Breakdown under load?

There is no one correct response to the question it depends on the load.
I pull a reefer, and unless it’s going to be a day or less most of the time the load will need to be crossdocked.
In that case all the costs of doing such will fall back on you. I’ve had to recover two loads, and had to have one crossdocked.

 

I've had it happen to me. One time the broker wanted to know what shop the truck was at so he could call them. As if they didn't believe me. I said I have my own repair truck that I will have to use.

UTI had a fit when the fuel pump had to be ordered. 2 days later they where blowing up the phone on a load of plywood.

Some brokers may try to deduct the rate. If that conversation comes up tell them you'll return the load to the shipper when it's fixed.

 

That's what Penske is for. Breakdowns are always costly, and if the truck is dead in the water, I'd have the towing company bring out a rental, and deliver the load. Most recievers understand, especially if you show up in rental. I suppose you could just use your "backup" tractor. You,,do have a backup tractor, don't you?

 

Assuming it is on your trailer. Companies like ours Trailer Transit will take your trailer, deliver the load and return the trailer to you. How quickly it has to be done will affect the rate, but no matter what it is going to be expensive. So there are ways to keep the freight moving. Breakdowns are always expensive, and with no support, i.e. your own authority it can break you.

 

If it is going to make you a day or less late, fix the truck and get it there. If not, rent a truck - Penske, Ryder, Ideal Lease, who ever. Most require a $5,000 hold on your card as deposit, unless you have a standing relationship with them. Breakdowns happen, especially at the worst times - ie holidays, middle of the night, only on hot loads. Its only freight- work the issue and move on.

 

I broke down under load once. I am talking about break down that you can't move at all and I had no slightest clue of what happened (I suspected it was a fuel pump). Broker was informed right away. The appointment had to be moved for another week. No empty slots for anything earlier.
I towed the truck to the shop who promised to be able resolve the issue. The shop were a bunch of inept mechanics. I aborted their work but I should have done it after a few hours instead of days. Neither Ryder nor Pensky had any units available in the area except day cabs. The local Pensky, by the way, wanted a crazy deposit of 10K. I hope they'll burn in hell.
Finally, I rented a tractor at home area and went to finish the load and brought the trailer and the rented tractor home.

I decided to tow the tractor home to my mechanic - $3.5K for 450 miles.

After half a day, my mechanic fixed the truck. That's why towing it for even 4K would have been a better decision instead of letting them look for a fix while I went home to rent a truck. I would have avoided the rental costs and the bill from the first tow and the one from the inept shop.

The problem was of an electrical nature, they had to replace the ECM and some rotten wires in the harness.

The whole debacle from the time of break down to the moment when the truck was up and running, after paying for the tows, rental, repairs and parts, motel, the total cost was close to $12K.

In the hindsight, I should have handled it differently; tow it home right away which would have saved me $3-4K.

That's why, if you don't have 20K available at a quick access something like that may very likely destroy you.
The worst part of it is, that there is no guarantee that it won't happen again.

The biggest lesson: if there is no clue of what the problem is, or it turns out that the repair is a major procedure, consider towing it home instead of letting strangers to work on it.

 

My insurance company offers a coverage that covers towing and rental in the case of a breakdown. I think it has a $500 deductible. Comes in very handy to avoid the expenses outlined in the post above this one. Maybe hit up your insurance rep to see if it is available.

 

If something like that is available then by all means it should be bought. It is worth it for the very peace of mind. I guess when it is time to renew for me, I'll have to find a coverage offering it too.

By the way, is that option a part of the Physical Damage coverage?

I doubt it though, that it would allow me to tow the truck 450 miles because of my lack of trust to local shops.

 

Not sure on that. We have Great West, they call it "Choice Plus" coverage.

 

I had Great West when I had my truck. Used the towing coverage once. They paid no questions asked. I highly recommend getting this coverage for the exact situation the OP asked about.