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The Laws of physics says that two objects cannot occupy the same space at the same time which was very apparent on this accident scene... Simple case of the truck operator didn't see the car coming in the other direction. The new Acura stuffed itself pretty good under the Cascadia to where it ruptured the oil pan and cooler pack. Due to the size of the mess and vehicles tracking it around, we brought in our power sweeper to clean the highway. It makes short order of a 18 or 20 bag spill.... Our Fire guys are great and always help us on clean ups if necessary... Once the bulk was detained, I pulled the unit through the intersection to open the highway and allow proper cleaning. Once out of the road, I pulled the shaft while my guys cleaned up the fluids. To add some drama...a guy in a van going through our road detour starts having chest pains so another ambulance to take care of his issues... I delivered the trailer to the distribution center where it was going so to not hold up their load. I wouldn't typically do this but have done numerous accidents for this company and knew we wouldn't have difficulties getting paid. They appreciated the courtesy. Once dropped in their lot, the truck was brought back to our facility for securment. We will deliver it to their terminal about 100 miles away on Monday. The new Acura was destroyed...

Your analogy is fine until you add "Reason & Accountability" to it... Your sink breaks, it's on your property and only affects you right? You crash your car, in the roadway, now you are affecting me and every other motorist trying to use the same piece of highway. At that point it's a "Lack of use of" situation and actually constitutes "Property Damage" to the owner of the property - most likely the town or state municipality. That's where policy & procedures kick in to make the decision for you...typically based on speed of removal or other criteria... If you crash in your own property, by all means call a plumber or anyone else to tow your car that you want....

When they get big, it gets much more challenging with the "eye to the sky" situation.

If I pulled on this scene...I would have a smile on my face...LoL This is a job where the operator can shine and still be quick. A single lane roll & set it on the grids...like you knew what you were doing. I'm not a fan of using the truck to do "work" in this manner. I don't get all twisted by it but I don't see the control while pulling it over. I would prefer being back there watching what was happening. This job could be done without getting in the road...at least that's what it looked like to me. My big issue would be not securing the car prior to the roll which has already been pointed out. About 35 years ago I was doing a rollover on a steep mountain road for the police. Set up both lines, winched it over...and when the car hit the ground, it took off down the hill in a "ark" direction (still hooked). As I jumped over the lines before they decapitated myself, it smacked in to a stone wall. I looked up...and the Officer gave me that "look"....same one I have given many times since to other operators....like "F'n moron"... 😄 Well anyway, it was a lesson learned...won't do that again...

Dam...That must of been a "Jolt"....LoL

So when do I get my check?????

Funny you said that...I have had property owners - the people that own the land where the crash has happened - request that they call us for the job. They live in an area that has a lot of accidents and we took the time to concern ourselves with their land. I have fixed 1 guy's lawn a couple of times...LoL And in all actually, rightfully so right? I mean that's why people have liability insurance, to protect the interests of others that they do property damage to.

Job we did a little while back...Driver looking to see this girl on a road that he had no place being on...and then tried to park off the shoulder. Then to add to the drama...he locked the keys in the truck as well... Rob did the unlock while I got rigged for a simple pull... Easy job which was fine...they don't all have to be a bitch...LoL

Thanks John. I consider guys like Randall & Yourself at the "Top" of your games and value your opinions... and/or criticisms for that matter. And you're right about the embankment...I went down & up it twice and I was ready for 8hrs sleep & a bowl of Wheaties... The headphones really "shined" that day...worth their weight in gold. The pic of Eddie standing on the roof of the car was trying to show Mike where we were at for boom placement! The ability to communicate normally made the situation a lot safer and honestly a lot less dramatic. Nothing like guys "screaming" at each other trying give direction to make the situation seem more hectic... They are expensive for the initial purchase but we charge accordingly for their use and it wasn't even brought up by the claims handler. As for the job, I sincerely think this was the best option. Yes it could be done with less...and cheaper I assume...but I'm not in a "race" to the bottom... If I used my 35 ton, I would have had to close the southbound lanes. Closing a state highway certainly requires a Police presence and adds an "urgency" to the task. I have done over the guard rail jobs with 2 small trucks but it takes some "finesse" as well as the potential of problems that comes with it. There is a Trout Stream that runs down through there that I don't need to disturb or contaminate while I try to save some company a few bucks. And in the end with a properly documented invoice and pictures to substantiate your methods, there was no drama in the best part....The "reward"...LoL

Wonder if Miller makes a Asphalt Paver attachment for my self loader?.....LoL I'm sorry...I know I "go on" about the clean up aspect on jobs but it's not because I like to "brag" or something. I just found it to be a great profit center for our business while complying to the laws of our state. I didn't always have the equipment, I used to rent or make agreements with contractors to get the job done all the time. I didn't make as much of a margin but it gets the ball rolling. The more you do yourself, the bigger piece of the pie you get to keep. I often would hear guys complain that their town regulates the "Towing" rates but I don't recall any regulating what you can charge for a skid steer or other specialty equipment. Some of these regulations are terrible and honestly I wouldn't be interested in the necessary commitment if I had to accept that without any "gravy". But anyway...the irony of it all is that it's typically other towers that complain about the theory more then actual insurance companies....And you know who NEVER complains?...The property owners that were damaged by the incident!

Those can be nice jobs...there's another grand laying on the ground there.... 😉

Yes the police & fire companies help us with traffic all the time. In this case, it was pretty hectic with accidents. One of my drivers actually left this scene to go to anther one a mile away with the officer. My son told the officer that we would block the lane for the short period that we needed and they didn't have to return. With the intersection just a short distance above us, not much traffic in this area and good site lines I wasn't too concerned. Usually the fire dept. would be on scene but they weren't called for this job. It's getting harder for those guys due to a lack of volunteers and this being @ 7am when people are getting to work.

That is a question that needs much more information for anyone to make an educated recommendation. Many individual factors on types of trucks and your target core audience would change my decision. A couple of general things to ponder.... 1) New trucks are great and in theory less likely to fail...until they do. When your ride goes down in a single truck operation...you are literally out of the business. I have had new trucks that spent months at the dealer getting warranty repairs. Flip the coin...and you have used trucks with mileage that can be more prone to emission failures which can be very costly as well as other things. Common issues like injectors can run $5000.... Air Brake trucks go 100,000 mile on brakes - juice brakes go 30-50,000. 2) I have 550's and 26k gvw's in my fleet. What is your target audience? If you plan on doing mostly auto's then the smaller truck is fine. If you are looking towards commercial stuff the the bigger truck can pay off. Yes the 550's can tow a 1 ton dump or plow truck but typically not legally and sometimes not safely. If you plan on doing motor club work then you could use a lesser truck. At that point, look for something that you can run the balls off of for little profit and easily dump when your ready to go under... (read sarcasm)... A lot depends on your area as well? If you are in a farm community then maybe tractors & equipment may be a revenue source and a truck with larger capabilities would be beneficial. Not a big factor in the city though... 3) Again if looking at "club" work, don't buy a 200,000 mi truck to put 50 or 60 thousand miles a year on. It will be junk before you pay it off. Doing primarily local work will limit that and make it not such a factor. Starting off fresh, I wouldn't limit yourself too much because your real revenue cash cow may come from a now unknown source. Being versatile can make things much easier. Good luck with your decision.

We had quite a few crashes this week but this was the most interesting. Customer bought this Infinity Q60 a few days ago and "left the roadway" around 6 in the morning. Took out a mail box and then launched off a rock & boulder embankment behind a guardrail. The car went about 300' through bamboo trees until he hit a few trees of "girth".... He went in at the far left of this photo... Once we looked at the area, it was figured the best course of action would be a Tator recovering it up & over the guardrail. To go back the way it went in was 300' and the more destructive way over the rocks... Luckily he was ok and able to get out of it. He climbed up the 40' embankment to get help. if not I'm pretty confident he wouldn't of been found till winter... We hoisted a box full of straps & rigging down to the scene for rigging... 1st I rigged to the front wheels to spin it around and pull it 30' up so it would center under the boom...lots of trees in the way. Then it was Up and away... Mike dropped it right on the rollback... Packed up our toys and brought it all home... A Thank You to Milewski's Towing in Scranton for the assistance. The job went fast and we were compensated in 3 days....On to the next.

Yea that's the truth. Ours go in spurts sometimes too. But regardless, we have been able to supplement our services substantially doing these jobs.