Your Guide For A Professional Breakdown
1. Make sure it is Friday preferably afternoon.
2. Break down suddenly, on a road just after the last exit ramp for the next 50 miles.
3. Make sure that the repair is expensive.
4. In case you got a cheap repair, make sure it is a part that no one in a radius of 150 miles can get in the next 3 days.
5. You must be loaded with an urgent load.
6. No phone reception and internet access is preferred.
7. The location you are at must be as far as possible from any other company trucks that may assist you.
8. You must make sure you have no tools whatsoever and two left hands just in case you may have a chance to fix the problem on your own.
Joke aside, you may have had one or more of these unpleasant scenarios while driving a truck or operating a motor carrier. When the problem occurs a good support system and experience are what will help you out.
Well, Murphy made sure you have one or more of the above listed problems. Now you need to pull yourself together and solve the issues. Being angry or upset will not help you at all. So, move on to solving the problem.
A little mechanical experience can help you in diagnosing what the problem is. A flat tire is obvious to diagnose but why your truck will not start is not. This first hand diagnostics is your key to make a better choice of what you do next.
Ask yourself what happened right before the problem occurred? Was there an indication of a problem earlier, yesterday, weeks ago... For example your truck shut down suddenly and now it will not start. Was the truck suffocating before it shut down? - If yes probably you are out of fuel or your fuel filters are clogged, or your fuel lines are clogged. If not - Did you hard brake right before the truck shut down? If yes and your truck is with automatic transmission, you got stuck in a gear. You can find simple solutions to difficult issues if you check the web and google your problem, but for that you need to have an educated guess of what were the symptoms of the problem. Auto-shifts, for example, suffer from many electrical issues that unlike manual transmissions result in errors sent to the ECU and get the transmission to get stuck in gear. A wire going to the ECU that got some humidity can shut your truck down. Two beautiful things you can do: disconnect the batteries (all terminals) wait for 20 minutes and reconnect. In the mean time search online how to reset codes with your key (6-10 on-off movements of the key in the ignition will clean your codes). Once you reconnect the batteries, do the magic with the keys. Your truck might as well start again. You may want to repeat the procedure if it doesn't work the first time. Your truck may get stuck in gear if you have low fuel pressure because of a bad fuel pump. Manually pump the fuel (how to do available online), reset the batteries and the truck will start. Do any of these actions solve the problem - absolutely not, but you can move your truck to a repair facility and save the money for road calls and towing.
In cases when you can't figure out what the issue is, or you know what the issue is but you can't fix it by yourself, you have options again - costly options. If your equipment won't move you have two choices - road service or towing+shop. Depending on the problem you will have to pick one of two. Road service is generally cheaper, but if they don't fix the problem, you will still have to pay them and pay extra for towing and repair shop.
How do you find services. There are two websites I rely on (and you may find a lot more) NTTS and Truckdown. Once using their database stay away from companies that appear multiple times with a tag "serving XYZ area". It is possible that the service provider has a few locations, but majority of times those are repair services brokers that will send you someone local to fix your problem and it is highly likely that you will pay extra and the repairer will make less. A benefit of using such a company is that you might have a slightly better chance of not being ripped off. Look for local vendors on the web sites maps that are closest to you. Do not get the first offer you get. Call around. The following questions are mandatory for you to ask before you agree to a road service provider:
1. What is your availability - less than an hour up to two hours is acceptable. Some may not be available for the next 3 hours but they will lie to you just to get your order.
2. How do you charge (not how much) - Rarely will someone give you a flat rate. Majority will charge per hour from the time they leave until the time they get back. That is why you want someone close by because you pay for their two way commute. Depending on the area and time of the day the hourly price varies between $80.00 and $200.00 an hour.
3. Are there any other charges - many will have the dispatch/call/service/order fee - it is usually what they charge per hour, or a flat rate of $70.00-$125.00. In addition some will charge you extra for mileage (stay away from them, not only you pay them for the time to drive to their next order, but you will pay for that gas as well) If you have no choice this price can be between $1.00 and $5.00 per mile.
4. Is there a minimum time you charge - this is a key question if you need something simple as a tire replaced. Tire replacement takes 15-30 minutes and if that service provider has 3 hours minimum charge, you are overpaying.
5. Do you have parts in stock? Do you have somewhere close by you can get parts from? You do not want to call road service in the middle of the night to replace a starter if they do not have it with them. Do not fall for "I may have one, but I will know for sure once I see yours" Give them your truck's VIN, year, make and model and they should know better. If the part is an air bag or a fuel line, or an ac line, hose, etc. those are interchangeable in some cases, so you may take the risk and call the service provider who needs to see the problem. If the part is hard to find you may consider towing instead to a local shop and get the equipment fixed the following morning.
6. How much does the part cost. This one is the hardest, because almost always you will be told that they need to see it first. If it is a tire or a brake, you will get a price, but some parts prices vary from one vehicle to another and from one area to another and once you have called the road assistance you are kind of stuck with whatever price they give you.
Why is it important for you to ask these questions. If you do not ask them if they charge for mileage, they will still charge you even though they didn't tell you. One more thing you can try is to record the conversation. The federal law allows conversation recording if one of the parties is aware of that, since you are one of the parties you are fine. Of course state legislation varies from one state to another and some states require for both parties to be aware of the recording. With that said you may just include in the conversation " I hope it is OK that I will record this conversation, because my boss will want to know what the problems with the equipment are." This way both parties are informed that you record the conversation. If they tell you there is no minimum charge, or mileage charge, but it is on your invoice with the recording you can dispute the charges. Also by saying such a sentence a crook may decide not to deal with you at all so you save yourself from being ripped off.
What if road service will not fix your problem. You will need towing.
Before you even start looking for a towing company, you want to know where is your equipment going to be towed to. Look for close by local shops. If within business hours call and ask them for:
1. Availability - they may charge $20.00 an hour but your truck will not be serviced by anyone for the next 15 days. The answer you want to hear is that they will start working on it today, today by the end of the day, first thing tomorrow morning. Of course you may deal with a crook who just wants your order, but at least you will rule out for sure the ones with no availability in the next few days.
2. Price - what you want to know is how much do they charge. A decent rate is anywhere between $70.00 and $85.00 an hour. Under that amount you are lucky, over that amount you are most likely going to overspend. Call around; if everyone gives you $95.00 just accept it and filter by the other factors.
3. Parts - you want to know if they have parts in stock or if they have dealers, parts stores close by. Once, we had to choose to tow a truck 40 miles further due to lack of parts in the area the truck broke down. Every part comes with an added cost for transportation, shop fee, dealer fee, etc. You want to be in control of things. You also want to have the part today rather than tomorrow, tomorrow rather than next week. Being close to parts facility is a key element to bringing your equipment back in operation.
4. If you are brave enough ask the repair facility after they give you a price for a part if you could get the part number. If you do not want to deal with that hassle you can call the dealer nearby and ask them for price on the part by giving them your VIN number. The dirty little secret is that the dealer sells the part to the shop at a lower price than to you. That shop then adds extra cost on the part and gives you that price. If the price that the shop gives you is close to the one the dealer gives you go for it, let them order it and install it. In case the shop decided to rip you off, you may tell them one of the following: "Man I am a shop owner as well, this is overpriced, can you check for a better price" or "Is it OK for me to get the part at a lower price, as I have dealt with this part before and it shouldn't cost as much". Since you technically need to authorize them to buy the part they will have to agree with you. Question is how nicely you put them in this situation. If you are not nice they will overcharge you on labor to make up for the lost profit.
5. Ask how many hours will it take - there are industry standards regarding labor hours. If someone tells you they don't know, ask them nicely to check with the mechanic so you can get a rough estimate. You do not want to pay 8 hours on a 2 hour job. If they still wouldn't give you a rough idea, this may not be the right repair shop.
Don't be scared to ask questions. Play the victim card. Play the I am experienced card. Play whatever will help you get your repair done fast and cheap.
Once you choose a repair shop, ask them if they work with a local towing company. Ask them who should you say gave you the towing company contact. It is good for them to give you a name to improve their business relationship the towing company, because it increases their chances of getting customers from the towing company. It is good for you too, because if they get along you may get a lower rate just for the recommendation.
Questions to ask the towing company:
1. How do they charge - keep in mind it is again per hour from the moment they leave until the moment they get back. You can be charged anywhere between $125.00 and $250.00 per hour. Anything over that you'd better stay away from that provider. Towing companies are a good place to test your negotiation skills and try to get a flat rate on the service. In order to do that you will need to know where from and where to the equipment will be moved.
2. Do they have other charges like per mile, service fee, etc. (check road service questions).
3. What is their availability - you don't want to sit by the road for the next 7 hours because the towing company charges $5.00 less than the one that is available right now. In addition if you decide to wait more, you risk to be hit by someone on the road, or to get the police to call for someone on your behalf, and that will cost you a lot more.
Preventative maintenance:
By using the breakdown guide you already know what to look for in general maintenance facility. Cheaper labor, availability, deals, promotions. Good preventative maintenance schedule and practices are your key for reduction of on the road breakdowns. Pre-Trip Inspections are another great tool to prevent on the road breakdowns with, not to even mention they are mandatory.
Breaking down is an unpleasant event. Knowing how to manage a breakdowns will help you to succeed, save money, and gain experience. Ask questions, monitor mechanics, read online. Take notes with good repair facilities along the way. Use them for preventative maintenance locations. Keep a record of bad facilities as well, so you could avoid being ripped off again.
