TOWING EXPERTS - A BURNES COMPANY

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WHY DOES ACCIDENT/IMPOUND TOWING
COST MORE THAN ROUTINE TOWING?

To the general public, all towing appears to be the same. There are many costs associated with accident/impound towing known as “non-consent towing” which are not incurred in routine towing jobs. We must provide immediate response with any and all equipment we might need as well as the manpower required for an accident/impound call. We do this with no advanced notice 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, regardless of what we might be doing at the time. This type of service is necessary and costs more to provide than towing, which can be scheduled without the “urgency” or the “equipment” required of accident/impound towing.

Equipment requirements are vastly different. Towing requires a truck with a flat bed or wheel lift. These trucks cost considerably less than recovery-equipped trucks. Accident/impound towing requires the truck to have booms, winches, blocking, recovery straps, chains, dollies, snatch blocks, spreader bars and other specialized equipment for completing any project we may be called out on. Some of this equipment may not be used on your particular job, but we must have it in case it is needed. Tow trucks are sometimes subjected to necessary abuse from working in remote locations off the main roadway to carry out the jobs we are required to do resulting in increased wear and damage to the equipment used to complete the job.

Accident/impound towing is far more dangerous due to the circumstances under which we must perform. Injuries are a common occurrence. Darkness, fog, cold, ice, extreme heat, rain, traffic, body fluids, jagged metal, battery acid, broken glass, spilled fuels, mud, cactus, fire ants, snakes, fences, swift water, hazardous materials, diseases and other precarious situations create a very careful and deliberate work situation for the protection of everyone involved. Towing personnel are routinely injured and killed while conducting the necessary duties of accident/impound towing. The stress of this danger and the slower pace we must work to be safe reduces productivity increasing the time it takes to complete the job.

Documentation must be far more comprehensive than routine towing, describing what we did, how we did it, equipment & manpower used, detailed vehicle information, detailed owner/lien-holder information, certified notices to the registered owner/lien-holder, notifications to law enforcement with a $10 fee, info on when and where the vehicle is transported, detailed information on who removes the vehicle from our yard, release affidavits and detailed information on disposal of the vehicle if it is unclaimed. It is not uncommon to spend more time on the paper work than is spent conducting the actual work of the accident/impound. We must maintain complete records on these jobs for at least two years and in many situations we are required to go back in our records researching certain vehicles for the State, insurance companies, lawyers and vehicle owners. On occasion we will be subpoenaed to appear in court as a witness for the criminal prosecutor, criminal defense, civil plaintiffs or civil defendants at our own time and expense. In addition to cash, the government made it mandatory for us to accept either a credit card, debit card or electronic check which can cost over 6% of the total bill to process. These costs must be passed on to the consumer.

Vehicle Storage Facilities must have a storage area with secured fencing, lighting, durable surface and state required insurance for the consumer’s protection. These facilities must be inspected by the State at least once every two years and may be inspected as often as the State deems necessary. The storage facility is required to pay the $150 for each inspection over the one inspection required. Owners and employees of the storage facility must be randomly drug/alcohol tested at least once a year at the storage facility’s expense. Contents of any vehicle we handle must be inventoried and secured. We must escort owners, adjusters, law enforcement, lawyers and others in the yard to do their jobs. We receive as many as 10 to 20 phone calls or visits from the various individuals involved. We are required by law to release vehicles 24 hours a day within one hour of request. We are required to impound vehicles, which the owners no longer want and just leave on the side of the road. We will not collect a dime on 35% of the vehicles taken to our storage yard because the owners or insurance companies simply decided to dump the vehicle on us instead of paying the bill, which they are legally obligated to pay but there is no recourse to make them pay. We will then incur additional expenses in processing and disposing of these vehicles whose charges will reach an averaging $1850 each by the time they are disposed of. The processing of these vehicles will take 72 to 76 days before we can dispose of them. 95% of the unclaimed vehicles bring scrap iron prices from the crusher (if they will even buy them). The motor oil, transmission oil, differential oil, freon, antifreeze, wiper fluid, brake fluid, tires, batteries, fuel and fuel tanks must be removed before they can be crushed. Unclaimed vehicles is a cost that has to be calculated in to every accident/impound tow we conduct.

Tow trucks are required by Texas law to be registered with the state and meet certain requirements. This does not mean that the laws are enforced and in most areas, little is done to make the illegal operators comply. We still have to compete with illegal operators who do not comply with the law and operate at bargain basement prices. A charge by one of these will be considerably less due to no insurance premiums which run several thousands of dollars, no permit fees, less time to complete the job by them not hooking up safety chains, tow lights, wheel straps, four point tie downs, using a pickup and trailer instead of a safe tow truck, etc., etc. These illegal operators take business from the legal operators thereby increasing our overall costs and reducing our revenue. Towing operations doing accident/impound towing must obtain an Incident Management Towing Permit from the State. Under this permit, the owner and all operators must have a criminal background check conducted and drug/alcohol testing at the expense to the towing company. Each truck must have a minimum of $500,000 of liability plus $50,000 of cargo insurance to cover the customers vehicles compared to $300,000 liability for routine towing and no cargo insurance. Each driver must obtain an Incident Management Towing Operator’s License and renew this license annually. They must be certified by a Texas Department of Licensing & Regulation approved certification course which currently costs as much as $400 per driver and must re-certify every 3 years. Prior to the first renewal of the Incident Management Towing Operator’s License, the license holder must complete an eight hour professional development course relating to incident management towing. Each year, all drivers must complete a designated four hour continuing education course before the operator’s license may be renewed. Again, all at the expense of our company.

Routine towing known as “consent towing” doe not need a storage facility, office or a truck capable of recoveries. They are not required to fill out any documentation on the vehicles they tow. The liability insurance requirements are approximately one half the requirements of accident/impound insurance and they are not required to carry cargo insurance to protect your vehicle in case of damage. They are not required to have or obtain any certifications or formal training. They have the luxury of scheduling their jobs. They are not required to be available 24 hours per day without notice. Equipment costs are less as are the operator’s wages. They are not required to have the level of expertise necessary for accident/impound towing. Risk exposure is much less thereby creating a safer working environment. The costs/requirements associated with consent towing are much less than accident/impound towing.

Never ending government regulations of accident/impound towing, extremely high insurance rates, record fuel prices, extensive operational requirements and all the extra costs associated with accident/impound towing must be allocated to the accident/impound towing. There is no justification for passing any of these costs on to the routine consent towing sector. This results in accident/impound rates that are substantially higher than the routine towing rates. Should you have any questions or suggestions feel free to contact us at any time.

Please contact:

P. O. BOX 881
KINGSLAND, TEXAS 78639
PHONE 325-388-6380
FAX 325-388-3874
E-MAIL ron@towingexperts.com