Tow411

Topic Originally Created in July of 2007:

"HUNTER BOYZ"

When Second Best Just Won't Do!

Description states these images are from vintage wreckers site

Dos anyone here have details and history of this vintage wrecker?

Topic Created on Tow411 in March of 2008 (No Member Name Available)

These was the days I remember !!!
Back in 1985 the first and only show held in Brunswick Ga. I think ..
I won first place in Beauty with My 1986 chev- w/ a 500 holmes (( LOVED IT ))
I won first place in the small wrecker class .. (( working the wreck the quickest and safest ))

SORRY FOR THE PICS NOT LOOKING SO GOOD BUT YOU KNOW TIMES HAS CHANGED..

Topic Originally Created by Lepley n Sons Towing in November of 2011.

Last January I was hit by a car outside the wrecker and the wrecker was hit also . Legally parked on the side of the road . when that happens the car that hits your vehicle has to pay for rental . Well His insurance company said we will pay you for loss of use . They took 73 days to look at and give me check . The accountant for them figured  it to be $9.14 a day . REALLY !!!!!!!! .  My question to everyone  whats would be a fair price to rent a  1 ton wrecker per day , or week .  Only reason for this post is I want to show the insurance company the responses .   A car to rent is $ 20.00 per day

lanz70 said:

time to get a lawyer.

Niemans Towing  said:

wow! thats a joke, when i got hit the rent was 250.00 a day they paid 19grand for a subframe on a truck that was only worth 25 grand the rent on the truck was almost 19 grand its self, id get a lawyer asap!

Autobodynj said:

I own a rental company, I have been paid as high as $450. Per day for a F650 flatbed. That was part of a court case that a warranty company denied a claim for a local towing company putting their truck out of use for 100 days. More recently two insurance companies paid $350 per da on two separate claims. Good luck.

Brian Bell said:

We'll that accountant might be pretty close on his figures but he needs to not only give you the "Profit" of $9.14 a day that you lost... (just a little wrecker owner humor)  He also needs to pay for the Drivers Wages that were not made by that truck during the down time and also pay the cost of insurance and truck payments for those 73days.   

I would figure the fixed expenses that the truck you can't use actually cost you a day
   Insurance $20 per day
  Driver's Pay $125 per day
  Truck Note $40 per day
etc... That's $194.14 (don't forget the "profit") a day right there and you have lost other things you can't easily put a price tag on like a Rolling Billboard, The readiness to service your customers and or Thanks to them dragging their feet you might have lost customers altogether.    

Jamie Dougherty said:

Arnott said:

We rent for $300 per day, the most common rate I hear for down-time is $350 a day based on a 25 day month (for every 7 days you get paid for 6). I testified in a court case a few years back, the lawyer for the ins. co. thought the rental rate (275 per day at the time) was "absurd" A local rental company at the time rented a $12,000 Hyundai (new price of a Hyundai at the time) for $39.99 a day. So, an $80,000 truck should be worth $275 a day. The Judge did the math, the customer got paid in full for the rental fees.

The Tow God Said:

DJ
Freddie MAC's, Inc.South El Monte, Ca

 

FlashRoadService said:

I think peach state wrecker sales down by Atlanta will rent tow trucks. you could call then i have checked on it before I can't remeber what they quoted but it was way more than any $9.00 a day.

 

Slick Willy said:

Forget what it costs to rent the truck , show them you invoices that truck has completed in a span of 73 days and show them the money it cost you, for lack of a better term loss of wage, Id say its about time to get a lawyer u should know your in the business insurance companies dont play nice ........Good Luck...............I just read what tow god said  my thoughts exactly lol

 

dallastrucks said:

Tow truck rental ...$300+ per day plus insurance and any stickers.(inTexas you need stickers and #s).. most about $100 basic stickers ... We have a couple trucks dedicated to just rentals.. and they are booked.....

I say get a lawyer..... You deserve it .....

 

TowZone said:

Company did the collection process for loss of use. Only to find that they lost a part of their commercial business accounts while the unit was down. In hindsight it would have been better for this company to rent a truck and seek the compensation while servicing their commercial accounts promptly. If a company has enough units to take up the slack it would be best to seek loss of use. If it is a one or two truck company, the loss of business during that time could be devastating. Be prepared, know the risks ask an Insurance Pro Here before it happens to you.

 

Lepley n Sons Towing said:

Thats what they are trying to do loss of use . The difference is nine dollars , part I cant get them to see is the heavy wrecker did not get used last year during this time frame . And It did a few tows after my accident had to have help to do this ( with broken leg and 3 ribs ) but it did bring in some income . Its not rocket science to figure out the heavy wrecker would bring income up in a hurry, ( Compared to a light duty ) when it was idle last year . I am nine dollars this year from what I was last year but I am $ 4000.00 more in fuel . We also had more snow last year than year before . Its time to get atty involved again

 

Lepley n Sons Towing: (2 days after the last post)

Well the truck just got hit again , Off the white line of the road , doing a winch out . Guess who the insurance company is again !

 

ESC  said:

Anyone know of a tow truck rental company near southeastern PA.... our flatbed was hit yesterday and we are investigating a rental.

_______________________________________________________________

 

http://www.rentawrecker.com/

Topic Originally Created by ABCtowing in September of 2006:

Randy Olson said:

Great Pictures, and a Big Thanks to George, Jerry, Cheryl, Michele, Marc Valentine with the Flag Truck, the rest of the Museum Staff and all those who assisted and attended in making the unveiling of the monument such a great event for our industry. It will take some time to be completed, but the unveiling along with the actual building of the monument and sculpture was recorded from start to finish.

Topic was originally created by fulltimer2 in November of 2006.

I have been towing for over 15 years and have always been reminded about locking in the safety catch's on dollies. A few times the bar has come back at me but I have been able to stop the bar from hitting myself, but the other day a new employee was loading a Toyota 4x4 and she was hit on the side of the head by the bar. She is OK and will be back at work on Tuesday (this happened Friday). So to all out there please help out that new driver, or the person that looks like he or she could use some help, have safty meetings regarding dollies and the procedure in using them. Thanks Chuck.

ibflat2 said:

yeah it hurts big time, and you are right Training is the key..

Coe Consulting / Fleet west have a video (dvd) out on use of dollies which is good ..
 

towmanjc said:

I always keep a hand on the dolly bar!!!Joe O`Brien
Weavertown Towing & Recovery - Pgh,Pa

mballor  said:

I've heard of broken jaws from those before, i'm not sure if its true but after i was told that i always stopped and made sure i had everything right before i released the dolly with the bar. I always make sure my head is not in the way just in case, never lean towards the car, and just take your time.

fulltimer2 said:

This driver was shown the procedure in using dollies and has used them before without incident. It was just an unfortunate accident.

SlimSanta  said:

I see a new design on a set of dollies that would prevent that type of accident.

Dakota Service & Repair, Brookings, SD

danielswt said:

long long ago before we had rollbacks one of our guys misplaced his bar and thought he would use a 12'' long cresent wrench instead......LOL boy was that the wrong thing to do. it didnt hit him but you shoulda seen the distance that baby had across the yard!!!

Eric777 said:

Good ole dolly bar........seen one guy let the dollys down, and the bar ended up cracking the side mirror of a car......

SFAUTORESCUE said:

One thing I found out about using dolly bars is that you only mess up once in you life time.

BTS 3  said:

I had a demo of those new In the Ditch dollies down in Baltimore. They seem to be very nice. Light weight and easy to use. I actually ordered a set I was so impressed on how easy they were.

One of the things I liked best of them (pertaining to this subject) is how light the loading bar was.

Tropical Towing said:

Yep I got hit right in the neck about a year ago. I knew better but got in a hurry, was not watching what I was doing, it was raining, my hands were wet, I slipped and bang right in under my ear. I had to set down for a few just to collect my thoughts.
Brian

ITD Sales  said:

Good Morning Everyone. I am new to the tow 411 website. I am the sales representative for In The Ditch Towing Products and wanted to encourage all of you to check out our website at www.intheditch.com.

The Speed Dolly works with cam-locks instead of the traditional ratchets, so there are less accidents with the dolly bar. Because of the cam-lock system, you can keep both hands on the dolly bar at all times, the cam-lock positively engages when the dolly bar is completely keeled over. The cam-lock works with a pin so the dolly locks itself, so you can keep both hands on the dolly bar.

The Speed Dolly also stores in a locked position so it's easy to pick up. It is only 58 lbs and a nice level load, so the wheels aren't flipping around and wobbling.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions about the Speed Dolly!

Jenn

smoffrd snowrider said:

i always make sure the locks in place before i load and i got about 75ft with the pipe wrench i still haven't gone after

michael212 added this image:

only1CaliforniaCraneNRotator added these images:

Proud of Sheriff TINY

Charlie
Bob's Towing
(800) Bobs-Tow
www.BobsTowingca.com

HeavyD added these images:

HEAVYD
WWW.BOBSTOWCA.COM
"TheViews Expressed Are My Own and Do Not Necessarily Represent
Those Of The Staff,
Management, or
My Employer."

Ron Pullen added these images:

2007 Pete Miller 1060

Wade200 added these images:

j hook 74 added these images:

unknown member added these images:

2010 Peterbilt 75ton Miller rotator

TowPro84 added these images:

BigWheelRecovery  added these images:

BatteliniTowing added these images:

Heavytowman12 added these images:

Feenstras added these images:

racinhammer29 added these images:

pttowguy added these images:

I can't believe that I have not added our pride & joy to this post. 

We built it ourselves in-house over several years and are very proud of it. It was a lot of work, but it truely is fun to drive and more fun to operate!

And like any rotator here, it comes completely equiped with all the good riggings etc...........and thanks to one of our new friends from the Ohio tow show, a custom seat cover!
 

little wrecker added these images:

Our Tator Tot in the museum its about a 1/2 ton then our 40 ton Nrc Slider in Phoenix and our 75 ton with 5 winches in Tucson. I love running all of them. I truly could not work for a better company.

Ty Wildman
Barnett's Towing LLC
Tucson, Az.


Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain! 

Allstar710 added these images:

Billsservice1 added these images:

danielswt added these images:

andyshanover added these images:

rotator60 added these images:

Here is mine that I operated my last 5 years at University Towing..

I operated this unit from 2005 until 2010..it is a 2005 Kenworth T-800 with a 2005 Century 1060 Rotator..Harvey "showtime 93" operates it now..

showtime93 added these images:

Low Boy added these images:

West Service Center
Chesapeake, VA

unknown member added these images:

Dixietowgirl88 added these images:

ATR1 added these images:

checkin in from the boro t-800 with a 1060 3 winch 

The Tow God added these images:

Risoldis added this image:

Risoldis Automotive
Eastampton, New Jersey
Chasing the dream, not the competition

towie1 added these images:

Here is our ( little compared to some of your gear ) 1130 we are based in Melbourne Australia Truckworks in Adelaide built this T608 Kenworth up for us and did a ripper job on the paintwork 
most impressed with the other trucks posted in here  

Towman26 added these images:

Here is our 08 Int 5900 Century 1075-5 winch-lowrider underlif

Brett Holcombe added this image:

Westways checkin in also!!

LASVEGASTOATOR60 Added this image:

Ewing Bros., checking in!

James Shaefer added this image:

Clark County Towing

WOLFTOWING added these images:

automedics  added these images:

Unknown Member from Neil Yates added these images:

"SUMO"

Mr "2B"

bcharris29 added these images:

towwhat added these images:

Here's a yellow one

unknown member added these images:

Rob's in the house

LAMB Towing added these images:

LAMB Towing checking in with "Centrifugal Force".

TCTR1 added these images:

Twin Cities' is on the map

It's not a front end loader but it did have to go on a trailer

arent up anymore

bossmansson added these images:

littleredg added these images:

Crawford`s checking in.

ELIMINATORII added these images:

jhook5230 added these images:

Done Deal and Tater checkin in!

unknown member added these images:

Here for Tator Check In..at work then just showing off with operator.

Ky Nick added this image:

Tony's checking in

Dollar Tow  added these images:

SLovett added these images:

and after pics hope the boys up there in NY like what I did with the truck. Graphics for sides soon just not sure what I want yet.

hpgtowing added these images:

kentuckytowman added this image:

Suburban towing---75 ton

Junior Reinhardt

Byron Coleman added these images:

wstowing11 added these images:

towtrk802 added these images:

ibuytoys added these images:

Hawaii checking in!!

Towstany added these images:

jackmaster added these images:

Tow Tator checking in
Iowa's only legal tator!

Rotator60 added these images:

Miami, checking in

Tway5076 added these images:

Here are Michael Bigg jr.s two Rotators a 75 Ton 5 winch and a 60 ton both custom built

unknown member added these images:

Wm020494 added this image:

Here is one from up in Vermont.

drewmel added these images:

This is West Hill's 1994 F-5070 Paystar with 94 Century 1060S SDU. I recently had my harddrive go and lost the last 6 years of my pictures. Too bad all the jobs the tator has done were on there with no back up. Man does it SU#K! Plus I have got to get some updated pictures cause alot has been done to this truck since I took pics of it.

FMS Mike added this image:

Here's another picture of DrewMel's Tator.

yates towing added these images:

rvanling added this image:

Trucks, WAY more proud of my Sons, the Third generation of Van Lingen Towing and Recovery Professionals in Torrance, California. Here I am working (sort of) while they are in Baltimore enjoying the show (and snow).

peelman aded these images:

Scotlands top dogs checkin in.

mcallisters added these images:

Surrey & Hampshire in England - Checking In!

Reqtator added these images:

Another So.Cal check in:

'06 Western Star with Century 1060S...work in progress at Ooltewah.

At our Shops. The guys did more GREAT work.

WreckMaster training

Debris removal

Unknown member added these images:

chaser8003 added these images:

Checking in from Wisconsin.

If this counts....

xcessiveforce52 asked:

chaser8003 , do you know if that truck came from Miami Fl. there used to be a company down here that had one ( Nolans Garage ) ?????

Chaser8003 Replied:

it was Nolan's truck. I believe this is how the story goes.... In 1989, it started life being white and black as prototype at Miller model Century 930S. It did make an appearance at the Florida Show around that time. Nolan's acquired it in the 90's and repainted it an ugly green and I think red stripes (Jorge help me here..). Nolan sold it to a company in Hialeah, Fl called Galloway Towing and painted it white with blue stripes. We purchased it in early 2000. Cosmetically it was pretty rough however mechanically sound. (A toolbox door actually fell off somewhere on I-95.) But we cleaned her up and straightened her out. Its been a great recovery truck for us but it is bit tougher to tow with due to a short underlift and no tilt. However it still works daily and fits into tight spots where our cyclone will not go. Btw.... the trucks everyone has posted so far are nothing short of amazing. Be very proud.

Thanks,
Chase
Floyd's Towing

1stmdtator added thia image;

Marylands 1st tator/still working

Marylands 1st 1075 checking in

Our 1060 almost checking in

jimnichols6359 added these images:

checking in from caseyville illinois

both trucks are 75ton

cliffwm010069 adde this image:

BigWheelRecovery added these images:

unknown member added these images:

Forgivenone added these images:

This is our tator at Berry Bros. Tow in Oakland, California.

Apple Towman added this image:

timjohn added these images

Good to hear from you Chase. I hope you are keeping the old man in line.

Here is my light duty rotator. Hope it counts for something.

unknown member added:

Greg's Towing in Akron, Ohio checking in with our 2008 T-800 1140

unknown member added these images:

pupdaddy added these images:

This is are new toy I thank you tried it out from hortons it was white and blue

unknown member added these images:

R.Lance and Sons Co. Livermore,Ca. 2000 Peterbilt 378 Challenger 8808

Topic Originally Created by oldschoolpete in November of 2016:

Passed a milestone I suppose, I've been really pissed about it for a long time! The HORRIFIC dispatching, the inability to save our E-mail address FOR 3 YEARS NOW!  There inability/refusal (by design) to use mile markers, The slow pay, short pay "in audit" nonsense. I kept track & I get short paid average of 15-20%  ......well boys I'm done!  DONE DONE DONE! .......here are my rates, you pay by credit card before I leave & you pay the 3 points on the CC transaction added to the quote right in the begining! Had my rep call the other day "hey......so it looks like you have turned down 2 calls already this month".........me: uhhhhhhh I've turned down all of them actually!  PAY ME OR DONT CALL ME! ...... 

oldwinch  said:

best move you made old school, wish every one could see the light. at the top of the motor club forum the need to put DANGER,DANGER!

Mack6X6 said:

 What oldwinch said!  Congratulations, Steve.

Central Towing GA said:

Here Ye, Here Ye!

P.S. Only 15-20% were short paid?....what a lucky joker! 85% of ours are short paid. We still work for them occasionally but luckily we never relied heavily on them. We have a company from 20 miles away in another city running calls for them.....only a matter of time.

In Memory of NationalAutow who said:

I cannot envision this business model working successfully in any other industry.

I say WE are to blame for allowing this to go on so rampantly for so long.

I am not defending the big "A" however they only get away with what we let them get away with and they are theoretically no different than the majority of clubs.

Clearly this is a bad business practice and I think the industry is coming around albeit very slowly. The best thing we can do is to be vigilant and do NOT accept short pays. Do NOT accept runs that do not make good business sense (money) for you. Bill correctly and timely and follow up.

If they refuse to do right, call them out here on tow411. I can assure you that this board is a very major reason that the industry makes any changes that benefit us at all.

 

TowmanBlue  said:

Same here, I have only been excepting calls that are profitable and not for charity. Several dispatchers want to know why I didn't take their calls and when I explain they say they hear that all the time, out of area with no deadhead miles but most of all shortages on what we do take. Talked to the AFM and he said that calls that are submitted electronically don't have issues but from the posting on here, it doesn't matter they still come up short. What bugs the hell out of me is they can't tell you where the customer is but they can tell you what the mileage is. They try to sell the driver locate GPS system but it is no better than their billing system. That is the same with the BIG A and the others.

 

oldschoolpete said:

Central towing, what I was saying is they are All on average short paid 15-20% ........they just trim them because they can and it works. They do it because they can!

FYI. UPDATE: The last few months have been fantastic! No bullshit circle calling all night for nonsense calls!.....no trying to track invoices to see how Fkd I got on the call I did 45 days ago!.....no hour sitting on hold to try to update an existing call ......NONE OF IT! ....instead I have focused my time on networking and going out and getting accounts & building a larger customer base. .......I had to tell my area rep to take me off the list & notified him we are CC. UP FRONT ONLY & no one from Agero-hole is even to call us unless it's a supervisor with credit card authorization. It took 4 emails back & forth & me telling him that if I hey don't quit calling me I'd take the calls and just not run them. Guy then asked for my phone number! (Irony.....needing my number to quit calling me!) ........I actually enjoy watching the other guys in town run there trucks ragged for peanuts & there drivers calling wanting to come to work for us...........meanwhile I just ordered 2 new 2017 5500 84ca aluminum body 408T's with auto loader heads & stiff legs. .....................I really encourage everyone to not reward the bad behavior, horrific customer service and stealing from you ......because those 3 things is there business model!

Today I had The big A call me to "manage a claim"  told them I don't deal with them, it's not there car, they aren't the insured and they aren't the insurance company and I won't deal with them for any reason period & hung up. Then they called me back from a blocked number and I again told them the same thing!..........several hours later "ABC" insurance company called regarding the vehicle and was fine with paying my rate to have the vehicle towed to the body shop and wanted to know why we wouldn't deal with them and were dumbfounded when informed as to why!......Mission accomplished (on this one) and I will continue to do the same thing every time ........either something will change or it won't and I just don't care either way! 

 

Steve Catlett  said:

Good for you I also will no longer accept any motor club work, to put it plainly they suck!!!!

 

Towman2  said:

We quit them all 10 yrs ago, best business decision ever. Tired of the middle-man, the middle-middle-man and the middle-middle-middle-man taking their cut of our money! Now all the night, weekend and holiday calls that their vendors won't go do are very profitable. When then can sell us a truck for 1999 prices we will come back and work for 1999 rates.....

Topic Originally Created by bubtowco in January of 2017:

if a customer is covered up to $75 and my contract rates only add up to $50. how can i get paid the full $75 

doingitall  said:

Why should you be paid $75 when your agreed rates are $50 for the service? Just because the customer is covered "UP TO $75" certainly does not mean you get paid $75 automatically ...

Is this a trick question ...?
I must be missing something.

bubtowco said:

Not a trick question. Just trying to take advantage of the situation. They take advantage of us all they time.

ccg said:

I really don't understand your Question. my word is my bond,wether it be with a motor club or an individual. I would rather be part of the solution than the problem. In other words if you are working to cheap then renegotiate your contract to a profitable rate. 

bubtowco said:

I should have worded it as a yes or no question. Can I still get paid the full amount?

doingitall  said:

So when you say "taking advantage of the situation", you really mean "committing fraud". Got it.

bubtowco said:

shot myself in the foot on that one. not a very good first topic post. i didn't think of it as fraud. i was obviously wrong. thanks for your replies.

doingitall  said:

OK, so you get that point. That said, I am no fan of Agero and the BS they perpetrate on all of us as contractors. I have acceptable rates with them, and it took years of pushing to get decent rates. I do not take every call because many are not profitable. I am certainly not their first call either because I will not work at a loss. I do however fight for every penny I am owed, and I have told them often that it is easy to abuse me because of the system they have in place. They just decide that the mileage is not correct so they just use a fictitious number to cheat me. They have the money. Clearly they do that, and they have almost admitted that to me. That means it takes more time and frustration to get paid correctly, and admittedly sometimes it just isn't worth it. I actually take it a different direction a little, and when I submit invoices I enter whole miles (my agreement does NOT say that Agero agrees to pay by the inch, tenth or hundredth of a mile), and always round up. Because I do that, I expect each invoice to be "adjusted" some. I agree that the fact that Agero does this is wrong in a number of ways, but I admit that I am disappointed when an invoice is not "adjusted", because I think that many times that means that I left money on the table. Agero is so tied up in paying the least amount possible that paying the invoice I submitted in full somehow means that they may have paid just a little more. I do not know that this is correct, but that is how I feel about it.

So the nickel and diming paying by the inch I have come to expect. My current rep pretty much told me to suck it up or get lost, actually that might be a direct quote, he is very "professional". When I submit an invoice I knowingly enter mileage on the high side, many times it is paid with no adjustments. Additionally, I often ask for return mileage on calls over a certain distance, and will refuse the call if I cannot get that paid. Always ask for additional fees when needed, but make sure it is approved and documented. My big one is skates, and if I can justify their use and Agero refuses to pay for their use, I will leave the vehicle and take my GOA. Same with ANY call that will take additional time or equipment. I get paid for being a professional, so should you. If you need better rates, tell them. Be prepared for "no", and be prepared to fire them if they are not a valuable customer. Your business, your rules. Truth is they may get me on an invoice, but with time and experience, I get a little here and there too ... Learn to play the game.

bubtowco said:

thanks doingitall

EHYtow55  said:

Let me answer your question, when you receive a dispatch you need to no the coverage limits such as covered in full or dollar limit such as you have been told $75.00 they (Agero) will pay up to that covered amount anything over that is the customers responsibility, how you come up on what to charge is based on your contracted rates, your enroute miles if any, hook-up fee if any, towed mileage if any X what your rates are = $0000

Topic Orginally Created byonsiteautoandtruckrepair in December of 2016:

So some lady calls me 5 days after we move this S500 benz for the evil empire "agero" complaining we scraped her bumper while loading it. I kept it professional, asked her to email me pictures, which she did. The pictures were taking while the car was on my truck and 3ft off the ground, and she ways 5 days to say something. She only sends me the passenger side of the bumper and when you zoom in, you see yellow paint and very deep scratches. Obviously, parking pylon or curb. Car was loaded backwards and boarded in her driveway which is freshly sealed and black. I ask to see pictures of the entire bumper and she sends me pictures of gelcoat cracking underneath the paint and very faint scratches  that would not happen when loading. I get cautious this time of year because people are out to make a couple bucks for holiday shopping.

I don't want to go through insurance because I am at my 3 years mark with a clean record and trying to switch to another company. I also don't want to pay her anything out of pocket because I know we did not do the damage.

I write down everything before I confront people about these situations and this is what I plan on saying:

Those scratches were not done by my tow truck.

1) The first set of pictures you sent me show yellow paint in the scratches ( yellow parking pylon, curb with yellow paint). Your driveway is black and sealed, The deck on my truck is black. Where did the paint come from?
2) When a car that sits low to the ground is winched up a flatbed and the bottom bumper is scraped it, scratches would be consistent across the front of the bumper. The cars go up evenly. On your case its only the passenger side most likely coming in at an angle to a parking spot.

3) The second set of photos contain cracking of the gel coat that Mercedes Benz and all manufacturers use on plastic and fiberglass bumpers prior to paint. The few small scratches that you do see are coming from a totally different angle. The car was winched up backwards not sideways like the pictures depict.

We take claims like this seriously. We are a reputable company and stand by our service, unfortunately , the damage is pre-existing.

Someone please chime in.I want to post the pictures on here, but gave up trying.

doingitall  said:

I would like to assume you have before and after pictures. If so,those will save you. Was the customer not present when loading? Did the bumper scrape or touch loading or unloading? Did you have to use ramps or blocking to prevent the bumper touching? I have never had an issue with a Mercedes needing any blocking or ramping, and never have had one with a bumper that touched loading or unloading. That said there are certainly circumstances where you would need to use ramps or blocks.

On what you wrote: part 1) Good. part 2) I would delete this completely. A professional never would allow the bumper to scrape at all. part 3)I would add the the cracking of the gel coat/clear coat demonstrates an impact and that there was no possible impact loading and unloading the vehicle. I would further add that the evidence of an impact is in no way related to the loading and unloading of her vehicle, and you would happily demonstrate that to her. Then I would add that if the damage did not exist prior to towing, she will need to talk with the dealer/servicing shop and find where the paint transfer came from to identify where and when the damage occurred. Last, I would not say "unfortunately". I would point out that by her own description and pictures that the damage she described was not possible while in your care/custody/control. I would either provide pictures proving that the damage existed prior to towing, or provide pictures of the vehicle delivered showing the lack of damage after unloading.

Again, if you have before and after pictures, just tell the customer that you have them, and that they show the vehicle in the same condition before and after the tow. Offer to demonstrate loading and unloading if she wishes, and ask when and where during the process the damage occurred. Between pictures, and a few that demanded a demonstration, I have never paid out a false claim. I have however paid a few when I did do damage, and if there is a chance you are in any way responsible, just take care of it!

In Memory of NationalAutow who said:

You can also request that if they continue the claim, put it in writing. Offer to do it for them. Include language that taks about knowing filing a false insurance or damage claim and how it can be a felony with XX years in prison.

Occasionally we get an impound customer (usually was driving an 88 Gran Prix or other extremely valuable vehicle) claim they left their lottery winnings (usually in the thousands) in their car. They even act surprised when it isn't there and ask what we are going to do about it since it is our responsibility (NOT).

We tell them we are not doing anything. If they continue we direct them to a local police station and tell them to come back with the report number and we will investigate.\

We are still waiting on the first one to come back with that report number.

and tell them to file a report and bring us the report number back and we will conduct an investigation.

Topic Originally created by rdonchan in December of 2014:

I hope the Agero reps that creep on this board reads this and sees our opinion of their behavior! We took a call for them where the customer had a certain $$ amount of coverage. We called the customer and told them what their out of pocket expense would be and the customer  agreed and told us to send a truck. When we drove 20 miles to the pickup the customer then informed us that we could go back home. They stated they had called around and found someone cheaper on the overages. I explained that I did not believe they could just call random places and the roadside would just pay anyone for their part.
 The customer said , "we didn't call around,the roadside people called around and found someone." We called Agero and got a supervisor who assured me that Agero does not do that. I explained that they did do it because I am sitting beside the road with their customer and they are telling us to leave. Finally it was established that the supervisor meant it was not Agero policy to shop prices on overage. We were told then and several times before that we do not price shop. Once a provider accepts the call and the customer ok's the overage, Agero is out of it. Then they threw in the obligatory "we know that is you guy's bread and butter and we don't want to mess with your living" speech. They also said they could counsel the dispatcher involved and bla bla bla. I went to my next call which took about an hour and a half and when I drove back by the location , the person was still sitting there. I just honked and waved at how warm and fuzzy it made me feel.

  This morning Agero called with a person with only a certain amount of coverage needing towed. We gave them the overage costs and then the dispatcher asks to "call me back" . When we ask what does she need to call back for she tells me she needs to get some other prices for overages. I tell her that Agero does not operate that way and to get her supervisor on the line. She then tells me that she has to get 3 estimates and see who is the lowest, then hangs up on me.

 Agero if this is something that you people are going to do, what is the benefit of us being contracted with you and giving you a break on prices? We can just give you retail rates on everything and you can pay up front with a credit card and we can all just do away with the contracted provider thing. Your dispatchers can dial for dollars on every call. How would you like that?

In Memory of NationalAutow who said:

Agero seems to be the odd man out lately.

Most other clubs are beginning to realize what this kind of crap does to their provider base and they know they cannot afford it.

More and more providers are realizing what they are worth. They are also realizing how much money they can lose by doing business the Agero way. They are not being taken in by the hogwash they are being fed by dispatchers, supervisors and area managers.

They will come around eventually. I say that because I think they are big enough to survive. The question is if and when?

OLDTOW said:

We have had that happen to us more times than I can count. What really gets my shorts in a bind is that when I talk to the other companies in the area, and they tell me they have taken several calls and when we discuss the particular vehicle and destination, they say ohhhhhhh yeah, we did that one. They are not contracted with Agero, and they tell me they charge Agero retail rates with a CC up front. Does that make any sense whatsoever? Maybe it is just me....

rdonchann said:

They will pay a non contracted double before they will pay the contracted ones what they are due

oldwinch  said:

what sense does it make to be contracted with them?????? credit card up front makes more sense.i beleave the word contracted in the motor club world, means we screw you.

chevy2 said:

I've had the same thing happen here they will pay a non contracted Co twice what they would pay me on a call.

EKYtow55  said:

You are right on the CC deal but you will hardly ever get a call, I do Allstate that way but very seldom get a call from them!

ABCDISCOUNTOFSMITHBOROSC said:

ABOUT AGERO OUT OF POCKET MONEY ???????.....On the Agero subject here is what I do not understand ........... Back in the CCMC days the dispatcher would call the primary , get a quote , and the customer had a take it or leave it decision to make .90% of the time the customer would pay the price to get service .The out of pocket money that we collected made their discounted calls worth running ........... Fast forward to Agero 2014. The Agero dispatchers calls everyone who will answer the phone to get the "best price " quote for the customer . W.T.F. Agero is shooting their self in the foot on this tactic . (1) Out of pocket money has always made these type of calls profitable and a priority for the provider (2) Agero could hire less staff if they would stop this time wasting tactic saving the empire millions each year (3) The customer sits without service for much longer than when CCMC had the take it or leave it price quote policy (4) It confuses the customer ..............................There is no other club on the planet that I know of that does this time wasting tactic . ..................................Same goes with these crazy 45 minute ETAs . The dispatchers will spend an hour to get a 45 minute ETA when they could have taken an hour ETA an hour ago . I see this practice everyday ........................... Agero needs to pay close attention to what is happening at Allstate . E-Z billing / net money in 4 business days / rates that make a profit .. ...................... I think in the end Agero will handle the insurance companys and Allstate will handle Allstate and the manufacturers.

EKYtow55  said:

The only rates that I have seen Allstate offer would have been good back in the 80's! also I have had other MC's shopping prices for tows and overages.

Topic originally created as News in October of 2014:

Technology has turned the towing business into an information business, according to Dave Ferrick, CEO of Agero.

How is technology changing Agero as a business? When you think about our business, you think about tow trucks and wrenches and grease, but technology has actually made our business very sophisticated. We are crunching terabytes of data and know where our trucks are, who they are towing, and what type of service we should provide for any particular customer.

When you buy a new car and it breaks down, you do not have a great perception of that vehicle brand. But if we are able to provide excellent service in the name of that brand, we can raise brand perception to where it was or even improve it. We are finding new ways to use data to tie together all the constituents around the value chain. We are running a very important relay race that involves the towing service, dealership and a brand's consumer affairs people. When we move the right data through that value chain, we have a positive effect on the customer experience and retain their brand loyalty.

We are also using smartphones to innovate. Years ago, we bet on in-vehicle telematics and sensors to give us information about cars and their drivers. But we now see the smartphone as the most powerful sensor you can have in a vehicle. The very devices that drivers bring into their cars can do a lot of what a very sophisticated in-vehicle telematics device can do. That was a huge "aha" moment for us. Smartphones will be the basis of much of our innovation over the next few years.

Has technology innovation created any challenges for your role as CEO? As these new technologies come out, everybody wants to try everything, so we need a robust process to boil the options down to what will have maximum impact on our customers. It's a good problem when you have too many great ideas, but I find myself saying "no" a lot more often.

We are a big company, and our technology has to work 24/7. If our systems are down, we leave our customer stranded, so we cannot get too close to the bleeding edge.

Our approach is to pick a client or call center team to try out a new technology and then make decisions about how to scale. I'd rather make a lot of small bets before making one large bet.

Has technology changed your leadership style? I find myself relying more and more on big data to inform my decisions. I spend an increasing amount of time interpreting data to understand which items really require action.

For example, last winter, we had one of the coldest winters we've had in a long time. I knew immediately that our call center volume would be historically high and that we needed to look into ways to reach an unprecedented number of motorists. We were able to quickly reach out to our end consumers and determine their immediate needs.

Out of that experience, we've developed sophisticated algorithms that will tell us how weather conditions will affect our dispatch volume. With this information, Agero can get ahead of weather patterns.

During that cold winter, we had solutions ranging from opening a new call center to giving customers self-service functions online. Through real-time customer data, we concluded that customers valued a self-service option for requesting assistance. We were able to deliver just that--quickly.

RESOURCE LINK

Street Jesus said:

It's obvious from their rates that Agero still thinks the world is flat. Keep letting them drive your towing business forward and you'll eventually fall right off the edge. 

In Memory of NationalAutow who said:

Dave Ferrick, CEO of Agero says "We are crunching terabytes of data and know where our trucks are, who they are towing, and what type of service we should provide for any particular customer."

I didn't realize that they "owned" any tow trucks!

They want to know where each and every tow truck is. They approached us years ago when we were a provider about them having access to our GPS data. We declined.

We service some motor clubs. It would not be proper for us to allow any customer to see where our trucks are as they are often serving our customers competitor. In a multi truck operation, they might could see where a truck is but still need to call us to see if we can take the call.

Does anyone else see the arrogance in Mr. Ferricks's statement?

Maybe I am being old fashioned but it seems to me that the motor club that can see where all the trucks are has an unfair advantage over the club that can't see them. Since we have multiple motor club customers, I doubt we will let that information out to the clubs.

goodmichael said:

Technology has not changed your leadership style, greed has, though. Motor clubs take advantage of the overbearing mindset of this industry that being, "I need to run this call or keep this contract so that no one else gets it." Never mind that I will run the call for less than what it costs me to run a call. (This means running a call for 35.00 when depreciation, fuel, insurance, salary cost 43.75 for you to bump the cam over.) I am not talking about the long standing operations who embrace profit as their best ally. You are not afraid to say no, you know your cost before you even quote a price, you maintain your equipment and pay your drivers a decent wage.

I am talking about those who burn out their drivers because they run them into the ground, not even for peanuts, but just for the husks without the meat of the nut. You cut corners in maintaining equipment that you are horribly upside down in from an equity perspective because you never let it rest as you work for peanut shells. You and your business are the ally of the motor club. The motor club depends on your mentality to stay afloat. You really should be given stock options in the motor club, as you are not working for yourself, you are investing the losses of your business to enhance the value of the motor club. your losses, blood, sweat, tears, dissension in your family relationships due to you always chasing empty peanut husks, loss of being their while your children grow up and reach milestones causes the value of the stock of motor clubs to increase. As the value of your business decreases, the value of the motor club increases. When you are sitting in the yard with a fleet of trucks with 375,000 miles average on the clock, using Gorilla tape, rubber bands and JB Weld to make repairs, the executives at the motor clubs are at home drinking wine and eating steak. Your steak.

And when you finally throw in the towel, the motor club simply moves on to the next victim. They constantly recruit to bring in new blood.

And that concludes my 500th post!

someotherplace said:

Peanut shells taste good. Who needs steak when you have that delicacy at hand? Better be careful what kind of remarks you make while you're in THEIR truck.  They just might cancel your contract!

Richard

(heavy sarcasm above of course!)

cav towing said:

And as always the COLD HONEST TRUTH from GoodMichael. You sir need to be hired as a mentor to a lot of guys

Randall L Dawson said:

Very Sad but Very True. Stay Safe, Randy.

DragNTow  said:

If their vision is so damn good then why can't they pay me my contracted rates when the invoice is processed and not make me fight them for it?

Happy Haulin.........DragNTow

In Memory of NationalAutow who said:

Topic Originally Create VTflatbed in Mat of 2014:

Received a call from Agero on 5/3, asking us if we would accept one of their PO numbers for a "priority" call on the interstate. As we are not a provider for them, they were told that only a credit card is the only form of payment we will accept from them, or CC/cash/local check from their customer. When asked how much we would charge, they were advised that it would be hour normal hourly rate, at a minimum of 1.5 hours. The rep accepted the price quote, and asked for an ETA. I advised of a 20 minute ETA. At that point the rep said "Okay, great. I'll have the supervisor call you with the credit card, I don't have access to generate the card information"... Hadn't had any issues with Agero until now. We've done the credit card route with them before when the local Agero provider wasn't available.

Being that it was an interstate call, I went en route to the breakdown location, and arrived prior to Agero calling back. Got the customer's Jeep loaded, and Agero calls him back to say that our price was too high, and that they found another company that was an hour away! The customer told the rep that I was on location, and had loaded the vehicle.

Long and short of it - I towed the car for the guy at a greatly reduced rate than what I quoted; our standard local tow flat rate versus hourly billing. He happened to be my postman, and is terrific when it comes to delivering packages to our doorstep (second floor.. inside the building) versus leaving a notice in our mailbox. Needless to say their member is dropping their roadside service (through USAA; which contracts with Agero) and signing up for AAA.

Agero - if you see this, you have created an enemy. I will do EVERYTHING possible to refer your members to AAA or other roadside motorclubs.... and we will NEVER accept another credit card from you. Next time, the state police can call us and your customers will be on the hook for the bill themself.

NationalAutow said:

The only problem I see here is your "misunderstanding" of an Agero "priority".

The priority is on their bottom line FIRST, LAST and ALWAYS.

We now use their own philosophy on them when they call us. Like you, we are not a contracted provider but now accept CC's at retail plus rates. When the card clears, we will dispatch.

Our "priority" when Agero calls is to be darned certain we cover ourselves FIRST. It is a lousy business attitude that we normally do not apply to others Agero is one of the exceptions to the rule.

EKYtow55 said:

? from Agero to AAA, going from the frying pan to the fire!!!!! ( AAA the lowest paying motorclub in America)

Jef said:

Topic Originally Created by NationalAutow in May of 2013:

This is being re-posted in Memory of NationalAutow...

It was bound to happen.

We had a new dispatcher the other night. He apparently did not get the memo that we will not service Agero. He took a lockout call from them and promptly dispatched the newest driver we had and he performed the service flawlessly..

Now let's talk about getting paid. Check that. Let's talk about the tow company getting screwed.

I have over 3 hours in this so far and no one at Agero will even acknowledge that they have received the invoice even though it has been faxed 3 times and mailed once. I was given a number of someone to call back and his extension does not work. His name is Bob. Anybody know ole Bob at Agero?

I do not have a provider number and I apparently can't submit on line. According to the people I do get to talk to, they will pay me in a couple of weeks. At this point it is running as an even money bet that I won't get paid at all.

I can't discipline the driver. He did what he was told to do. I can't discipline the dispatcher because he was not made aware of the policy. If I fire the manager (which I probably should do) it will cost me a lot of money because nobody works as cheap as I do.

The warning to future providers is here on tow 411. Read the horror stories of getting paid. Add this story to it. If you do business with them, you have been warned. When you go broke from listening to their line of BS, it will be your own fault.

To AGERO: You have not heard the last of this. You will be at a tow show one day. You will be spilling your line to some unsuspecting young tow person trying to sign them up with all of your promises. I promise you, he will hear my story. I may not ever get my money but I'm like an elephant, I don't forget.

Schu said:

Bob is the name of their automated Dispatcher

In Memory of Charlie Amann:

yup the computer dude. i feel ya we dumped them to and its funny we dont have damage claims anymore from all the hillbillies we used to service for them. good luck on getting paid

slammedSSled said:

We dropped them 2 months ago. I have sleep better every since.

shadowtowing said:

Thats why I am hesitant to sign on with any motor club they don't have many providers in my area so we get calls from them but they pay with a cc

wreckerman05 said:

Shadowtowing-if your getting calls now ,you better off doing them on C/Card and getting paid at your rates--once you sign up you usually get the Motor Club treatment---low pay,low volume,cut invoices $$$---

bigberthastowing said:

ake the CC in advance of moving on the job, and call it in right away.

Fredstowingnj said:

Yeah do not do a job unless you get a credit card and run it before you leave.NEVER NEVER trust them

shadowtowing said:

Yep we always run them, that night it was real close about 5miles away.

Ed Johnson said:

We are not signed up with any motor clubs. When we get a call from a club, we advise them of the charges for the service and ask for a credit card. Problem solved.

HOWEVER - over two months ago we received a tow call from Agero for Honda and mistakenly accepted a purchase order number. We are having the time of our life getting payment and they always have an excuse for why we have not received a check. A little over a week ago, they told us a check would be sent out immediately. It has not arrived.

So, what is next? I am going to send a letter to the customer who expected proper service and tell him we never got payment and demand payment of him. We probably won't get payment, but he will certainly know how well his warranty is taking care of him.

A letter will also be sent to Honda USA to let them know how well their customers are being cared for.

Copies of both letters will also be sent to Agero.

Randall L Dawson said:

I agree with Big Bertha and Ed Johnson, it is the only way to deal with all these third-party thieves, Randy.

Unknown Member said:

Our problem is we have companies towing for 25.00 in a 10 mile radius for Agero. All they are doing is hurting business for the rest of us. The bad thing about Agero is you do the tow and they have all these reasons your check is short. Allstate is the worst. They want me to go 10 miles and hook up tow 5 miles further then drive back 15 miles for 30.00 do the math and now they refuse to pay goa's.

thtdon  said:

I think that we are seeing the beginning of the end of getting paid for GOAs.  Agero refused to give me a GOA a few nights ago because I failed to call them within 15 minutes of the ETA.  Of course, I WAS ON HOLD WITH THEM FOR OVER 15 MINUTES!  When the day comes that the motor clubs officially and formally stop paying us for GOAs, with me, they will get one shot.  If I dispatch a truck to the CORRECT location, the member is not there, and we leave the scene empty handed, that's the end of it.  If they call back later, trying to give me a revised location, they're out of luck.  As it is now, I do that at night.  I only go out once at night. 

thtdon

Diesel Wrecker said:

Ok OK OK don't fire the manager but you can discipline him for not giving the memo to the new dispatcher. I suggest a couple of slaps so he don't forget to do it again. LOL

Topic Originally Created on Tow411 by annettemcd in July of 2009:

I was just reading a thread about jump starts and many people mentioned jumper cables. We haven't used cables in years, but find jumper packs to be so much more convenient. You don't even need to park close to the disabled vehicle. You don't need to have external connections or pop your own hood. You can easily set up the jumper pack to charge while it is in the truck and/or trade out with a charged one in the shop. It is so easy to grab the jumper pack out of the truck, pop the hood of the disabled vehicle, set the pack on the top of the grill, radiator, bumper, or fender, connect it to the battery, and have someone try to start the disabled vehicle. If it is a big vehicle, try more than one pack, especially if responding with a small service vehicle instead of a tow truck. It works for us.

How many others are using jumper packs instead of jumper cables? Not a big issue, but just a question.

kyresqtow said:

Well I have had instances that the jumper pack would not start the car but hook up the jumper cables and away we go.... Jumper packs work on the smaller engines but I have yet to find one that would start a diesel with 2 dead batteries...

jerel said:

personally i use a jump pack much easier to use...on the larger vehicles i use jumper cables...all are trucks have cables in them just in case the jump boxes dont work... I like using the box in garages or car ports that the cables wont reach...now a days alot of the cars wont come out of park if there is now power to them and that is where the jump pack comes in handy....and we dont have to push the vehicle out of the garage just for a jump start.

Eds Towing  said:

All of our trucks have both. The packs are convenient for sure. We keep spares to swap out in the shop if needed as we do with the impact batteries. One thing that helps with the pack is once the car starts, leave the pack on for a minute if you can. This is assuming that the system is charging of course but it will help to keep the pack charged up from use.

jefftow said:

Both here. I also use the jumper pack with a compressor. I also have the car charger for it. It helps to have one in the garage in case I need another. And Ed has a good point, cars charge at 80 or 100 amps, which is a lot more that an outlet.

paulie 417 said:

letsplay2 said:

What brand of jump packs do you use?

I have had a couple of them and some don't last too long. We went back to placing the jump boxes on the tow trucks now. Don't have to worry about them being fully charged or even over charged and killing the battery early.

Silverhawk  said:

Jump boxes are good for pull starting truck & trailers with dead batteries, also. Opens the fuel pump solenoid when the truck batteries won't. My cables are welding leads with 25 foot leads. Can reach anything, even batteries on reefers.

Mellville said:

jumper packs definitely, our trucks still have cables just in case the packs aren't enough or are dead but they see rare use. we get ours from Carolina Auto Supply, about 35-40 bucks each and tthey get frequent use and are replaced about every year or so.

spitz said:

Its said you shouldnt be jumping a vehicle with the donor's engine running as it "may" damage voltage sensitive circuits in the donor vehicles systems when the donee's engine starts... Runs the voltage reg. to the max to make up for the dead battery to compensate.. Never seen it happen yet but i don't want to be the statistic on that one.

twinbulls said:

I get the $50 jump box with air compressor at homedepot... works great !! and it last over a year .... I used to get the $200 boxes but when one of my guys lost it .. I feel $50 pain better.....
I do have jumper cables on all trucks dont remember when I used them last....
So far no one has lost the $50 box....and it paid for itself in about 3 days.....
I was just thinking of getting a few more for just incase.....And that little AC unit does better than I thought for pumping up tires....

Wreckerboy  said:

I bought a jump pack from NAPA for almost $600 and will start truck tractor diesels, no problem. Kind of expensive, but J. B. Hunt calls us for lots of jumps, makes it quick and easy.

MTA415 said:

that doesn't apply to all vehicles. the owners manual is instrumental in this situation...

MidwayTowing said:

have both

mine s the blue one with the 50.00 replacement coupon....forgot the name..

new cables.. ye sIve had to use em also..

annettemcd said:

On the cold, we usually keep the jumper packs in the shop and rotate them in and out of the trucks. They are fine in the trucks in the winter when the pack is plugged in and the APU and the cab heaters are operating. Almost all of our jobs are stand-alone (not combined with other jobs), so if it is a jump-start or a jump-start/possible tow, the driver can just grab a jumper pack or two out of the shop on their way.

We usually try to avoid providing jump starts at really cold temperatures, like 40 below, because usually a jump will not be able to start a cold vehicle at those temperatures and if the owner has been trying long enough to drain the battery and then waited until the next day or so to call us, the battery might well be frozen and may explode. It usually makes more sense to just wait until it warms up to try to start the vehicle or to tow it to some place where it can be warmed up.

hmc7533 said:

We had days last winter that the windchill was down to these temps I keep the jump pack inside the cab of the truck on the floor on the passenger side. .(Heat blows on them) I also keep the cables there during the winter. I have found that most people try over and over to get the car started cranking the juice right out of the cells. If the car has not been driven in days I use the cables. And let it charge up awile before even trying to start the car. if its been just a few hours I grab the jump pack first.

JIMTOWMANPA said:

kinda within this topic but does anybody remember those supposedly jump starters you would plug in the cigarette lighter supposed to start car ( i doubt they did) we dont do hardly any road service but alot of vehicles i go to tow if battery is dead its stuck in park i thought maybe those plug in the lighter things would be good to carry and easy to carry and just enough to activate the lock out if anyone knows what im talking about i looked on the internet cant find them

kstowman said:

we use the jump packs....had to replace the batteries in 2004, they are still going....the batteries cost about $50 if i remember right. we bought ours from the snap-on and mac tool companies.... for semi's, diesels, and bigger motor homes we use the good-all jump start units....they are the real deal....

kyresqtow said:

Jim most of the jump packs ( at least the ones I have bought) come with a plug to plug lead for just that type of ordeal.

kstowman said:

i haven't ever tried it for this application, we have a deal that hooks to a 9v battery that is supposed to help the vehicle's computer "remember" if you have the battery unhooked, it might provide just enough juice to get those pesky vehicles out of park as well.....i always just hook my pack directly to the battery or jump points to get them to neutral.....never have tried through the lighter.....

Muskegontowguy said:

AAA Mich sent out those Cig. lighter cords a few years back to power up Porsches so we could get the hood open to Jump as they have an Electric hood release

Matt Bartlett  said:

Cables??? What are those??? We use packs, but our service truck and Medium Duty have cables as well.
Matt

88towboy  said:

just wondering if anyone now's that if you leave thejump box on the vehicle for a couple ofminute after you start it it will charge your box back up completley I worked for aaa for a while and did this never once had to charge my box and I would use it every day all day just thought some of you might like to know if you cont use your box all the time then it might need charged once in a while you can also charge one quikley if you hook it to your own battery for a minute if it does seem to be down and you cant easily get to vehicle with cables.

Spitz said:

Keep in mind with long cables you losing a lot of power simply because they are so long, its like trying to push water through a 30ft hose, it takes pressure to get enough power there. Had one instance were my cables just wouldnt do the trick, the pack had no troubles however.

Pro Max Towing said:

The best performing jump box for the money on the market is the JNC660 it will jump start a dead big block. It has a one time $50 total replacement garranty, you can sweep up what is ever left, mail it in with $50 and WA LA in about a week to week and a half you have a new unit. Also comes with the double ended cig. lighter attachment. A few people have questioned what this cord is for.
Well it has several purposes :
1) You can plug it into your jump pack and the disabled vehicle to get it out of park
2) You can plug it into your tow truck and it will charge the pack(slowly) when truck is running
3) It will also power up the power releases on those porsche units.

John

94bigtow said:

Supertower said:

ricktowingvt said:

we are using the same three jump n carry packs we bought in the late 90s that we got from awdirect, WE have replace all the batteries once. interstate batteries stocks them and they are about $50.

@annettemcd @EdsTowing @JeffTow @paulie417 @silverhawk

@Spitz @MTA415 @Midway Towing @kstowman @Muskegontowguy

@Indy Matt @88towboy @Supertower @Jeff Poquette

Topic Originally Created by wheelertow in September of 2007:

got a call from the trucking company owner to use 'big rotator thing' to recover
his truck that was leaning real bad and about to roll over. His truck was 1 1/2 hour drive
away but he didn't want to use any of the local companies. So off i went. When I arrived
the driver didn't know what to do. He said maybe back it out. The winery owner was their
and said that we would need to bucket the grapes out or the truck would roll over when we moved it.
So I told them that this is what I do and that I would get it all out without and damage.
So I had to make it look good. ED

sorry no progress pictures they wanted the driveway opened

Wade200 said:

Nice use of all them winches. I bet that's hard to think about which lever to pull when there are four at once.

FLCOWBOYINIRAQ said:

awsome rigging job. those pics are worth a million that way if a cust. complains about the bill you can say look i saved your truck. lol thanks for sharring stay safe and keep the pics coming
john fenshaw

wstowing11 said:

Damn if that oil pan didn't scrape on the asphalt I would be amazed . Nice recovery , nice justification of all the winches !!

Jerrys Road Service said:

great rigging looks good to me.

Nick Ovenden said:

Looks good, nice use of the 4 winches

hpgtowing said:

Nicely rigged recovery... Stay well.. steve

danielswt said:

can you run all 4 winches at the same time under full power?

with my sp's only having duel stage pump if you use the side winches along with the main's they run at half speed/ power

Canadiantowman said:

nicely done, what kind of weight would be in that combo t&t

wheelertow said:

Yes i have full speed and power when using all 4. This truck has 2 big pumps on it.
The weight was 79,900 lbs

Topic Created by sweiljr in August of 2007:

The local pd called and said that they had a camper rolled over when we got there this is what we found. It was a lot easier with the tator than with two med duty's. Rolled it back on to wheels and then we loaded the whole thing onto the landholl because all the tires on the left side was blown out and the trailer axles were bent.

jhook5230  said:

very nice tator, what was the medium doing? taking the strain off the tator?????lol lol Those campers can so much fun especially when the decide to fall apart!

sweiljr said:

Big Wheel Recovery  said:

That is one aw some looking rotater love that color combination , and nice recovery guys. thanks eric

Topic Created by CMG Can Do said:

We had a call to attend a double truck RTC in the early hours of this morning, The T&T was a straight forward suspend tow but the 18ton Truck was a little bit more

Once we had removed all the debris with the Knuckle Crane the Rotator was rigged to lift the casualty up over the barrier and spin it round in the air, lower it down where upon it could be suspend towed away.

Once all loaded up we all went home, from start to finsh 2 hours to clear the road, well done Billy , Passy, Vince and Phill.

Unknown Member said:

just curious, how come you didn't use the second line on the tator? I would think that it would provide more stability and lifting strength, not that you had a problem. Just asking

Wessex1 said:

Mark
I bet your invoice doesn't show 2 hours start to finish.......... Or does it???? Glad to see you're still earning a fortune up in the north.
Paul

xcessiveforce52 said:

good job......as far as using just the one line, I would think it was so he could spin it and set it down directly behind him in one lane, just my opinion....

ELIMINATORII said:

Good opinion Jorge, my opinion on that would be the same , the load will spin were you want it to not were the lines take it.

wstowing11 said:

I would think your opinion is pretty darn right Mike ! I was going to give the same opinion ..

newtotow said:

Was going to ask about the line as well thank for the answer did any one see that there is hard hat storage places at the rear of the truck

Nick Ovenden said:

There's more and more UK posts here every day!!

Keep flying the flag boys, looking good.

I did notice the helmet storage by the way!!

Byron Coleman said:

Job well done Nick. It seems nrc tators are the unit of choice in your area is it due to their performance or the exchange rate from Canada?

Leigh Bowden said:

Hey Mark your helmet looks smooth matey. why put the wagon down backwards? and why your use the hiab for?

CMG Can Do said:

LEE, the hiab was used to re arrange the body and side as its quicker that the NRC, the reason it was put down back wards was because it had 2 flat tyres so it needed a RST
Mark

Leigh Bowden said:

Oh Would that be the Hiab your trying sell me? What would you do if you didnt have a tator

Topic Originally Create by Imslookingood in June of 2007:

We got dispatched by the wrecker company to respond and this is what we found.

IMS pumped off the fuel from the tanks.

Thanks to Ace Wrecker Service they were able to recover the rolls of alluminum

hookit2 said:

that is not the mayor. he wears penny loafers to wreck scenes just like important people!!!!

Thomas Simpson said:

sounds like somebody jealous.because he has been sitting behind a desk getting fat

get r towed said:

Nice recovery, Nice clean up. Was the trailer towable ? or did you have to haul on Landoll ?..............John

Imslookingood said:

Yes the trailer was towable.

Topic Created by Imslookingood in June of 2007:

We received a call from the turnpike to respond to a 150 gallon diesel spill at mm 274. Upon arrival this is what we found.

Johnson Wrecker Service worked this wreck.

IMS did photo documentation and covered the site after it was all said and done.

wm020494 said:

If that was an Open Roads Call they had their work cut out for them!! Looked like a good wreck to work.
Nick

Unknown Member said:

Clearing the road was the easy part and we are used to workin in the median but clean up was very entailed . I wish the original position and lane clearing was posted but MY hand are tied.

xcessiveforce52 said:

was the integrity of the unit so poor that you all just had to push it off the road????? just a question cause that is what it sounds like....

Byron Coleman said:

The unit was resting right side of trailer down and tractor upright facing south bound with trailer facing east ,trailer across median and southbound lanes tractor facing south in nb. left lane. Pulled the trailer from the rear towards the median while I sat in the median and pulled the tractor into median .Took longer to push off the crushed produce than move the unit.All outside wheels crushed from impact with bridge and all axles shifted on tractor.Fifth wheel plate and bulkhead of wagon including reefer pulled loose as well as all cross members for landing gear. Several feet of mangled doubled guardrail as well as lots of fuel soaked cabbage made for a real messy clean up.

 

Heavytowman12 said:

I have a question and a comment the question first. If that was what is called a RISK call. To get the bonus money do all pieces have to be removed in 90 minutes. Or do the travel lanes or a travel have to be open within the 90 minute time frame. The reason I ask is I went to seminar Friday where the speaker from what was called. The I95 Coalition was talking a little about the FL turnpike and mentioned your company Johnson's as one of the towers. He was not sure on the process for the bonus money.He also stated he thought the average time to cleanup a tractor trailer accident. Or something similar was 47 minutes. Sounded rather far fetched to me. Thought maybe you could give us some insight on average time to clean up a incident. Then to get the bonus money what is reguired . If you will if not I undersatnd. Now for the comment. Every job you guys have posted here Johnson's & IMS has been done in a professional manner. With quality equipment and personnel. Keep up the good work and stay safe!

 

imslookingood said:

To answer your question...You have 60 minutes to respond, You have 90 minutes to clear travel lanes. The Turnpike official is advised when your ready to start the clock. The average time with plenty of practice ,we have got it done to about 47 minutes....note...that means ....no one missing a beat .. to accomplish the job. Any other questions don't hesitate to ask. Thanks

 

 

Heavytowman12 said:

60 minutes to respond then 90 minutes to get the travel lanes open. So at least the travel lanes must be open in 90 minutes. That's not bad the one hour response time is kind of odd. But good though.
Thanks!

 

THE TOWBOSS said:

Classic carnage, love them jobs !! Send in the landoll's and the dumps or rolloff's.

 

 

Topic Created by MooreRD in June of 2007:

This accident involved two tractors and trailers. The one tractor cut the other tractor off the road to avoid hitting a stopped car along the intertstate and took the second tractor and trailer with the first. Well, well. Who gets out first? Actually due to the recovery of these vehicles, the second got winched out first. Both drivers were uninjured and it was an actual happy ending! (Including the recovery) Happy viewing! RD

wstowing11 said:

Just curious as to why the right rear outrigger is up off the ground, when the recovery boom is well into rotation, and it is rigged for action ?

John Scheidel said:

In defense of the leg in the air. We were setting up at the time. He would not let me do anything wrong.

MooreRD said:

At That time we were preparing to pull it out Not yet set up THANKS FOR NOTICING .

Topic Originally Created by CMG can do in June of 2007:

SORRY BOSS
THIS IS MY FIRST ATTEMPT IF IT WORKS ALL THANKS GO TO WESSEX1

Wessex1 said:

Mark
You just got to work on the text bit now...!!!
Glad to see you're busy at it still. That ash tree would take some hit to break it like that, the recycled Messerschmitt took a fair old beating though.
Nice job... Stat (-£) or owners request ££££££'s ?
Paul

Jerrys Road Service said:

Well at least his front window said "Caution" i guess that was ment for others to stay away from him LOL.nice tator

peelman said:

good job mark looks like our kind of work up here in jockland. see you have a new volvo on boniface web page looks the part.

CMG Can Do said:

thanks for the compiment with the new Volvo hopefully going on the road on Tuesday just come back from the tow show, now its graphiced i look the dogs bo********

Jordan Coopland said:

well done great pics. i like your truck and the colours they will be easy to to see at night .
From jordan
Be safe be cool

Topic originally created by Towman3167 in May of 2007:

A long time customer called and asked if i could meet him at this boat ramp because he had a problem and o bring you're big fishing pole. Ok. 40 mile drive and this is what i find.

This is a 32ft. glacier bay cat. He drove it on to the trailer and his son drove the truck up the ramp OPS. forgot to hook the winch strap to the boat and it slid 3/4 of the way of the trailer landing on the final drives and props. And of course a lot looki-loos pointing and laughing at him and his crew.

Underdog said:

That's definitely embarrassing! Nice job.
Stay safe, Rich.

Ed Barker said:

Now this is a prime example for all those "TATOR HATERS",,,,,,,look how hard that would have been with a stick boom or a mechanical??????,,,that truck made short work of that job,,,

Curt Sharp said: