TowPartners Now Publishing Fuel Surcharge Rates For The Towing Industry

Online, March 16, 2012 (Newswire.com) - towPartners, a buying club open to all companies in the towing and recovery industry, announced today that it will begin publishing national fuel surcharge rates for light, medium and heavy duty towing as a special feature for towPartners members on the towPartners member website. The cost of fuel continues to rise and a fuel surcharge is fair way to manage this additional business expense. towPartners noticed a need in the towing industry for a central location for information on fuel surcharge rates and this new tool will address that need with specific rates for each class of towing service as well as recovery work. The published rate will help establish consistency in the towing industry for fuel surcharge rates and will allow towing companies to utilize a standard index in setting those same rates.

"towPartners is pleased to be able to bring this new tool to our member companies," said Jeffrey Godwin, Vice President of towPartners. "Many companies in the towing industry are not charging fuel surcharges and we recognize that they cannot in all cases. We wanted to respond to the needs of our members for the cases where such charges can be fairly applied."

Members have indicated that towPartners can be used as a source of credibility in the amount of the fuel surcharge being applied to invoices as well as in supporting historical rates. These past rates will be recorded and published for all past periods, allowing members to use this record as a justification tool for previously invoiced amounts. towPartners expects this information to be beneficial to many of its members and many of those who have already reviewed the program have indicated it is a benefit that will allow them stability both in existing fuel surcharge rates as well as a tool to use as an index in their future contracting of rates.

The fuel surcharge is determined using the US Energy Information Administration's national diesel average that is published each week on Tuesday. The established baseline for fuel is $3.00 per gallon. The fuel surcharge is then calculated by subtracting the baseline amount from the actual cost per gallon of diesel and dividing the difference by the vehicle's average miles per gallon of fuel which is set according to truck type. This method of calculating the fuel surcharge provides a rate that will applicable for all companies.

To learn more visit www.towpartners.com.