Overcoming Truck Accident & Insurance Obstacles | Ep 41
We are navigating the aftermath of a full truckload claim after a truck drove off a mountain in Northern California. This episode sheds light on the intricacies and legal hurdles of dealing with claims and the importance of maintaining strong client relationships during turbulent times. Stay tuned as we unravel the practical advice and real-world example in this complicated scenario.
The Logistics & Leadership Podcast, powered by Veritas Logistics, redefines logistics and personal growth. Hosted by industry veterans and supply chain leaders Brian Hastings and Justin Maines, it shares their journey from humble beginnings to a $50 million company. Discover invaluable lessons in logistics, mental toughness, and embracing the entrepreneurial spirit. The show delves into personal and professional development, routine, and the power of betting on oneself. From inspiring stories to practical insights, this podcast is a must for aspiring entrepreneurs, logistics professionals, and anyone seeking to push limits and achieve success.
Timestamps:
(0:00) - Preview
(0:24) - The full truckload incident in North California
(2:00) - Aftermath complications of the incident
(3:22) - Legal repercussions of stepping out of obligations with clients
(4:52) - Strengthening or risking the relationship with customer
(6:27) - Maintaining transparent, regular & honest communication with clients
(7:35) - Demonstrating diligence and commitment to resolving issues
(9:30) - We are all ears, get in touch!
(9:55) - Coming up…
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Transcript
Legally, we can step out of this.
Speaker B:Sure.
Speaker A:But in those situations, you're never, you're never going to work with that client again.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah, it's pretty much cutting ties with them at all costs.
Speaker A:So, Brian, we got a bit of a situation on our hands.
Speaker A:New client, short story is a truck drove off a mountain in Northern California.
Speaker B:Yep.
Speaker A:Needless to say, it's a full truckload claim.
Speaker A:But the aftermath is starting to snowball a little bit and we got ourselves in a little pickle.
Speaker B:Okay, how?
Speaker B:What do you mean aftermath?
Speaker A:So we have a Washington based carrier that booked a shipment with a new client picking up in Southern California, going up to Washington.
Speaker A:Everything checked out.
Speaker A:We did our diligence, screened them new carrier, but booked them on the load mid transit.
Speaker A:About halfway there, they drive off a mountain.
Speaker A:Driver lost control of the truck, dives out like I guess Tom Cruise and what's that movie called?
Speaker B:The Mission Impossible.
Speaker A:Yeah, let's go with Mission Impossible.
Speaker A:Yeah, there it is.
Speaker A:There's like 10 of them now.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:Driver safe but full loss.
Speaker A:Take the insurance, find out that the carrier had a different carrier under the shipment.
Speaker B:You mean like a lease agreement or something?
Speaker B:Okay, yes.
Speaker A:So had a lease agreement.
Speaker A:Our attorney, Rob, he's been on a few episodes.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Is immediately involved and he's like, oh boy, if he double brokered that, good luck.
Speaker A:Because I highly doubt, you know, nine times out of 10 these situations, they don't actually have a legally binding lease agreement in place.
Speaker A:Luckily they had a lease agreement.
Speaker A:But the curveball was the driver on that under that lease agreement did not have insurance and he was not covered on the insurance with the actual driving carrier.
Speaker B:Got it.
Speaker B:Whenever you say like lease agreement, is that, do you mean like they're, they have a contract between the two companies?
Speaker B:Is that how it works or how does that.
Speaker B:What do you mean?
Speaker A:Yeah, so ABC company that we booked the load with.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:They have the agreement.
Speaker A:They are leasing out their equipment to XYZ carrier.
Speaker B:Got it.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker A:They have an agreement in place.
Speaker A:This carrier may have a tractor but no trailer.
Speaker A:He is leasing a trailer in this situation from company abc.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:So XYZ is the actual carrier that's hauling the shipment.
Speaker A:ABC is the carrier that we have a contract in place with.
Speaker B:God, I feel like that happens a lot of my history has been California produce shipments.
Speaker B:And I know that that's happened so many times.
Speaker B:Not the truck going over the mountain piece, but the leasing or sending it to a cousin or a brother or a friend that might have their own truck.
Speaker B:And trailer.
Speaker B:And they might be leased on, pseudo leased on to that.
Speaker B:And that's only happened once for us or me in my career where we've had a claim and there's been an issue and then that previous carrier didn't have insurance, I think.
Speaker B:I guess my question.
Speaker B:What are we doing now, man?
Speaker B:What's.
Speaker B:What.
Speaker B:What did the attorney say?
Speaker B:How.
Speaker B:How did.
Speaker B:You know?
Speaker B:How did.
Speaker B:How did Rob handle it?
Speaker A:Yep.
Speaker A:So, xyz, the company leasing the trailer from ABC Company, Their driver under that lease agreement was not covered under their insurance plan.
Speaker A:So insurance obviously denies the claim.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Because the car, the driver, is not insured.
Speaker A:We take this back to the ABC company who had the lease in place.
Speaker B:Their equipment, the original carrier that you booked.
Speaker A:Correct.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker A:Their insurance provider is definitely not going to cover this because they're not.
Speaker A:Yeah, they're not, you know, they're not insuring xyz.
Speaker B:They probably don't have the driver or that tractor on their insurance policy either.
Speaker A:Correct.
Speaker A:Correct.
Speaker A:So in this situation, the carrier is technically cooperating, but we don't really have much of a leg to stand on because their insurance is going to cover it.
Speaker A:Other carrier's insurance isn't going to cover it.
Speaker A:So now we're in a situation where we try to settle with them or come to some type of agreement.
Speaker A:It's a truckload of beverages that we lost.
Speaker A:New client, have a great relationship with them.
Speaker A:But we're in a situation now where it's.
Speaker A:We either try to, I guess, strong arm this carrier who's responsible because they breached the contract that we have in place with them, get them to pay us and therefore pay our client or take them to court and hope the case stands up.
Speaker B:What do we do, like, from a.
Speaker B:From a broker customer relationship perspective, you know, the customer more than likely is going to come to us at some point and say, hey, we need, you know, where's our payment for this lost shipment?
Speaker B:You know, it's 40 grand in value or 40 grand in product that was lost and, you know, over the edge of a mountain.
Speaker B:What do you think we should do then, man?
Speaker A:Yeah, if we're going the legal route, we can take it that route.
Speaker A:But in an act of good faith.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:If the client's very promising, we've grown tremendously with them over the last few months.
Speaker A:In this situation, we are more than likely going to go ahead and write them a check.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Pay for the product and hope that we can recollect that those funds in court or settle with the carrier.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:In some situations, let's say we're moving a truckload or two a month with this client.
Speaker A:We don't have a contract in place legally.
Speaker A:We can step out of this.
Speaker B:Sure.
Speaker A:And put it on the carrier, have them sell it with the client.
Speaker A:But in those situations, you're never.
Speaker A:You're never going to work with that client again.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:It's pretty much cutting ties with them at all costs.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:I think with that, man, it's the customer relationship, payment.
Speaker B:It's probably happens a lot more than, you know, what we.
Speaker B:What we see.
Speaker B:And I think, you know, we have some decisions to make as a company.
Speaker B:What do we do and how do we handle it?
Speaker B:You know, this is a client that we have maybe, you know, a couple hundred thousand in open AR with, and they could easily hold that AR until they get payment or hold that ar, you know, to a certain degree, for the value of the load.
Speaker B:So, you know, what do you think is.
Speaker B:What do you think is the best option for us moving forward as we sit here today?
Speaker B:We, you know, obviously, at the time of this recording, this happened yesterday.
Speaker B:So this is fresh for us.
Speaker B:This is brand new.
Speaker B:We're still trying to navigate it with you guys.
Speaker B:And I think that's where, you know, we're trying to, you know, share this information to help other people out.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And, you know, if you're listening to this, it is, it happens.
Speaker A:It's not that common.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker A:You know, Tom Cruise doesn't drive that many of our shipments.
Speaker B:Yeah, he doesn't.
Speaker B:He's retired.
Speaker A:But, yeah, in these situations, I think the best thing you can do is be very transparent and open with the client, tell them exactly what happened.
Speaker A:We've done our diligence, but unfortunately, we're not going to know everything that goes on behind the scenes with these carriers.
Speaker A:That's why it's important to obviously use carriers you have relationships with.
Speaker A:But if you find yourself in this situation, the best thing to do is to be open and honest with your clients, have an open line of communication, hopefully with a carrier.
Speaker A:But send them updates.
Speaker A:You know, we've been doing that.
Speaker A:But send them updates on what's going on, what the process is, what the future looks like, and what next steps may potentially be.
Speaker B:Yeah, I think, I mean, that's.
Speaker B:I think you nailed it, man.
Speaker B:The communication part, I think, is huge.
Speaker B:Every week or providing them a weekly update, because we all know that as somebody that handles these claims, it's, you know, the insurance companies can drag it out.
Speaker B:The attorneys and insurance companies that go back and forth on details and exact requirements for what's.
Speaker B:What's needed to process these.
Speaker B:So I think that, you know, for the audience and for the people that are listening, if they can go ahead and provide that communication or, hell, have a weekly cadence with those clients on potential claims or anything that would be a loss, I think is huge.
Speaker B:That customer knows this broker cares and they actually give a shit.
Speaker B:And they want to give me an update on this loss of product.
Speaker A:I'm glad you said that, Brian, because it's spot on and some people will look at this as, oh, God, I have a claim.
Speaker A:I'm losing the client.
Speaker A:This is a disaster.
Speaker A:But, yeah, we talk about this all the time.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Certain issues, especially claims.
Speaker A:How you handle those issues.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:And let's talk about claims in particular.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:That can strengthen your relationship with your client.
Speaker A:Agree.
Speaker A:You can give them the best possible experience in a very shitty situation where you build on that and they're like, oh, we're going to give more to Veritas because we know they're going to take care of claims in these types of situations.
Speaker A:So keep an open mind about these situations.
Speaker A:You know, claims in particular, because in reality, it's an opportunity for you to show them, hey, we take care of business.
Speaker A:We know what we're doing.
Speaker A:We're going to get this taken care of and get you guys settled up.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And I think you nailed it.
Speaker B:It's, you know, the communication piece, you know, the constant communication each and every week.
Speaker B:Giving them an update, I think is a huge factor.
Speaker B:I mean, that's this day and age when a ton of stuff is, you know, automated and email driven.
Speaker B:You know, having that phone call, providing an update with a customer, I think that goes a long way, especially in dire situations.
Speaker A:Well, we'll keep you, if you're listening.
Speaker A:We'll keep you updated on how this one shakes out.
Speaker A:Might get a little messy, but we're staying optimistic.
Speaker A:So we'll send an update, follow up on this, and let you know how this all plays out.
Speaker B:If you're listening to this and you've been in the situation before, a similar situation, reach out to us or send us a dm.
Speaker B:Put it in the comments below.
Speaker B:Let us know how you'd handle it or if there's another way that we should handle it or discuss it about the industry, we're all yours.
