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I am not an accountant, but here is the reality as I see it. The actual costs you are writing off! The payroll is deductible, the fuel is deductible, the uniforms are deductible, the costs of the fencing for your impound is deductible, the property taxes or rental expenses are deductible, the filing fee, inspection fee, etc is deductible ... so your actual expenses related to providing the service and running your business are in fact deductible. I hope and assume these are actual expenses that you are keeping track of and are the real costs of running your business. The profitable portion of the equation is where you are losing, you have expenses that are not providing actual income to offset them. While it looks on paper like you have lost money on the transaction, and you have in fact lost some amount of money by not being able to collect, you have not in fact lost $30/day for storage since it does not cost you $30/day to store the vehicle, nor does it actually cost you $4.50 per mile to operate the truck or $235 for the actual tow. There is going to be a certain amount of this type of "loss" in this type of business, and we as business owners have to do our due diligence to keep these types of situations to a minimum, and be proactive at controlling our expenses related to this potential. These expenses need to be figured into your overall expenses for your business. While I agree that it is frustrating, infuriating, etc, we have to structure our pricing to be able to compensate for situations like you have listed. I too am frustrated that there is seemingly no way to recoup these expenses. The whole "blood from a turnip" thing. Do I want revenge - YES! Do I think local law enforcement could and should do more to assist with cases like these - YES! Should there be better ways to recoup the lost profit - YES! Should I be able to go after the registered owner easier - YES! Shoud the owner that abandoned the vehicle on me (and you) be arrested and charged with a crime - YES! Should every owner have insurance, and I be able to collect from insurance - YES! Would it be nice to be able to deduct lost potential profit? ABSOLUTELY! If I could do that, many years I could show a HUGE loss on my taxes ... Would it be nice to not have to figure these losses into my rates, thereby making all of my other clients pay for these f***ing deadbeat looser drags on society? ABSOLUTELY! I have a Jeep Grand Cherokee in my storage right now from an accident, and for a lot of reasons it is still sitting in a corner, with a storage bill around $56k! Would I like to collect - SURE! Do I expect to collect? Certainly not! Should I really be able to deduct $56k from my taxes? No, that does not make any sense, but I do continue to deduct ALL of the actual expenses related to storing this and other vehicles in my storage as legitimate expenses related to the operation of my business. I agree wholeheartedly with your premise, but the reality is a bit different. I am absolutely sure that nearly everyone here has had the same thoughts and experiences with these situations. THEY SUCK! We all get frustrated and angry, but you have a business to run. Minimize your expenses the best you can, be proactive on every job to try to avoid these situations, and accept that some F***ERS are going to get you from time to time. And try not to loose sleep over them, I like to think karma comes around to everyone eventually. Your actual cash loss (after getting $200 for the salvage) is probably more like $200-300, which you are in fact able to write off, and already are.

We were called tonight by the NJSP for a single vehicle crash right around the corner from my house. As I was on my way there I got a text from my buddy who's a dispatcher. He heard his co worker call us and leave out a small detail..... The car rear ended a tractor and trailer that was making a turn. Since I was so close I kept going to assess the situation and see what else I needed. The tt was fine, it just had a bent DOT bar so he pulled it into the parking lot out of my way. As I was doing a walk-around I noticed the engine and trans didn't seem to be held in my too much anymore. I called my dad for a bed and started to try to put the puzzle back together. I put my boom on the motor to lift it up off the ground so I could pull the car into the parking lot and open the road. Apparently the drivetrain had other ideas and I ended up just pulling that into the parking lot and leaving the car When the car hit the motor dropped down and the car rested on top of it. When I pulled it up it never stopped until it was clear of the engine compartment. After we loaded the car on the bed I dropped the motor behind it. Then we started the hard part, the clean up. About twenty minutes, 2 bags of floor dry on top of the 15 or so the fire department already put down and 3 trash bags full of debris later we were clear. This was one of those jobs that doesn't look that bad at first and slowly builds into a pain in the ass.

Never fails...4:30 on a Friday Night and a Heavy comes in.... Large motor home coming up a steep mountain pass blew a coolant hose & shut down. Customer was on their way to Pocono Raceway for a Camper gathering... Dam thing was hanging out in the lane on a steep hill. To make matters worse, the one occupant was in very bad health and in a wheel chair which was going to be difficult to accommodate. I decided to let them ride in the coach for the 2 miles to the track rather then stressing over other options... Towed him to the park where he was going to find a mobile mechanic to repair the coach... The famous Tunnel Turn at Pocono... Their view of the grandstands from their coach...

If you're following national news, the industry's Tow Police are questioning a Florida's tow company's use of dollies and whether or not an evidence vehicle should be entered? There's plenty of footage showing a wheel-lift wrecker towing away a Mustang on dollies. As a retired police investigator and life-long tower, I teach a course called, “Forensic Evidence in Tow Operations,.” Tow operators should know simple basics required when responding to evidence calls, but, not all tow operator's are provide this training. Lots of tower’s comments on industry forum sites are correct and some towers seem to know that techniques and methods are proper. In my opinion, for investigations of similar magnitude, there’s no reason to enter a vehicle’s interior and no reason to touch anywhere on the vehicle’s body. In the Florida case, a carrier wasn’t used as a four-tire inspection is likely to be closely scrutinized. Careful application of ratchets and straps to the wheel-lift and dollies is proper. Assuming there are no keys in the ignition, the front steering shouldn’t require tie-down when set into dollies. A dollied car doesn’t need shifting nor does the E-Brake matter. Find out what areas of evidence are being considered? One solid point that was missed by the towers … because this is a HUGE homicide investigation, the FBI was following behind (escort) where no extension lights should be used in-areas that may compromise evidence especially on trunk hoods and doors. Also note that; in police work, there’s a difference between the, “Letter of the Law”, and the, “Spirit of the Law.” Are extension lights and safety chains required by law? Sure. But, how many incidents and accidents do towers respond where they’re asked to do something opposite the law (loading a car upside down, using the shoulder, U-turn’s on highway, center-divider cross-thru’s etc?) Regarding safety chains and extension lights regarding lawful towing … let the investigator instruct you. Protecting forensic evidence is about handling vehicles with minimal effort and disruption that may contaminate potential evidence. Where police investigators follow agency protocol and provide instructions, evidence towers are obligated to follow instructions to the letter. I'm a firm believe that no vehicle need be entered unless instructed by the lead investigator. A single, serious, improper action caused or created by a tow operator could be a determining factor that compromises evidence only to ends in a non-conviction should the tow operator step outside the investigation’s “Chain of Custody” or an unintended destroying evidence. From my view in the cheap-seats, I’d say Talon’s Towing followed protocol right down to their latex gloves. Nice work guys. But, don't forget what happened when the Al's Bronco was towed in OJ’s case? What do you think?

We were called this morning by the local State Police station for "an abandoned car in the woods" about 20 miles away from us. The area it was in has a lot of trails so we were thinking someone joy riding in the woods, car breaks down and they take off. Sent a driver out there and he found quite the opposite story. Apparently a car had a brake failure as the driver approached a stop sign and he launched the car over a train track and into the woods approx. 130 feet, hitting a couple trees in the process at a height above my head. He was fine, the train tracks were fine, and even the woods were fine, but the car was toast. I took a ride out to see what we were dealing with and to come up with a plan of attack. He came down the road that my truck was on and jumped these tracks The trees were still intact between our only access point and the car which hampered our recovery plan. We called one of our customers who actually rents this track in the winter to do a Santa ride, and he made the notifications to Conrail that we were going to be operating on their track. They flagged it and let us know that they had no trains scheduled to be on the rails until mid week. Not knowing who actually owned the trees we needed removed we askedthe State Police track down the appropriate parties about removing the trees. The owner of the car offered to do all the tree removal to save himself some coin and just use us to winch the car out and tow it away. We decided to let the SP and the owner figure out the property issue and advised them to call when they were ready for us, figuring it would be a few days to get a hold of someone from the state. A little over 2 hours later they called back and said they were ready, so we went back out to remove the car. My plan was to winch the car straight out of the path he cut for us, spin it at the end to get away from the switch in the rail, then load it on a flatbed hopefully missing the rail in the process. Surprisingly it worked exactly how I envisioned it. It offered minimal resistance the whole time, even when we ramped the rear end over the tracks using blocks to avoid hitting the rails. The only hiccup we had was we couldn't get the bed as close to the tracks as I originally thought we would because of the angle the car came out at. We elected to leave the front hang off the bed until we could clear the rail and reposition the car. The troopers started on scene videoing our recovery so they could prove we didn't contact the rails at all and one walked the entire length we were working around with his body cam to show we left the area damage free. Once it was loaded and we were paid we headed for home with our new catch.

We had one the other night around 12:00 that a drunk driver crossed over and hit a parked car, along the other side of the road. It was a hard hit, and there were pieces everywhere. We loaded both cars, and cleaned up all the debris. We even had help from the Fire Dept. it sure makes it go faster when they help clean up.

Had this vehicle the other night that flew off the road and rolled down over this bank. It rolled over against one of those big green electrical boxes, it didn't look like there was much damage to the box so we pulled it over on to its wheels, and then slid the rear around to load it up.

These fuel delivery guys get in to some tight spots sometimes. This one shut down as he was pumping... Driveway had ditches on both sides and in an awkward intersection... Towed to a Freightliner dealer...

I was invited by the Brooklands Museum London to exhibit my Autocar...the ex Kauffs Towing, Mean Machine.. at their annual emergency services and first responders open day ... I was privileged to be allowed to park in a restricted area alongside Concorde ..... now in preservation at the museum ..... What an amazing opportunity .......priceless !!! The Concorde is complete as it was when withdrawn from service and still has its Olympus engines installed sadly never to fly again ...

I know a lot of "tree huggers" drive Subarus, but this seems a little overboard as far as getting in touch with nature

Guys ... These were popular in the UK also in the 70's, the unit in the photo was made by Harvey Frost a well known and well respected recovery equipment builder n the UK ... Harvey Frost built a number of different recovery cranes with working loads of 1. 5 tons up to a twin winch crane with a lifting capacity of 10 tons... The actual name Harvey Frost used for the unit was.... Tow Dolly I ran a Harvey Frost tow dolly as a back up for 2 or 3 years in the early days, mainly for accident damaged stuff and scrap collection... I mirror Randall's comments... in the right hands they were quite safe... but lethal if you are inexperienced ...no brakes, no safety features whatsoever... we stopped using it and scrapped it after a friend of ours borrowed it and was towing a heavy car and it got out of control down a hill and rolled the whole lot over including the towing van ... ( some friend !! ) We had several Harvey Frost cranes fitted to our light duty wreckers and they were very easy to work...on the heavy side we preferred to use the Holmes twin Boom cranes... but as we progressed, the emphasis was more on damage free lift and tow and transportation ... gradually they were sold off or scrapped ... I think I may still have a couple of Harvey Frost Snatch Blocks in the stores somewhere... With the advent of plastic bumpers and modern tight fitting bodywork... renders that sort of equipment useless for todays applications... note ... this one has a crude over run brake fitted The winch is enclosed in an alloy housing and when lowering the load a brake automatically applies ... thus removing the risk of the Handle flying round and breaking your arm.

This new to me truck has been a great fit to my business!

I found this 1990 F350 with a 5.8 gas motor, only 27,000 original miles on it. The truck is really solid for the year and the price was right. This should be a tank in the snow and has plenty of storage. We are currently running a Chevy 1500 with a service cap on it and an S10 with a service cap for service work. This will eventually replace the 1500, I like the S10 for fuel mileage on the simple calls but when I need tools I want something more useful than the 1500. I have a few ideas of what I want to do with it to make a new service truck for us. I am also going to mount a front winch, compressor and generator. Maybe this time I will remember to take pictures as we get going on it. I like this old iron and no emissions to speak of.

Me too, especially when it originally came in as an abandoned car. Kudos to the trooper for tracking down the RO and staying with us until he was sure we were getting paid. I'm pretty sure the guy was just happy to avoid a DUI since the crash happened the day before it was reported.

20 Ram Rollback for a De=rate issue back to the dealer... Another ram to the dealer for a running issue... GM Bus for a 125 MI Tow to a Bus Repair company near Harrisburg for accident damage...

I'm sure this made someone cry last night.... 21 Vette blasted.... Still looks great on Rob's truck though...LoL

Rob picked up a wrecked Uhaul trailer loaded with the customer's car... I guess a car side swiped it the night before, knocking the car off the rear of the trailer. Looks like it ripped the rear bumper right off of the SUV towing it... We managed to get it "all" on the bed and brought it back to the shop... I guess we are delivering the customers car next week....I guess he doesn't want to try it again....😄

Bit of good news! After six years of hard work bringing the dangers unprotected road operators to the attention of the government. A small achievement update in the UK Highway Code has happened. Thank you to Highways England and all the people supporting Slow Down Move Over UK @mushspeed https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-highway-code/motorways-253-to-273#:~:text=Rule 264,or in an emergency area. Rule 264 Keep in the left lane unless overtaking. If you are overtaking, you should return to the left lane when it is safe to do so (see also Rules 267 and 268). Be aware of emergency services, traffic officers, recovery workers and other people or vehicles stopped on the hard shoulder or in an emergency area. If you are driving in the left lane, and it is safe to do so, you should move into the adjacent lane to create more space between your vehicle and the people and stopped vehicles.

Here’s the new truck. Were 2/3rds the way home made a couple stops to see family and friends on the way. Signed myself and my son up for a week long training class in October as well. Oh and also my first wrecker job;) this parking barrier was drug out into the middle of the isle at one of the places I stopped for lunch. I guess I’m now confident I can move something that weighs 110 pounds. Played with the dollies yesterday. Little more work than the lazy days of a rollback. But someday soon I’ll be dragging cars out of snow banks and trees.

So, we got the truck back together, but I didnt take any pictures yet of the finished deck, you cant really see much anyway, it is all underneath. I wanted to build a side puller for this truck so this is what I came up with. I had decided to mount the side rails permanently. That will keep me from moving sheds LOL and the sides will take a lot of pressure being welded in permanent. I made mounting holes in the side rails just behind the rear wheels. This way I can mount the side puller in the rail, keep the bed in the locked position and have it putting down pressure on the tires for stability. My cousin had told me about Ron Pratt videos on YouTube which is where I got the idea. I didn't like the ones they sell that mount on the back of the deck and they are pretty expensive anyway. This should work pretty good. I am also putting on a new light bar...........Can anyone tell me why in the hell they put so many patterns on these new light bars, I have picked the one with the most random pattern and will let it there.

Thanks you guys for your comments. And, also notice ... the Tow Police aren't so quick to put their two-cents worth here in this professional conversation. R.

Nice one today, Subaru lost control because of a puddle and crashed through the woods... Cut a few trees & limbs to access it. It was a huge rock & boulder garden that destroyed the undercarriage of this puppy.... Had to "direct" it under the guide cables but it came out... Once on the road, Rob got there with a Carrier to transport it back to the shop...

We had a call recently for a stuck car "in the parking lot" behind a local supermarket. Well, right behind the supermarket is the Susquehanna river and a good local fishing spot. I send my cousin who helps me out pretty regularly anymore. He decides it is a good idea to back the wrecker down in the mud to get the car.....wrong. He gets to the car, gets it out, then proceeds to get the wrecker stuck. Well, I taught him how to use the winch lines to get himself out when stuck so he tries, and tries, and tries. In his mind, there was no way he was going to call me.............except he had too. LOL. In this first picture he is explaining to me how this mud snuck up on him. Now, to his credit, the car was further down in there and was stuck pretty good, I am surprised he got this far. Another part of the explanation!! I was able to get close enough with the roll back to hook to the wrecker, then re-hook the car and pull them both out. It was all good, he didn't tear anything up and he washed both the trucks LOL

We don't do "double Taps" often but between scrap runs and Uhauls we have been busy doing them the last 2 weeks...

Had an accident call the other night about 10:00 on the interstate. A loaded TT hit the guard rail & barrier in a single lane construction zone at the beginning of an off ramp. He kept driving for 2 miles before he came to a stop...not sure if it was the 1st safe place or he ran out of fuel... Filled the damaged tank with absorbent to stop it... Hooked the whole unit, had a load of some sort of contaminated water.... We returned in the day light to clean up the mess on the shoulder... The arrow board helps to keep people moved over.... We pumped the other tank out in the morning so it would stop "oozzing"... A nice little job...completed Saturday morning & paid Monday morning.

Hey Jesse … I doubt you’ll find any historical data for the unit. I don’t know it as a major player in the towing industry. But, using it is simple. In the early 1970’s, my Dad’s tow biz had one that I used as a teen to bumper-haul cars in-town that was headed to scrap. The one Dad had was home-made using an old bed frame and square tubing looking very much the same. The tote was scary at best, but got the job done. No matter what the tow sling’s mounted to, attaching the sling and towing with it is the same process as using a wrecker, but it’s a bumper pull unit. The one I used got flat tires all-the-time. But, using a pair of J-hook chains, attaching the sling (to a car) is simple and no different than it being mounted to a wrecker. The one you picture has boat-crank and a small tilting boom for raising and lowering. There’s a bolt that removes to crank the hand-winch, “out”, to lower the “boom” and tilt the sling to the ground. Google the words, “tow sling how-to videos” or “wrecker tow-sling how to video” and watch them all for a simple tutorial. There are several videos that demonstrate pretty good techniques and some that are simply laughable, but they will give you an idea of how they attach. If you’re looking to haul scrap and PLEASE not on the highway, it’s an affordable alternative until you’re ready to upgrade. As far as the price, I personally wouldn’t offer more than $250 - $400 based on age, rust factor, questionable bearings, and age of the turf tires that aren’t really suitable to speed. Not that the unit may or may not be functional; its age suggests it could be risky should something let go, snap or collapse. There's not that much safety in its design to safely raise, hold and haul a heavy car. While I'm not trying being the proverbial Tow Police, these units went the way of the dinosaur because they weren't all that popular ... I can attest the same having used one somewhat like it. Thanks for taking me on a trip down memory lane. Good Luck. R.

For what it's worth the Chevron's will sit pretty good even without the legs. This is my little honey badger pulling out a 24kish traffic truck that was buried at all 4 corners in sand. I had 2 wheel chocks on the back axle and she didn't move an inch once they bit.

We got a call for an Amazon van last week. They told us that our wrecker would not fit up the driveway were the van was stuck and asked if we had anything smaller. The driver tried to turn around in the customers yard and slid all but into the truck. Everybody laughed when I put a winch on the front of our S10 but that is what I took up in there. The picture doesn't show the grade real well and the ground was saturated. I ran a line to another disabled car behind the van, then back to the van and pulled him backwards up the hill to get him straightened out, they he drove it out. It was an easy pull even for the little S10, nice little job close to the shop.

I had the opportunity to be a part of the convoy it was an honour to amongst such dedicated company.. there was upwards of 70 trucks and the line stretched over a mile with all the lights flashing it was an awesome sight and hopefully the "Slow Down Move Over " message got over to the motoring public .. 2 TV channels reported it on their news channels...also promoting our awareness campaign ... just an hour before the convoy was due to start... an 11 car transporter fully laden ... the trailer caught fire and was blocking the slip road to the M3 .. blocking the convoy route and totally grid locking the area .. Sincere thanks must go out to the Police , Fire department and Highways officers ... for going out of their way to get the road open enough to allow the convoy to pass through... in time for the funeral service ... John.

Doesn't it always seem that the biggest messes come from the "beater" cars... Not even sure how this one evolved...Supposedly the Honda cut off the Taurus but they both ended up in the woods pointing the same way... Like I say....We're famous for our rocks... Eddie flipped the Honda for me so I could load and then recovered the other one out of the woods...

I don't make a habit of doing this but sometimes the logistics just work out... No it's not an NRC...but just a 10 mile tow back to the shop while he was in the area... The 20' are a bit long for on the bed...

Just a couple of jobs from this week with the heavy... Volvo that went to a dealer for warranty... Cascadia to a dealer for a Auto Shift failure...

Anytime the guy coming to transport your second most valuable asset arrives wearing sweats and pink sneakers you're in for a bad time. I hope he was brand new because if he has any experience at all he should know that the wheel lift was tilted way to low and the boom still had a couple feet to lower. In the end we're the ones to blame, we accept low rates from a 3rd party then don't have the money to pay a properly trained operator nor do we have the money to train them ourselves. Until the owners of these companies realize their true costs and stop this race to the bottom for motor club work this is going to be our reality.

Rob had to grab a mini bus the other morning.... They look huge on there but it actually handles it with no problem...

A few weeks back we attended the annual touch a truck that the local toy market hosts every year. It's always a fun event for us, even if I spend the next week cleaning tiny fingerprints off my glass. It rained for the first hour and a half of the event but it didn't seem to stop anyone from coming out. We had a hundred or so you truck trucks from Zips to give out and they were gone in less than 45 minutes. My littlest was stoked that "her truck" got to go, since her sister and her name's are on the doors of this one. My wife took this and sent it to me. She said "I guess you don't need a paternity test for this one". Not bad for 9 year old paint

Rob towed this 1978 Toyota Cressida the other day.... Not my idea of antique but amazed that there is anything left of it in the North East....LoL The customer was very proud of it.

Had this pickup the other night that flew off on a turn, and took down a smaller tree and then slammed into a bigger one. It was really mangled, and the frame was even bent a little in the middle. I figured it was going to walk all over the creation when I tried to winch it on, because the back axle was sideways. It went surprisingly good, and the firemen on scene helped me with all the cleanup. Can't complain about that! :)

Reminds me a bit of learning as a very young person about tow dollies in general (the regular pan style still used today); had a 1959 Apache loaded on one, pulling it with a 1970 C10. Took a downhill banked turn to get onto the highway with it and the road was a little damp, and the whole convoy went sideways into the curb. I never trusted tow dollies after that. However, they seemed better than the clamp-on style tow bars we used to move junk around with back in the days when everything had steel bumpers. Richard

That is an EXCELLENT response Doingitall. Couldnt have explained it better myself. Looking at the overall picture of an abandoned wreck, it does certainly seem like your losing out on all you mentioned Mrstow. But with proper documentation and some quality accounting / book work like Doingitall mentioned, The loss is in your profits. Does it make it right? Of course not. Lets be realistic, We are all in business to MAKE PROFIT. The key here is to minimize that loss and devise a streamlined way of getting that abandoned turd off your log book and out of your yard as quickly and as legally possible. And to speak on the accounting / book keeping, You mentioned your accountant called your business a "cash based" company??... What exactly does he or she mean by that? If you are in fact running a properly licensed, registered and Insured business, then in todays modern business age, that statement is false. The "cash based" business statement in my eyes is a fly-by night, under-insured "scab company" that is more than likely operating Illegally and under the radar.. And Please, by NO means am I insinuating That you or your business are !!! Don't take it that way, I mean NO offense. It is in the wording. What I am trying to get at is it seems that your accountant may not be classifying your business properly and if that is the case, is probably not handling your books properly. you may want to at least shop around or at least speak to another well established accountant to ensure your business is being handled properly books and accounting wise. Every state / county and jurisdiction has different laws as far as dealing with abandoned vehicles. Some can be really complex and others rather simple so it is difficult to say that what I or any other Tow owners out here do to minimize loss will work or even be legal for you to do. One word of advice I can give you is to do your thorough and best research on your local laws regarding this AND have your business Attorney ( or hire one to assist with this specifically if you dont have a regular one ) Go through the legal mumbo jumbo on the subject as well. There may be some "loopholes" that can work in your favor. Then develop a good, letter of the law system for streamlining and dealing with the dead beat owners and stick to it. Here in NY, there is a minimum of liability only insurance required to register a vehicle. It is the absolute bare bones of coverage that many will get just to put their vehicle on the road. In my opinion, it is antiquated and is nowhere near what any minimum coverage should be in this day and age. An example would be a young kid goes and buys some tired, worn out and rotted pickup from his uncle for $500, buys the minimum insurance so he can register his "new toy" then ends up rear-ending a Tesla at a red light.. Is his measly $25,000 per occurrence policy going to replace that totaled Tesla?? of course not. So, the Tesla's Insurance now has to cover the difference, The kid ( and his parents if he still lives at home ) then gets his ass sued off by both the Tesla owner, their Insurance company and anyone else who has financial loss due to this accident. INCLUDING The tow company who towed, stored and cleaned up what was left of his beloved truck. Now, His Financial life is off to a fantastic start all because he wanted to save on his monthly insurance premium or was in that teenaged rush to get his first truck on the road.. I am a firm believer that this states minimum insurance requirements need to be upgraded and improved. This alone can and would minimize many trouble areas Including My Towing business getting stuck with more tow-storage bills than I can shake a stick at. And I get that many people cant afford better tiered or Comprehensive insurance. To that I say, then you cant afford to own or operate a vehicle.. If it comes to a day that I cant afford to run my business or pay for my home, then I wont have it.. It is the same in principal.. The general public MUST be better educated as to how and why proper insurance coverage is CRITICAL. It is just one of those thigs that no one ever thinks about until it is too late. Sorry for the long Rant, Just my opinion on one way that the abandoned, under-insured vehicles can be dealt with.

Don't recall ever seeing one around here... It's practical theory is flawed by physics itself. Since a "tow truck" is essentially a "See-Saw", this unit lifts up on the trailer ball as opposed to adding tongue weight. I would imagine with the right combination (or should I say wrong), things could get way out of control such as the example John gave!

We got a call the other day for a skid steer stuck in the mud. This is a brand new machine with about 15 hours on it. He was clearing this lot and was impressed with how good it moved on the tracks so the day after a big rain he is back at digging out the stumps, then he backed into a hole left from a stump that was dug out. woops, it wont come out. It was a greasy mess, I had to winch myself back up as far as I could then chain myself to his dump truck to keep me sitting still. I rigged for about 20K resistance but I am sure it was not that stuck, after the initial movement it walked right out

Another busy week for us. These are a couple of the jobs off the interstate.... This was a 180 mi tow from the PA Turnpike to Delaware... Internal engine failure... This guy dropped a loaded reefer on the shoulder because his truck was leaning due to a blown right rear air bag.... Uneven ground as well as a leaning truck and it slid off the 5th wheel? Can't imagine why... I had to move it sideways 4' or better which is a pain on a reefer so I decided to hook it like a tow... I also wanted to see how the truck handled weight. This is 28-30k on the wheel lift and it handled it great. Moved it to a level area and dropped it so he could get rehooked. This is how he repaired the air leak....industrial strength phone charger cord... Looked like he also lost some fuel capacity...LoL This one had an injector failure to the dealer for warranty...

I remember when my kids did tasks like these 25 years ago...now it's my grandkids taking over... My Grandson Vincent was washing light duty's the other day and saw an opportunity for a "photo op".... Got a new shipment of traffic cones in the other day. My Granddaughter Ryan took charge of the "marketing campaign" branding them all... She took it very serious...LoL