What is the standard for Break Down Pay?

My truck been off the road two weeks and my driver is saying I suppose to pay him even if the truck is in the shop? I never heard of this...

 

My truck been off the road two weeks and my driver is saying I suppose to pay him even if the truck is in the shop? I never heard of this...

 

You don't have to pay him anything.
But you might have to find another driver.
Which is cheaper.

 

He’s on glue! That’s a long time to be broke down and it’s out of your hands but he’s home. Breakdown pay is when driver is on the road away from home.

 

If the truck I drive breakdown I get 22.50 per hour, If I have to take it to the shop I get 22.50 for all out of route time and time waiting for the shop.

 

So if you at your house and the rig getting worked on you make 22.50 anyway? Doesn’t sound legit

 

There is no standard. Other non-driving pay perks play into the equation though. At least for me. It comes down to a question of how much does it take to make the driver whole, and keep him/her from hating their job enough to just quit instead.

I'll pay $150 a day, which is about equal to a below average day of driving. I'll also cover a hotel and local transportation to/from. If it's going to take more than 2 days, I'll find a way to get the driver into alternate wheels, or back home.

When the truck isn't broke down, I'll also pay a minimum $150 for a layover, and $25/hr up to that for detention, even when it's not paid by the customer. If it's more, it's 100% pass thru to the driver. I'm picky about who I haul for, so that doesn't happen hardly ever (me getting stuck footing the bill for driver layover).

I'm sure there's a lot of drivers that would say that ain't enough. That's ok, there's other companies to drive for that might offer more. Don't kid yourself though. There ain't no free money in business. Companies with overly generous breakdown policies usually have a page of rules to go along with qualifying for it, and probably a lower cpm or % pay to make up for it. Or they have a good PM program and it rarely happens.

Probably a lot more companies that will pay you some well wishes when you're broke down, so there's that too.

 

What if it's the driver's fault for the breakdown? Like i don't know, what if he saw that the truck's heat gauge was a little high and should've checked the coolant level. But he didn't.

So the truck actually needed some water... but he neglected to check or fill it up. Then the breakdown happens and there's damage due to overheating.

Would you still have to pay the driver a breakdown rate?

 

From what I have gathered, there should be signed paperwork defining "paid break downs". The company I work for asks that the drivers take care of any issues the moment they see them. Start with a pre-trip and continue your day observantly. None of our guys "let" the vehicle break down. It is a waste of their time and can strand them somewhere running down their HOS.

 

$16.60 per hour as soon as you call it in where I'm at.

 

Good thing about modern trucks. They will shut off if coolent is too low....

But to address the point. You either prove the employee was lying and neglecting his job and fire him, or pay the breakdown pay.
Heck, a heater hose could have started leaking after the pre trip. Even a blow out, well he could have ran over debris in the road he didn't see because it's kinda hard to see a bolt on the road at 60 mph.
Just about any issue that is driver neglect, there is a plausible reason it might have happened that was not driver neglect.