GRUMPS The Towman

Couldnt agree more with George. This forum has been a very valuable asset to me. I have learned a lot. Even being in this industry my whole life and doing it professionally for 24 years now I dont know everything and will never claim as such. every day is a learning experience and there is mountains of valuable information from plenty of highly trained and educated operators on this site. And as far as the tower down posts and count, although tragic and painful to see it , it does make me think my motions through and be much more mindful of my surroundings. This is a dangerous profession and the possibility of leaving for a call and not coming home is a reality for each of us on here. as corny as it may sound, there is plenty of information on here that may one day save your life or the life of your customers. i suggest this site to all my local friends in the towing / recovery business, especially the green guys. Things in this industry need to change, thats for certain. but having the knowledge and experience contained on this site is useful.

I see no reason whatsoever to offer this free tow service to a drunk. leave your car, (should have parked in a safe and legal space right??) take a cab uber, lyft, bus or whatever. sober up n go get your car the next day. we are emergency service providers and you not planning ahead then going out n getting hammered is not an emergency, its stupidity. Like Mr. Resch stated a drunks mood has a tendency to be like a light switch and god forbid something go wrong during the tow and there is damage caused. Sorry if i seem to be a bit harsh on people who cant act responsibly with alcohol but losing my father to a drunk driver has made me to have ZERO sympathy for them.

right on towzone!!! I want detailed descriptions and diagrams of the supposed damage that may possibly be caused directly from BMW.. not some dealership or some service writer, the actual engineering department that says it cant be done. and if this is exactly the case then the required equipment needed to tow these things will be billed out accordingly and there will be a specific and inclusive waiver signed by the person handing the casualty vehicle over and the person accepting it at the other end. this procedure as well will be billed accordingly.  

rest in peace operator... your shift is over.

Ive been with Agero for about 5 years. There are 6 other companies around here and i know for a fact that 4 of them also work with agero. They are a good chunk of our business these days and us being the smallest yet oldest company in town, we have been they're "preferred provider "supposedly..They can be a pain to deal with but i must say majority of the work is pretty straightforward.  i dont pay any attention to the weekly performance rating they send out each week. bottom line is, if i can do the call i do it, if i cant then i cant. they have never said boo to me about a bad week when im just too busy to take any work from them. It can be a pain when they call non stop with a call thats 2 hours away n needs to go 3 miles.  i just tell them its out of my area and to look at a map and see if its profitable for me to go all the way out there n do it. it is like they just start calling providers until they get someone to bite. there is one guy in town here that chases anything they send him. im waiting for him to finally realize hes not making any money. this particular person has a deep history of failed ventures around town (bars, diners and a contracting company ) and this towing thing is headed down the same tube for him. he has that volume = $$$ syndrome. but in all i cant really complain about agero. negotiate a good contract with them and you will make $$ if you play smart n watch what work you accept from them.

Having lost our shop to a fire 2 years ago I know exactly what they are going through... Its the worst feeling in the world. Unlike this situation, we did not lose any trucks. I hope they have good building and property insurance. We, did not at that time and lets just say, lesson learned. the new building finally went up this fall and we are a long way off from being back to where we were. This shop looks as though they do repair work as well as towing. our shop was strictly for our equipment and toys so thank god we didnt have any customer vehicles in there. 

Hello Mr Fischer. Welcome to TowForce!!! I would be interested in speaking to you about working with your club if your in my area. Email me @ RYANSTOWRECOVERY@GMAIL.com and maybe we can exchange phone numbers. I look forward to hearing from you.

I have one in my old 97 super duty wrecker, the electronic style and it still works flawlessly although the old girl doesnt get out too much these days. i have considered looking into installing ones in our newer rams (2012 and 2017) but, im concerned about causing issues with the fancy abs, proportioning valve systems and whatnot... truth be told i have only had passing thoughts about it and havent really put any research into it. they still sell the systems so  one would assume it wouldnt cause any harm. 

the frame cradles in the rear of most of those pusher/ coach bus chassis are "floating style" and designed to carry the weight of the drivetrain/engine centered and balanced over the drive axle. Never in a million years would i pick one aft of the rear axle especially from the hitch. If it cant get picked with a wheel grid from the rear then its on the landoll. If this particular operator had an uneventful, damage free tow then i think the tow gods were on his side that day.

Im all for it.

Joey Fischett

Ryans Towing and Recovery

Ithaca NY 14850

Get well soon Operator Cortez. It certainly seems to be open season on tow operators lately. Its getting ridiculous. DOT and Law enforcement agencies really need to do something like ENFORCE all your B.S. move over laws. we are getting killed and maimed out there by the handful every month But if a law enforcement officer gets hit its headline news. At least this is what i see around my region. I know of 4 local instances of operators or their equipment getting hit in the last 3 weeks n not one word is mentioned in any news outlet. A troopers vehicle was struck by a semi the other day and its been all over the local news. All of this is of course my personal opinion and we all know what thats worth to anyone... sorry to vent but its frustrating... Again get well soon Operator Cortez.

I agree. Thats the way i interpreted what the initial report stated. it seems to me he may have been lying in front of the casualty, possibly attaching his bridle between his lowered deck and the casualty vehicle rolled forward towards the deck and over the operator. 

Another horrible tragedy. We all must be more careful and aware of our surroundings while we are out there. it seems as though Operator Hernandez might have been rolled over by the truck while attaching his bridle. Gotta make sure your casualty vehicle cant roll away on you while your under there rigging up.Not to be brash, but We have enough operators getting wiped out by lazy, discourteous and inattentive drivers, we cant make mistakes on our own end that cause us to lose more brother tow operators. Rest easy Operator Hernandez.

Thats horrible. It's wonderful to hear that the officer will be ok. Now, on to the situation. From what i can see from the photo's, The winch line is still connected to the casualty and run up the length of the deck indicating that the line did not break and the operator's rigging held. So it is safe to assume the winch disengaged and free wheeled. Being a piece of machinery, sometimes there is failure. We all know that. My concern is with the operator's actions during the loading procedure. If the vehicle was up in position on the deck then why wasn't a safety strap or chain thrown on to prevent a roll off? when i load a vehicle the first thing i do when the vehicle in in position on the deck is connect a safety strap just to catch it if something should fail. Next the operator obviously did not have control of his scene by letting the officer into the path way of the casualty. It's imperative to keep bystanders from the pathway of the loaded vehicle for just this sort of situation. Just my 2 cents on the situation. The officers injuries could have been easily avoided. Even with the best maintenance schedule and top equipment, mechanical machinery sometimes fail. we have to be prepared for those situations as professionals.

I agree. As a towing company owner, I Do not promote one shop over another. Its just bad business practices and as stated above, Illegal in most states. When a customer asks for recommendations I always give them a couple options of reputable shops in town. Quality shops that I myself use. Do yourself a favor and become one of those reputable shops that provide quality service and fair rates and your local towers will take notice. Good Luck with your business!!!

Have had a couple calls from a rep asking us to sign up with them. I asked for a contract copy to look over and we haven't discussed rates yet. I've also had them contact me other times asking if i accept p.o.'s from them to which I reply " No but i would gladly provide service for your client and accept payment via credit card over the phone " but they always say they dont do credit card payments over the phone. Occasionally, an hour or so later, the customer themselves call looking for the service directly. We perform the service requested and the customers always say that they can get reimbursed by Geico By handing in the receipt. So it's safe to assume that after trying in vain for a couple hours to find a contracted provider for their client, they then tell the client to find their own help?? Doesn't make any sense to me, but has happened more than once. In any event, Any one out there contracted with them? How are they to work with? Obviously they are short on providers in my area. Any insight you might have ? Thanks.

Praying for our injured brother. We MUST get the slow down move over law more strictly enforced!!

Really!?? another company in my town has a chevron unit like mine and we have both have had issues with those same lines. After talking it over with them, I figured it was just a Chevron design flaw seeing how we both were going through those lines at about the same frequency. You certainly got your money's worth out of yours. Or we are doing something wrong around here. LOL.

Ive had to re-weld the L-arms a couple times throughout the years on my chevron auto loader. of course i havent been very nice to it and have probably had a few things on there that should'nt have been. Also seems like once a year im replacing the short hydraulic lines at the pivot joint. other than that its been a pretty reliable unit. Mine has been in service for 9 years now. 

On 1/13/2019 at 1:41 AM, Commissar0617 said:

an experienced driver with the right setup can load and do a 2+winch tiedown in just 5 minutes. takes at least that to hook, dolly and strap.

of course thats possible, under the right conditions. but for the sake of this conversation it is presumed that the vehicle is parked in a position where a flatbed would not be able to get aligned with the vehicle and is in park with the electric parking brake applied. additional steps, equipment and time would be required to perform this properly.

i agree 100 % that a wheel lift / dolly tow can be performed quicker than a flatbed tow in a non consent tow situation as we have been using for discussion. 20-30 seconds to load is a ridiculous claim. i guess possible if one was to drag a vehicle up on the deck, not bother to secure it because you know, its in park with the electric e-brake on so wheres it gonna go?? ( No, i dont do that and NEVER would but i have seen it done ).  a flatbed non-consent tow can be performed in MOST cases for me in an efficient and proper manner was all i wanted to get across. of course there are situations where its just not possible. depending on your areas demographic, it may not work in most cases.  being a small, 2 truck operation in a somewhat small city my partner and i have been able to cover each other ( i run a flatbed and my partner a self loader ). as to your long distance dolly tow issue, what we have done in the past is remove the vehicle from its confined space with the wheel lift truck then load on the flatbed for the stretch trip. before i get bashed about cost effectiveness, i completely understand the " must be towed" situation and will do what needs to be done to perform the tow properly, safely and above all keep that customer or law enforcement agency calling me for their non consent towing needs. you cant just not tow them. business owners do in fact get fed up... and start calling your competition.

as far as i know, there is no bypass for those electric parking brakes. possibly some manufactures do have some form of bypass for them as they do for electronic transmission controls. i perform plenty of towaways for police and private property customers (with my flatbed  most times might i add) and i NEVER open a towaway vehicle for any reason. it just opens the opportunity for the vehicle owner who is already peeved because their car was towed to claim that there is additional damage or there is something missing from the vehicle etc... Our industry is laden with all types of equipment to perform these tasks. you just have to charge accordingly when you can. and yes i agree that most city/police towing is regulated (as is mine) and its not possible to charge extra for additional work/materials. its sadly part of the deal. our area hasn't had a rate increase  in over 20 years despite numerous requests, hearings and such. it certainly doesnt take all day to do one tow as was mentioned above. have the right equipment, know how to use it. 

In new york your warning lights are to be used ONLY when loading or working on the side of the roadway or causing any traffic deviations ( blocking a lane,,etc). and in my opinion it makes sense to use your lights as little as possible. people see them on all the time and they begin to get complacent and not pay any attention to you or your lights. its also illegal here to use your warning lights in place of your tow lights when you have a vehicle on the wheel lift /underlift.. like someone stated above, with the inexpensive technology of wireless tow lights there is no excuse for not using them. even if you still run hard wired tow lights, it takes 3 minutes to set them up!!! you can never be that busy to not run your tow lights. with my drivers, there is no excuse. i dont care if your going a mile down the road. straps, saftey chains AND tow lights are to be used