1st tow of 2005

[mountainexplorer]

I made it one whole day in 2005 without towing something. Then my mom hit black ice this morning sending her Dakota into the ditch and taking out a light pole on the freeway.

No injuries, and not a whole lot of damage. By the time I got there, a tow truck had beat me, and even though I could have driven the thing out of the ditch, they had to by law hook up and pull it out and charge her $146 just for that.

She was shaken up and didnt feel like driving so I loaded it on the trailer and towed it home.

Hit the pole going backwards, damaged the tailgate and bumper, and the top of the cab where the pole fell on top of the truck.

I knew that cause it was new something would happen to it.

 

[eclipse]

Damn!! glad your mom is alright. You probably didn't figure you'd have that Dakota on your trailer

 

[mountainexplorer]

Wasn't expecting to have to do that. Again, back to my question... why do things always get damaged that I don't have spare parts for.

Guaranteed none of my rusty fender'd vehicles will ever get hit in an accident; because I have all the parts to fix any damage. I don't have 2004 Dakota spare parts around.

 

[Drey]

You might not but the Walmart parking lot does Glad you hear your moms ok

 

[JDBlazer454]

By the time I got there, a tow truck had beat me, and even though I could have driven the thing out of the ditch, they had to by law hook up and pull it out and charge her $146 just for that.

No by law they don't have to hook up, my husband drives tow truck, all you have to tell the tow truck driver is I can drive it out I don't need your service, Thank you have a nice day. Many times we have shown up on scene only to be told by the people that our service isn't needed. Also by WDOT towing prices it should have only been $137

Glad your mom is okay that can be a scary ride.

Our first tow of the new year consisted of a '02 Surburban with a drunk behind the wheel at 3 am crashing into a '03 Ford Ranger pushed it sideways into a '97 Ford F250 squishing the Ranger. The Burb driver was so drunk she didn't even know where she headed too, she blew a .24 and got a new pair of shiny bracelets and an oh so comfy ride in the back of a Crown Vic

 

[mountainexplorer]

You're exactly right... $136... plus $11.42 in tax came to $147.42.

She also got a ticket for "Unsafe lane travel and collision"... $153. Then they county is going to bill her for the light pole that got knocked over.

My mom asked the officer not to call a towing company cause I was on my way with the trailer, but he did anyway cause he said he had to. When I pulled up, they were already hooked up... as I was thinking, "they called a tow truck for that?" But it was too late. My mom said she told them not to, but they did anyway cause they said they had to. Who knows.

I'm still determined to start my own towing company and impound yard. Need to get a real tow truck first though.

 

[JDBlazer454]

Its expensive to start up a tow company. I am pretty first hand with everything that happens with the tow truck. Jeff works darn near round the clock some days, New Years Eve he worked non stop for 20 hours. It is alot of fun though I really enjoy getting the 911 dispatch calls that say we need you for a wreck and hop up and run out the door (you get only 20 minutes to show up). We have considered owning our own for awhile but its less stress driving someone else's truck. The insurance alone is double what our rent is a month


Good luck if you pursue it.

 

[diesel4me]

That sucks....

Glad to hear your mom is ok--as for the truck,well,its only murphy's law that the one you have no parts for,or is too new to figure out how to fix,will be the first one to break down,or get in an accident..I often drive my mothers caravan to bring her shopping,to the doctor,etc--seems every jerk in town tries their best to run me into the ditch,or make me nearly total it every time I'm in it--I wish they'ed try pulling some of their stunts on me while I'm in my own trucks(especially when I have the plow on!)--they seem to know I'm reluctant to wreck my 79 C10 too,I get a lot of road rage while I'm driving it--they dont usually pull too many "boners" when I'm in the 82 K20 with the plow on--they know better!...

Its true the more parts you have for a vehicle,the less likely it is anything will ever go south in it--I had several "spare" trucks just for parts,and ended up giving them to the next owner along with the "good" truck,with most if not all of the major drivetrain parts still intact and unmolested--and I had one "oddball" truck that NOBODY had any parts trucks for,and something seemed to break in that one every time I drove it--that "Murphy's law" really is a pain...

I would think long and hard about starting a towing business--I have a few friends that tow for a living,and they hate it--you are out in the worst weather posible,are always getting called out in the middle of the night(that does wonders for your love life! )and there are astronomical insurance costs and liability,not to mention a ramp truck costs 25 grand for a good,newer rig...and two guys I knew pretty well were killed on RT 495 last february,when one of the diesel ramp trucks gelled its fuel filter in the -10 degree cold,and the other guy went to retrive him with another wrecker--they were struck by a drunk driver,while they were standing between the two trucks,and the tow truck was pushed into the ramp truck,and they both were cut in half--I have a picture on my shops wall of over 300 tow and ramp trucks that held a memorial run on the same stretch of road...Its a hard,dangerous job--and you wont sleep well,knowing that phone might ring any second...

 

[mountainexplorer]

I figure that owning a tow company or being a driver would have huge insurance costs (what doesnt) and be really stressful being on call 24/7. Oh well, I'm not used to normal jobs anyway. Maybe I'll just open my own impound yard.

 

[diesel4me]

Impound yard a better job!

That is a good thought--the impound yards around here made lots of money--an insurance company often pays 20 bucks a day for outside storage and up to 100 a day for indoor secure storage!--my friend who runs a repair shop had a customer that got into a minor crash,and they towed the car to his shop(customer had private tow company tow it there)and after a week,the insurance adjuster finally came and looked at the car,and after he inspected it,he decided the car should be totaled,due to a bent undecarriage and much rust--my friend got over 100 bucks just for letting the car sit in his parking lot!--he started singing the Dire Straight's song "money for nothing" when the insurance guy left!--beats lifting tranny's over your head all day!

There is a guy I know who is a caretaker at one impound yard at a body shop--this place gets most of the police tows,usually either accident damaged cars,or cars impounded during a drug bust or arrest warrant violations--he gets 12 bucks an hour to watch the cars and trucks from a cozy little shack--even he admits to feeling like a theif when he gets his paycheck every week,compared to how much actual physical work he does--but sometimes he has to face an irate car owner,who was jailed,who wants his car back,or more likely,to get his "stash" of drugs or money hidden in the car before police get it and use it for evidence-
-one impound yard near me had this scenario happen once,and when the caretaker would not let the kid in the yard,or his car,he came back with a 5 gallon can of gas and torched his car,by pouring the gas over the fence onto his car--the entire repair shop burned to the ground,along with 30+ cars and trucks in the impound yard!--so I guess it not always a "gravy job",but I think its safer than being out on the highway at 3 am in a blizzard,trying to get a car on a ramp truck or wrecker...

This is one reason I'd like to own a salvage yard--the one for sale near me has a 150x52 ft quonset hut that could hold over 50 cars easy,maybe 100 if you park them all the right way(or if the cars are small ricers!)--at 50+ bucks a day for storage,it wouldnt take long for a nice profit to come in--or if you made it into a storage place for muscle cars and projects people dont have room for at home,you could be quite wealthy in not that long a time--and chances are many of the cars you got paid to store,will end up being written off,and guess who's junkyard will get first dibs?

 

[cbbr]

And if you had a yard, you wouldn't need wal mart for parts.

 

[afroman006]

My friend's dad was a farmer until a crop went bad and he went bankrupt. After that he opened a towing business, well two tecnically. Each business has one truck, that way they come up on the county's rotation of towtrucks twice as often. They specialize in offroad recovery and have a tractor just for that but their main source of income is the impound. The coolest thing is they get to keep cars after they've been left for like 90 days. They beat the everliving piss out of them and use them in demolition derbies and stuff. They had this one stickshift dodge minivan that would go anywhere the 4 wheelers would. They also ripped the camper part off a mini-winny (little winnabego thing with van front end) and burned the bitch. He seems happy with his job but then again it never gets that cold around here