be burned off. Job completed 5pm following day.
No detailed invoice/bill provided showing equipment time in-out, mileage, extra men. Just a one paragraph with a little more detail than stated above.
Maybe the charges are reasonable, but it hard to tell without a detailed invoice, which cannot be provided. Shouldn't the tow compnay provide a invoice listing the tow truck milage, time in, time out, etc?
Listed equipment on the "statement" shows 60ton rotator, 50 ton wrecker, 25 ton ramp, a second ramp and 2 extra men.
What to you think? Towed in New Hampsire
ps: good answers on your other questions!
AnswerI think this goes without saying, but what follows is purely my opinion. Please do no take what I say here as absolute truth. There are a few ways to look at this. One is from the tow company stand point and the other from the insurance company. I do have to agree that detailed billing and photo/video documentation would certainly explain the charges better. I would think that if asked, the tow manager or owner would give a detailed account of charges preformed. Since I don't know the method used for the towing and recovery (some use price per pound, hourly or a combination of both and mileage).
Lets do a hypothetical scenario to simulate billing for this recovery. As I stated above this is only speculation and for reference only. A very basic method of heavy towing and recovery which should be very easy for insurance companies to understand and follow is the hourly method. Since I don't know the going rate up there let's say it's $350 per hour for a non-emergency, non-hazardous procedure. If the average is $350 per hour per piece of equipment then the standby/wait time is $6300. Don't fault or blame the tow company for having to wait for EMS to okay the recovery. Some insurance companies feel they are being penalized or paying for a service not used but the tow company is required to respond when EMS calls. If the insurance company is balking about wait time then blame EMS. From the EMS standpoint they could care less about who is footing the bill, their concern is on safety and loss of life.
Now comes the upright recovery and with this procedure being extremely hazardous the hourly charges are usually tripled. The reasoning of this surcharge or increase is relevant to the risk and loss involved. Let say two heavies took two hours for set up, recovery, prepare to transport. That comes to $4200 for the two heavies. Remember charges are occurring for the other pieces/additional men as well. If the 2 ramps were not used in the hazardous procedure then their rate during the recovery are $1400 or another $4200 if they were. Let's assume they weren't. At this point we are at $11900 and haven't even transported the unit yet or cleared the other trucks to put back in service.
If the hazardous transport and burn took about 3 hours for one heavy then that comes up to $3150 and we will give the other three pieces one hour at normal rate for cleanup and equipment organization to put back in service, that comes to $1050. So far the total is $16100 before taxes, storage, administration, secondary transport, etc. or any other fees that may apply. As I said this was a very quick and hypothetical scenario and may prove helpful with understanding the bill. As I have also said good communication is important so feel free to ask questions and thanks for asking!
