Driver abandoned truck and trailer.

Discussion in 'Ask An Owner Operator' started by LINKGT23, Jan 26, 2025.

  1. brian991219

    brian991219 Road Train Member

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    The problem with waiting is your insurance policy likely has a clause in it requiring you to take all reasonable actions necessary to preserve the salvage value of the vehicle in the event of a claim. This would have meant trying to find it or locate your driver while they were processing the claim. This will be one more reason they will use against you when denying the theft claim.

    As for a recovery company, many that do commercial truck recovery, like Truck Movers, will not track down the truck so you will need to find it first. You may want to contact a Texas based repo company as they have investigators skilled in skip tracing, which is finding vehicles and drivers that don't want to be found.
    I.R. Services Texas Repossessions Dallas/Ft Worth Houston TX Repossessions
    Houston Texas Repossession Towing and Recovery Service ⋆ REPO
     
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  3. AModelCat

    AModelCat Road Train Member

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    Consider hiding a gps tracker on the truck and trailer next time. Especially if you're going to be hiring people that are halfway across the country.
     
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  4. LINKGT23

    LINKGT23 Bobtail Member

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    The driver part understand but I never really had any serious issues with a driver until now. Houston police did tell me if anyone towed it they would have to put it into their tow alert system. As far as the depositing money you are 100000% correct, I should have gotten rid of him then and there but I wanted to give in another chance which bit me in the butt real fast. Correct I meant to say wasn’t there. As far as the theft goes I have the recorded phone call ( with the drivers permission) where he agreed to bring the equipment back by the deadline have given to him. Driver stated he was on way back to Fl and he would drop off the truck & trailer. On the call he also admitted people do stupid things when they are upset and that I was great to work for. On the call he pretty much implicated himself. I clearly told him if he doesn’t return it I will report it stolen he agreed and in his contract it states he has 3 days to return all equipment or it will be reported stolen and he signed. So at this point don’t know what else to do. I spoke with an insurance lawyer on Friday and he said until a denial letter is provided from the insurance I cannot do anything.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 26, 2025
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  5. LINKGT23

    LINKGT23 Bobtail Member

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    I did have that and I had LoJack and he disabled it.
     
    Last edited: Jan 26, 2025
  6. LINKGT23

    LINKGT23 Bobtail Member

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    Could be, but the insurance denying because of “service of employement”
     
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  7. Long FLD

    Long FLD Road Train Member

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    Why would your driver have anything to do with your bank deposits? So much doesn’t add up here for an employer/employee relationship. Or was this a 1099 deal?
     
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  8. Dino soar

    Dino soar Road Train Member

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    Well first of all I think that the advice that you are getting here is highly specialized and you should be thankful that we have members here that are willing to share that kind of knowledge and experience to attempt to help you.

    Secondly:

    What Brian and the other poster is trying to tell you is that if you hired someone from Florida or at least Georgia, they would always be headed that way with your equipment to go home.

    Then you do what every other carrier does. You welcome them home, give them time off, and fire them.

    The other reason for hiring someone near you, which a lot of places want someone within like 150 Mi or something like that, is because of legal jurisdiction problems.

    If you hired someone that resides in the same state as you, it is much easier to go after them within the legal system.

    I'm sorry to hear of your problems. It's like you did everything right but you fell through this giant chasm that unfortunately exists in this business.

    I would recommend that you call Seton and Husk attorneys, I believe they're in Maryland.

    They're transportation attorneys and they or someone like them is probably your best bet.
     
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  9. LINKGT23

    LINKGT23 Bobtail Member

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    You’re right I should have just gone and got it myself. But I’d didn’t tell him I was going to fire him, I told him I had to update some paper work (which I really did ) which would have forced him to come back to home base. So he really didn’t know he was going to be terminated. I spoke with a lawyer and he told me until I receive a denial letter from the insurance company we cannot start.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 26, 2025
  10. dptrucker

    dptrucker Road Train Member

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    wouldnt there be a police report done?
    if poster reported it stolen wouldnt the police have told him about this rollover if it was posters truck?
     
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  11. Ridgeline

    Ridgeline Road Train Member

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    It isn't a suggestion, it is what I and others do.

    The last thing I do is call the insurance company because they are going to always tell you to wait, they are counting on the time to see if it just appears to limit fraud. They want you to do your due diligence to find it, it is your responsibility, not theirs. Until it is considered stolen by the cops, they will depend on you.
     
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