Towing Issues: Towing a Ford Pickup, dolly jack, tow truck driver

Question
We had a snowtorm here ( Colorado ) over the weekend, and I managed to run my ford f150 off the road into a ditch.

I waited until monday evening, and met the towtruck driver at the the office, we drove to the truck, and he winched it out.  I had been hoping to drive it away, but the front left tire was flat & wouldn't hold air.

The Driver saked me something about hubs ( it has vacuum operated hubs ) and said that it would have to be put on a  a dolly. They lifted the front axle with the tow truck, and attached a dolly/jack thing the rear axle, isolating all wheels of my Pickup from the road, and towed me 8 miles up the road.

Does all this make sense?  What about the $275.00 tow bill?
Willing to pay for service, but this smacks of extortion. is it?

Thanks
Douglas

Answer
Well starting with the price first, I have to say that it sounds reasonable to me.  

After all the tow truck driver did actually do 3 jobs on your vehicle.

First of all he had to winch it back to the roadway, then he hooked it up and to protect your transmission from damage (reason for asking about hubs is that you had a 4 wheel drive which you did not mention to me but I can read that in the question)

Now I can not vouch for the tow rates, but I bet the winching was about 75 to 100.00, dollies about 50.00 and the rest of the bill for hook up and mileage towed.


Now as to the original issue, what this sounds like to me, is actually an accident and if you are turning damages into your insurance company they might repay you for the towing fees...  But it depends on if you have towing insurance also.

Bottom line it looks legit to me as what they charged you for the service... Remember they were entrusted with your 30,000 to 45,000 dollar truck.