HENRY COUNTY, Ga. — A broken brake line on a box truck turned into a nightmare for a freight company after the owners said a tow bill left them in disbelief.
On Wednesday, Aaftab Jan and Josephat Mados, who operate Elshaddai Truckers and Logistics, were notified by their driver he'd broken down on I-75 southbound near the 227-mile marker in Herny County.
The driver was hauling dry freight from Tennessee to Florida.
"He said suddenly his truck just like jumped and stopped," Jan explained, adding, "That's a sign of brake chamber failure like your airline is busted off your air brakes."
Jan said his business partner got on the phone and found a wrecker who agreed to come out and help them fix what he described as a "very simple" and "inexpensive" fix.
However, while the driver was waiting and the truck was blocking a lane of the southbound traffic on I-75, a local police officer showed up and dispatched a wrecker.
In Georgia, that activates the Towing and Recovery Incentive Program (TRIP).
According to the state's website, TRIP was implemented in 2008 to "facilitate improved management of large-scale commercial vehicle incidents."
"TRIP encourages the quick, safe clearance of these incidents by paying performance incentives to highly-skilled, TRIP-certified towing and recovery companies for clearing wrecks within established clearance goals," according to the Georgia Time Task Force.
Wrecker 1 out of McDonough responded to the broken down 26-foot box truck on Wednesday along I-75. Under the TRIP program, the wrecker service next on rotation must send a 50-ton wrecker, a 30-ton wrecker and a support truck to the scene.
Jan said the officer who was out with this driver explained, "It's state-mandated. They have to come out like that."
It's a response with a hefty price tag when Wrecker 1 is dispatched.
"It's just mind-boggling. It's crazy," Jan said.
Shortly after the tow, they received a bill for $12,345, which included a 25% discount the company referred to as a "Goodwill Discount" if Jan and his partner paid the bill by 4:30 p.m. the same day.
Jan thought to himself, "This must be a joke."
He found out on Thursday morning it was, in fact, no joke. He received a second invoice totaling $16,515.
In the invoice shared with 11Alive on Thursday, the majority of the charges come from the three vehicles that are required to respond under TRIP.
Broken down, the charges are as follows:
- Use of 50-ton "fixed boom/stick" wrecker (4-hour minimum @ 1,250/hr) totaling $5,000
- Use of 35-ton wrecker (4-hour minimum @ $1,000/hr) totaling $4,000
- Emergency response unit carries the spill containment/site mitigation supplies as well as scene lighting and traffic control supplies (4-hour minimum @ $750/hr) totaling $3,000
"To be honest, I mean, we do not have that kind of money," Jan explained.
11Alive reached out to the Department of Public Safety regarding the rates and tow situation. They sent over a statement that said in part:
"If it was a law enforcement tow, there is no tariff or set rate that wreckers must adhere to, therefore the consumers have no recourse unless the agency intervenes. If the tow was not initiated by a law enforcement agency, the company/ operator has the option to seek legal advice from an attorney or contact the Magistrate Court in the county where the business is located."
In this case, it was a law enforcement tow, leaving Jan and his partner with few options to recover their truck, which still has freight on it.
"Honestly, we cannot get the truck. This is the truth, plain truth," he explained, adding, "Something has to change, it's bad."
On a map from the mile marker listed on the invoice to Wrecker 1, it showed about 8 miles, give or take, depending on the route.
On Thursday, 11Alive reached out to Wrecker 1 for comment but has not heard back from the company.
On the TRIP website, it mentions Georgia Department of Transportation "shall not intervene in or resolve any billing dispute between a Company and a vehicle owner/insurance company."