Are towing services responsible for damages they cause while towing your car?
The main reason the question of who should pay continues to come up is due to the fact that most towing companies don’t have a written policy in place that spells out exactly who pays what, when damages occur.Not having a written policy in place is a problem for more than a few reasons.First, when you don’t have a set policy for dealing with damages, you must then rely on your own judgement.Of course it’s your business and I’m not suggesting there’s anything wrong with your judgement. You probably have a good idea for who is careful and who’s not.But imposing unwritten rules can be risky. Because when you rely, only, on your judgement and choose to impose unwritten rules on the fly, based on what you’re feeling that day, this might be considered arbitrary punishment. And if a disgruntled driver feels like you’ve singled him out, this could be considered discrimination, and you could be setting yourself up for a suit.On the other hand if it’s written-out and made clear to everyone that this policy applies to all equally, there’s no ambiguity.Besides the obvious benefit of shielding yourself from being sued, having a damages policy in place does something else. It sets expectations. And, as I’ve discussed in a previous article, when you expect more out of people, you usually get more. When drivers know that you expect them to care for company property and understand that there are real-life consequences for not doing so, they will come up to the task.And lastly—It’s good for business. Disregard for company property can lead to mal-treatment of a customer’s property. And nothing can harm your business more than the negative “press” you get when you damage someone’s car. Having a damages policy that includes a progressive discipline policy can help to not only deter damages but weed out offenders before the problem becomes exacerbated.So who should pay? It’s up to you.