I am sure that we have all been asked this question at one time or another:
Frequently I am asked why a police, accident, or impound tow costs more than an “ordinary tow.” While all towing seems alike to those outside the towing industry, there are a number of costs that are associated with police, accident, and impound towing that are not involved in “ordinary towing,”
We provide immediate response with equipment and operators prepared to perform a wide variety of jobs without any advance notice.
There are at least 7 reasons why police, accident, and impound towing costs more than ordinary towing.
1. Availability
· Providing 24 hour 7 day per week service has costs that are not associated with Monday to Friday 8:00AM to 5:00PM operations
· Another availability cost is that of owning enough trucks to insure immediate response.
· Providing immediate availability also includes the additional costs we incur in walking away from other jobs
2. Capabilities
· Costs for equipment that must be available such as, recovery straps, blocking, chains, dollies, shovel, broom, absorbent and other items.
· The cost of this equipment can run into thousands of dollars.
3. Training
· Police, accident, and impound towing require skills that are not necessary for “ordinary towing.”
4. Write-Offs
· The costs of unclaimed vehicles towed for police agencies, as well as the abandoned vehicles that are towed, stored, processed and disposed of can be significant.
· While some of the motoring public seems to think that there is great value in salvaged vehicles, if this were the case, vehicles would not be abandoned along Pennsylvania roads by the thousands. One study shows that 30% of impounded vehicles will be abandoned.
5. Administrative Expenses
· Expenses to impound, inventory, and notify owners of vehicles as well as labor expenses to escort owners, adjusters, police officers and others into the impound area are all costs that are directly attributed to accident, impound, and recovery towing, Invoices need to be more comprehensive since we need to document clearly what we have done, list complete vehicle descriptions including VINs, and we may spend a great deal of time explaining what we observed. An “ordinary tow,” however, requires only a simple invoice with much less information. We have to inventory valuables and store them for the owner. The many telephone calls we receive regarding the vehicles from these police, accident and impound calls also present a labor cost.
6. Exposure
· Tow operators must work wherever the vehicle happens to be.
· There are also hazards from exposure to bodily fluids, blood, jagged metal, battery acid and other vehicle chemicals as well as cargo. There are environmental hazards to contend with such as poison ivy and oak, brambles and brush, the rain, snow, fog, ice, and searing sun are a few.
7. Service
· The cost of performing the tow or recovery service itself includes items not included with private tows. The Pennsylvania Vehicle Code makes the tower liable for cleaning accident debris, removing it from the highway, and disposing of the debris.
· Service within 1 hour, or whenever we can schedule it, is quite different than service within 15 minutes