Need advice on shipper overloading trailer and damaging it

Call your insurance ... they should cover your repairs and then it will be in their interest to deal with the shipper.

 

I hope you can get them to pay for it. But an FYI that air bag was about ready to fail anyway. It just happened to choose a good place to do it which rarely happens. The fact they put 10,000 extra pounds on your trailer has nothing to do with the airbag failing.

 

Just replace the airbag and take it off on your taxes.. some ####### at the shipper had no clue what they were doing; but its always good to keep a good relationship with the broker and shipper just in case you want to use them again.. the broker might pay the bill; but, you know how this business is.. everybody wants to avoid liability for everything...

 

51000 lbs didn't cause the airbag to fail. It was just it's time to fail, from defect, age, or damage. The shipper did you a favor unloading the load. Think how hard it would be to get someone to replace that bag with a load on the deck.

 

Just be glad that's all that happened. At least you got the load off, lying jerks. When I picked up rail cans, they were notoriously overloaded ( They're just going on the rail, they'd say) They were heavy empty, and they'd load 48g's quite often. There was nothing I could do about it, except refuse the load, and no rails had scales, so it was, "what are the coops doin'? The load had nothing to do with the air bag failing, but it probably didn't help either. Bags are cheap, compared to the fine, or worse.

 

Go back to the shipper, ask for the manager or dock manager and tell them you want to file a claim on damages to the trailer. They should be able to pay for the damages under their insurance, it was on their property and they did the load, it is just like if they ran the forks through the side of the trailer or put a hole in the floor, they are responsible.

 

Hi Ridgeline, I respectfully disagree. Putting the forks through the side is one thing, but I've seen air bags that looked pretty tattered, or rubbing on something, and you'd have a snowball's chance in heck, getting the shipper to pay for an airbag. Quite frankly, I don't see what all the fuss is about. The bigger issue, is they lied and "loaded" the wagon.

 

Busted air bag is a part of business. The shipper lying about the weight is another issue.

 

These ppl aren't going to pay for a new airbag that was ready to go anyway.