Driver abandoned truck and trailer.

LINKGT23 · Jan 26, 2025

brian991219 said: ↑

so, 34 years in the business with more than half of them as a fleet owner with trucks based in three states (PA, NY and NM) isn't enough experience to be giving advice? How about the 250+ truck fleet with 19 terminals I was Director of Safety and Security for? I have seen all of this before and it sucks but there really is very little you can do if you don't know where your truck is.

We all have given you advice, you just don't like the advice! There is very little you can do legally, it is not unlawful to abandon a truck, meaning it is not theft it is only a violation of company policy to return the truck to a place of your choice. Hell, in most cases you can't even legally deduct the costs of recovering the truck form the employee's final paycheck in most states. It is a cost of doing business and a risk a fleet owner assumes.

Police don't take auto theft seriously, it happens too often for them to have any real resources dedicated to it. Houston has the 4th highest auto theft rate in the nation, and it rose by 16% in 2023-2024. Texas leads the nation overall in auto thefts so I would not expect the police to actually recover anything!

Why did you let a month go by between when the driver failed to show up in Florida and your wife got in contact with him? You should have immediately went to Texas, or hired a company in Texas, to recover your equipment. Actually, this should have been done the moment the driver failed to communicate with you, 10 days before you demanded he come to Florida.
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Dino soar said: ↑

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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Dino soar said: ↑

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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Thanks , I didn’t know about the 150 mile radius. If I stay in the business I will do that. I will reach out to Seton & Husk. Thanks.

LINKGT23 · Jan 26, 2025

Ridgeline said: ↑

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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It is considered stolen by the police that’s why I have the police report. I reported it immediately when he didn’t show up.

Concorde · Jan 26, 2025

LINKGT23 said: ↑

I did have that and I had LoJack and he disabled it.
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If your truck has any kind of factory navigation system then it can be pinged by them.

Paccar did it for me when mine was stolen. Found it to be in Miami but by the time police looked into it, it was too late.

Unfortunately the thieves know how to disable it and some use a signal jammer until they get where they need to.

I’d be very suspicious of your driver first. However if he did leave it at a TS it was eventually stolen. You aren’t getting it back.

If you ever get back up and running don’t ever for a second leave your equipment in an unsecured area. My loss all said and done was around $500k. Even going into the truck stop for a shower now makes me nervous.

Me personally, I’d be flying to Texas and renting a car to do some snooping around.

SmallPackage · Jan 26, 2025

The biggest problem with a vehicle that is stolen in Tejas is if it is not being used by some random gang banger as a joy ride or crime car it will go down to our big dirty south dump site over the Rio Grande to never be seen again. Good luck.

LINKGT23 · Jan 26, 2025

Long FLD said: ↑

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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It’s auto transport , sometimes customers would pay CODs with cash. I would tell them we don’t accept cash but some wouldn’t listen would give cash to the driver or a cashier check. I provided a deposit card to the driver. Normally he would deposit when you found the nearest bank.

Concorde said: ↑

Saw a dually that was pulling a 5 car loaded trailer on the 23rd of December. Was in West Texas on I-10 near the border checkpoint. Was completely upside down in the median..

Maybe it was yours?
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I think I would have been contacted by now. Thanks though.

LINKGT23 · Jan 26, 2025

Concorde said: ↑

If your truck has any kind of factory navigation system then it can be pinged by them.

Paccar did it for me when mine was stolen. Found it to be in Miami but by the time police looked into it, it was too late.

Unfortunately the thieves know how to disable it and some use a signal jammer until they get where they need to.

I’d be very suspicious of your driver first. However if he did leave it at a TS it was eventually stolen. You aren’t getting it back.

If you ever get back up and running don’t ever for a second leave your equipment in an unsecured area. My loss all said and done was around $500k. Even going into the truck stop for a shower now makes me nervous.

Me personally, I’d be flying to Texas and renting a car to do some snooping around.
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I agree is all on the driver, but that’s why I’m hounding the police to get after him.

LINKGT23 · Jan 26, 2025

SmallPackage said: ↑

The biggest problem with a vehicle that is stolen in Tejas is if it is not being used by some random gang banger as a joy ride or crime car it will go down to our big dirty south dump site over the Rio Grande to never be seen again. Good luck.
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That’s what I think , but the insurance is denying the claim.

Concorde · Jan 26, 2025

dptrucker said: ↑

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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Do the police run vin numbers when there’s an accident? Has OP checked the national database to see if his equipment is listed as stolen?

LINKGT23 · Jan 26, 2025

brian991219 said: ↑

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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brian991219 said: ↑

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
Click to expand...

Have have been trying to find a reliable repossession company since Thursday. Thought I found a couple that said they would call me back.

LINKGT23 · Jan 26, 2025

Concorde said: ↑

Do the police run vin numbers when there’s an accident? Has OP checked the national database to see if his equipment is listed as stolen?
Click to expand...

Yes it’s listed as stolen.

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