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I am surprised actually to not find hirschbach mention before now in this thread.
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Actually, I am too. I've been aware of their program for quite awhile, but haven't been able to get my hands on any details. And the weird thing is, not many people are complaining about them.
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During the time he worked for them they deducted from his paychecks all costs of running the truck...fuel, tolls, maintnece even insurance. They deducted so much that he actually owed them money on every paycheck even though he was running well outside of his logs for weeks at a time.
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Wow...He was running hard and still couldn't stay above the water? That's a common testimony for people that are in a lease/purchase arrangement.
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Eventually the inevitable happened, he was running too hard for too long, trying to make enough money to actually bring some home to his family when he fell asleep behind the wheel and hit a bridge, totalling his truck and lucky to be alive.
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I'm glad to hear he made it out alive. That's the most important thing.
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Hirschbach terminated his lease and sent him home on a bus. He was told his personaly CD player would be removed from the truck and returned to him and that they would handle the insurance claims for him.
Well, two years later, we never recived the CD player (worth $400 and a gift from his mother) and we have discovered they did get an insurance payment for the truck in the amount of $24,999. A payment from insurance my husband was paying for for a truck my husband had paid over half of the price due. They never sent us a dime!
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Well...I'm not sure that you would have been entitled to any money, because comprehensive insurance usually covers the value of the vehicle, as it was on the day it was totaled. When you total a car, and there is a lien against it, the lienholder usually gets it all, and this is usually because it is a rare circumstance that one will owe less than the worth of the vehicle. In this case, it could be the same, with a twist or two involved, as explained below.
I do have to ask a VERY important question. Was you husband issued a policy and declaration from the insurance company DIRECTLY, that paid any or all of the claim? Did the declaration list you husband as a party of interest in the appropriate section? If both of these items of criteria were not met, then the entire insurance arrangement was illegal from day one.
It is patently illegal for a motor carrier to deduct from a contractor's settlement, insurance for a policy that is not issued in that contractor's name.
Okay, if he WAS issued a policy legally and properly, you need to look back through all of the paperwork given to your husband at the time he leased the truck to discover if he signed a page that gave the carrier power of Attorney to settle insurance claims. If not, then I would want to know how they were able to obtain payment without your husband's signature from a policy that was issued to him.
Now...back to the claim itself, and what you were entitled to. Every lease/purchase agreement I have ever read, will include wording that the driver is not allowed to recognize equity in a truck in the case of a loss. That is a legal sticking point that is removes all claim to such, if and when a person signs in agreement to all conditions of a contract. Of course, it may be completely out of your hands if there was a power of Attorney signed over to Hirschbach, which would have essentially let them control the entire process and do as they please with any or all the money.
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Yet they report to the IRS that they paid him over $59,000!!! Now we have to fight with the IRS to proove we never actually got any where near that amount.
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Wait a minute. Who exactly is claiming that you received $59,000 and for what? The claim is you received a check for that amount? Even if this were completely true, insurance settlements for a loss are not taxable, so I'm thoroughly confused as to why the IRS would even be involved.
If this was listed on a 1099, there is an easy way to deal with it. Simply inform the IRS that the 1009 is absolutely incorrect, and that you have never received funds for that amount or any other, and this puts the burden of proof to demonstrate that you received what is claimed, back on the party that issued the 1099.
Have you received ANY paperwork on the settlement of the insurance claim, by either the insurance company or Hirschbach? I'm beginning to see a scenario where your husband was left completely out of the loop, and that is just not the way things are supposed to be done.
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We've contacted this company constantly over the past two years about the CDE player that was never returned, and were told to provide proof of the cost of the player ( we did) and they would send us a check to re-imburse for it (they did not).
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You don't happen to have anything in writing to the effect that they will do this, by chance?
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This company plays with people's lives, we lost everything trying to hold out until the truck was paid for and the day he'd start making money. They make you foot every bill that comes with the truck that is still technically thiers, and then when something goes wrong they fire you and keep all the insurance money, making a big profit.
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Well...I wish I could say I was surprised by all of this, but I am not. This kind of story is repeated all over the web by others who have been taken to the cleaners for their efforts to make a living, and it's why I am involved in trying to get the word out.
So...they fired him. Isn't that the ultimate insult? He was working his butt off to line their pockets while he starved, and when the worst should happen, they cut him loose.
Your story is certainly supported by their safety numbers as well. They have double the national average of drivers placed out of service for Hours-Of-Service violations. They have an ISS-2 of 98.
Thanks for the report, and feel free to add anything else you wish.
01.03.2006
And a lot less headaches to,PD 
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