Who do you Call on for ROADSIDE/BREAKDOWN

Fleetnet....anywhere, anytime....real helpful. Be careful, once you call them, even if you elect to go another route for the repair, they'll still charge you $45 or maybe it's $50 now as a minimum service fee. So if you're not sure, don't call them.

 

ntts breakdown,look for the nearest service provider whether is towing or tire repair and ask for the rates before you agree to anything.when you breakdown on the road you will never know what you gonna get.

 

It depends on the situation.

After assessing exactly whats wrong (If possible), I determine if I can fix it myself. Always carry spare belts, clamps, various hoses that you can cut to length, appropriate tools, rethread tools, air lines and adapters etc. Nothing like sitting on the side of the road in the middle of no where over an air leak or coolant hose.

Next, I assess where the closest repair shop or tire shop is. If I'm not going to pass any scales,.. can I limp it there?

When all else fails,.. I check my GPS for local shops that do what I need and then see if they do service calls. I ask what their rate is. If they're going to charge me $100 just to show up, they can forget it. I also use google and Angies list to see if the service is reputable before I even call them. If they have bad reviews, I try to ascertain if it was just a disgruntled customer or if they had a legitimate gripe. Someone who cant type a normal understandable sentence generally is passed off as an idiot who tried to get something for nothing and failed. You cant blame a shop for that.

Tires,. I keep a spare drive tire and spare trailer tire both under my trailer. So at most, I'm just paying for their service. Then I head to tire specific shop in my route,.. calling ahead to see what their prices are on the tires I need. If ridiculous, I carry on to the next shop.

In this business you need to know what labor rates are, what parts cost and what tires cost. If you dont, shops will, can and do take advantage of the ignorant.

There is an old saying,... "You know when you'll get caught with your pants down?,.. When they're down". Its just like setting up loads. You dont haul a load thats going to make you lose money. So why let yourself get caught in a situation where a shop can dictate what ever they want because your stuck and at their mercy. Shops have no mercy. They lie when they say they will minimize labor and rates, because they know they can bend you over and you will take it all with or with out lube.

Hurst

 

No,.. but I am limited to who ever is available in a certain area. What ever program or fleetcare they belong to, I dont know. But I'm not beyond calling as many places as I can to find who ever will come out for less.

Hurst

 

The first call is to my support team in my office. I pay my employees to not only be dispatching and load planning, but to expect those calls which are breakdowns, and teach them how to provide ground support to the unit. Naturally, no one wants to pay big bucks for a towing bill, especially if the trailer is involved since the price goes up generally. So you want to find local service, avoiding expensive mileage fees. My folks do two things: Call the nearest truckstop and ask them who the local heavy truck service place is that has a mobile truck, and / or can tow. This has proven to be almost 100% everytime. The truckstops know because, well, they're the nucleus for most things truck related, including having to help truckers who are broke down in their lot. The other option for my staff is to use the internet. I'm going to put a Rand McNally 720LM GPS in the dispatch office, which should help them tremendously because it has icons on the map indicating nearby repair / service shops.

We don't subscribe, or enroll with any of the roadside service plans. They are just brokers for the shops, and not asset based. Maybe it's convenient, but I'm not interested in paying annual fees for them to dial the phone and get a local tire shop to come help. I might be missing the point of those people, but I don't think so.

Reliable? Do great work? Nationwide?

The big shops are mostly predators in coveralls. They overwork the mechanics who abandon quality control in order to get all of the work orders done. Most of them are quite incompetent, and require a solution-tree and hotline to call the engine manufacturer. If you're lucky to not be sucked dry by the franchise shops, and eventually find a little independent guy that does decent work, hang on to him!! I tip my mechanics $10-$20 every single time I go in for work. They know it's because I want it done right, and not sloppy. The tip also seems to help them shorten their story a little bit when it comes time to formulate the invoice.

I'll probably get flamed for saying the franchise shops are predators, but it's true. Some of the stuff Cummins does these days should be considered criminal.

 

Tip the Mechanic? Shorten their story? One hand washes the other? It's great that you have a good independent guy in your home city, but that's a different animal. On the side of the road, you shouldn't have to turn getting help into some kind of Jihad. That's where the brokers come in, they have a national footprint, the service providers are somewhat vetted and this isn't a leisurely purchase that you can "shop around". You need to get back on the road and its no time to trying to find a Groupon on the internet.