When a tow becomes a $150,000 problem

Let me just comment on why it's so important to go broad.

as Ben did, because we went through all 50 states looking at their legislation and some instances, local ordinances.

And if you're very, very prescriptive and you put limits on, say, a heavy-duty wrecker, well, then they'll bring in a rotator.

It's not a wrecker.

Because it doesn't reference towing in general.

It will be very specific to equipment types.

And just as an example, a heavy-duty wrecker median rate, which is what you probably should be paying, is $580 an hour.

Heavy-duty rotator median is $1,140 an hour.

So control the record, and they're going to make twice as much money off

you.

And, John, if I could jump in, and I think maybe to underscore that point, I think what you saw in the initial wave of reforms, and this is done at the state level, it's done at the municipal level, it's done at the county level, it's done at all kinds of different levels, was We're going to, and I think it was well intended, we're going to establish maximum rates that can be charged for particular towing services, whether it's types of equipment, as Dan just mentioned.

So you had

kind of a regulatory effort, but I think...

As some of my panelists have mentioned, it's a game of whack-a-mole because then what the towers would do, as has been mentioned, they bring out equipment that's not needed and it's sitting there and they're billing for it.

So it's a problem that has to be addressed broadly, and it's one that we kind of continue to react to what the towers are doing.

So Ben did a good job describing the problem.

And when we're talking about booting issues or mobilizing vehicles, and North Carolina now has a tentative solution to that.

But for the truckers that are listening to us, what are some things that, let's just say we're not in North Carolina, we're somewhere else.

What are some things that the trucker can do to protect themselves once they get in this situation?

I think in North Carolina, you know, knowing your rights and unfortunately, you know, since it's a state by state play in North Carolina specifically, our municipalities don't have the police power to regulate this at the local level.

So at least it's broad enough to where it's a statewide fix.

But you've got to know the laws of the states that you're operating in because this stuff is happens quickly.

It frequently happens overnight, right? When you don't have the same support from your office staff, but you've got to know your rights.

And at least like in North Carolina, for example, the new scheme is, well, we can't boot you anymore.

So we're going to hook our tow truck up to you and we're going to hold you hostage.