So, I had a rented truck and vehicle dolly/trailer, upon which was my Nissan. The U-haul people attached the dolly to the truck. However, they failed to secure the hitch! The result was the trailer jumping the ball hitch in the middle of Canada, dragging & catching fire, forcing me to walk +/- 5 kilometres to the nearest town, leaving behind the vehicles, in order to get a tow truck to go to the rescue. My life and property was put at risk as a result. How do I sue them? What kind of lawyer do I consult?
Bad thing to happen, but did something prevent you for calling for help where you were? I’m pretty sure highways in “the middle of Canada” have cell service.
It also depends on how far you drove from the time they hooked you up. IIRC, you are supposed to check the hitch after driving about a mile, and then at intervals (at least daily) thereafter. A quick check every time you stop is a good idea. Or did you just assume it was good for the whole distance?
A quick check of your rental agreement will also reveal verbage to the effect of “renter assumes all liability” and “renter is blameless for any misuse, abuse or anything else for that matter.”
You are pretty much SOL.
Preventing me from calling for help was the fact that, “in the middle of Canada”, my US cell phone had zero service. As for checking the hitch, I had/have no knowledge as to what I was looking at or for. I don’t know how to attach a trailer, and I don’t have the physical ability to kick with it. As a woman travelling alone, I was reliant upon the competence of the employee who did the attaching.
Legal advice is best suited to IMHO.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
IMHO ------ you’re screwed. U-Haul has been doing this for years and their agreement survives in court well over 95% of the time. Yes, they hitched/helped but the final responsibility and inspection is yours if I’m reading it right. I would probably find a friend who was a lawyer/paralegal to read over and explain it more fully ---------- but the end result is probably not in your favor.
There are still large areas of North America without cell coverage.
I would call a local lawyer and ask him/her who to contact. They will be able to tell you how much of a chance you have for success.
If you had read the contract you signed you’d have understood you are solely responsible for ensuring the trailer is properly secured and should periodically inspect it.
Even if U-haul were liable you can’t sue for what could have happened, because it didn’t. You sue for actual damages you’ve incurred, medical bills or loss of property.
You should really be keeping your fingers crossed and hope you don’t get sued by U-haul for the loss of their trailer. Do you have insurance to cover that?
Why did you have to walk 5 km? What prevented you from leaving the trailer and driving your vehicle to the nearest town? (You wouldn’t even have to unhitch the trailer, if it had already jumped the hitch.)
It’s a bit puzzling to me, in this day and age, that more people don’t look up things like “how to secure a trailer hitch” and “safety tips for towing stuff on the highway” given the ease with which this information can be obtained these days. Going forward, if you tow something again on the road I strongly encourage you to spend a few minutes with google and youtube learning how to properly hitch a trailer and safety for it as that will greatly reduce a repeat of this incident.
Here is a video that covers the two most important points to look for.
Here is a video about car tow dollies specifically It’s a bit longer, but more in depth.
You are welcome to consult with a lawyer on this matter but I doubt you’ll be able to sue.
That said - yes, the employee(s) should be more careful but, from a purely practical point of view YOU are the one ultimately responsible for your safety.
As for your “woman traveling alone” statement - frankly, as a woman I find that vaguely insulting. Yesterday I helped with hauling several boat masts on a 40 foot trailer and I not only helped with the loading and tie-down but I also did most of the safety checks on the hitch and the trailer lights. We checked the tie-downs multiple times over the three hour trip. And I wasn’t even traveling alone. Being a woman has nothing to do with it - you, as a woman, are just as capable of checking the safety of a hitch as anyone else. You may need assistance in hooking one up (yesterday the man acting as driver couldn’t complete the hitch on the heavy trailer himself and that’s why I was there - to provide an additional pair of arms and a healthy back to some of the physical stuff) but assuming you are fit enough to drive you can do the safety check on one. (If you were wondering, while I was doing the trailer hook up safety check the driver was checking the wheels and refueling the truck.) It’s not particularly difficult but it is important.
If you are traveling alone - woman or man - safety for the trip is all on you. Please fully inform yourself about any equipment you are using and how to operate it safely, for the sake of all of us on the road.
I am very happy that neither you nor anyone else was hurt in this incident. Please use this an incentive to be more careful next time.
Presumably, the car was secured to the towing dolly and, after being rattled by having the trailer come loose, and because the car may have been damaged, and she might not have been confident about getting the car off the dolly herself, opting to walk for help might in fact have been the better option here. We don’t have all the nitty gritty details. She was the one there who had to make the decisions. She decided that walking to town was her best option and I see no reason to second-guess that here.
Heck, last time I had a flat tire instead of changing it myself I called a friend for help. I am perfectly capable of changing my own tire, but given that it was the middle of a parking lot at night in a less than ideal neighborhood I didn’t really want to be futzing with lug nuts in the dark while wondering who might or might not be coming up behind me and what their intent might be. Nothing wrong with asking for help during a breakdown.
I worked for U-Haul many years ago and this is the best answer. I was shocked how aggressive the U-Haul legal team would go after folks for even small damages caused to vehicles and equipment. Besides going after the damages, they would also seek compensation for loss of use, this would be the time the vehicle or equipment was out of commission while being repaired.
While I sympathize with your situation (I have four daughters, the last nearly adult), it’s not an excuse for not reading the agreement, which surely contained an E-Z-2-Read section or sheet about the basics of towing - speed, maneuvering, checking the hitch at intervals. I doubt the rental place/guy did anything seriously culpable, given that hitches do tend to loosen over the miles. That first check, after a few miles, is the most critical.
Canada’s a nice place (that almost-adult daughter is headed there for school next month) but traveling (moving?) through it with a nondomestic phone was not a good idea, either… especially for “a woman traveling alone.”
But still, sorry you had so much hassle. Been there, done that, even with all reasonable planning and forethought.
I’m guessing the hitch jumped the ball but the safety chains did their job dragging the trailer along. I’m further guessing that the front foot of the trailer was then dragging on the ground creating sparks, which lit something on fire. If I had a car on a hitch on fire, especially if I didn’t know how to un/hook up a hitch, I can see not wanting to figure out how to learn when there were flames inches away.
Even a domestic cell phone in the US doesn’t always have coverage in rural areas, including interstates.
U-Haul is a notoriously shit-stained company.
Read this 3-part LATimes series:
More:
https://www.fairwarning.org/category/in-focus/u-haul-series/
I didn’t mean her car from the towing trailer. I meant the rented U-haul truck. Why couldn’t she drive that (without the trailer) to the nearest town?
I’m gathering that the OP was not mechanically/physically inclined to figure out how to disconnect the safety chains and wiring and leave the trailer behind. More so if the chains were snagged or damaged.
Bad thing to happen, to anyone.
First: U-haul’s lawyers probably have more experience with reviewing contracts then (WAG) 95% of contract lawyers out there. They have either won court cases with circumstances like yours or they lost one and completely rewrote their rental agreements.
Second: You don’t know that the employees didn’t secure the hitch properly unless you properly checked it. If you did not follow their schedule or you did and didn’t know what you were looking for, that’s on you. No excuse. If you have a PC, Laptop, Smart phone, or read the paperwork you signed then the information was available.
Third: This isn’t against you personally. Driving a U-Haul TRUCK (with or without a trailer) is a completely different skill then driving a car or pick-up. We have three cars; a 99 Honda Civic, an 03 Saturn LW200, and a 15 Ford Focus. All three are front wheel drive, five passenger vehicles. The way they handle are completely different though. They steer, accelerate, and brake completely differently. It’s even more disconcerting when I have to drive a company truck; crew cab Chevy long-bed, 2500.
[rhetorical] Have you driven a set-up like this before(most people haven’t) If not, were you completely comfortable (you shouldn’t have been.) Did you think it was the same as driving you Nissan (it’s not)[/rhetorical]
I do hope it ends up well for you.