Hey guys. I need some serious advice about a touchy situation. You see, I started hauling RV's from Indiana to the Montreal, Canada area. I invested quite a bit of money in permits and in repairs/maintenance in my truck to do this. I went to all the reunions for the company and took notes along the way.
I did two loads to get a feel for the road and to see how the log books work. The first trip took me a looooong time because I was doing my best to try and figure out the log book. I ended up calling a friend who has a transport business and he more or less told me what to write and where to put my lines so that I would be legit if I ever got stopped by the DOT or inspection/scale.
So two loads in, I say to myself I should put another truck on ( I have 6 Dmax trucks because, well, I just like trucks lol ) I interview people and finally get a guy that has experience and didn't come off as a know it all. He takes great care of the truck and keeps it clean. Always there to give a helping hand. Example of this, while in Indiana to load his first trailer, he did everything on his own. He put moving blankets on the leather couch and chairs, made sure all doors were secure and didn't move. Took out the microwave glass plate and put it between two cushions. Torqued the lug nuts. The whole nine yards. I was impressed and happy that he knew what to do.
No here's my problem. This was his first trip with me. Everything was going smoothly until we stopped at exit 250 on the 401 for a break to let traffic die down in Toronto. I pull in the back to park. He pulls in directly behind me. No problem, there was enough room. The rig in front of me decides to leave. My driver sees that and decides to park in front of me because there was more room for him there. He pulls out but doesn't turn wide enough and the rear quarter panel of his RV ends up hitting the back corner of my RV. So now both brand new 2017 RV's are damaged. I didn't know whether to go ballistic and lose my shit or keep calm. Thankfully I kept it together and stayed as calm as I could. I called the company that contracts me and told them right away. In seven years they said they've never seen a company run into each other and sorta laughed. I wasn't laughing. They tell me to bring the RV's to their office instead of going to the customer so that they can look at the damage because pictures don't do it justice. Get there the next day and they send me to the guy that does repairs. He can do the repair of both RV's for $6000 billed to me. My deductible if I go through the insurance is $2500 each RV. So $5000 total and my rates will likely go up. But that's not my question to you guys. My question is, what do I do about my driver? At the office they asked me what I plan on doing with him. Do I want to risk him damaging another trailer? How much confidence do you have in him? I'm torn because he seems like a guy that knows what he's doing. I watched him maneuver around traffic and in the RV lots. He always took care and time to get out of the truck if he wasn't sure. Just that this time he screwed up. And on his first run with me to top it off. He felt really bad. The guy almost had tears in his eyes. All he kept saying was that he never had an accident before. Even driving OTR. He said that he would figure out a way to pay for it all. I'm not going to let him do that. My company, my responsibility.
What would you guys do? Would you give him a second chance and risk it? Or hire someone else? And that's a risk too. It's always a risk no matter what really. I'm all ears to what you guys have to say.
Thanks
Nick
I did two loads to get a feel for the road and to see how the log books work. The first trip took me a looooong time because I was doing my best to try and figure out the log book. I ended up calling a friend who has a transport business and he more or less told me what to write and where to put my lines so that I would be legit if I ever got stopped by the DOT or inspection/scale.
So two loads in, I say to myself I should put another truck on ( I have 6 Dmax trucks because, well, I just like trucks lol ) I interview people and finally get a guy that has experience and didn't come off as a know it all. He takes great care of the truck and keeps it clean. Always there to give a helping hand. Example of this, while in Indiana to load his first trailer, he did everything on his own. He put moving blankets on the leather couch and chairs, made sure all doors were secure and didn't move. Took out the microwave glass plate and put it between two cushions. Torqued the lug nuts. The whole nine yards. I was impressed and happy that he knew what to do.
No here's my problem. This was his first trip with me. Everything was going smoothly until we stopped at exit 250 on the 401 for a break to let traffic die down in Toronto. I pull in the back to park. He pulls in directly behind me. No problem, there was enough room. The rig in front of me decides to leave. My driver sees that and decides to park in front of me because there was more room for him there. He pulls out but doesn't turn wide enough and the rear quarter panel of his RV ends up hitting the back corner of my RV. So now both brand new 2017 RV's are damaged. I didn't know whether to go ballistic and lose my shit or keep calm. Thankfully I kept it together and stayed as calm as I could. I called the company that contracts me and told them right away. In seven years they said they've never seen a company run into each other and sorta laughed. I wasn't laughing. They tell me to bring the RV's to their office instead of going to the customer so that they can look at the damage because pictures don't do it justice. Get there the next day and they send me to the guy that does repairs. He can do the repair of both RV's for $6000 billed to me. My deductible if I go through the insurance is $2500 each RV. So $5000 total and my rates will likely go up. But that's not my question to you guys. My question is, what do I do about my driver? At the office they asked me what I plan on doing with him. Do I want to risk him damaging another trailer? How much confidence do you have in him? I'm torn because he seems like a guy that knows what he's doing. I watched him maneuver around traffic and in the RV lots. He always took care and time to get out of the truck if he wasn't sure. Just that this time he screwed up. And on his first run with me to top it off. He felt really bad. The guy almost had tears in his eyes. All he kept saying was that he never had an accident before. Even driving OTR. He said that he would figure out a way to pay for it all. I'm not going to let him do that. My company, my responsibility.
What would you guys do? Would you give him a second chance and risk it? Or hire someone else? And that's a risk too. It's always a risk no matter what really. I'm all ears to what you guys have to say.
Thanks
Nick
