How To Protect Yourself From Predatory Towing

Hey guys, I'm Hunter with Nelson Insurance. I'm going to go over a quick claim that we just had. This was a bill for a hundred and seventeen thousand dollars for one trailer burning down. When I say that, I mean I'm not talking truck didn't get hit, I'm saying everything else was just fine. But the trailer burned down with a thing full of meat. Okay, this is a reefer trailer. So a couple things on this. The actual towing bill I should just say is only about $5,000 for the trailer. Okay. The rest of it was cleanup on the whole thing. And so is the debris removal for a hundred and twelve grand and then five thousand for the trailer towing. Okay, when it comes to this, how do you guys protect yourself against this? How do you guys handle the situation? What do you guys do here? Most insurance companies are going to have a set limit on towing when it comes to physical damage. Something that's insurable, an accident. Right? Now obviously you can go get roadside assistance and that's a whole different ordeal. But when it comes to towing, everybody has a physical damage limit on your policy. If you guys are opting in for the cheapest option, you guys may only have $5,000 in towing on your physical damage. I have seen towing bills up to $55,000 before. Unless you want $50,000 out of pockets or tens of thousand dollars out of pocket for a tow bill after an accident, do not get the cheapest option. Okay? Now again, this stuff can be very, very different. Canal offers reasonable towing. They don't have a set limit even on their policy, but it's reasonable towing to the nearest shop or a shop. Agreed ahead of time. Now Canal, for example, is very expensive. Physical damage. You guys might be paying, I don't even know, a 1% rate. If you're really cheap. Probably more along the lines of a 3 or 4% rate. So if you guys have a hundred thousand dollar truck, 4% rates, $4,000 a year for the physical damage on your truck, they might be anywhere from 8 to 11. So it's a lot more expensive. Right? But you guys just want, you guys are looking at the total cost of risk. I am buying, I'm paying less to take on more risk. Right? So you guys want to make sure you got something kind of the middle. It's good coverage. So reasonable. You don't need something that's insane, obviously, unless you want it. But yeah. So you don't want to be paying arm and leg for insurance. Insurance is already expensive. Okay? So understand the towing limits. Ask Your agent understand what that stuff looks like? Keb, that is a physical damage coverage. There is physical damage for towing on your policy. And then you have roadside assistance which is a totally different ordeal. You can go buy some roadside masters. We actually offer them. So if you guys want them, go ahead and you go buy a model line. They actually have one of the best towing products out there by a long shot. It's 50 miles to chop, your choice, all sorts of stuff, whatever. Okay. And then you have your cargo. This is where this cost really comes in. So I'm not going to get a pollution here right now. I'll get into touching on briefly here. But when it comes to debris removal, 90 of insurance companies are going to pay a max of 25000 on debris removal. Okay. So that's what this is, 112K. But most insurance companies can pay 25 000. Okay. And yeah, I mean really that's a most art. If again you guys are paying for the cheapest option, you gotta split up. I'm with some little rinky dink company I've never heard of. My agent said it was the cheapest because I've got all sorts of claims and these guys are ready for lost runs. You might have 5,000 in debris removal. That's gonna be really bad because especially if it's a reasonable amount, it's 25 000. Most insurance can be covered now. You got 20 grand out of pocket. Okay. And then the last thing we'll touch on with insurance before I get into the bill there is pollution. Some insurance companies might pay 25000 for pollution and debris removal. Debris move or pollution could be a way, way bigger payout than debris removal. The 117 is the biggest I've ever seen. Or 112 I suppose biggest I've ever seen yet. But when it comes down to that stuff, I mean if you are. Yeah, I mean if you are not having a whole lot for coverage there, things are not going to be pretty. So that's what you're looking at there. Sorry, I'm just messing that real quick here. But yeah, I mean that's what you're looking at there. Be careful what you guys buy. Understand the policy language. Read that stuff Kev. So pollution sometimes you can get on the. On the auto liability as well if you have a good policy. Northland offers this. You can go buy a pollution policy, whatever the case is. So you can still get a lot of these perks here and still go with geico for example, if they're offering, you know, whatever the coverage is. But if you're fine splitting up a couple things, like maybe you want to split the cargo because wetness, dampness and dryness is not covered and that thing happens and whatever. And then offer pollution. Well, you can go get a pollution policy and you know, you kind of go from there. Okay, so let's break this thing down. Predatory towing. I just went to the South Dakota Trucking Association. Some guy talked about how one of the semi trucks got put in the ditch. Didn't get in a wreck or anything like that, but just got put in the ditch. Okay? Four rotators came out there. 55 grand, put it back on the road once. Got put back on the road, truck drove off. It was just fine. 55 grand. Guys, think about this. Kevin. And now this deal. This guy apparently had seven rotators out there, like 30 dumpsters, 15 yard dumpsters. I mean, you're talking like triple the cubicle yards there. And you have fit in a dry van trailer. Well, I suppose reefer, reefer trailer. If the thing was maxed out. And so I don't know if they're not filling them all the way or what the heck is. And I. 9 grand administration fee. They were charging for the truck to go out there. They were charging per dumpster and then they charge fuel on it all. I'm like, I'm not a tow truck. I'm not a tow truck driver and I'm not a trucker, okay? I'm an insurance agent, guys. So obviously this is going to be different. I understand that. But I have real estate. I used 15 dumpsters to. When I demoed my house that I bought, I bought a really piece of junk house, demoed it, whatever, okay? The company that I had for the dumpsters gave me the dumpster I could have for up to a month, no extra charge. And I got a 30 yard dumpster and I fill the thing to the brim. They dropped it off, I filled it up, they picked it up, dropped off the landfill. I got for a thousand bucks. And I could have for a month if I wanted to. To go in there and charge the money for the dumpster. I want to say it was maybe like 500 or thousand bucks per dumpster charge for the fuel. Charge even more for the truck to go out there. Now this is, this is the roll off dumpster truck going out there. This not. It's not in the rotators or I'm bringing my whatever out there to go do cleanup is just nuts. So, yeah, read you guys insurance Policies watch out for this stuff. There are a lot of states out there who are really going to crack. Who are really cracking down on predatory towing. It is starting to be a lot more of a discussion out there. But what do you guys do? Defend yourself against this? I mean you go out there and ask receipts. Hey show, show me how it's justifiable to have seven rotators out there. Show me how it's justifiable to have 30 dump trucks or 30 dumpsters. I mean that doesn't even make sense in this scenario. Where is nine grand for administration fee coming into play here? Show me how that makes sense. Where, where is the expenses on this. Show me that stuff. You guys can ask for receipts on this stuff. When you guys have a good insurance company. Let's go out there and litigate and not just pay the bill. Hey, that 25 grand, here it is. Best of luck. You gotta know you gotta go now to go shoot the insurance company or at the a towing company. Right? You guys don't want that. You guys want insurance company that only has good policy language. But has. But is going to go litigate and fight for you guys. Because obviously they don't want to go max. I mean pretty much if it's 112 grand the insurance companies will pay their 25 no matter what. But they understand that bringing that down as much as possible and have you guys pay out of pocket as little as possible. Or maybe they just got a little coverage perks like hey we'll do 5,000 reloading and we'll do this and this and you might actually end up getting more than 25 grand if they have those other coverages there too. Okay. This is not even including the cargo loss. On top of that here. If you guys have fire now this is not very. It's not very common in that debris move a cleanup deal. But there are, there's the carmack that shippers night glitters insurance or not really insurance, but motor carriers are not held liable. Cannot be held liable for shipper negligence, inherent vice, act of public authority or government authority. Public authority and war I believe are all the pretty much most of them there. Okay. So if that stuff happens, you guys cannot be in the hook for this. Make sure you guys got insurance company or you are going to go litigate. Figure out what's going on here. And if you guys have a fire like this. These guys had a nano truck or not on trailer. Was that reefer being inspected? Was it good to go out there and haul before it was. Before it was picked up and started driving the road. So if this comes back to shipper negligence, the insured is not on the hook for really hardly any of this stuff, you know, so. And then just read those. Read those shipper and broker agreements. What are you guys liable for? What do they putting the risk on you guys for? Okay, so there's a little bit of quick tips and predatory towing. Quick example, we had nasty claim. Craziest thing I've ever heard. We've had a lot of towing claims and 117 is set the new record by a long shot here, guys. So again, not all towing, but it's debris removal and there's no pollution involved. There's pollution and got into a stream or anything crazy. Got in the water source. I understand it. That is just nuts. So if you guys want to know what's on your policy, shoot. I'll just tell you and you call me. You guys want to take looks at. You guys want to take a look and see if you guys can get better coverage? Maybe save a little money while you're at it too? Feel free to call us. I'm a Nelson Insurance agency out of Sioux Falls, South Dakota. We have a ton of insurance companies. I'm a nerd. I read policies like crazy. I can dang near recite something for you guys, so feel free to call me. Thanks for watching and please like and subscribe. Thanks.