Road safety is everyone's responsibility

So you used the company DOT and insurance to rent the truck.
How does that make it personal?

 

But you weren't hauling for personal use.
But it doesn't matter what anyone says, you just want people to agree with you.

 

Everything I see online indicates that model of F150 has a max towing capacity of 13,500. If you meant the GCWR was 15,000 then the tow rating would be around 9,500 lbs since the truck itself is about 5,500 lbs. You were dancing a fine line with weights considering a 3/4 ton Ram can weigh up to about 7,500 to 8,000 lbs depending on specs, plus 2,000 to 2,500 lbs for a typical 18 foot bumper pull trailer. More if it were a larger trailer or a gooseneck.

 

Company may have lost interest but it still had the numbers. Numbers on it, company is still responsible.

 

If you weren’t hauling your wrecked pickup back yourself to benefit the carrier (you) then why not just pay to have it hauled back? Doing it yourself to save money benefits the carrier.

And if you don’t have common sense enough to wait out a storm and try blaming you driving in bad conditions on the cop who placed you OOS then that just adds to what seems to be a pattern of you not taking responsibility for your actions.

 

I am going to sidestep a few issues brought up here so I don't agree that the recovery is commercial.

Here is why.

The pickup is in the name of the owner, not the name of a company.

The pickup is not loaded and it is not being used for hire.

When you take the numbers off the door, it is a pickup, not a commercial vehicle.

The recovery of personal property trumps the authority of the DOT enforcement officers to enforce HOS because it is personal property and not subject to FMCSA/Ohio regulations.

The truck rental for the recovery is irrelevant unless it is a commercial vehicle, and the courts have ruled unless there is an intent to use a rental as a commercial vehicle and meet the specific requirements of being a vehicle intended for commercial use (Michigan is GVW over 8600 or 8800 lbs depending on the law cited), it falls outside the scope of the regulations for commercial vehicles, in the OP's case it is an F150 with a GVW under 7100lbs used to recover personal property.