MrsTow

Thank you for taking the time out of your day to give me your thoughts on this. Appreciate you! 🙂

I'm trying to understand how I wouldn't be able to write off the following on my company taxes. We tow for the police departments. We get called out by the police and most of the time the vehicle goes to the tow yard. If the person involved in the accident doesn't have towing or only liability insurance they end up abandoning the vehicle at our yard. If this happens, I have to file an ABV and pay fees, then the process takes 45 to 60-days for us to receive the title, so I can dispose of the vehicle. So I'm already at a loss from the start. Below is an example of the loss. 01/01/2021 Police department calls for an accident tow and the customer abandons the vehicle at the yard. $235 for tow $4.50 @ 7 miles for mileage = $31.50 45 days at $30 = $1350.00 By the end of the 45 days, the owner owes me $1616.50 but never pays. Now during this, I have paid 35 % of the original tow to the driver $93.28 (235+31.50) Filing fee's $12.00 (ABV) Inspection fee $30.00 (Vin check) Employee 2 hours of time @ 420 ph $40.00 more if vin inspection is needed Total 175.28 I've paid and never received the $1616.50 from the owner. Above Totals $1791.78 of my loss If I sell to a junk yard upon receiving the title, I usually get $200.00. I'm being told by an accountant, I can't write it off because I'm a cash based company! Please don't pay attention to the numbers it's just an example. I'm also told to go to small claims and pay more fees to get a judgement that they wont pay anyways. How do you guys/gals handle this? Thanks!

What are your thoughts on the Honk and Agero/Swoop phone app to track drivers?

Oh, I've definitely learned! I do not accept motor-club calls on a PO for any winch out that's over 15 feet away from pavement or over 20 miles away from my location....at their rate. If it's over what I stated, I let them know I do off road recovery as well. I tell them my rate and except nothing less. When I use my off road recovery trucks, I collect a non-refundable deposit upfront, the caller is told all calls are recorded and I also have video in all my trucks. Fool me once.... is all it took, won't happen a second time. I truly appreciate all the comments good or bad because it gives all outlooks on the matter and helps me decide the direction to take. Be safe out there! :-)

So I'm running into an issue with the County because I have an employee that parks the tow truck at home while on call. Does anyone know any laws regarding this matter? I can't imagine telling the police department to wait, while we go pick up the tow truck at the yard before running the emergency call for them!

Thank you. 🙂

Hi Everyone! I would like to switch to using mobile software so the drivers can create invoices and get rid of the invoice books. Any suggestions? Thanks.

Lol. I had my drivers go there, to do just that! Agero told them not to sign the invoice.

So true! Thank you for your thoughts. I enjoy the responses from everyone... it makes me want to pull my hair out less! I'm learning to chuckle a little more when dealing with motor club's and customer's. LOL Nicole

So tonight, Agero contacted my company and ask if we could do a winch out of a stuck vehicle in the forest. Agero was told that we could use our off road recovery equipment but we charge different rates for this service then the contracted rates with Agero. Agero contacted the customer and let them know our hourly rates and told the customer they would have to pay the difference that Agero wont cover. The customer agreed. We drove 2 1/2 hrs to do this job and the customer knew how long it would take us to get there and even asked us to stop and get them water. We get to the entrance of the Forest and called the customer and found out they called out another off road recovery company in the area and that company was currently getting them out. Even tho we were on time! I contacted Agero of course because now 5 hours of time will be wasted to/from because of this person. Agero said the would pay the GOA fee. The GOA fee is not close to our hourly rate! Has anyone ever billed a customer that went through a motorclub, but agreed to rates of the towing company, then calls someone else? Where can I find the rights towing companies have? Heck, do we have any?

Nicole Lewis Hoist Towing & Recovery

Prayers to the tow drivers family and friends. God Bless.