What Did We Learn?

[EdsTowing]

We were talking at the shop the other day about local guys that do driveway plowing advertising on Facebook that "We now offer recovery service If you get stuck, give us a call." I'll admit it pisses me off when we loose a job because some scab is driving around the roads plucking cars out for $25.00...

 

 

Had a wreck yesterday at the bottom of a steep hill that has always been a hot spot for accidents & winch outs during storms.

 

 

When I got back to the shop, the owner told me he came over the hill and there was a Pick Up sitting in the middle of the lane. The guy was out soliciting another vehicle that slid off the road on the hill. The F150 had nowhere to go and couldn't stop so he ended up side swiping the other truck.

 

So I see later in the day, the same plow guy posts that he won't be able to plow anyone else because his truck got hit...

 

 

So my 1st thought was that his insurance can probably get themselves out of the claim because he was performing services for hire without the proper insurance. We have gotten beat buy wrecks where the driver was delivering pizzas or Uber/Lift drivers not insured. The shame is I told our customer with the F150 that he will probably be found At Fault due to the circumstances. Nobody was injured so typically the PD won't go in to an investigation. So I said that his insurance will certainly try to subrogate against the other vehicle involved but then he told me they both had Progressive...So I explained good luck...but I doubt anything will come of it. The Ford is certainly a total loss.

 

 

[EdsTowing]

Sorry, I meant to put this in the Wreck/Recovery forum...

[TowZone]

@EdsTowing you created the topic in the proper forum as there are no recovery pictures and it was primarily a tow from an accident scene.

 

Yeah, plow guys try to put up extra work, when in fact they would make more just staying on the plow jobs. Most seem to be contract anyway.

 

The best plow contracts I have seen seem to be HOA's. Bidding on commercial properties can be difficult when several companies are working to get the business. However, many do seem to use their landscapers who plow in the winter months. Back when I could have gotten into it the money was not good, the when I could the market was saturated. Now there seem to be fewer putting the plows on and the money has been up.

 

Still we generally do not get enough snow to justify the investment. Does anyone else on here plow in the winter months?

[dperone]

We get a couple jobs a winter they some dude in a pick up tries to "help"  get someone unstuck and makes the situation even worse. Usually turns what could've been a simple winch into a recovery, a tow, and a repair to fix whatever suspension component was bent to hell or removed via brute force.

[EdsTowing]

21 hours ago, TowZone said:

Does anyone else on here plow in the winter months?

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.

 

2 hours ago, dperone said:

We get a couple jobs a winter they some dude in a pick up tries to "help"  get someone unstuck and makes the situation even worse. Usually turns what could've been a simple winch into a recovery, a tow, and a repair to fix whatever suspension component was bent to hell or removed via brute force.

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?

[EdsTowing]

[EdsTowing]

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....

[Bushwacker]

Yeah Ed I see stuff like this all the time, not the plow because we never get snow but guys in trucks or even guys with car trailers advertising they will tow for $25 buck or so & I say go for it but when they tear up hell and don't have insurance you get what you paid for! I also have had the adjuster see a lift or uber sticker on a wreacked vehicle and start trying to deny the claim. Last wreck I had guy had a lift sticker on his jeep the adjuster started saying he wasn't covered and I told the adjuster I don't know if he does lift or not but I know he was alone when the accident happened so he paid the claim.

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