Martin's Garage

"In response to the above complaint, we would like to explain the exact details regarding this occurrence. The original call requesting a tow was received late in the evening by the State Police. Due to the hour of the call, and the fact that the State Police will not allow a vehicle to remain in the middle of the road overnight, this was considered an "emergency tow." Upon arriving at the scene, at no time did the daughter tell or ask Martin's Garage to have AAA tow the vehicle. As stated, the State Police requested that Martin's Garage tow the vehicle. After waiting for the Police to complete their investigation, Martin's loaded the vehicle onto a rollback, cleaned the road of debris from the accident and approached the vehicle's owner to determine (1) if the driver was ok and, (2) where the driver wanted the vehicle towed. Martin's asked the driver what she wanted to do with the vehicle since the vehicle appeared to be totalled. Martin's asked the driver if she had insurance on the vehicle to which she answered "yes." Martin's offered to tow the vehicle to a location of her choice or, since she had insurance, Martin's could tow it to their location and store the vehicle in a secured area. The driver informed Martin's to tow it to the garage. In the next few days, the father of the driver visited Martin's Garage and informed the Garage that, in fact, there was no insurance on the vehicle. The father asked what the charges were. The total was $330. This included emergency tow of $165, clean up of $60 and storage (3 days at $35/day). The father was upset with the charges. Martin's explained in detail what the charges were and that they were fair and equal to other local tow companies. Martin's informed the father that it appeared that fixing the vehicle may exceed the value of the vehicle and offered that if the owner wanted to just pay $50.00 and sign the title over, that Martin's would scrap the vehicle to recover the cost of towing and storage. The father chose to pay for the total charges and had the car towed from Martin's Garage. Martin's would like the father to understand what the standard rates of local (Harrisburg/Hershey) towing companies would have charged for this very same scenario. Martin's called three different companies and below are the charges they would have incurred: Company A - $250 emergency tow, $65-$85 clean up, $45/day storage for a total of $450.00. Company B - $250 emergency tow, $75 labor for clean up, $35/day for storage for a total of $430. Company C - $275 emergency tow, $75 clean up of equipment, $195-$295 clean up of scene, $39/day storage for a total of $662.00 As you can see, Martin's Garage was the fairest tow company for the situation. Martin's Garage strives to provide excellent customer service at a rate that the public can afford. Martin's Garage deeply regrets that this particular customer was dissatisfied with the service provided However, Martin's Garage is thankful that the driver was unharmed and able to walk away from the scene of the accident. Martin's Garage feels that the rates were fair and reasonable."