EdsTowing

This cracked me up so I wanted to post it... Rob had like a 04 Impala the other night that took out a pole at what appeared to be an excessive rate of speed... Pretty buggered up...snapped the pole about 20' up... 19 year old driver... He was ok. When he sent me the pics, I thought "Oh Well", we are going to have a problem getting paid for that! Got a call today and the customer said they had full coverage. I thought sure...so they gave us a claim number. Well wasn't I pleasantly surprised to find that it did! Night before we brought in a 2021 Honda that ran over a deer... Financed vehicle with Safe Auto general liability only.... WTF? I wrote the car for just over $6,000 to repair it...and no coverage. Well if nothing else, the pups enjoyed the car... There is all kinds of guts & stuff stuck under it... LoL I explained either pay all the charges & take it out, find a credit card to pay for the repairs and we'll fix it or I go through the finance company and let them pay the charges & repo it. We will see what happens...

They definitely solve problems. I have done a few trailers like that as well. Good luck on the scrap run, was the trailer all aluminum?

This was brought up quite a few years ago on the board...honestly I don't remember who, but I have thought of it numerous times. So in theory, if the trans was in high gear, the engine would spin as you went down the road. It isn't going to start without the key on. The compressor would maintain the air pressure. The transmission would be lubricated since the input shaft is turning. This would probably work.... Other side of the coin... If there was a mechanical issue with the engine, this would potentially modify/ destroy or at least harm it further. It would presumably pull substantially harder since you're driving everything. If for some reason it wasn't actually in it's highest gear selection and you exceeded that speed for whatever gear it was...you're going to grenade the engine. I don't know...I never tried it other then a pull start with someone in the truck. Soon enough everything will be automatics and it won't make a difference anyway...

Very nice.....

Honestly when I look at the "Secret to my success"...it's versatility. I do Light to Heavy duty towing & recovery, auto & heavy truck repair, some road service, Body shop, refurbish work, welding/fabricating and more. So when I am looking at my business, the key is that it works in the "Big Picture". Sometimes one aspect gets slow but then there are lots of other stuff going on. If I had to rely on just my towing, I would be in a lot different situation. It enables us to look at what does the best and then place the emphasis on that. So now we don't do near as much light duty towing as we did 5 and 10 years ago, but my revenue sales are 2 1/2 times what they were back then. What's that they say? "Work smarter...." you get where I'm going. But honestly the versatility factor is what allows us to pick & choose....and stay in pursuit of the "Cream"... Whatever the answer is...."Discounted Volume" isn't it. Of course that's just my opinion...I could be wrong.

Flat rate, I think it's 75 a car?

EVERYTHING goes back to the shop... Both of those cars would be considered a total loss if they are insured. That's 3 grand sitting there if there is coverage?

With all due respect, it's a difficult task. Unless you were in uncharted waters where nobody else worked primarily, there's typically a lot more guys then needed in any given area. In my opinion, Motorclub work is the beginning to the end...more so now more then ever. The only real profit being made off of clubs is when you're non-contracted and hit them for what it's really worth or better. Unfortunately that isn't going to be much volume that way. Non consensual Police towing is typically some of the highest paying work out there but you can't live off of it. Unless you are in a large metropolitan area and then I would assume there are quite a few getting a piece of the pie. I say "Typically" because I have seen some police rotations in the country that certainly aren't worth the effort. Non consensual Private Property towing can be lucrative but prepare yourself for the misery that goes with it... Don't anticipate a Google rating over 2.0...LoL It's only viable again if you are in a higher population area. It's not a big factor in my town. That leaves private work or some commercial accounts if available. If guys have medium or heavy equipment, I usually suggest getting in with the big fleets. They can have the type of volume to sustain. Otherwise, in reality you can have great customers that will use you whenever they need help but that might only be once a year, if that... So then you need lots & lots of them. Not too many auto only fleets out there. I'm going to think about it and chime in again when I can...

Nice job...and a great reward for the effort!

These units are so capable & cool what you can accomplish. I drove this truck too and it's like going down the road in your Pick Up...

I love it when a plan comes together.... 😉

That's a nice job...plenty of drama built in. Remember it's all about "the show"....that is your stage out there. Look the part & charge accordingly.

Holmes 1200 Commander was a strong unit. The wheel lift left some to be desired...

Here from Pennsylvania...

Dam that was a hard hit....

Seems to never fail....Every year on NYE we get some bag of chit wreck to bring in the new year...or escort out the old one...LoL Infinity with no plates hit the Jeep parked in a driveway...then the drivers of the Infinity got out and ran away. Maybe they were just running home because they forgot their license & insurance card? Trying to start the new year on a positive note...LoL I asked Eddie why he didn't call me for help but he figured we ain't getting paid for this one so he would just load both up... Happy New Year Everybody!

The problem has been going on for a long, long time....

We have a contract where the guys have to be on scene for 15 hrs a day and it's cold... So we bought a new Travel Trailer that we can leave on the site and they can relax between jobs... It beats sitting in the cab of a skidsteer for hours on end. We ordered it with a "Cold Weather" package specially since it's sitting in one of the coldest places on earth...LoL Not sure what we are going to do with it during our "off" season but Eddie want's to possibly rent it out. I guess we will figure that out in the spring.

Saw this the other day... I told our customer that I bet this guys insurance company denies the claim, then I see this on Facebook... When you need a "Go Fund Me" to repair your 2021 Ram truck I'll assume you didn't have any insurance....

Haven't posted much in a while....nothing exciting happening but busy none the less. Here is a few jobs over the last couple days... Picked up in NY State for a blown engine... Tow back to shop for repairs... Towed to NJ for a broken brake rotor... Gas truck for a derate condition... Another one to the dealer for DEF issues... So much easier from the rear... I'm stacking them up down there... A 550 that left the dealer and made it 20 miles before it crapped out again...

We had a couple wrecks that we received title for but thought they may be worth more then just "cats" & weight so we sent them through the auction @ IAA... Well they didn't bring in a "Home Run" but got like $2200 for them. The Subaru was like a 09' and I think the Jeep was an 01. They were both pretty clean but certainly totaled none the less. Sometimes we try it and on later model stuff it can do very well. Anyone else using them for private sales?

That's a pretty unusual box set up you have on that? Is it for general storage or a specific use?

I was always against it and we only did our own properties. We now have a contract that ties in with a towing & repair customer that has proven to be quite lucrative. The logistics can be trying since it needs to happen when we are already busy doing what our primary service is but over all it works. We still don't do any other plow work for residential customers. It can be really rough on equipment, especially if you got someone ramrodding around with the truck. Guys in my area are still doing driveways for $25-35.00 which is ridiculous to me. When I was a kid in the early 80's my buddy & I were getting $20-25 to plow driveways back then...using old beat up work trucks that we had $2500 invested in to. Yea we see these issues every year as well. And how many times do you read where someone was badly injured or killed due to an improper recovery?