I recently made the mistake of getting my vehicle stuck on a curb near an offramp and had to call a roadside assistance service to help get if off.
At the time I was somewhat flustered and called the first result that came up on Google Maps. They sent a guy down with a tow truck and he was able to get it off with fairly good form without ruining the vehicle. Total time was around 45 minutes + around 30 minutes to get to the location.
At the end he says "this is going to cost you, it's going to be $3000." I chuckled and thought he was joking, or thought maybe he was referring to damages on the vehicle (of which there was actually very little at all). When he said he was serious I argued and said that felt unusually high but eventually agreed to pay it.
Firstly, is this actually a thing? And secondly, what is the most frugal alternative to avoid that situation should something similar happen again? The rates I see for most tow services are in the range of $75 - $200, nowhere near $3000.
February 12, 2019 at 12:46AM
