I don’t believe he got his two diseased brain cells together to consider who he refuses service to until he saw the sticker. “Ugh! Berine bad! Ugh!”
IMO, that’s an unreasonable demand to place on the tow truck driver. There are any number of reasons to refuse a tow, and until they agreed to the job there’s no obligation on the part of the tow truck driver. Answering the phone and coming out to the highway doesn’t create an obligation, I’m just not seeing it. Unless she was in immediate danger it’s just a problem people face on daily basis. Tough luck.
The driver is still a moron. No argument there.
Indeed, and an ass.
As clearly stated in the article, she did not call him. She called her mechanic, who was busy and sent this tow company in his place.
So there was no agreement with the driver at all.
I don’t like what the guy did, there are much better ways to solve for his stated issue, like collecting in advance. The vast majority of tow companies around here do that anyway. He was making what was, in his small mind, a political point - that Sanders supporters are socialists and want the government to provide everything. It’s dumb and wrong, but it’s his option to refuse service just as it would be yours to deny service to someone with a KKK bumper sticker. Or Walmart. Or Justin Beiber.
As for Tow Truck Driver No.2 in this thread: Being pissed at not being able to cross the interstate, and therefore refusing jobs from the State Police is one HELL of a genius business model.
I drive down that stretch of I-26 almost every day and it is **not **a road you want to be stranded on.
That’s what he said to the local news when they interviewed him:
As for where religion comes into it, in the same interview he said:
Jesus called. He said you’re an asshole.
Well, hell, that’s 99% of the cars in Asheville right there.
So the train of contact went like this:
Stranded motorist calls her mechanic.
Mechanic can’t tow, so they call a tow truck for her.
Tow Truck says “sure, ok, I’ll go fetch her for ya.”
Tow Truck gets to motorist, says NOPE, goes home.
Motorist calls mechanic again (?) and gets another tow truck eventually.
So my question is, does the mechanic have any sort of contractual relationship (officially established or just by virtue of them calling him and him agreeing to their request) that they can use to punish him for not actually picking the motorist up?
I always thought that the towing companies had some sort of actual contract or business partnership with local mechanics - and if so, then someone just randomly deciding to NOPE out of picking someone up (for reasons that are not protected class reasons) would be something they’d be really invested in preventing, so they (the mechanic shops) don’t look bad.
Like someone upthread said - what if Triple-A had him on their call list and he left the person hanging? They’d be within their rights to drop him as a contractor, yes? Perhaps pursue breach of contract issues?
Can a regular mechanic shop do the same? Is it even worth it?
Damn. I was being optimistic that no one could actually be this stupid and someone was pulling our collective leg.
I wonder if anyone will call for a tow, recognize his ugly phiz and call another.
Perhaps he has a Trump bumper sticker they may use as an excuse.
Well, the tow truck operator is ‘being punished’ - even outside of the court of public opionion - he’s out the time and gas that he took to go to that specific spot (and return) - thats money spent and nothing earned in return.
If he’s an owner/operator - that can be significant in and of itself.
He’s likely burned whatever reltionship he had with that particular mechanic - and
There’s a good chance due to the backlash (well deserved) that this particular driver will be blacklisted by other mechanics- if he’s an owner/operator he’s just severely shot himself in the foot for his business.
So, even if there is nothing in the sense of a lawsuit or other ‘breach of contract’ - this particular driver will suffer some backlash that will hit him in the pocket.
Of course, these days - ‘martyrs’ for the cause seem to get quite a bit of backing from other like minded bigots.
So if I called a tow truck and it arrived and it had a Trump bumper sticker and I said “Nope, I don’t want a Trumper pulling my car”, would I still owe him for the trip since no contract exists?
Consider that he might have been an independent mechanic who tows as a sideline to his shop work, and he already owns a tow truck. He makes less money towing than he does shop-labor rate fixing cars, but he tows anyway because doing so helps him generate business. So his
“business model” is that he tows if he feels like it and doesn’t have to drop a more remunerative job to do so, but is disinclined to if a considerable waste of his time and mileage is involved. He can only charge for the two mile tow, but not for the 25-mile drive to get there.
It would be a hell of a business model if at the end of the day he talls a customer his car is not ready because he went to BFE to tow a car back when the police asked him to.
Probably.
Dammit.
Trump will hear about it, and buy him a new tow truck.
I’ve called for a tow and then canceled the call after dealing with the problem myself - no charge. I have no idea if that is universal. But the tow truck never arrived and they had no way to charge my CC at that point anyway.
Yeah ! I agree with you ! LOL!
I don’t think so.
The basics of contract law are that in order to form a contract, there must be an offer, an acceptance of that offer, and valid consideration (the exchange of something of value).
Those elements were not met here.
Turn it around: suppose, while she’s waiting for the tow-truck driver to arrive, a passing motorist stops and sees the problem with her car is easily fixed. She is able to drive away.
Is she obligated to pay the driver for the tow? For anything? Remember, she never even talked to the driver. Her mechanic called the driver.
Depends on the details of your conversation, in my opinion.
If the driver quoted you a price to come get you, perhaps a base price plus a per-mile towing chafrge, and you agreed to that price, then I’d opine you probably formed a contract.
If you called and said, “I’m at Hollywood and Vine, broken down,” and the driver replied, “I’m on my way!” then I’d say no contract was formed.
All this is basic contract law – but there may well be ordinances that govern tow truck services, or rules about whta kinds of contracts have to be in writing, and there was something about the Uniform Commercial Code, but frankly all that stuff has long ago leached out of my brain. So I defer to folks who actually know the relevant law(s) for a more detailed and correct answer.
The article said he had already hooked up the car. Does that change anything?
I’ve always had AAA so I have no idea when payment is discussed.
Sorry, I guess I was unclear - I wondered if her mechanic shop had a contract with him of any sort. So: offer (mechanic calls tow truck), acceptance (he drove all the way from TR to Asheville - that’s about an hour and a half drive), valid consideration… ? Maybe that’s the deal - the mechanic calls him when they need people towed and his consideration is getting paid by the people he tows? Does that work, or does the consideration have to come directly from the mechanic shop?