1. Purpose

This policy establishes how the expedition will deal with a vehicle that becomes disabled and cannot continue, particularly where commercial recovery may be required. The primary consideration is the safety and continuation of the expedition – financial responsibility is addressed separately.

2. Guiding Principle

A vehicle is an individually owned asset and, as a default position, the owner is financially responsible for the recovery of that vehicle. This applies regardless of whether the failure results from mechanical failure, preparation, driver decisions, accident or bad luck, unless the group expressly agrees otherwise before the expense is incurred.

3. Why Owner Pays is the Preferred Default

• Vehicle preparation, maintenance, tyre selection and driving decisions are individual responsibilities.
• The vehicle owner is the person who benefits from and ultimately retains the vehicle and its associated risk.
• The rule avoids disputes over whether a particular failure was caused by inadequate preparation or simply bad luck.
• The expedition contains vehicles of different ages, histories and levels of risk. Pooling commercial recovery costs could unintentionally subsidise higher-risk vehicles.
• It is administratively simple and avoids an end-of-expedition reconciliation over individual recovery expenses.

4. Mutual Aid Within the Convoy

The convoy is a mutual-aid structure. Obviously, participants assist one another in a recovery situation. A vehicle becoming disabled affects the whole convoy through lost time and consequent operational flexibility.

• Digging a vehicle out.
• Snatch recovery.
• Towing with another expedition vehicle.
• Basic mechanical assistance.
• Reasonable assistance in assessing and stabilising a situation.

5. Recovery Costs

Recovery item	Normal financial treatment
Labour and time of convoy members	Shared effort; no charge.
Digging, winching, snatching and towing	Shared effort; no charge.
Damage to the disabled vehicle	Owner’s responsibility.
Fuel used specifically because of recovery	Owner’s responsibility.
Replacement recovery consumables	Normally owner’s responsibility.
Commercial tow truck / recovery vehicle	Owner’s responsibility.
Station owner / contractor / paid third-party recovery	Owner’s responsibility.
Damage to recovery equipment	Owner’s responsibility.
Damage to assisting vehicle	Case-by-case; no automatic liability.

Damage to another participant’s vehicle should not automatically be charged to the disabled vehicle’s owner. Participants should not undertake a recovery they consider unsafe or beyond the capability of their vehicle or equipment.

6. Commercial Recovery

Commercial recovery is a low-probability contingency rather than a normal planning assumption. Questions remaining:

• The vehicle cannot be safely towed or moved by expedition vehicles.
• Steering, braking, suspension, structural or wheel damage makes improvised recovery unsafe.
• The vehicle has suffered major drivetrain or engine failure and cannot be moved safely.
• Continued self-recovery would expose participants or the remaining vehicles to unacceptable risk.
• The location or circumstances make prolonged self-recovery impractical.
• A suitable commercial recovery vehicle is the only realistic means of removing the vehicle.

7. Improvised Repairs and Jury-Rigging

The expedition will use reasonable field repairs where these can be undertaken safely. Temporary tow arrangement may theoretically move a vehicle, but consideration must be given to compromise of steering, braking, and/or structural integrity.

8. Insurance

Commercial recovery insurance is not considered essential to the expedition, but the group should explicitly accept the residual financial risk if it chooses not to purchase such cover.

The availability and limits of any recovery insurance should be checked against the actual route and likely recovery requirements. Ordinary roadside assistance may have distance, road-surface and geographical limitations and should not automatically be assumed to provide remote outback recovery.

Four vehicles travelling together with competent crew provide a substantial self-recovery capability.

9. Loss of a Vehicle – Operational Categories

Category	Treatment
A. Temporarily disabled	For example, puncture, electrical fault or repairable suspension issue. The convoy assists and the vehicle is repaired where practicable.
B. Disabled but repairable	Parts or specialist assistance are required. The convoy decides whether to pause, split temporarily or move the vehicle to a suitable repair location.
C. Mechanically unrecoverable	For example, major engine, transmission or drivetrain failure. The vehicle may no longer form part of the expedition’s transport capability.
D. Unsafe to move	Find a way to move it safely.

10. Continuation of the Expedition

The loss of one vehicle does not automatically terminate the expedition.

The expedition should continue where the remaining vehicles retain adequate safety, communications, fuel range, recovery capability, seating, payload capacity and other critical capabilities. The Expedition Leader should have authority to modify, suspend or terminate the expedition if the loss of a vehicle materially changes the risk profile.

11. What Happens to the Driver?

Vehicle loss and participant loss should be treated separately. Where practical and safe, the driver of a disabled vehicle may continue as a passenger in another expedition vehicle, provided there is sufficient seating, payload, fuel and equipment capacity.

The vehicle owner remains responsible for arranging recovery of the disabled vehicle.

12. Does the Convoy Wait?

The convoy should remain together until the immediate situation is stabilised and the safety of the disabled vehicle’s occupants is assured. It does not necessarily need to remain with the vehicle until commercial recovery arrives.

A convoy may continue where the disabled vehicle is in a secure location, its occupants have adequate water, shelter and communications, and an appropriate recovery or repair arrangement has been established.

The convoy remains  where occupants are dependent upon the convoy for essential safety, water, communications or other critical support.

13. Parts Collection and Convoy Separation

When in a remote location and parts are required to be collected, the default is to send two vehicles together.

The cost of fuel (and no other cost) used in this parts collection is the responsibility of the owner of the disabled vehicle.

14. Fuel During Recovery

The additional fuel consumed specifically as a consequence of recovering or transporting a disabled vehicle should be the responsibility of the owner of the disabled vehicle. The fuel in the disabled vehicle should be used to offset the additional consumption of the assisting vehicle.

15. Expenditure Authority

The Trip Leader has authority to authorise commercial recovery.

This is to be established before departure.

• The vehicle owner normally has authority to authorise expenditure for recovery of their vehicle.
• Where immediate recovery is required for safety reasons and the owner cannot authorise the expenditure (e.g. injured, absent), the Expedition Leader may authorise it on the owner’s behalf.
• A maximum amount of $5000 (or such other amount established before departure) may be committed.
• Any decision to share or subsidise a recovery cost should be made before the expense is incurred wherever practicable.

16. Recommended Expedition Policy

1. Every vehicle owner is responsible for their vehicle and its commercial recovery.
2. Convoy members provide reasonable recovery assistance without compromise.
3. The group assists first; financial responsibility is dealt with afterwards.
4. Commercial recovery costs belong to the disabled vehicle’s owner unless the group explicitly agrees otherwise.
5. Additional fuel consumed specifically because of recovery is the owner’s responsibility.
6. Damage to the disabled vehicle is the owner’s responsibility.
7. Damage to another participant’s vehicle or recovery equipment is dealt with case-by-case.
8. No participant is obliged to undertake a recovery they consider unsafe.
9. The Expedition Leader determines whether the convoy continues, splits or terminates when a vehicle is lost.
10. The driver of a disabled vehicle may continue as a passenger where practical.
11. A disabled vehicle’s occupants are not simply left behind while awaiting recovery.
12. The expenditure-authority procedure is established before departure.
13. Insurance is optional, but the group explicitly accepts the residual risk if it chooses not to purchase it.

17. Recovery Decision Rule

The key test for any recovery decision should be:

“Can we recover it safely, using the equipment and vehicles available to us, without creating an unacceptable risk to people or the remaining vehicles?”

If the answer is no, the expedition should stop attempting self-recovery and consider commercial recovery or another safe alternative.