Seeking advice on night time PPI patrol towing, parking permit enforcement.

[JasonElyriaAuto]

I've been running a PPI program for the last year. We are in a semi rural area, so most of the impounds I have done so far are abandons. I got a call last week about a condo apartment complex that has an issue with limited parking, and people not on the leases living there (and therefore not having a parking pass). They want it enforced between 8pm and 8am. They are fine with us rolling through once or twice a week, and towing some out, just so there is some teeth to the parking permit rule. (I'm not big on doing patrol towing, however from this contract I got a much much bigger complex contract, call to tow out only, and I've already had one car out of there). We have one rollback, and one wrecker with dollies. My thought is to just walk through earlier, and inspect for permits and make a list of vehicles not having them, and the units they are in front of. Then later we know which ones to grab. My friend is a much better tow truck operator than I am at this point, so he will grab them and tow them out of the complex, and I will load two onto the rollback. As far as why we don't want to tow lots of cars out... Ohio regulated rates for PPI are lower than public rates for the same tow. Any advice from someone who does this, or has done this?

[Melville]

I used to do PPI towing and patrolled properties, but ,as you said  the rates for such work are not worth it, add to that the requirements you must meet according to the ordinance and the penalties (financial) for not meeting or allegedly not meeting I opted out.  add to that ,as you state, towing abandoned vehicles at your cost and storing them 60+ days at no cost it just doesn't make sense to me.

[JasonElyriaAuto]

The abandoned vehicles are where we make money. The least I've ever sold a running car for was $1200. Junkers I get at least $500. It's not like it costs us anything to store them until we can get title. The only ones that are not "profitable" are where they come and pick up the cars right away, which might be 10% of what we do.

[Melville]

it works for you then thats great. 

If you have figured out how to make money off abandoned vehicles then you have done what most towers cannot.

Abandoned vehicles take up time, space, resources and finances. It does cost to tow them, unless your or your employee work for free. It does cost you to store them, unless you don't pay property tax,  lot insurance, or  maintenance on the property . It does costs you to gain title, unless you have cracked the code to getting people to willfully and prudently give up title. It does cost to dispose of them, unless you relish the experience of towing the vehicle(again) to the scrap yard.

After all that, the few you can resale (avg $1200 as you state) it still costs to make keys, unless again the keys are lucky enough to be there.  and the time and energy and parts to get them clean, running well and advertised and dealing with buyers should also be taken into consideration.

PPIs and Abandoned vehicle are not worth the hassle, in my opinion.

[JasonElyriaAuto]

I didn't say a $1200 average. That is the LOWEST I've ever sold a running car for. That particular car was a rotted out Dodge Stratus with 250xxx miles. If you can't make money selling (relatively) free cars.....I don't know. The property taxes, insurance and maintenance is exactly the same cost with or without storing impounds. Hassle? I take people's cars. Hassle is kind of implied.

[yoBdaBenO]

While we do not do PPI's regularly we will take care of some of our business customers needs and we have gotten stuck with abandons. Luckily, it has not been as much of a hassle to dispose of them here. In fact, we get stuck with more wrecked vehicles that the insurance dumps on us. That is a bigger problem than the few PPI's we are stuck with each year and the PPI's pay better than the Police Tows. So, we see it as working itself out. But, yes I can relate to the land having a value regardless if something is occupying it or not. I just stopped trying to rationalize our business practice using that method alone after looking at space that had potential.

 

Is there a standard or a one size fits all in this industry?

[JasonElyriaAuto]

5 hours ago, yoBdaBenO said:

Everyone is different, they need to be. You do what you are best at. We had a fenced storage lot left over from an old police contract, full of random junk cars and tow trucks that had been taken off of the road 20+ years prior. I had done impound work for a neighbor's storage lot for years... I do not work for the tow company, I run the impound and split the proceeds with the tow company.

 

[Melville]

Well I stand corrected, if the least you have sold a running car for is $1200 ( for a rotted out quarter million mile dodge) then you missed your calling, you should be a used car salesman.

you headlined this post "seeking advice"  i expressed my opinion/advice,  I gave it even though it seems you dont really need it, your mind is made up, and rightfully so...if you are satisfied with your business model  then good for you, take on the apartment complexes ppi towing there is money to be made in it.

[JasonElyriaAuto]

I'm good at selling things.... A big part of it is pricing them right, then dealing with the 50 lowballers to get to a serious buyer. I make my (primary) living selling industrial surplus online, same thing, price it right.

 

The advice I was seeking was how to best go about it, not whether to do it.

 

I'm still waiting for the complex to get their sign posted (as they only want to tow vehicles at night, because many of the cars there during the day are home health care workers, etc).