American Towman Magazine - April 2012

Online Registration Open for Tow Expo Int'l in San Antonio at towshow.com/towexpo

Ready Ready to to expand expand your your business? business? Need Need more more capability capability in in your your recoveries? recoveries?

CENTURY CENTURY®® has has the the power power you you need need with with the the industry’s industry’s number number ONE ONE selling 60- 75-ton and 75-ton capacities. selling line line of of rotators rotators in in 30-, 40-, 40-, 60- and capacities.

But But CENTURY CENTURY®®knows knows you you need need more more versatility versatility in in your your rotator rotator beyond beyond tough tough recoveries, recoveries, so so we we design design and and build build our our rotators rotators using using components components fabricated fabricated with with high-tensile high-tensile steel steel for for maximum maximum strength strength without without excess excess weight weight that that decreases decreases your your towing towing capabilities. capabilities. Our Our lightweight lightweight aluminum aluminum body body design design provides provides ample ample storage storage for for both both your your towing towing and and recovery recovery equipment. equipment.

The Century 1130 (30-ton) rotator provides the versatility of a rotator for recovery applications with a weight-conscience design for increased towing payload.

The Century 1140 (40-ton) rotator fits most applications, with options such as a 2- or 3-stage recovery boom, dual 35,000-lb.

2-speed winches, LDU underlift and a combination of auxiliary winch and outrigger systems.

The Century 1060S (60-ton) provides 360-degree continuous boom rotation, a 3-stage recovery boom, optional turretmounted and deck-mounted winches, your choice of outrigger package, and the proven SDU-4 underlift.

8503 Hilltop Drive • Ooltewah, Tennessee 37363

www.millerind.com • 800-292-0330 Call your local Miller Industries distributor for more information.

Number 143 on Reader Card

To tackle your most difficult recovery jobs for heavy loads, rely on the brute strength of the Century 1075S (75-ton), equipped with a 3-stage recovery boom and available with up to 6 winches for a combined winching capacity of 234,000 lbs.

Number 218 on Reader Card

Buyers Report 2012 pages 35-44

FEATURE CONTENTS

18

Drive On or Winch It? Avoid damages and injury by always winching vehicles onto your flatbed carrier.

by Randall C. Resch

26

Stiff-Leg One Lane Upright This recovery from the Ohio Turnpike on a rainy afternoon was the 2011 light-duty Donnie winner.

by Paul Ghrist

46

Getting Paid for Recoveries

Departments

Know your costs and document your time and materials to combat agents who want you to cut your price.

by Richard Wolfe

Low Down . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6 News Share . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8 Road Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12

62

Beacons On! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14

The Tall Texan

AD Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16

Tommy Anderson is a longtime tower and helped found Southwest Tow Operators where he is the Executive Director.

Tow Americana . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32 Tow Boss . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50 On Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .70 Towman’s Market . . . . . . . . . . . .74 Adventures of A.T. . . . . . . . . . . . .77

Buyers talk about products and services in the Buyers Report. above, see page 37

68

UR @ Risk Save some headaches for your company by outlawing texting in your tow trucks.

by D.J. Harrington TOWMAN.COM - April 2012 • 5

The Real Grease

by Steve Calitri

T

he core of a towing business for much of the towing industry is the local police department and the town board. What the tower can charge for police mandated tows, for impound storage, and how often the tower gets the work, is all in the hands of the town, or, the proverbial City Hall. Red tape, personalities, grandstanding attitudes, cronyism, corruption, misperception, ignorance, and bias; all this and more the tower must cut through to get the work.

Generally speaking, across the country the tow rates prescribed by the town are at or higher than the average retail rate charged by towers in the local area.

So the work can be steady and profitable.

In a business with many market forces keeping tow rates depressed, “police towing” is looked upon as the prize.

So it’s a wonder that it’s taken so long for a conference to be engineered and focused 100% on towing for the police – the town. But in San Antonio, Texas this August 2–4, the industry’s first-ever Municipal Towing Conference will take place during Tow Expo Int’l. It’s been nicknamed the Muni-Tow Conference.

The breadth of this event is truly exciting in terms of the many and various revenue opportunities the conference expores, all tied into towing for the police. Three of these are worth mentioning here; Accident Remediation, Impound Auctions, and Ticket Scofflaws & Technology.

Across the U.S., enterprising towers have recognized a lucrative revenue opportunity in accident cleanup, an area usually thought of as expected custodial duty that came with no pay. One company, Amber Cleanup Service, an offshoot of Hampshire Towing in Massachusetts, thought outside the box and has realized a new profitable business that provides a needed service.

6 • April 2012 - TOWMAN.COM

Amber’s manager, John Borowski, will be giving two seminar sessions on how anyone towing for the police can get in on this action, and the effective way of getting paid by insurance companies.

These two sessions are a must for any tower in the U.S. currently towing for the police and dealing with accident tows.

Turning one’s impound lot into a gold mine is the subject of the seminar session conducted by Brandon Richard of Towlot.com. The online auction revolution for abandoned cars began in the Kansas City area, where over a dozen towers have realized that online auctions can be their most profitable business sector. It will be worth the trip for any tower who can auction off at least 100 cars a year. Pro-Tow of Overland, Kansas operates only five or six tow trucks, and their auctions through Towlot.com is now their bread and butter business. In San Antonio you’ll hear from Pro-Tow and others on how simple it is to make your yard a gold mine for your business.

Technology is turning the world of traffic control and ticket scofflaws on its head. Police have begun sending towers to tow cars of scofflaws at incredible volume. Towers need to be connected to today’s hi-tech world to be in on the action, and that’s the issue Todd Althouse of Beacon Software and NOPARK will address, giving you the skinny on how to quickly position your communication capabilities for this work.

I suppose the tow boss whose only way of keeping in good stead with the town is a little grease now and then, won’t even read this far down the page, let alone consider taking the trip to San Antonio this summer. But I know enough tow business owners to understand there are thousands who are progressive and ambitious minded enough to sniff a game changing opportunity.

Check out the Muni-Tow Conference at www.towshow.com/towexpo.

Publisher Dennie Ortiz Editor-In-Chief Steve Calitri Editor Brendan Dooley Operations Editor Randall Resch Field Editors Terry Abejuela Jim “Buck” Sorrenti Chassis Editor David Kolman Safety Editor Bill Simmons “On Screen” Editor Emily Oz Editorial Board Tommy Anderson; Dallas, Texas Roy Carlson; St. Paul, Minn.

Gary Coe; Portland, Ore. Belinda Harris; Greensboro, N.C. Amado Llorens; Hialeah, Fla. Ron Mislan; Warren, N.J. Chuck Swider; Chicopee, Mass.

Frank Sanchez; Bridgewater, N.J. Page Layout Artist Ann Marie Nitti Advertising Sales Dennie Ortiz Ellen Rosengart VP of Accounts Norma Calitri VP of Communications Neila Smith Subscription Manager Miriam Ortiz Customer Service Henri Calitri Tow Industry Week Media Director William Burwell American Towman TV Program Director Emily Oz American Towman Media Headquarters 7 West Street, Warwick, NY 10990 800-732-3869 or 845-986-4546 President Steve Calitri E-mail: Publisher: dortiz@towman.com Editor-In-Chief: scalitri@towman.com Editor: bdooley@towman.com AT’S Digital Edition: itowman.com AT’S Website: towman.com AT’S Weekly: towindustryweek.com ATTV: americantowmantv.com Copyright ©2012 American Towman Magazine is published 12 times a year by American Towman Media, Inc. Subscription: $50–1 yr; $95–2 yrs • US $65 and $105 • International Editorial Policy: the act of mailing or delivering a letter or article to American Towman Magazine, shall constitute permission to publish that letter or article or any portion thereof.

American Towman Magazine reserves the right to edit any and all material submitted.

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Auction Advertising Fine-Tuned by Towlot Towlot.com, the online auction service for tower’s impound yards, recently upgraded its internet advertising protocol targeting specific areas of a given auction.

“We have doubled and tripled the number of bidders on towlot.com auctions,” said Towlot.com President Brandon Richard. “And we are now able to create an instant bidder base in any area of the U.S., which means anyone doing a first auction on towlot.com is assured success.”

In the past, noted Richard, it could take two to three auctions before a strong bidder base was established in a new area. The new protocol eliminates the risk factor a tower would face in shifting his on-site auctions online.

Towlot.com’s history with regular users show a much higher dollar return since shifting their auctions online.

“Our upgraded method of promoting a coming auction draws several hundred to a thousand responses from potential bidders within a 90 mile radius of the tow yard,” said Richard.

Richard adds that the success of any given auction relies on certain factors within the tower’s control: showing several photos of a vehicle, including its interior, having keys on the nicer units, giving a fair mechanical evaluation, and putting at least 15 vehicles into an auction.

Truck Parade for Allen Rose With the trial over and a guilty verdict handed down against Detra Farries, the woman accused of dragging Colorado tow truck operator Allen Rose to his death, the friends, family and tow operators of the region gathered to honor his memory in February.

Almost two dozen tow trucks from nearly every company in the Colorado Springs area followed behind Rose’s widow, Renee Rose, as she led the parade from World Arena to the site of his memorial.

The tow truck procession followed along parts of the same route taken the day of the tragedy.

Source: www.kktv.com 8 • April 2012 - TOWMAN.COM

No Parking at Home Seven tow truck companies petitioned the Greeley (Colo.)

City Council to allow on-call drivers to park at their homes, but the council voted no in March.

Greeley’s city code limits the parking of oversized vehicles in residential areas.

Tow companies in Greeley usually respond to the scene within 20 to 30 minutes of a call, which has been acceptable, said a police spokesman. Of the tow

Intelligent Tires

requests solicited by the Greeley police, only about a third are for a car crash, while the rest are for things such as broken-down vehicles.

Greeley’s mayor said it would be difficult to make any change to city code a fair one, because each case is different based on the size of the driver’s residence and complaints coming from neighbors. Source: www.greeleytribune.com

Coming Soon

The Tire Technology International Awards for Innovation and Excellence were recently presented in Germany at the 12th annual Tire Technology Expo.

Bridgestone Corp. scooped the Tire Technology of the Year Award for its Contact Area Information Sensing system that can provide real-time road surface condition information to the driver by way of the tires. The technology classifies the current state of the road surface as dry, semi-dry, wet, slush, fresh snow, compact snow and ice. This information is then transmitted directly to the driver via an in-car display.

In other awards, the Manufacturer of the Year Award went to Michelin. The Tire Manufacturing Innovation Award went to Goodyear for its Retread Multipiece cushion.

... Calling for a national 'Move Over Law Awareness Week' ...

Students Charged with Killing Tower In an update since this first ran on Tow Industry Week, two high school students in Las Vegas, Nev., now have been charged with setting up, robbing and killing a tow operator in broad daylight.

Police believe one of the teens called Quick Response Auto Salvage, claiming he had two cars to sell. When David Zarza showed up for an arranged meeting, he was shot once in the back.

Investigators believe the motive in this murder was robbery. The high school students allegedly took Zarza’s iPhone and two company checks.

The suspects face charges of murder with a deadly weapon, robbery with a deadly weapon, conspiracy to commit murder and conspiracy to commit robbery. Source: www.ktnv.com

Towers Violate Bond Colorado tow-truck regulators moved to avoid a shutdown of 204 towing companies in March while the legislature sorted out the situation.

Regulators for the Public Utilities Commission were pressured to begin enforcing a $50,000 bond that the Legislature enacted in 2011. A bill to overturn the bond failed in the Senate Transportation Committee, and the commission sent letters to 261 towers who did not have the bond on file, telling them they must either post a bond or shut down and show up for a hearing.

By the time of the hearing, 204 companies still had not posted a bond. A new bill was set to be introduced that could do away with the bond entirely.

PUC staff members already have sent a letter telling companies without a bond to shut down. A judge was asked to dismiss the cases and the commission could send out another notice for a new hearing, but without the demand to shut down immediately.

Source: www.durangoherald.com

STO Works for ‘Move Over’ Week The Southwest Tow Operators, based in Richardson, Texas, have established a Move Over Law Awareness Committee to be chaired by Michelle Lopez of Fort Worth.

Lopez was part of a growing group that supported the inclusion of tow trucks into the Move Over Law and testified in support of the bill. Her brother, Adam Lopez, was fatally wounded by an inattentive driver while he was performing his duties along a public roadway.

“Many don’t know about this law, or the dangers in this industry,” Michelle The late Adam Lopez said. “We need to get the word out there.”

She is dedicated to preserving lives by bringing awareness of Move Over laws to the public. She is also active in assisting the families of those killed in the line of duty. She knows from personal experience that these losses affect families and friends for years.

Michelle is calling for a National “Move Over Law Awareness Week” that she will spearhead with other groups to create awareness with the public. It is scheduled to kick off the week of April 21.

For more information, email tom@swtowop.org.

Escondido to Review Tow Fees Responding to a civil-rights group's call for an independent audit of the city's checkpoint program, the Escondido, Calif., city manager ordered an internal review.

The ACLU of San Diego and Imperial Counties released a report suggesting Escondido might be illegally profiting from impounding vehicles.

"The city has made every effort to ensure the towing fees we established reflect our costs," wrote the city manager. "I have asked the Finance Department to conduct a review of our towing fees."

The ACLU's report said the total costs of towing vehicles have risen dramatically since 2004. The police chief said the report was biased and aimed at stopping the city's checkpoints.

Source: www.nctimes.com

TOWMAN.COM - April 2012 • 9

Number 185 on Reader Card

Dual-Winch Side-Puller Works Both Sides

Check Out What’s NEW and HOT! Steck Upgrades Tie Rod Coupler Steck Manufacturing Co. upgraded its Tie Rod Coupler, No. 71470, which allows towers and lot drivers to temporarily steer a damaged vehicle that suffered a broken tie rod as part of the collision damage. It’s now made from tough T6-grade aluminum coupler with dual I-bolt set screws. Tie Rod Coupler I-bolt set screws secure the coupler to the broken tie rod by hand tightening and/or locking down the set screws by using a small leverage bar.

www.steckmfg.com Number 200 on Reader Card

Access Creates Master Unlock Set The new Access Tools Super Pro Complete Set includes almost every car-opening tool available. The 55-piece set will open virtually any vehicle with ease. Using the included 2011-’12 Car Opening Manual, all basic opening procedures are outlined in detail to make lockouts quick and easy. An instructional DVD is also included with Follow-thePro step-by-step instructions. All of the tools feature a unique ToolID system to aid in locating the correct tool for the job. The set includes the two-piece Lightning Rod Long Reach tool and the Power Night Vision Light to perform night lockouts easily, the Remote Control Button Master tool for hard-to-grab buttons, and much more.

www.caropeningtools.com

W

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Puncture-Resistant Boots For Spring 2012 KEEN Utility expanded its offerings. The men’s Portland PR boots feature puncture-resistant midsole plates paired with lightweight asymmetrical aluminum toes for added protection. Waterproof full-grain leather is supple and flexible while 3M reflective piping adds additional safety visibility in low-light conditions.

The Portland PR boot also features an oil and slip-resistant non-marking rubber outsole and meets ANSI standards for electrical hazard protection from open circuits. The Portland PR boots are available in 6” and 8” styles in brown and black.

www.keenutility.com Number 202 on Reader Card

ith the objective of creating a safer, more versatile side-recovery device, Don and Donnie Roberts created a dual-winch version of the side-puller.

Available in 9,000-, 10,000- or 12,000-lbs. capacities, the new Dual-Tech design allows the operator to perform recovery work from either side without having to climb on and off the bed to constantly adjust the direction of pull.

This valuable feature enables towers in some markets to eliminate the need of having a second truck to stay on many rotations where a self-loader with a winch and boom are required.

Dual-Tech’s patent-pending side puller is offered with both air-release and manual-release versions, and is on a sturdier frame.

www.Dual-TechInc.com Number 203 on Reader Card

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TOWMAN.COM - April 2012 • 13

Staying Safe Starts with Attitude

by Terry Abejuela

T

he best tool that tow-truck operators have for their own personal safety while working alongside traffic is right between their ears.

Roadside safety is as much about knowledge and attitude as it is about available gear and equipment.

All the safety equipment and procedures in the world won’t help reduce roadside incidents unless they are used consistently by all of us. Safety is everyone’s responsibility.

Safety is, first and foremost, an attitude. In order for safety equipment and techniques to be effective, you have to do the job safely 100 percent of the time.

I find that many tow operators know how to do the job safely … but they just don’t do it on every call. If they feel there is a hazard, then they do the job more safely. When complacency kicks in, you become an accident waiting to happen.

When you are working with heavy equipment and/or operating near traffic, it’s never 100-percent safe. To be serious about your personal safety you must have the right attitude.

Train yourself to perform the job as safely as possible, every time, so that 14 • April 2012 - TOWMAN.COM

Reflective strips work best against light- and fluorescent-colored main fabrics.

Get to know the ANSI standards for working alongside the highway.

safety becomes the norm and not the exception. When you are prepared and follow all of the safety procedures, things can still happen. But you dramatically increase your chances of survival by always operating as safely as possible.

You can do the job for years with no incidents and drop your guard just once when something happens. All of a sudden you’re an example of what not to do.

Many of the safety guidelines we have in our industry come from past experiences. Plenty of tow operators have made mistakes and paid the price. We must learn from the mistakes of others or we are destined to repeat them.

Be Hi-Vis

From jagged edges and broken glass to general protection, there are plenty of reasons to use gloves on most every job.

Beyond attitude, there is lots of safety gear and apparel—some optional and some required—for towers to use on the roadside.

Operators must wear all safety apparel required by law when working on public and private roads and highways. Safety vests must meet American National Standards Institute Class II or III standards.

• ANSI Class II vests should be worn when working in areas where traffic speeds exceed 25 mph. Class II vests are required to have 215-sq.-in. of fluorescent background fabric and 155-sq.-in. of retro reflective material. Retro reflective materials reflect light back to the source,

e.g. when a car’s headlights hit the material, the light is reflected back at the car and driver.

• ANSI Class III vests should be worn when working in areas where the traffic speeds are in excess of 50 mph.

Class III vests are required to have 1,240sq.-in. of fluorescent background material and 310-sq.-in. of retro reflective material.

Rain gear and jackets should also help to make you visible to traffic. Fluorescent fabrics with retro reflective materials (supplemented by a safety vest if necessary) should make you conspicuous during the day, night and inclement weather.

Many tow companies prefer to use dark-colored uniforms to conceal oil or grease stains. Retro reflective stripes on dark uniforms can be effective, but would not meet the ANSI requirement.

An ANSI-approved vest would still need to be worn.

Safety Gear Being visible by the roadside is key to being safe; other job-specific safety gear includes a hard hat or bump cap,

gloves, work shoes or boots and safety glasses.

It’s common to carry a hard hat in medium- and heavy-duty tow vehicles, but I rarely see a light-duty driver equipped with one. Medium- and heavy-duty jobs are more likely to involve overhead lifting, but I still recommend light-duty operators carry and use a hard hat to prevent head injuries that can come out of nowhere. (A lightcolored hard hat can also be fitted with retro reflective stripes to increase your visibility.)

If you don’t like wearing a hard hat, another option is a bump cap. This can be a baseball hat-style cap that includes a plastic protective skull cap to protect you from minor head injuries.

Gloves are an important piece of safety apparel to carry. I recommend that you carry at least one pair of heavyduty work gloves, one pair of light-duty work gloves and a box of latex gloves.

Latex gloves work well when maximum dexterity is needed and you just need to keep you hands clean or when working an accident scene with blood present.

They can also be worn under normal

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work gloves for added protection. Some drivers even carry high-voltage gloves for jobs on hybrid or electric vehicles.

Work shoes or boots should have oil- and slip-resistant soles and a steel or composite toe. Slip, trip and fall hazards are abundant in our work environments and extremely hazardous near traffic.

Safety glasses should be worn when performing battery service, tire service, fuel service, mechanical first aid, towing and even just beside the road. All of these activities have potential for eye injuries.

Increase you chances of survival by placing the highest priority on your personal safety. In life, as in baseball, it’s the number of times you reach home safely that counts.

Terry Abejuela has 30 years of light-duty towing-and-recovery experience; he's also been a light-duty level 1 instructor for the California Tow Truck Association since 1998.

TOWMAN.COM - April 2012 • 15

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ADVERTISER ACTION

AD INDEX

Fax To: 888-847-6035 Page #

Access Tools Agero Akins Body & Carrier Sales ATTV AW Direct/Grainger B/A Products Bailey’s Towing Beacon Software Blades Tow Right Bulldog Towing Products Century

RS#

73 45, 79 71 72 22 55 56 20 23 52 2, 3

102 114 126 —— 209 108 107 136 216 138 143

Chevron, Inc. 69 Clean Planet 34 Columbus Truck & Equipment 76 Crouch’s Wrecker & Equip. Sales 31 Custer Products 66 DewEze Mfg. 58 Dynamic Towing Eq. & Mfg. 29 Equipment Sales & Service 65 Ford Commercial Truck 40, 41 Freightliner 4

154 134 105 177 128 147 165 150 176 218

Chester Point Programs

23

Gwinnett Place Wr. & Carr. Div 51

Hino Motor Sales USA, Inc. iFleetGPS Insurance Auto Auctions (IAA) Intek Truck Eq. Finance & Lease Integrated Veh & Equip. Leasing I Tow In, Inc. Jerr-Dan Corp.

Landoll Corp Lift & Tow Lodar/Skidmore

PAGE

57 32 16 28 34 76 80 58 23 76

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133

207

142 166 110 145 135 175 124 174 139 163

Page # Lynch Chicago 25 Matheny Motors Truck Co. 19 Matjack/International Wreckers 56 Muncie Power Products 67 National Automobile Club 66 New England Truckmaster 52 North American Bancard 7 Pierce Sales 34 Purpose Wrecker Sales 63 Ramsey Winch 31 Ram Trucks 10, 11 Recovery Billing Unlimited 52 Rontan Signals 32 Rush Towing Systems 17 Sovereign/Santander 55 Steck Mfg. Co., Inc. 32 Superior Signals 54 Transportation Info Sys. (TIS) 33 TomTom Works 64 Total Resource Auctions 53 Towing.com 46, 47 Towlot.com 48, 49 Tow Expo Int’l 59, 60, 61 TowMate 28 USAC/MD 65 Vulcan 21 Warn Industries 24 Western States Tow Show 24 Whelen Engineering 30 Will • Burt 15 Worldwide Equipment Sales 54 Zendex Tool Corp.

66

RS# 149 194 186 149 178 171 109 117 212 148 185 155 168 198 103 132 119 137 180 172 115 159 —— 191 190 143 120 153 113 169 151 181

April 2012 For more product info, go to www.towman.com and click on the FREE Product info icon.

Or circle the corresponding reader service number on the Action Card to the right, and send it in.

Form is valid for three months

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Drive ON or

Winch IT?

by Randall C. Resch

Here’s what the driver sees when seated behind the wheel.

Think Safety First When Loading Your Flatbed

A

Southern California tow operator had his knees snapped backwards when a vehicle let loose after he drove it onto a carrier’s tilted deck.

Although the vehicle was allegedly in gear with the emergency brake applied, it slid none-the-less, dragging the tower backwards. He narrowly escaped an early demise.

Driving a car onto a flatbed carrier is one technique I believe that leaves safety out of the process. The direct question is: “Is it safe to drive on or off a carrier’s deck without applying forward straps or safety chains to hold the vehicle while climbing in and out of the vehicle?”

continue to page 20

18 • April 2012 - TOWMAN.COM

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DRIVE ON OR WINCH IT? continued from page 18 it’s parked on a tilted metal deck (noting that flatbed carriers are in that 10to 13-degree range).

Bad News

This is the most dangerous position you can be in if the vehicle starts to roll or slide downward unexpectedly.

It’s during those few seconds, when no safety components are installed, and suddenly … the vehicle lets go, even when an e-brake is

applied or transmission is in gear.

Mechanically, neither the parking pawl nor parking brakes are guaranteed rated to hold a vehicle’s weight when

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20 • April 2012 - TOWMAN.COM

One tower told me, “I drive them on 90 percent of the time and set the ebrake (to make sure it holds).” The operable words being, “make sure it holds.” So, what are the odds of the ebrake letting go, the parking pawl stripping or the vehicle’s weight simply making it take a backwards slide on an oily deck?

Another tower said, “It all depends on the type of car, the problem, terrain and the weather. The majority I winch on and off so I can watch the ground clearance. Some I will drive on or off.”

While I know of no federal law that prohibits driving a vehicle on or off a tilted flatbed car carrier, industry standard techniques and new equipment training by manufacturers don’t advo-

continue to page 22

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DRIVE ON OR WINCH IT? continued from page 20

There’s no way to see if the vehicle’s front or rear valance or muffler is going to scrape when seated inside of the vehicle.

cate this method in new product manuals or safety tapes.

There are plenty of stories about flatbed loading gone wrong.

One tower got the shock of his life when he took the last safety strap off, all went bad and a truck started to slide down the carrier’s bed. When the back tires hit the blacktop, the truck popped out of gear, the front wheels turned and the truck rolled across the street and hit a parked car hard enough to push it up on the curb. If that wasn’t bad enough, the street was full of people who got to watch as he called the sheriff’s office who dispatched a patrol car for “a vehicle that had fallen off a flatbed.”

Another story reported to me, “One of our drivers had driven an F-250 onto the back of his truck at a roadblock. When unloading it, the parking pin broke; it rolled off the back of the truck, and into another car causing considerable damage to the other car already in the yard.”

Let’s ask owners whether or not they want their employees walking on a tilted carrier’s deck to avoid slip and fall, then ask if driving a vehicle on and off is considered an acceptable practice?

Bad Angles When seated behind the steering wheel, a tow operator can’t see the vehicle’s front end or rear tailpipes as they scrape and make contact with the carrier’s deck.

How can you assure damage-free towing if you’re driving the car on the flatbed this way?

Drivers have a multitude of reasons for loading by driving on or off. Some common reasons are: • “I hate to lie down in the dirt and get dirty. This way, I don’t get the interior of the car dirty and hear the owner complain.”

• “It’s the quickest way. I can do more jobs in one day driving on, rather than waiting for the winch.”

• “I see other driver’s doing it and it looks OK.” • “The guy who trained me showed me how to do this quickly.”

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• “The car hauler guys do it, so why can’t I?” • “If a car has a flat tire on the highway, I’ll drive it up the deck just to speed up the process and get me off the highway faster.”

There’s a bottom line here when choosing between speed and laziness over accuracy and safety when loading and unloading flatbed carriers. Should an incident result in a run-away vehicle and someone is injured or killed, three specific questions should be asked: • Is the perception of preventing vehicle damage more important to tow owners than protecting the safety of the motoring public?

• Is it prudent to park a vehicle on a tilted carrier’s deck, with no safety equipment to keep the vehicle from breaking away or sliding off the deck?

• Can a vehicle with a flat tire or one with perfect mechanics (e-brake and transmission) slide just the same?

continue to page 24

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TOWMAN.COM - April 2012 • 23

DRIVE ON continued from pg 23 I envision this run-away vehicle scenario in my mind and believe it to be the exact perception a judge and jury would see. A runaway car is uncontrollable and capable of great bodily injury or death.

So, the lawyer’s question could be: “Mr. Tower, did you take the necessary safety precautions to prevent the vehicle from running away?”

“I put the car in gear and set the e-brake; unfortunately, its mechanical state didn’t hold and resulted in carnage,” the tower replies.

There’s only one finding a judge and jury will return with: Accountable.

Not Me Number 153 on Reader Card

American Towman Magazine is on Facebook!

Get the scoop, interact with us and share your stories and photos!

24 • April 2012 - TOWMAN.COM

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For towers who’ve been doing this for years and maintain, “It’s never happened to me,” I liken to that of riding a motorcycle. I’ve been riding 40-plus years and have experienced three motorcycle accidents. I still ride. But, no matter how good a

continue to page 28

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2011 Hino Model 258LP, Hino Diesel-220HP, Auto, AR/AB, 19.5” AW, Hot Shift PTO, Vulcan 21.5 Ft. Alum.

LCG, Solid Rails, Std. Pylon, Galv. Sub-Frame, Std. “L” Arms, Mid-Deck Key Slots, Fed. LED Lightbar, 48” All Stainless Toolbox, U/L Work Lights. Stock #16973W

2011 Century 5130 (25-ton) 204” CB Aluminum Body with 7035 (35k) Underlift on *NEW* 2009 Freightliner Coronado, Black, DD Series 60-515HP, 18-Spd, 16k F/A, 40k Rear, 24.5” AW, Air Shift PTO, Dual 25k Winches, Tailboard Remote, Legend 72” LED Lightbar on Alum. Pylon, Hella Work Lights, Plus Many Other Features – Call for Details! Stock #7055W

2002 Chevrolet C-6500, Blue, 108” CA, Cat 3126, 7Speed, AB, Spring Susp, 22.5” SW, Elect. Shift, Century 614 (14-ton) Steel, Dual 15k Winches, Independent W/L with 6k “L” Arms & In-Cab Controls, (3) Sets of Forks, MX-7000 Lightbar, Simulators. Stock #7218W

2007 Ford F-650 Super Cab, Red, XLT, Cummins, Auto, AR/AB, 19.5” AW, Hot Shift PTO, Vulcan 21 Ft. Steel, Removable Rails, Std. Pylon, Std. “L” Arms, Code 3 Lightbar, 48” Steel Toolbox with S/S Door, U/L Work Lights. Stock #7229W

2012 International 4300-EC, White, 31k GVW, MaxxForce 9-330HP, Allison 3000 RDS, AR/AB, 22.5” AW, Hot Shift PTO, Vulcan V-30 (16-ton), 120” CA Alum. Body, 12k Underlift with Tailboard and In-Cab Controls, Heavy Pylon with Wings, Whelen LED Lightbars, Hella Work Lights and Much More – Call for Additional Information. Stock #3021C

2011 Century 1140 (40-ton) Aluminum Rotator on *NEW* 2009 Freightliner Coronado, DD Series 60-515HP, 18-Spd, 238” CB, 16k F/A, 40k Rear, 18k Non-Steer Pusher, 3-Stage Boom, SDU/4 35k Underlift, 4-Stage Rear Outriggers, HUSCO Controls, Proportional Controls, Too Many Features/Options to List – Call for Details! Stock #7054W

2012 Vulcan 19.5 Ft. Steel, Solid Rails, Std. Pylon, Std. “L” Arms, Rontan LED Lightbar, 48” All Stainless Toolbox, U/L Work Lights on Ford F-550, Red, V-10 Gas, Auto, Deweeze Clutch Pump, Simulators. Stock #17326W. Alum. & Steel Beds in Stock and Ready for Build!

2012 International 4400, Red, 31k GVW, MaxxForce 9-330HP, Allison 3000 RDS, AR/AB, 22.5” AW, Hot Shift, Century 3212-CX2 (16-ton) 138” CA Alum. Body, 12k Underlift with Tailboard and In-Cab Controls, Alum. Pylon, Whelen LED Lightbar, Hella Work Lights. Many Other Features – Call for Details! Stock #3020C

2007 Ford F-550, Red, 4x4, 84” CA, XLT, Diesel, Auto, Clutch Pump, Jerr Dan MPL-40 Aluminum Self-Loader, Dual 8k Winches, Tow Sling, In-Cab Remote, Dual Exterior Controls, Fed. Solaris LED Lightbar, Jump Start Kit, Work Lights, Simulators. Stock #1818U

2011 Dodge 5500-CC, Red, SLT, Diesel, Auto, Deweeze Clutch Pump, Vulcan 807 Alum Self-Loader, 16k Retractable Boom, Dual 8k Winches, Federal LED Lightbar on Alum. Pylon, In-Cab Remote with Dual Exterior Controls, Work Lights, Simulators. Stock #2944C

2011 GMC 3500HD Crew Cab, Red, 4x4, Duramax Diesel-335HP, Allison Auto, 17” AW, Deweeze Clutch Pump, Vulcan 810 Composite, 8k Winch, In-Cab Remote, Alum. Pylon, Rontan LED Lightbar, Lower Work Lights. Stock #16980W

% !

2008 Kenworth T-300, Black/Red, PACCAR PX6-260HP, Auto, AR/AB, 22.5” AW, Hot Shift PTO, Century 21 Ft Alum, Solid Rails, Std. Pylon, Galv. Sub-Frame, Pivoting “L” Arms, Key Slot Pkg, Fed. Legend LED Lightbar, (4) Alum. Toolboxes, U/L Work Lights and Plenty More.

Stock #1811U

Number 149 on Reader Card

**NEW** 2009 Freightliner Coronado, White, 55,600 GVW, DD-Series 60-515HP, 18-Speed, Air Shift PTO, Loaded Interior, Century 7035 (35-ton) 204” CB Alum. Body, 35k Low-Rider Underlift, Dual 35k Winches, Crossover Tunnel Box, Tailboard Underlift Panel, Wireless Remote, Many Other Features – Call for Details! Stock #2967C

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At the scene for a flipped SUV, Paul Ghrist surveyed the casualty and collected the driver’s belongings.

Ghrist decided to do a stiff-leg upright of the Chevy Blazer.

Stiff-Leg One-Lane

Upright

by Paul Ghrist Jeswald Auto and Truck Service; Youngstown, Ohio

2011 Donnie Cruse Memorial Recovery Award for Light-Duty

The Donnie* is co-sponsored

by Miller Industries and B/A Products

26 • April 2012 - TOWMAN.COM

*The Donnie Cruse Memorial Recovery Award is presented by American Towman Magazine and WreckMaster.

I

had just completed one call when another came in for a passenger vehicle on its roof blocking the left lane of the Ohio Turnpike.

Knowing that I was probably the closest to that area, I called dispatch and assigned the call to myself. I thought that it might be an opportunity to use some of the WreckMaster recovery skills I’ve learned in training classes.

As I turned onto the Interstate onramp, I wondered what the accident scene would look like. It seems like with every recovery, you find yourself wondering what it’ll be like … and it never seems to be anything like you pictured.

At 2:47 p.m., I was on-scene and traffic was not a major problem. Law enforcement had one lane already blocked—the same lane I needed to complete the vehicle upright. While the trooper was taking pictures and measurements of the accident scene, I was conducting my own scene survey and calculating the total resistance

of the lift. At the same time, I was gathering up the driver’s personal belongings that had come out of the back window when the vehicle flipped onto its roof. After moving the debris to the shoulder, I decided to upright the vehicle from where it was resting and not block any more of the roadway than needed.

I went to my wrecker, got my rollover stiff leg and a 3/8” G-8 recovery chain. While I was attaching my chain to the front and to the rear, I was going through the weight of the vehicle and the resistance I had to overcome. I knew the curb weight of the Chevy Blazer was approximately 4,500 lbs. and that I would only be dealing with about half that amount. I knew for sure that my wire rope would be within its load ratings and that my wrecker would sit still … even on the wet roadway.

By the time I was ready to rig, the EMTs were gone and police had setup flares around the one lane I would be working in. I felt fairly secure with my recovery upright, and kept an eye on the traffic while I worked. I knew I was going to need a low pull to force the vehicle to rotate on its own axis— even with the rollover stiff-leg in place. I attached a 4-ton snatch block to a low point on the rear of my wrecker. Then, moving as quickly as possible, I placed my winch in freewheel and fed out enough wire rope to pass through my snatch block and attach to my recovery chain.

Returning to my truck, I engaged the PTO, took my winch out of freewheel and took up slack. I made one more check of my rigging and began to upright the vehicle to its side. Once on its side, I removed the stiff leg and reattached the wire rope to the vehicle. I continued the recovery of the vehicle to its wheels, when it became apparent I would need my tow dollies to get the SUV towed to our storage yard. Once the dollies were installed, I moved my wrecker to the side of the roadway and began cleaning up the debris at the scene before towing the Chevy off the turnpike.

Once on its side, Ghrist removed the stiff leg and re-rigged the wire rope.

With the stiff leg removed, Ghrist pulled the Chevy Blazer onto its wheels.

Paul Ghrist

Ghrist used dollies to tow the SUV to the storage yard.

TOWMAN.COM - April 2012 • 27

DRIVE ON continued from pg 24 rider you are and how fast your instincts might be, you are always at risk. The little rider on my shoulder always reminds me, “It’s not if you have an accident, it’s simply a matter of when.”

Why, then, would you not try for ultimate safety whenever it is in your control? This industry is inherently dangerous. Drive-on/drive-off loading techniques ignore the element of operator safety, and, more significantly, overall safety.

As the company’s business owner, do you instruct your flatbed operators to conduct load/off-load techniques that are considered extremely dangerous? When you participated in a tow operator safety course, did any instructors demonstrate this technique, saying it was safe and acceptable to do so?

Some towers justify their drive on/off technique as no different than if the cable breaks or the winch lets go. Either way, the vehicle’s still

continue to page 30 Number 145 on Reader Card

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Number 191 on Reader Card

Number 165 on Reader Card

DRIVE ON continued from pg 28

The most common cause of runaway vehicles is when they slide on a wet or oily deck surface.

going to be a runaway. While the sentiment is accurate as to a runaway vehicle, by winch loading/off-loading, at least something was done in good faith to ensure best possible safety practices, instead of nothing.

Something vs. nothing is a huge difference.

Training Your Employee Handbook should prohibit drive-on/drive-off loading. Every vehicle should be winched-on and winched-off in the manner specified by the manufacturer whose policy directly mandates, “Winch-on, winch-off REQUIRED.”

“It’s not if you have an accident, it’s simply a matter of when.”

For tow business owners who can’t monitor their drivers’ every move, consistent reminders that prohibit this technique are in order and should be equally enforced. This is one topic that should be addressed at monthly safety meetings.

“If it’s considered OK to drive-on and drive-off, why do carriers have a winch mounted atop its superstructure?”

Reality says that some experienced flatbed operators will continue drive-on/drive-off operations and thumb their noses at fate. So, think about this: If a runaway vehicle has never happened to you … yet, what are the odds it never will?

Randall C. Resch is a retired California police officer and has been in the towing and recovery industry for 40 years as a tow business owner, manager, consultant and lightduty trainer. Email Randy at rreschran@aol.com.

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TOWMAN.COM - April 2012 • 31

Child Was an Innovator

Number 166 on Reader Card

Number 132 on Reader Card

32 • April 2012 - TOWMAN.COM

Y

ou never know when you’re going to get a call, a text or maybe an email with the subject line “sad news” or “bad news” that someone close to you died. The world seems to stop. It happens to us all and, unfortunately, the older we get the more frequent those calls come.

Such was the case in January when I received the call that my good friend Frank Child had passed away. I was in shock. I spoke with Frank on a weekly basis for the better part of the past 12 years. The loss I feel is for an extraordinary man who was an advisor, resource, mentor and dear friend.

The towing industry lost one of its most creative minds.

Frank was the owner and driving force of Child Towing & Recovery in Cody, Wyo. He died on Jan. 24.

Frank was born in Minneapolis, Minn., on Dec. 16, 1937.

He began towing when he was 13, where he started out with a horse and rope until he graduated to a ‘42 Olds with a wooden push bumper and a Manley hand crank boom in the trunk.

He became a biomedical engineer in Minneapolis and had more than 350 patents to his name. One of the most famous was the artificial heart valve for which he was considered for a Nobel Prize nomination. Frank married Inga Johnson on Feb. 28, 1964, and they moved their family to Cody in 1981 after they fell in love with the area while visiting for business reasons.

After moving to Cody, Frank recognized a need for a company to handle the towing and recovery work in the state’s rugged topography and he returned to the towing industry. Since then, he created one of the state’s most prominent wrecker business: F.W. Child Towing & Recovery. For

by Jim “Buck” Sorrenti

Two classics: Frank Child and his Holmes 650.

more than 30 years, he built his own specialized equipment to fit the recovery needs of Wyoming and Montana.

In Cody, he continued inventing and created several lockout tools and was the inventor of the Big Easy and Air Wedge Lockout tools manufactured by Steck Manufacturing, as well as numerous other products for towing Frank with his dog, Hootie, and recovery. He also invented surrounded by his many tools and equipment used by awards, notes, photos and search and rescue, and even inventions in progress. Hootie invented a bear repellent to was his yard and office deter grizzlies. companion.

I had the good fortune to visit with Frank a few years ago. Upon entering his office, Frank, always the joker, warned, “Watch out for the guard dog.” Hootie was a sweet Springer and Brittany spaniel mix that Frank rescued from the shelter. His office was an organized chaos of tools, safety gear, gadgets, and many, many notes and doodles of ideas.

To Frank recoveries were problems to be solved with creative solutions. In an industry full of characters, Frank stood out as an inventive, creative genius that I am proud to call friend. He influenced and inspired many. Frank was an out-spoken freethinking rugged individualist who epitomized the essence of Wyoming spirit. He is gone, but his legacy lives on.

Number 137 on Reader Card

Visit our Booth 837 at the Florida Tow Show!

Number 168 on Reader Card

TOWMAN.COM - April 2012 • 33

Number 117 on Reader Card

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34 • April 2012 - TOWMAN.COM

Number 134 on Reader Card

THE

BUYERS REPORT

What The Users Say

Reports on products of participating advertisers

Access Tools for Fewer Complaints “We run in 15 states now and only use Access Tools because they give you what you need to unlock 99 percent of all vehicles. There’s no need to look elsewhere for price, durability or anything else. Their long-reach tools are coated and don’t scratch cars, which means fewer complaints. There’s just no need to go anywhere else because they offer pretty much everything we need.”

Doug Bayer, Bayer Road Service; Chicago, Ill. see ad on page 73

Agero, Beacon Funding Make Process Easy “We tried other financers in the past, but they were difficult to work with.

I found Beacon Funding through the Agero Provider Perks program and they made the process very easy. After filling out an application, I was quickly contacted by a Beacon Funding representative, Nick. He walked me through terms (which were very agreeable) and helped me seal the deal on my new truck. The whole thing came together very quickly and Nick had great customer service skills. Based on my experience, I would highly recommend Beacon Funding to any other Agero service provider.”

Matthew Monarchie, Tow Boss Towing & Recovery, Hopewell Junction, N.Y. see ad on page 45, 79

AW Direct Is a One-Stop Shop “We order twice a week from AW Direct and usually get orders the next day. They ship it right out. Any problems, like breaks, the product is not what you expected or anything else, they give you credit, fix it or send a replacement right out. We’ve been working with them for 12 years because they’ve got about everything we need. It’s a real one-stop shop.”

Doug Adams, Adams Towing; Burlington, N.C. see ad on page 22

B/A Products Carries Good Brands “I’ve bought chain, wire rope, synthetic rope, snatch blocks, and just about any rigging gear I need from B/A Products. They treat me like gold. … I’ve never had any problems with their products, the lines they carry are very good brands. The things they make in-house all work as they’re supposed to. For the fire department, we have some special design needs that their fabricators can make for us. It’s been a very enjoyable experience to build a good relationship with them beyond that of buyer-customer.”

Mike Green, Mid-Atlantic Technical Rescue; New Windsor, Md. see ad on page 55

Bailey’s Towing Accessories Scotch-and-Snatch Blocks Are Perfect “We were looking for a set of their Scotch-and-Snatch blocks for our offroad recovery unit, and when we found some they worked awesomely.

They fold up and fit in the boxes and work perfectly. We were so impressed we bought another set for a medium-duty wrecker. They do exactly what they said they would do. … As rough as we’ve been with them, we haven’t been able to bend or break them.”

Michael Estrada, Haines Wrecker; Elk City, Okla. see ad on page 56 TOWMAN.COM - April 2012 • 35

Beacon Software Saved a Ton of Money “We use all of the Beacon Systems available to us. … Because of the Beacon System and its integration to other software and hardware devices, we have been able to cut our personnel and number of vehicles considerably and actually produce a better ETA with a higher call volume. This system has saved us a ton of money over the years. … [It’s easier] to train a dispatcher unfamiliar with our area through tracking and mapping and dispatching the correct information to a computerized driver with the proper amount of money due. … Motor clubs have become a breeze through the digital dispatching. … The driver side has been simplified so they have basically no paperwork. … As an owner of a towing company this software tool has allowed me to spend a lot more time developing many other avenues of profitability.”

Bud Gruber, Bald Eagle Towing; Naples, Fla. see ad on page 20

Blades Tow Right Lights Are No Problem “A few months ago I bought eight of the wireless tow lights. Keith treated me really good, and we haven’t had problems with the lights. One of the trucks got hit by lightning, and it melted the circuit board of the light. I sent it back and they were good about fixing that. I’ve been very happy with them from day one.”

Steve Bell, Rideout Service Center; Henderson, Ky. See ad on page 23

Bulldog Towing Products Cycle Transporter Gets Customers “We’ve had one Cycle Transporter for a year, and we’re getting another one. It works perfect. It’s nice and solid. All you do is put on the legs and it’s ready to go. … This one is thick steel, we’ve had huge Harleys on it. We just have one now and keep it at the shop and put it on any truck that gets a motorcycle call. Now we’re going to buy one for each truck. … We put pictures of the transporter on our website and some customers see it there first and then they call us.”

Ken Ross, SCR Towing; Aurora, Ill. See ad on page 52

Century Is ‘Cadillac’ of Tow Trucks “I’ve been buying Century wreckers for the last 20 years.

They’ve always been supreme. They are the Cadillac of the towing industry. The technology and the workmanship that goes into Century is tops. We have about 15 trucks, light duty to heavy duty and rotators, and I put them through a lot of abuse and they always stand up.”

Scott Mullen, Moon’s Towing; Jefferson, La. See ad on page 2,3

Chester Point Programs Works with Towers “Chester Point is a breath of fresh air. They want to learn about the industry and learn about what they’re selling. … They came in and talked with me about business and to see what I need and don’t need—they spent about 5 hours working with me to get to know what I really needed. They made sure I had enough insurance for heavy-duty work, and the highend cars I move. I’ve watched them at tow shows walking around and not selling, but learning about towing. They want to be a part of industry, not just sell to the industry.”

Thomas ‘Bear’ Murphy, Murphy’s Towing; Rahway, N.J. See ad on page 23

36 • April 2012 - TOWMAN.COM

Chevron Bridges Small to Medium Gap “I love my Chevron. It fits everything I needed it to do in my business. I’m a small fleet (I also have a Century rollback) and I wanted a small medium-duty unit with an integrated boom. It looks good and has plenty of storage space. I didn’t want a steel body, and this fit the bill with the tougher composite and aluminum mixed body. I bought it in December and have used it a lot. I’ve towed road tractors with it, and a lot of construction equipment, but I can also tow cars with it and that’s what I really needed—a truck that could do both.”

Gary Lunceford, G&L Towing; Fredericksburg, Va. See ad on page 69

Clean Planet Enterprises Absorbent Gets More “Their granular absorbent works fantastic. There’s no other product we’re using in Hawaii that can pickup the spills like that. Basically how it absorbs petroleum stains and the safety factor behind it is important to customers using it. We use it all the time. The end result of what you can soak up is much better than other products. It definitely absorbs more.”

Frankie Rife, FHR Services; Ewa Beach, Hawaii See ad on page 34

Columbus Truck/Marietta Mack Takes Care of You “They take very good care of us as customers. We’ve been using them about three years, and purchased about 5-6 trucks with them. When you call them, they call you right back. We haven’t had any problems with Jerr-Dan. Dave takes good care of us. If it’s morning, noon or night, weekday or weekend, they’ll take care of anything. Even on a Sunday morning, you will get a response, from mechanical to just checking in on a due date for a truck.”

Chad Coulson, Bill’s Towing and Auto Repair; Bridgeport, Ohio See ad on page 76

Crouch’s Wrecker & Equipment Sales Worth Every Penny “I’ve been dealing with Bob Crouch for about 13 years. I bought my first two trucks from another dealer and it was OK. I bought next from Crouch, and haven’t bought from another dealer since. The service, friendliness and service after the sale is worth every penny I’ve ever spent there. If I have an issue, it’s not really an issue, whether under warranty or not. They find someone to fix my problem. … I had a rollback burn to the ground that was under 25,000 miles. It wasn’t Crouch’s fault, but I was out a truck that runs 24/7 with two drivers who need a paycheck. … Bob Crouch had a truck assembled in five days, sitting in my driveway and never asked how I was going to pay for it. … I get the best service I’ve ever had. It’s more than a sale, it’s a relationship.”

Rob McDonald, Foothills Wrecker Service; Marysville, Tenn.

See ad on page 31

Custer Products Quality is Tops “They’re great people. I get along really well with them, and have done business with them for years. They’ve got good products and get them out to you quickly. They stand behind them. The quality of the lights is as good as it gets.”

Randy Hofer, Ace Towing Equipment; Sioux Falls, S.D. See ad on page 66

DewEze Gets It Right “The basic thing with DewEze is the installation is very simple with good instructions.

They stand behind the clutch-pump kits and do a phenomenal job of backing it up and getting it right, and that’s the nice thing about using their products. I’ve been using them for 10 years and they work to get it right and not leave you hanging. … I had an issue with a customer in Ohio on a water pump, and they had parts out to them the next day to get it fixed and get him back on the road.”

David DeGrave, Lynch Truck Center; Waterford, Wis. See ad on page 58

TOWMAN.COM - April 2012 • 37

Dynamic Stands Out “We’ve been purchasing Dynamic products for the last 15 years, pretty much all the equipment we have. … It’s not only a great truck, but No. 1 is the people there, their professionalism and level of customer service. Our most recent delivery was a 2012 Dodge with 801B wrecker. It is more of a show truck, all dressed up, and the nicest truck I’ve bought. I needed a truck quickly and they had that one available and his people drove the truck from Virginia up to me in New Jersey ahead of schedule. … As an owner, what’s important is what happens 2-3 years after the purchase and you need service or a part; that’s when Dynamic stands out. … I’ve sold trucks with 300,000 to 400,0000 miles on them and the back is worth every bit of what I paid for it.”

Max Pineiro, Elite Collateral Recovery; Elizabeth, N.J. See ad on page 29

Equipment Sales & Service Goes Above and Beyond “They’re top notch in New Jersey without a doubt. I’ve been using them for 14 or 15 years with no problems. Call them once and they take care of what you need. You don’t have to call back. They’ll bend over backwards for you. I’ve got about 15-16 trucks altogether, and they always treated us right and took care of us. The service is without a doubt No. 1 above and beyond some others we’ve tried.”

Ken Mandy, Mandy’s Service Center; Edison, N.J. See ad on page 65

I Tow In Inc. Skates Are Excellent “I like the Control Arm Skate, it works pretty good and got me out of some jams with vehicles where a wheel’s ripped off and other stuff. I’ve used the skate frequently since I bought it last fall. It’s a lot better than just using a piece of wood like I used to do. Rodney and his wife Vickie are the nicest people in the world. The Control Arm Skates are excellent and do exactly what they’re supposed to do.”

Andrew Williams, VJ’s Towing; Perrysburg, Ohio See ad on page 76

Insurance Auto Auctions Gets More Money “I sell cars through them and they’ve become a very valued asset to my company. We get top dollar. … I’ve been working through them for three years now. A lot of times they get more than retail for my cars. They sell worldwide and we’ve done very well with them. The junk cars, we sell there instead of the scrap yard. They send the checks very quick, in a couple of days, so I don’t have to worry about my money.

Stan Forron, Elite Auto Center of Gainesville; Gainesville, Fla. See ad on page 16

Integrated Vehicle Leasing Works Quickly “I’ve been using Mitch for probably 20 years. They do what they say they’ll do; they’re fast and you have more than a business relationship, he becomes your friend. We call just to talk, nothing to do with business. He works quickly, any time you call. He got me a loan and I went to the dealer to pick up a tow truck, my wife wanted a Hummer she saw on the lot and I picked up the phone, called Mitch, and 30 minutes later she drove that Hummer out of there.”

Michael Burth Sr., Mike’s Auto Repair; Rome, N.Y.

See ad on page 34 38 • April 2012 - TOWMAN.COM

Intek Truck/Equipment Leasing Works Close with You “I’ve been working with Intek for two years. They are very helpful in how they do everything. We’ve developed a relationship, and it takes just one phone call to setup to get new equipment. I stay in contact because we do a lot of referrals, back and forth. I’ve developed a close friendship, where I give them leads and they give me leads.”

Dennis Chamberlain, Washington Collision Center; Washington, N.J. See ad on page 28

Jerr-Dan Excels at Innovation “From light duty to heavy duty, Jerr-Dan is the only product we buy now. We have just about every one of their beds in our fleet of 24 trucks. … They are very reliable, dependable and easy to maintain. If there is an issue, which is not very often, Jerr-Dan takes care of it. This year I bought a 16-ton ‘light’ heavy-duty truck we use for towing school buses and the like with the integrated wheel lift. … They’ve done a great job of taking care of us. Jerr-Dan excels with innovation in new ways. We can approach anything that needs to be towed.

Gary McClung, Midway Wrecker Service, Kerrville, Texas See ad on page 80

Landoll Trailers Are Best on Market “I have three 440 trailers. They’re great. For what we do, they’re the best on the market. I have 440s for moving equipment and we also have a Landoll bus trailer and container trailer. … I had one cylinder that was bad in a unit. I called them and they shipped a new one out the next day. They always return calls if they’re not there, and they are happy to answer your questions. … I’ve been using Landoll trailers for 30 years.”

Gary Hickok, Gary’s Garage, Albany N.Y. See ad on page 58

Lift and Tow Is a Workhorse “I’ve used Lift and Tow about 6 years now. I have the Five Series on a 2007 Chevy Silverado 2500.

The Five Series is a workhorse that does what you need it to do. It’s strong, it’s light and it doesn’t take up any space in the bed. It’s a great unit that installed in a day and never let me down.”

Charlie Guardino, Charlie’s 24-hour Towing & Recovery; Westbury, N.Y. See ad on page 23

Lodar Never Disappoints “I just bought a replacement remote the other day … it’s nice that the remotes are cheap if you lose one. The people are super nice to work with and made sure everything was functional before I left with the replacement remote. I have Lodar on my NRC and one on my Trail-Eze trailer. They are user-friendly to where anyone can run it, and cheap to maintain. It works great; I haven’t had any problems with Lodar, they’ve never disappointed me.”

Eric Hess, Hess Towing; Gainesville, Texas See ad on page 76

Lynch Chicago Builds Good, Clean Trucks “They did a pretty good job for me. They built two 2012 Dodge trucks with 807 Vulcan backs, and the salesman was really pleasant and easy to deal with. The trucks turned out really well. Everything was great; the bed lined up properly, everything was done as they said it would be. The installations went smooth and they built real good, real clean units.”

Bruce Pedigo from Joe’s Towing, Bloomington, Ill. See ad on page 25

TOWMAN.COM - April 2012 • 39

Number 176 on Reader Card

Matheny Motors Purchase Is Smooth “I bought my first truck with Matheny after I saw it at the AT Tow Expo in Baltimore. Everything went real smooth. I was looking for another wrecker and wanted something versatile enough to do some medium-duty work too. They helped me with my financing, delivered it on time and there were no problems.”

Gary Lunceford, High Speed Towing; Fredericksburg, Va. See ad on page 19

Matjack Is A Top Investment “I’ve been using their high-pressure cushions for 20-plus years, and their low-pressure air cushions for four years. For low pressure, I have the turbo bags which are absolutely fantastic. We did some tests with the turbo bags under a loaded semitrailer and stood it on its wheels in 17 minutes. … We also have a set of their catch bags, and they are one of the best investments we’ve made. We got our money’s worth out of them the first few times we used them. We’re big on safety; there’s too many good ‘bad’ examples of trucks coming over. The catch bags eliminate our exposure to that catastrophic failure.”

Dino Tomassi, Finish Line Towing; Santa Clara, Calif.

See ad on page 56

National Auto Club Rates 15 (on 10 Scale) “Our relationship with National Auto, on a scale of 1-10, is probably a 15. In my area, I am primary for just about every auto club; I wish all of them were like NAC, from billing to customer service. NAC bases call volume off of past performance, which is great for us. Anytime I have an issue, someone typically calls back within 24 hours. Other clubs may take up to a week to call back. … They updated to a new payment system to submit invoices online that is great. I wish we could do more calls for them.”

Mike Paim, Independent Towing; Visalia, Calif.

See ad on page 66

New England Truckmaster Does It Right “I’ve been working with Chris at New England Truckmaster pretty much since they opened up, and everything has always been positive. He’s very oriented with towing equipment, knows his products, pays attention to detail and when your truck is done—it’s done right. Everything they do is standout, from including their ideas in putting a wrecker together to the add-ons they do, like the brackets they design and install and manufacture so our trucks meet Connecticut regulations. Chris is excellent to deal with and goes above and beyond for me.”

George Fellows, Tolland Automotive; East Hartford, Conn.

See ad on page 52

Pierce Sales Gets You Business “I bought two trucks in eight weeks, and had both customized through them to my specs and they outdid themselves on both of my trucks. I’d rate them a 10 on quality, attentiveness, service and warranty. … Anything that I wanted to change or update or have built or serviced, they customized my trucks the way I wanted them done. Their good work brought tears to my eyes. …

I’ve since gotten business because of how good my trucks look.”

Jamie Saim, Ranger Recovery; Ennis, Texas See ad on page 34

42 • April 2012 - TOWMAN.COM

Purpose Wrecker Is A Go-To Supplier “Over the past 25 years, Eagle Towing & Recovery has chosen Purpose Wrecker Sales as their go-to supplier for all heavy-duty and medium-duty wrecker needs, along with parts and service needs. … Their sincere understanding of the industry allows them to be one-on-one with their customers and also allows them to become friends—more than salespeople. The customer service and respect that they give to each customer, new or old, makes them a caliber all their own.

Eric Sumney, Eagle Towing & Recovery; Milesburg, Pa. See ad on page 63

Ramsey Industries A Name to Trust “We’ve worked with Ramsey for the 12 years I’ve been here. Their winches are all we have on our lights and mediums; we run 35 trucks. Ramsey is a name we trust and they’ve always taken good care of us. You can’t beat them for dependability. We do all kinds of recoveries, including all the impound work for the city of Tulsa, and we come across a lot of different situations. They haven’t failed us.”

Dale Billings, Storey Wrecker Service; Tulsa, Okla.

See ad on page 31

Rontan Signals Gets People’s Attention “I bought two of their low-profile high-intensity LED lightbars with single wire plug-and-play installation. I put one on a wheel lift and one on a flatbed. You can see them a mile away; they’re bright, work good and are virtually no trouble. … That’s the only light product I’ll put on my trucks now. The intensity, lighting and patterns—whether in fog, night or daylight—get people’s attention. … The first thing I do with a new truck is add $3,000 to $4,000 more in lights. I’m big on safety and being seen.”

Chris Spears, G&C Towing; Bonita Springs, Fla. See ad on page 32

Rush Towing Systems Goes Out Of Their Way “I decided to open up another company in Austin, Texas, and needed three trucks.

I looked at all the vendors and I chose Rush because of the quality of their products, the price of their products, the service of their products, and our ongoing relationship with Rush. … I’ve been in private-property towing for 8 years, and all my trucks are from Rush; they go out of their way to give me anything. … When we moved to Austin, our trucks were required to have certain hardware installed. Rush immediately went out to find the hardware I needed and install it so my trucks wouldn’t be down long. One of my trucks was stolen before it even got out on the road, and they were able to quickly give me the needed paperwork for insurance to be reimbursed.”

Dan Messina, Park Right Solutions; Austin, Texas See ad on page 17

Sovereign More Than Just A Bank “I’ve been dealing with Sovereign for 13 years and it’s been a pleasurable and easy experience. Dick Fabian has been my contact for most of those 13 years. He is easy to deal with and I feel he and Sovereign both want to do business, whereas most banks now act like they can’t and don’t want to do business. Sovereign is good people, not just a bank.”

Paul Best, East Coast Towing; Raleigh, N.C. See ad on page 55

TOWMAN.COM - April 2012 • 43

Steck 4th Wheel Loader Reduces Loading Time “The very first time I used Steck Manufacturing’s 4th Wheel Loader was on a broken ball joint in a gravel parking lot and it worked very well. It’s quick. It’s jack it up, set it down on it, and pull it on your carrier. … It reduces your loading time. I would say it cut our loading time by a quarter, or maybe even a third.”

Paul Morin, Morin’s Collision; Old Forge, N.Y. See ad on page 32

Auction with TowLot.com was a Huge Success “We ran Towlot on February 24 with 30 cars. It was a huge success. It opened up our market … we pulled in people from Rhode Island and New York bidding in our auction.

Scrap cars, that would normally sell for $325, went for upwards of $800. I averaged $1,100 per car. Brandon at Towlot was immediately available when I called and very helpful with my questions. This whole process keeps it fair and competitive for all my local salvage yards; instead of taking cars to one yard and then getting calls from another yard about why we didn’t take a car there, this gives them all an equal chance to bid. … I’ll be running auctions with them now about twice every quarter.”

Jeremy Procon, Interstate Towing; Chicopee, Mass.

See ad on page 48, 49

TowMate Wireless LEDs Very Visible “I am a distributor for them, and also run a wrecker business. Their new wireless rotator Power-Link lights mount anywhere, and you can select left or right arrow, strobe and inside out from anywhere with the remote transmitter. We’ve got a truck with the LEDs on the truck, pylons, under the headlights, on the outriggers and they’re great on visibility so no one runs into the truck. … With the wireless taillights, sensors go off if you get too far so you don’t forget your lightbars somewhere.”

Rick Kamler, R&W Wrecker and Equipment; St Joseph, Mo. See ad on page 28

Transportation Information Systems Really Tracks Live “I love the Vehicle Tracking System, it’s great because it is live time; other systems aren’t really live, they seem 3 to 5 minutes behind. TIS is live. If a truck shows at an intersection, it really is at that intersection. … We’ve had TIS in our trucks about 7 years. I like the mapping, because you can actually pull up a delivery address, pull up the truck’s current location at a disabled car as an address, and figure out the route and tow charges for a customer and charge it and do the tow so [the customer] can get on to work or wherever.”

John Abel, Abel Brothers Towing; Malvern, Pa. See ad on page 33

USAC-MD Pays On Time “We’ve been doing business with USAC for several years, working with them to service their customers. During that time, USAC has always treated us fairly and respectful. Any disputes or issues are resolved very quickly. We are utilizing their online billing system, and the payments are timely.”

Phil Howard, Howard’s Wrecker Service; Smyrna, Ga. See ad on page 65

Vulcan Carries Heavy Loads Well “Vulcan wreckers are great units; they have a good set of winches and carry the load well. We tow a lot of real heavy stuff, and Vulcan just carries it well.

They have good weight distribution. … I’ve been buying Vulcan since 1990; I just bought a new V-100 in December that’s doing just fine. … Vulcan will go over and above what its rated and do anything you want it to do.”

Albert Seibold, Albert’s Wrecker Service; Weatherford, Okla.

See ad on page 21 44 • April 2012 - TOWMAN.COM

Number 114 on Reader Card

should get paid for your work. Yes, I did say that you should get paid. No matter what trucking companies or insurance companies think, you are a for-profit business … just like they are.

We are not taxpayer supported like the police and fire departments. So if they want to argue, remember that the current practice by many public safety agencies is to submit a bill for any acci-

Getting Paid for

RecoveriesII

dent responses. It doesn’t matter if you live in or have a business in that town, they are going to get paid for their response, and yes that means you will be paying sometimes twice for the services provided.

Do trucking companies and insurance companies consider this? No, and they don’t contest the public service agency charges as far as I know. They

must all figure that towers are the ones who should not get paid full prices for the services rendered.

Keep in mind that it’s nothing personal when they want you to cut your bill, lower the price or, worse yet, tell you what you should charge for your services. Stand your ground and push to get paid, as they will try to drag it out until you finally decide that you’re better off to settle and get something rather than nothing.

It is their game plan to lower or limit their

continue to page 52

by Richard Wolfe

You Need to Know What’s Fair for Your Business

I

teach seminars on Price Per Pound billing and talk to many towers about getting paid and how to properly bill for accidents and wrecks. I also help review bills and offer advice for towers (not insurance companies) so that they can get paid. The first issue is that you

Number 115 on Reader Card

46 • April 2012 - TOWMAN.COM

TOWMAN.COM - April 2012 • 47

As seen on:

Number 159 on Reader Card

Getting Steady Work in Salvage

by Brendan Dooley

F

or the tow owner looking to diversify his business, salvage towing may be the right way to go with national salvage companies like Insurance Auto Auction, Copart and Total Resource Auctions.

Unlike road service calls or municipal rotations, working with a national salvage company offers calls that aren’t necessarily emergency related or affected by stringent response times for clearing a road. And these national companies do offer regular work, too.

IAA In 2011, IAA auctioned more than 1.4 million vehicles through its 160-plus locations in North America. The company is celebrating 30 years in business this year.

“Our business model is different than a roadside assistance call,” said Kelly Ingersoll, IAA director of transportation and CAT logistics. “Our business is very much a dedicated type of a partnership with towers. We typically have a static day-to-day volume, Monday through Friday, primarily picking up vehicles from shops and storage lots, between 8 and 5 usually.” Depending on the market, we also offer weekend service, he said.

They provide tow bills with all the details on the scheduled pickups to the

50 • April 2012 - TOWMAN.COM

tower by fax, email or in-person (when vehicles are dropped off).

“We cultivate a relationship with towers to pickup units on a timely basis,” Ingersoll said. “The main objective is to work with towers to provide great customer service to our customers and transfer units without additional damage.”

The tower is expected to make the pick-up within 24 hours if the pick-up location is less than 100 miles from the IAA branch, or within 48 hours if the pick-up location is farther than 100 miles.

IAA offers more than just automobiles at its auctions. The company also auctions motorcycles, RVs, commercial vehicles, and farm and specialty equipment. The types of tow equipment companies have available are an important part of a proposal packet for IAA. “If there’s mutual interest between IAA and a tow company, we send out RFP packets for them to submit their proposal,” Ingersoll said. “We provide them with pre-established zone structures and estimated annual volume and ask them for their available equipment and their capabilities.

“When each party agrees, we look for a three-year partnership with each of our vendors,” Ingersoll said. “We value the work of towers; payments vary, but we strive to make Direct Deposit payments

within 1-2 days after a unit is dropped off at a branch.”

For more information on towing for IAA, check out www.iaa-auctions, or email transportation@iaai.com.

Copart Copart has more than 140 locations in 44 states and does salvage work and disaster cleanups primarily for insurance and financial institutions.

“Copart offers a consistent high volume of assignments that are generally within a 45-mile radius of our Copart locations,” said Paul Stevenson, national transportation manager for Copart.

“Our goal is to work with a towing service provider to keep a truck busy all day,” he said. “The towing companies Copart usually contracts with have multicar carriers for a more efficient and cost controlled environment for our vendors.

“On average, the ideal profile for a towing company we work with is generally an enterprise with eight to 12 trucks in their fleet,” Stevenson said. He added that they use the services of larger or smaller companies where strategically needed in certain markets as well.

For information on towing for Copart, check www.copart.com/towing, or email towcars@copart.com.

Number 207on Reader Card

GETTING PAID continued from pg 47

expenses—the cost of doing business—so that they make more money?

Document It Now about getting paid, how can we do that efficiently and clearly? I don’t care if your business uses hourly rates, Price Per Pound or flat rates for your services, you need to communicate the job you did and document it as much as possible.

Details, pictures and descriptions of the work done all should be in a detailed towing and recovery report. Do not be scared to go into detail, as it will help you get paid in many cases. This will also allow the customer to see if they are getting charged for things that were not done, but when you use a fair billing method you will find that you get more respect for being detailed.

As to arguments from customers who think your bill is too high, I could write a book on this subject

Number 155 on Reader Card

continue to page 54 Number 138 on Reader Card 24' 700,15 762 9 (1674; )6 56((/ ,*+6 3342$&+ 56$6,21$4; +($'%2$4' (:64$ .(; 5/265 *$/8$1,<(' 57%)4$0( ,1 622/ %2: 9 56$,1/(55 '224 (6( $6 53' .

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52 • April 2012 - TOWMAN.COM

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Number 171 on Reader Card

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Number 172 on Reader Card

GETTING PAID continued from page 52 and it will be larger than “War and Peace.” Your customers tend to forget that an accident is different than a normal breakdown. Yes, you still tow it from point A to point B, but there is a lot of work to get it ready to tow.

There are always customers who will tell you that they got a vehicle towed hundreds of miles or more for less money than what you are trying to charge for the wreck and tow back to your shop. Who is to blame here?

I have no idea. Maybe it is the other companies not knowing what their costs of doing business are, or just flat out under-charging for the services.

I am going to catch flak for this, but no one else needs to tell you what to charge for your services. If that person is so smart about billing, then let them buy your operation and charge what they want.

Another issue in getting paid has to do with brokers; services that try to get towing bills lowered. There are many of them around acting as either another hand reaching into your pocket or a percentage of the costs that make your bill look even larger. Services that will rewrite your tow bill to what they think it should be, and then take a percentage of the bill in exchange for the work, makes the whole bill even more unbelievable.

Add this to the customers wanting your bill dropped or reduced and you might consider changing careers.

There is a bright side to all of this.

Number 119 on Reader Card

Number 151 on Reader Card

54 • April 2012 - TOWMAN.COM

Writing the Bill Like I said at the beginning, I have been reviewing, talking and guiding some towers in how to properly write up towing and recovery bills so that they can get paid for their services. It involves Price Per Pound in almost every case, but I am not suggesting prices, or charging for the service. I believe that each business owner makes up his own mind on pricing and how to run his business.

Small towns, rural areas and even major metropolitan cities are all different in the cost and methods of doing business. Some places have billing based on a handshake or the owner’s word and the tow company gets paid. That works most of the time, but if you get someone else involved in the bill, then it starts to get bad for everyone.

What is the cost of doing business? We all know that the truck payments, fuel, insurance, wages, supplies, office expenses, real estate costs, etc. are part of the expenses involved in determining your costs.

What about after the wreck is cleared and either towed to your yard or the customer’s business? The endless phone calls, faxes, emails and stress of dealing with customers to pay eats up your day. You start losing money on an hourly basis.

How many hours do you spend writing up the recovery description and invoice, then faxing, emailing, calling and dealing with adjusters to get paid and then you are told the job is only worth $5,000?

continue to page 56

Number 108 on Reader Card

Number 103 on Reader Card

TOWMAN.COM - April 2012 • 55

GETTING PAID continued from page 54 Case in point: Of jobs I’ve been involved with recently, one is for a rolled tractor-trailer with hazmat that was billed at approximately $11,500. They were told it was only worth about $5,000 by the insurance adjuster. They insisted the bill was correct, stood their ground and got paid the full amount. A similar job, also a rolled tractor-trailer with hazmat, totaled about $55,000 after 110-plus days of storage.

Which one is fair, which one is proper for the work involved? What if the hazmat involved was the same kind of cargo and UN number. Is one overcharging and one undercharging?

How come I hear crickets now?

Everyone has their own ideas of what is correct and what is the proper payment for their services. It’s too bad that many towers would throw the others under the bus to tell our customers that they were “overcharged” and that they would’ve done the job for less money … after the fact!

Editor’s note: Richard Wolfe is the heavy-duty towing operations manager for Goodyear Towing in Enterprise, Ala., and has been towing for 33 years. He presents seminars on Price Per Pound billing, and can be reached by email at ibflat2@gmail.com.

Number 107 on Reader Card

56 • April 2012 - TOWMAN.COM

Number 186 on Reader Card

TIS Adds Web-Hosted GPS Following recent acquisitions, Transportation Information Systems enters the low-cost GPS market with its Internet-hosted iFleetGPS Vehicle Tracking System.

TIS will continue to offer and support its FleetCommand system.

Both systems offer real-time location updates, the iFleetGPS system is attractive to smaller companies with no up-front costs and a low monthly service fee.

Find out more at www.ifleetgps.com.

Number 147 on Reader Card

Number 174 on Reader Card

58 • April 2012 - TOWMAN.COM

More Uninsured Vehicles to Tow New rounds of state legislation targeting uninsured motorists could impact tow companies. Lawmakers in Oklahoma, South Carolina and other states are going after uninsured motorists by considering bills that would allow police to tow uninsured cars when spotted on the road.

While fourth-quarter 2011 financial results are positive with some of the nation’s major insurers, Progressive's profits up 70 percent from the third quarter and Allstate up 340 percent, still many insurers are reeling from an unexpected surge of catastrophic claims. The National Insurance Crime Bureau reported that 2011 saw a record number of claims being flagged as suspicious, with the total surpassing the 100,000 mark for the first time in NICB history. About a third of the referrals were related to vehicle-damage claims.

Source: News.OnlineAutoInsurance.com

Tommy and Tess Anderson,enjoy a moment at last year's AT Expo.

Bottom, Tommy in his early towing days, about to enter his wrecker.

The

Tall

Texan Y

ou can’t get anymore passionate about the towing industry than Tommy Anderson. Whether you get him talking about training tow operators, the controversial moveover laws, or bringing this industry together, you’ll wonder what winds this tall Texan up.

62 • April 2012 - TOWMAN.COM

A former tow business owner, Tommy is currently the Executive Director of the nation’s largest towing association (Southwest Tow Operators based near Dallas, Texas) and the founding partner of Tow Expo Int’l.

One of the STO founding board mem-

continue to page 64

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THE TALL TEXAN continued from pg 62

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bers, he has spent the last few years building its training program. Today STO trains about 200 tow operators monthly. As Executive Director, of course, he’s in the middle of many key issues affecting the Texas towing industry, but his biggest thrust since becoming Executive Director, he says, has been to ratch up communications between the association, its members and its allied members (suppliers).

The communications structure with STO was started by its founder, Dan Messina and its first Executive Director, Jesse Horton, now the STO President. Among the associations, STO has the industry’s most sophisticated outreach program to its members via the Internet. You can check out their web presence at swtowop.org.

The Executive Director role keeps Anderson busy. STO has hovered around 1000 members strong the past three years. When asked what sets Texas towers apart from other towers around the nation, he says, “Regulations! The Texas Department of Licensing and Regulations (TDLR) forces towers in the state to tow a professional line. Drug testing, background checks, certification, training, safety apparel – it’s all mandatory, and there are heavy fines for noncompliance. So as an association we fill a big need for helping to educate and train tow operators and tow business owners.)

Tommy got started in the towing business back in 1977 while working in his own auto reconditioning business. One day his car broke down and he had a hard time getting a tow truck to help him out. He started thinking he could compete in this market by offering superior service. He started Anderson Towing with one tow truck, and then bought Plano Towing’s two trucks and built the combined fleet into eight trucks. Years later he and several other towing companies consolidated into WHW Towing Companies, which was acquired two years ago by United Road Towing (some years after Anderson had sold out). But when he was a tow boss, his company earned many commercial accounts, and he also towed for motor clubs, which got him the Towman ACE award in 1993 through 1997. The ACE is awarded to towers, nominated by motor clubs, for exemplary service, at the American Towman Exposition in Baltimore every year.

It was the ACE award that had a lot to do with where he is today.

“I had to go to Baltimore to get the legendary ACE Buckle,” said Anderson with a big grin.

“Then I got my socks knocked off. I was bowled over by the Exposition. The size of it, the scope of

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TOWMAN.COM - April 2012 • 65

THE TALL TEXAN continued from pg 64 its many events, the creativeness and the professionalism of it all. I got this bug in me. I said I got to build my own Exposition. And so, Tow Expo was born in 1997 when he launched the show at the legendary Southfork Ranch, the “home” of the popular Dallas television program.

After stops in nearby Plano and Arlington, Tow Expo quickly became the third largest tow show in the industry. It had the spunk that reflected his passion and spirit, and it had its own unique character. A glance at this year’s activities in San Antonio, August 2-4 and one easily notes special events only produced by Tow Expo (Chili Cook-off, Casino Night, MuniTow Conference...).

Tommy first came into contact with AT Expo founder Steve Calitri during the first ACE ceremony at Baltimore’s B&O Railroad Museum, in 1993. They talked on occasion over the next several years when Tom was running Tow Expo in Dallas. Then he met Doc Cal-

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66 • April 2012 - TOWMAN.COM

itri, who joined AT Expo in 2001, and it was obvious there was great chemistry among the three regarding anything tow-show. In 2003, Tow Expo came under the aegis of American Towman through a Calitri-Anderson partnership and with an eye on bringing more professionalism and more promotion to the show he had founded.

“It’s been a good partnership,” said Tommy. “American Towman has been able to bring more education, professionalism and style to Tow Expo. Of course, our biggest challenge, ironically, is competing with American Towman’s success. It’s natural for an exhibitor’s expectations to be primed by the Baltimore experience. But looked at for what Tow Expo is in and of itself, without trying to compare it to the world’s largest tow event, it’s a great show.”

The tall Texan is actually but 5 feet, seven inches tall. But there’s no “short” complex one may expect to find with a show promoter who is constantly

being made to stand next to the tallest guy in the room. Tommy’s enthusiasm for the challenge never wanes.

“The fact that American Towman has to compete against its own reputation, forces us each year to try to push the envelope in Texas. This year’s show in San Antonio is a good example with the Muni-Tow Conference. It hits on the most valuable call sector in the industry, police tows. We are working to draw towers from around the nation to San Antonio for this conference.

That, and little bit of Chili.”

Whenever you see Tommy you’ll likely see him with his lovely wife, Tess. They both work at STO, engaged every day with issues facing their members. Recently, he said, STO decided to get involved with helping to promote the move-over laws. “Our towers are getting killed by the roadside and it doesn’t have to be,” he said emphatically. And for the next half hour he spoke passionately about what could be done to make things better.

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UR RISK @

Prevent Texting in Your Trucks

by D.J. Harrington

I

was in Massachusetts recently visiting towing companies and one owner told me about an employee who hit a parked car on a downtown street. When he showed up to the accident and found out that his own truck was at fault, he was furious. The driver had been texting his girlfriend, never saw the parked car and ran right into it.

There is a video on YouTube of a lady driving in a large shopping mall parking lot then smacking into a 1972 Ford T-Bird. She never saw the classic car show in the lot. She then jumped a curb, headed right into the car show and hit the very first car on display.

In January 2009, the National Safety Council urged state and federal lawmakers to ban the use of cellphones and other texting devices while driving.

Since then, 14 states and the District of Columbia have banned texting while driving.

Driver distraction is one of the leading causes of motor vehicle accidents. One by one, victims of textingrelated accidents have begun to seek legal remedies to compensate for their pain and suffering. When a motor vehicle accident linked to texting causes a traumatic brain injury or other bodily harm, there may be grounds for a personal injury or a wrongful death lawsuit. We all know from billboards and television commercials about the local personal injury law firms. In Florida, every other commercial seems to be 68 • April 2012 - TOWMAN.COM

spouting about how they can get you money, and you don’t pay a thing unless they collect.

Here’s some tips to prevent one of these lawyers from calling on your company.

• One tow company I met has a sticker displayed on the dashboard right in front of his driver that says, “No Texting, Instant Messaging and/or Web Surfing While Driving.”

• Another tow company that I visited had a sticker just below the door handle on the trucks that says, “Drive Safe and Come Home Alive.”

• The best one I found, at CJ’s Towing, was a 3-1/2” x 2” plastic sign placed on the dashboard in front of the passenger seat of a tow truck that says: “Texting, Instant Messaging and/or Web Surfing while driving is PROHIBITED! Please Report Driver to: CJ’s Towing Unlimited, Inc. 1-800-2285670.”

CJ puts the sign where the passenger sits while being towed, not in front of the driver. This makes a lot of sense!

A new hand-held cellphone ban went into effect Jan. 3, 2012. Under the new rule, commercial motor vehicle drivers are not able to hold, dial or reach for a hand-held cellphone, including those with push-to-talk capability. Hands-free phone use is allowed, as is the use of CB radios and two-way radios.

Drivers who violate the new ban will face federal civil penalties of up to

$2,750 for each offense. Companies who allow their drivers to violate the ban face penalties of up to $11,000 for each violation.

The rule is set to be added to the list of violations tracked under the Carrier Safety Administration enforcement program, so violations could affect CSA scores.

Remember, drivers who use cellphones are four times more likely to get into accidents. Our drivers need to use their phones properly and safely while performing their duties.

Put signs up for your drivers and go over this article at your next employee meeting.

And, for goodness sake, please stop texting, and keep your eye on the road!

I want everyone that goes to work in the morning to come home that night to the family they are busting their butt for.

I hope to see each of you at the next convention! Come by and get an autographed copy of my new book! Call me at 800-352-5252 or email me at dj@djsays.com, and I will send a sample of the sign I mentioned to you.

Until next time.

DJ Harrington is known to many as the "Tow Doctor." A soughtafter motivational speaker for many Fortune 500 companies, DJ has served the towing industry through countless seminars and articles. DJ is the official spokesperson of the American Towman Standards Authority.

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Camels, No Wreckers

ATTV host Emily Oz and her boyfriend, Jason Habali, atop camels at the Great Pyramids of Giza in Egypt.

by Emily Oz

I

was fortunate to recently spend a holiday visiting the ancient sights of Egypt. My New Year started with a few days in Cairo, the largest city in the Arab world as well as Africa.

Cairo is actually the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. It was a shock to my system to visit that part of the world where everything was so different from what I’ve experienced across America and in my quiet life in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Cairo is very poor overall and suffers from high levels of pollution and traffic. We toured the city in the back of a taxi one day (an old mid-1970s diesel Fiat), and as we rattled along I was rolling my video camera searching for any sign of tow trucks. That’s what I do now that I’m on board with American Towman, as my eyes are trained now to spot tow trucks whenever I’m on the road.

You would think that with a population of more than 15 million people around Cairo, somebody would be carving out a living by towing … right?

Wrong.

I traveled around Egypt for 10 days and I saw just one tow truck! It was in the middle of the City of Cairo, a

70 • April 2012 - TOWMAN.COM

flatbed towing a wrecked car. And since it was dark, I wasn’t rolling video. (Bummer!)

The interesting part of this is that I saw dozens of disabled vehicles while in Cairo. Sometimes people were pushing the cars off the road, some people were just waiting by the side of their vehicle, and still other vehicles simply were abandoned. But there were no tow trucks.

I guess we are fortunate to live in an industrialized country where things like tow trucks are readily available and clean, paved streets are the norm.

In case you are wondering, I felt completely safe traveling around Egypt. Despite the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings, there was never a time where I felt compromised. It helped that I covered my blond hair with a headscarf in public. I really felt bad because the locals we spoke with said their tourism is down 80 percent from what it was in the past. Many Egyptians rely on tourism dollars to feed their families. It makes me wonder if this is what their former ruler for three decades, Hosni Mubarak, wanted for his people?

Back to our reality here at American Towman TV, I want to give you a heads

up about the stories we are working on right now. I’ve secured video of an amazing Jeep recovery from deep within Signal Mountain near Chattanooga, Tenn. You will see how the men at Doug Yates Towing & Recovery had a hand in wrapping up a very publicized missing person’s case.

I’m also working on two videos where towing companies helped pull submerged cars from lakes in Florida and Minnesota under two very different sets of circumstances. In Florida, Mac’s Towing Service helped the Broward County Sheriff’s Office pull more than a dozen cars from the bottom of a lake that were submerged there for years. In Minnesota, the unusually warm weather this winter is keeping tow companies like Bob’s Towing & Recovery busy pulling out vehicles that break through the thin ice.

Thanks for listening and for watching AmericanTowmanTV.com. If you want to get in touch with me, send me a line at Oz@AmericanTowmanTV.Com. Be safe out there!

Emily Oz is the anchor and producer for American Towman TV. You can email her at oz@AmericanTowmanTV.com

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At AmericanTowmanTV.com you'll find exclusive video coverage of stories impacting the towing industry... everything that matters, from late breaking news to unique, challenging recoveries, from tales of heroism to wrecker processions honoring fallen towers. Check out Emily Oz reporting live on cross training with fire fighers. Did you see the unique recovery of the cannon in Detroit? Fresh exclusive content each week!

Find all the action here:

AmericanTowmanTV.com Youtube.com/AmericanTowmanTV Facebook.com/AmericanTowmanTV

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Isuzu NPR ECO-MAX trucks are helping one of the nation’s largest food purveyors reduce fuel consumption.

Deli Express/E.A. Sween Co. of Eden Prairie, Minn., has several of the trucks in its fleet.

“These vehicles are demonstrating nearly 50 percent better fuel economy then the rest of our fleet,” said Gregg Hodgdon, head of fleet operations.

“Our drivers love the NPR ECOMAX. It’s closer to the ground, so they don’t have to stretch to get in and out.

We love the design of the whole truck.”

The 12,000-lbs. GVWR NPR ECOMAX features Isuzu’s 4JJ1-TC 3.0L four-cylinder turbo-diesel engine that generates 150 hp and 282 ft./lbs. of torque. The NPR ECO-MAX meets EPA 2010 and California Air Resources Board HD-OBD emissions standards and is clean-idle certified in all 50 states.

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Copyright 2012 American Towman Magazine. Characters and stories are fictitious; no resemblance to real life characters is intended.

Send your thoughts/suggestions on the Adventures to scalitri@towman.com or American Towman, 7 West St, Warwick NY 10990

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