Towing Bill

I am buying a vehicle Ferrari of Seattle has for sale, and in the process I had a PPI done at Alfa of Tacoma. FoS set up the transport and had the car towed to Carlo on a flatbed trailer using a towing service. I was told that they charge a flat hourly rate and that it would be one hour each way in traffic give or take. They took it over and back, and now I get the bill, and it is........wait for it..................................................$753.24. Yes, $753.24 for the 70-80 mile round trip. Un freaking believable. I call and inquire about this, and they say, yep that's the price, then I say, I could have shipped the thing half way across the country for that, or I could have flown in to Seattle, drove the car over myself, stayed the night during the inspection, and flown home for cheaper, and they told me yeah your right, and you must not be from Seattle. I am still outraged at this. After my little conversation, I guess they called FoS and let them know I was unhappy about the whole deal. FoS seemed very surprised at the size of the bill as well, and the salesman who I was working with me called me from his home on his day off to deal with this. FoS has been very good about it and we have worked some things out in regards to that. I was just shocked to get a bill for that amount, I feel sorry for you guys up there if you ever have to have a vehicle towed. WOW

 

Three little letters as far as I'm concerned when it comes to towing...AAA...

Not sure they would have covered this, but I haven't had any problems with them. I've had my 308 towed a couple times and each time they knew up front it needed to be a flat-bed and everything worked just fine.

 

Why did you not ask what the hourly rate is for the particular towing company that FoS uses ?

 

I did, it was $180 per but I was quoted 2 hours, and was expecting to pay around $300-$350, and so was FoS, so when it came back more than double, it was quite shocking to both of us

 

Just fyi...the trip from FOS down to Carlo in traffic would take about 2 hours ONE way. For some reason traffic in Tacoma lately has been horrible...add that to the normal horrendous traffic coming out of Seattle and you're sitting, in a hot tow truck, for 2 hours to GET to Carlo. Not sure what time they returned to FOS, however I can promise you if it was anytime near 3-4pm heading BACK to FOS...2 hours again. I'm sure the tow company "rounds up" when it comes to their time...but by my calculations, that's $720.00 plus tax, which is right about what you were billed. I'm not saying it's not high, I'm just saying it looks like they took their time and passed that onto you.

Always check rates and watch for indicators that say "per loaded mile" or "billed from time of dispatch"...and next time, ask on the forum if there's someone that knows a reputable company that can move it...chances are you'll find someone. Hope it all balances out for you.

 

If you have the Plus package with AAA they will tow your vehicle to or from a garage.

 

An update on the bill. I had contact with the towing company today and I am happy to report that they ended up taking 10% off the final bill and it ended on better terms. I appreciate that they took that action, and discounted the bill. It was still a lot of money, but that was very nice on their part. I wanted to let folks know that, as I feel since I vented a little earlier it should be noted they did do something nice on their end.

 

Glad to hear it worked out. Those guys are great to work with out at FOS. True car guys.

 

So did you end up with the car?

 

Yes, I'm having a Tubi installed and then it will be on a truck headed my way.

 

The others are correct in that it isn't a 40 minute run from FOS to Alfa of Tacoma except maybe at 03:00 am if you are really lucky. Between 06:30 and 10:00 2 hrs may be a quick trip with no problems. In the afternoon it could be longer if one of the local pro teams is playing a home game at that time. Two weeks ago it took me 1-1/2 hrs to get from the end of I 90 where it hits I 5 and the Coleman Ferry docks on the waterfront a distance of Less than two miles but there was a game going on in town that day.

 

Sorry to hear about the crazy towing bill, but congratulations on your new 550 purchase!!

They are great cars. Enjoy the ride!

 

You've stumbled on a huge rivalry.

 

I have never experienced anything but congestion around Tacoma on I-5, weekdays, weekends, it didn't matter. Going north it starts to clog up 10 miles past Olympia.

 

two hours from Seattle to Tacoma? Wow, I lived in Seattle as a teenager and my girlfriend at the time was in Tacoma, in the far south east corner. I used to make that trip in under an hour. Boy, times have sure changed.

 

It doesn't take me 2 hours. Maybe an hour tops. depending on time of day ~30-45 min.
I drive for work and have an office in Tacoma. Not sure where 2 hours comes from... I can be in Portland in ~3 hours, so if it takes 2 to get to Tac, something is wrong.

It certainly feels like forever when in traffic though....

 

On Thursday I left Edmonds at 1PM and was at the Tacoma Dome in 50 minutes - I was not using the commuter lane. Coming back at 5PM it took an hour and 45 minutes using the commuter lane.
The tow company would have been reasonable to charge $753 if their truck and driver had to wait to bring the car back to FoS because it would have tied up that asset when they could have been generating revenue elsewhere.