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Guy Gets His Jeep Stuck in Mud; Towing Company Asks for $48,000 After They Get It Out

What’s the biggest bill you had to pay to a towing company after your old truck failed to start? We’re pretty sure it wasn’t anything close to what this poor fellow was asked for after he took his Jeep off-roading and unluckily landed in a mud pit.
Joel Ramer's Jeep got stuck in a mud pit 1 photo
Photo: Fox25
An off-road trip with his girlfriend turned into quite the nightmare when Joel Ramer from Walpole, Massachusetts, managed to get his Jeep stuck in a mud hole last week. He only wanted to have some fun with his sweetheart when things took an unwanted turn, and he found himself forced to ask for help. The man called Walpole police, and when they came, they also brought Assured Collision towing company to get the 4x4 back on the road.

So far so good, but the operation was not quite the regular pool-a-string type of action, as it took 12 hours to pull the SUV out of the dirt. When he finally got the chance to pick up his car and take it back home, he was informed there was some damage done to the vehicle and that the bill was $48,000.

Considering we’re talking about more money that he probably paid for the car in the first place, Ramer naturally thought they made a mistake. Bad luck never comes alone, though, as according to Fox25, in addition to getting the vehicle stuck, he also got arrested and cited for trespassing and disturbing the peace. Ramer says he was unknowingly off-roading on private property that belongs to a utility company.

On the other hand, the fact that the car got stuck there was partially the reason the bill turned out so big, apparently. The owner of Assured Collision said his seven-man team was in dangerous conditions due to the proximity to power lines. He said it was a hazmat situation, and all the fees reflect the industry standard.

After the news spread, the Statewide Towing Association sent a statement to the source confirming that the rates quoted appear to be significantly more than the industry standard.

Fox25 claims that Rammer obtained the itemized bill submitted to his insurance, and they charged him $16,000 for an on-scene supervisor at $1,250 an hour, more than $10,000 for an off-road recovery incident response unit, $5,000 for dangerous condition liability insurance, while all the equipment and manpower totaled $48,835 for the 12-hour job.
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