Strange but True
Automotive Fleet has collected these “Strange but True” stories from fleet managers, drivers, and fleet management companies. Do you have a strange, but true story? Something so incredible it couldn’t have been made up? Share your stories with Automotive Fleet. E-mail: Lauren.Fletcher@bobit.com.
Snow Trouble
A driver was traveling to visit a customer about 500 miles north of Montreal. The road was slightly iced and as the driver crested a hill, he encountered a huge moose standing in the middle of the road.
He tried braking, but slid into the snow on the border of the road. He was transporting about $2,000 worth of water treatment equipment in the back of the SUV. The equipment slammed through the rear window and landed in the 10-12-foot deep snow. The company never found the equipment, but the driver and the moose both made it through without injuries.
Stuck in the Snow
A fleet management company (FMC) received a phone call from a fleet manager one day asking for the color and plate number of a colleague’s company vehicle. All the manager said was his rep got stuck in the snow and the police were involved.
A few days later, the manager called again and said the employee was having transmission trouble. The FMC advised the manager to go through the maintenance program for repair. A day later, the maintenance call center contacted the FMC to inform staff the transmission was blown to bits.
Apparently, one particular rep, in his third week on the job, decided to visit an account in a remote Oregon location in the dead of winter. Traveling from Seattle, he had to drive through Bear Pass, which was under repair. He took a detour and got lost, then spun out with the back end of the van hanging over a cliff. To get some traction, the rep repeatedly gunned the engine and eventually blew the transmission. He ended up spending the night in his van in the wilderness, hanging off a cliff with no cell phone coverage. Luckily, the rep was from Sweden and trained in wilderness survival. In the morning, he walked around the woods until he got a signal and called his wife, who called in the search and rescue squad.
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