Billing Dolly Mileage (2017)

[TowForce]

Topic Originally Created by DodgeTowGuy134 in 2017

 

Some people bill a fee for the use of dollies, some don't.

My questions is this: Do you bill a separate loaded mileage rate for the dolly mileage? If you do or don't, then why?

We bill for the tow (wheel-lift) and then bill a dolly fee if the dollies are used. We bill for the loaded mileage for the tow (wheel-lift) and then also a separate line item for the Dolly Loaded Mileage.

We do this because of the cost for the dollies. The initial dolly fee is a labor charge for the install/removal of the dollies and the associated labor/time.

You bill loaded mileage for the tow, why not bill for the dolly loaded mileage too?

With the use of dollies, there is the costs of tires, bearings, grease, use/wear&tear, etc. Likewise, your loaded mileage rate should factor in your cost of tires, oil, fuel, insurance for your truck.

By billing dollies as their own line item, the customers who are towed and don't use dollies are not subjected to a "higher" hookup/loaded mileage rates. IE, customers pay for the actual services rendered, instead of just raising the prices across the board. I believe that is a more honest way of conducting business. I believe: Don;t bill for something that you didn't do, but bill for each and every thing that you DID do!

I'm just curious to hear others perspectives on this topic. I know that I've posed this question years ago, but I'm looking to survey if there has been any change in the industry perspective of billing for Dolly Loaded Mileage as it's own separate line item. Personally, I'd like to see it become an industry wide accepted practice, instead of business owners who understand their operating costs better that charge for this. I think that people who may not bill utilizing this method, might not understand their operational costs and/or might not understand the justification for NOT raising your hook/loaded rates across the board and why I believe that in doing so is unjust to the consumer.

ALSO:->>>>>>> Let's NOT just reply and blindly say things, such as : Well, just use a rollback/flatbed/carrier and not use dollies <<<<<<<

There is NO need for these types of responses, as that TOTALLY misses the perspective I'm trying to present here.

Likewise, there are times when you WILL use dollies WITH a rollback/flatbed/carrier....in those instances when you are towing TWO (2) vehicles at the same time that are AWD (4x4) and need to have ALL tires off the ground! This is an example of when this would apply to billing this method also.

I thank everyone for their responses and perspective, as I'm looking to survey our industry to see if there has been any change since the last time I posed this question.

 

Justfishing said:

We do and always have charged for dollies and a separate charge for per mile .
We also charge more for a flat bed than a wrecker because it is in effect doing the same job,
and is not intended for recovery work thou is capable of some in trained hands.

I know a lot of companies don't because almost anyone with a limited amount of training can
operate a flatbed.

 

In Memory of NationalAutow who said:

I've never really considered billing dolly mileage however I see your point.

We probably won't do that because I do not believe in using dollies for any extended tow. I'm not saying it couldn't or hasn't happened. It is just my personal opinion that dollies are not suitable for long hauls.

I will also acknowledge that dolly manufacturers will say their dollies are OK for long distances. I am still the guy that buys the insurance and assumes most of the risk therefor I will limit dolly usage.

 

DodgeTowGuy134 said:

We bill for dolly loaded mileage for both Local and Going Out of Town, but at two different rates, with local being a little less.

Personally, I don't see the reasoning of taking a rollback out of service for a long tow, when a wheel-lift w/dollies can attend to that call just as well. On that note however, I have a different stance on my dispatching procedures than most. I dispatch service vehicles to run the service calls (Lockouts, jumps, etc) and tow trucks to do tows. That said, if a wrecker is closer to the call than the rollback, I would send the wrecker w/dollies and keep the rollback available for another call, such as a crispy burn job, and let the wrecker w/dollies do the tow going out of town and keep the rollback available locally.

Likewise, I DO believe in charging a higher (premium) rate for a rollback tow, when warranted. This also serves to curb those customers that always want their vehicle towed on a rollback, regardless of the vehicle type, lets them choose to pay more for a rollback tow than a standard wheel-lift tow of a vehicle that does NOT need to be put on a rollback, such as a civic/sonata/etc. Personally, I think of a rollback as being along the lines of "special equipment" just as well as a tow truck that is an Extended Cab is also special equip.

I'm a believer that a wheel-lift with dollies (wrecker) is the front line and first out truck for all tow calls and that a rollback is a "luxury", plus since we run a large volume of our calls in a rural area, a wrecker is the more capable truck for versatility.

But back to the dollies and billing for their mileage... I've heard that many don't use dollies that often because of the availability/ease of putting everything on a rollback. That's where I think that the industry may be headed down a poor choice of path, in putting everything on a rollback. I will point out that it may be feasible for those in a metro area to run rollbacks for a primary truck, but in the rural areas it just doesn't hold true. It largely comes down to the area where service is provided that guides which truck gets sent.

I'm hopeful that, as an industry as a whole, that it will become recognized as a standard practice of billing for dolly loaded mileage. It may take more time to get to that point, but I'm hopeful.

 

Reds said:

I'm a wrecker guy through and through, my first go to truck, living in rural also.  Unless I'm doing some specialty work, moving a shed etc a wrecker can do all of what a rollback can, what was done before rollbacks and of course trailers weren't as readily available as they are today.  I never gave the mileage thing a thought until now, makes sense, we've only ever charged for the use of dollies flat fee no matter the distance, I think if we did charge a mileage fee we wouldn't get the job, some jobs backhaul we may use them as to not have to send a flatbed the distance empty when a wrecker is coming back empty we usually don't even charge for them in such case.  Them major tower in the city closest to me runs 1 4x4 wrecker and about 10 flatbeds with side pullers so my market wouldn't bear a mileage charge on dollies I don't feel, should they I would think so purchase cost, tires, maint etc I do not disagree but we also use them as a convince more for us the business as to the customer...I'm building a truck right now going to be pretty impressive I think it will have dollies but no wheel lift...but I can use this particular truck for my applications.

 

DodgeTowGuy134 said:

@Reds:-> Thanks for your response. I typically hear that "the market wouldn't bear it in my area" from others, while this statement may be true in some situations, I feel that it is overused without the actual calculations to back it up.

I believe the statement: "Great Service Isn't Cheap & Cheap Service Isn't Great" and it's a statement that I display on our invoices/receipts. All too often, I hear/know of other tow companies trying to compete on the basis of price alone, which (eventually) will hit a breaking point and impact YOUR bottom line. That said, I calculate my costs of doing business, operating expenses and such, then set my desired profit margin and then total what the cost of the service will be. In these times when we, as business owners, battle to make and keep every dollar me make, I feel that it's a wise business decision to bill for all services rendered and all equipment used.

On a similar note, we bill for the "special equipment" use for recovery jobs, whether it be a snatch block, scotch blocks or soft strap. We bill for he use of such equipment to covet the costs of the wear/tear/replacement of said item. Comparatively speaking, by billing a flat rate for the use of Dollies, we (essentially) are only covering our Labor costs for the setup/removal for. the dollies and not covering the wear/tear of the dolly components (tires, bearings, springs & latches, grease).

I can appreciate that some business owners may not want to bill for Dollies as we do, but as I said, I'm hopeful that we can at least recognize this practice as an industry standard.

 

Reds said:

I'll give you and example of "market can bear" right now as I'm typing this it's 3:30 a.m. just got a call talked to a guy who "just needs a tug" it's raining pretty good and I have an idea where he's at and what ditch, get up, get dressed,  get to the shop hit the button start truck phone rings, ahh yeah I have to cancel the thing I got going on I got a buddy coming to pull me out, happens all the time.  We live in rural country people don't call a wrecker unless they absolutely need to, I'm the only one in our town(4500+) to call and we have a parent company to the north 12 miles(4500+) and there the only ones in that town.  I quoted 125.00 plus tax if it's a "simple tug" at 3:30 a.m. approx. 5.5 miles out, now I just get to go back and see if I can get back to sleep before the sun comes up....Not to be rude toward people but my saving grace is that "buddies" can't get it out and I get called again, price goes up a bit at that point.  Another example this winter kid (20's) goes in ditch rolls his 2014 f-150 totals it lands back on it's wheels in the middle of the night, deputy shows up as kid with his buddy roll up looking at the situation deputy sits with them while they use a tractor to pull it out run back to the farm get pick up with trailer and skid steer load it on trailer take it back to the farm they did a good job...no ticket issued to the driver and it only took them a little over 4 hours to get the job done all the while the deputy was there watching running traffic if needed...rural area, everybody has a buddy, or a friend, or a tractor, or a trailer, or, or, or ,or, or but very few have the money for a job for what it's worth....My go to truck is my 2001 f550 4x4 186000 working miles not motor club miles it needs replaced, make it hard to justify a 65000 used unit that's 3-4 years old with 100000 let alone a new unit for the $100000 these days at 125.00 tug at 3:30 in the morning then get canceled.  I asked, he had a little cash, a check book, no credit card.

 

[Melville]

  For a law enforcement impound I do not charge a dolly fee when used, and my reasoning is this: I charge a flat fee regardless of equipment used because there have been times/days that we impounded multiple cars from an event or area for police dept. When the owners arrive to claim sometimes, they arrive in bunches, I have found that if the price varies from one to another there are more issues than if they all are paying the same. In these circumstances, the guy who is picking up the Cherokee should not be penalized just because he owns AWD and his buddy owns a Sonata being impounded for the same reason.,

As far as customer requested, I'll say that until recently I would have agreed that " the market wouldn't bear that in my area " but I took the chance on it this year and low and behold, my market did bear it.  I charge a labor and mileage fee for the use of dollies when required, and sometimes they are regardless of whether a rollback is available. In an age where autoloaders make it extremely easy for the initial hook up, the install of dollies are labor intensive.

[mooresbp]

I wouldn't charge less because it is an autoloader, they are more expensive to buy and maintain. They make life easier but they aren't free. We have dollies but I almost never use them, in fact I have used them once in that last five years. ( and that was to move an awd benz at the shop I didn't want to drag through the grass in the yard) I use the flatbed and skates and charge accordingly.