June 11, 2024 • 48 mins
Ever wondered what it takes to recover a stolen motorcycle submerged in a quarry for seven years? Join us on the Towing Life Podcast as we kick off with some laughs about our trials and tribulations with Starlink and wireless internet. Reflecting on our journey of producing 139 episodes. Your feedback is our lifeline, so we encourage you to reach out through our website, email, and Facebook.
Do you think predatory towing fees are just a myth? Think again! In this episode, we dive into the intricacies of a complex recovery operation, highlighting the essential coordination between police, insurance companies, and towing services to bring a long-lost motorcycle back to the surface. We shed light on the financial and logistical hurdles faced by towing operators, emphasizing the importance of strategic planning and communication. The episode also takes a serious turn as we discuss the stark reality of predatory towing fees, recent regulatory changes in the U.S. and Ontario, and how these reforms aim to protect truckers while handicapping the towing industry.
Ever been baffled by the complexities of towing industry contracts? We’ve got you covered. From the procedural steps during vehicle accidents to the financial implications of towing uninsured vehicles, we explore it all. We touch on the evolving dynamics within the industry, including the risks associated with price shopping and the pitfalls of prioritizing cost over quality. As we wrap up, we express our heartfelt gratitude for your participation and invite you to engage with us on YouTube and other platforms. We’re excited to bring you more engaging stories and insightful discussions in future episodes of the Towing Life Podcast. Take care and see you next time!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, your internet didn't blur out when we started
recording.
Look at that.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
I know, it's almost like I have my wireless mode
right here beside my computer.
Look at this fancy contraption.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Hashtag Starlink.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Hashtag Starlink.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Wait, it's wireless as in.
It's not.
You're still not hardwired toyour computer.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
No, I need to buy a a 250 adapter to plug into the
back of this for an ethernetplug they're like apple where
they they create the problem andsell you and sell you the
solution yep yeah that's a,that's genius, genius marketing
starling good job thanks, daddyelon out there in the stars.
Hey everyone, I'm Brad fromCalgary.
(00:55):
This is Sean from Cambridge,Ontario.
I'm Terry from Cornell Ontario.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Hey, this is Larry from Pit Metals, British
Columbia, and you're listeningto the Towing Life Podcast.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Welcome to the Towing Life Podcast, where the ditches
are deep, the trucks are loaded, but the drivers are not.
I am your host, tow man G.
As usual, I'm joined by myco-host, friend and former
co-worker, the man with verystrong opinions, mr Playing Guy.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
What is going on?
G.
What is going on?
Speaker 2 (01:30):
It's been a day my dog is a little frustrated per
se for being in here.
There's a birthday party goingon upstairs and all her dog
friends are up there, so if shedoes make a bit of noise during
this episode, I do apologize.
I'll try to mute my mic andyell her.
If she gets too bad I'll giveher a spleen kick do not say
(01:52):
that on the show.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Uh, it's so funny.
Spleen kicks um, it's an inside, it's a personal joke from when
g and I used to work together.
Um, but yeah, spleen kicksdefinitely were efficient and
effective.
Yeah, no, you're right, it'sbeen a month, but it's also been
139 episodes.
So the fact that you still haveyet to nail that down, or you
(02:16):
have moments where you fumblewith it is a little concerning I
was going to edit it out.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
They wouldn't even know.
Now that you said that, now Igot to edit that out.
Now I'm going to have to editthis out.
You're just making an editingnightmare for me.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
Well, that is part of my job is to increase the
workload that you have to makeyou earn your keep within the
show.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Oh, thanks man, Greatly appreciated.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
So, as you said, welcome to another episode of
the Tone Life podcast.
We thank you for coming backonce again this week.
We know that last week'sepisode was a late release, so
we're here fresh with some newcontent, new things coming out
and we actually have quite a bitto get into today A little bit
on the US side of towing, alittle bit of guarantees of
(03:01):
payment, a little bit of somestories from my personal
experience, as well as G on sometopics that he did not want to
talk about before the show,because he is very much a one
trick pony and if he says thestory once, it's not going to
get any better the second timearound.
So he's a one shot wonder.
(03:22):
So, before we do get into allthat wonderful thing that we
have planned, it is a good timeto mention we always appreciate
your questions, comments,concerns for the show.
Where do you find us?
It's pretty simple.
You can head over to ourFacebook page, the towing life
podcast on Facebook.
You can head over to ourwebpage at wwwtowinglifeca.
You can email us directly atthetowinglife at gmailcom.
(03:46):
And don't forget, if you'rewatching over on the YouTube
side, be sure to hit that thumbsup.
Leave your comment down below.
We always appreciate the inputof, you know, people that are
either more opinionated thanourselves, which can be hard at
times, or more experienced, lessexperienced, or any of the
above.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
I think now, since, since youtube is upgraded, if
you're watching this on like adesktop or I think even a phone,
when I say, please like thisvideo and subscribe, the
subscribe button does a fancylittle dance.
Oh, there you go.
It's all nice and purple.
There you go.
I'll have to see if that worked.
That's why I had to that.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Don't forget to like and subscribe and, you know,
keep the comments and questionscoming.
We will put together an episode, as we go normally.
When we get these comments,whether they be through YouTube,
we'll put them together on ashow.
We'll go over some stuff.
So, yeah, that is it for me.
So you have some interestingquestions or stories, or I don't
even know what it is you wantto talk about today.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
I am just going to feed off it.
I'm currently just going over tothe YouTube just to double
check to see if we actually haveany comments to talk about.
But I met the older gentlemanthe other last week I guess it
was.
It was last Thursday actuallyToday's Sunday of time of
(05:05):
recording, just to give you atime frame and I started talking
to this older guy and he was inthe towing industry for 30
years.
So we we sat there, we talkedand shot the ship for about two,
two and a half hours abouttowing and bullshit and how it
was in his glory days of towing.
And he was like, yeah, the goodold days of towing.
(05:26):
I don't know why anyone wouldget into it now.
And I kind of felt like sayingto this guy it's like hey, we
did a podcast on this not toolong ago, but I didn't.
I didn't, selfish or shameless,plug IRL because that's weird.
Anyways.
So I formed this relationshipwith the guy.
(05:47):
He gave me a contactinformation for a potential job
down the road, so I wrote thatdown and we exchanged numbers.
I didn't think anything of it.
He said that he'd be talking tome later and I just thought
it'd be in passing.
Right, turns out he called methe next day, so Friday, in
(06:08):
passing right.
Um turns out he called me thenext day, so friday, and he was
like, hey, I, you said you had atrailer to haul your tractors
around.
How big's your trailer?
It's like uh, I told him howbig my trailer was and he was
like I just bought a boat ramprail thing and I would need need
a hand moving it.
I was like, oh, okay, he's likeI'll pay, I'll pay.
I was like, okay, whatever.
And I didn't think it wasactually going to happen because
he still said there was likeeight pieces in the puzzle that
(06:31):
he needed to put together.
Well, those eight pieces kindof fell together and apart.
And uh, today, sunday, afteronly meeting this guy for two
and a half hours last Thursday,I hook up to my trailer and I
take my truck an hour north topick up this boat ramp thing
(06:51):
with him and a couple otherpeople, unbolting it out of this
pool house, walking it out witha foot in between the boathouse
and the water and rocks, andthey're all like eight foot by
seven foot long pieces.
Some of them are 10.
They're all like three, fourhundred pounds each, walking
them up these stairs, becauseit's a beautiful house that
(07:13):
we're pulling it out of and thenloading them all up onto the
trailer.
And of course it was pouringrain, like absolutely pouring
rain.
As soon as I get there and Ithink to myself.
It's like, am I just this dumb?
Like I met this guy because theother kid that was there.
(07:34):
He was like, oh, so were youused to be his neighbor?
I was like no, he's like, oh,how do you know him?
It's like I met him last, thispast Thursday.
I've talked to him for twohours.
Here I am, where did you to him?
Speaker 1 (07:44):
for two hours.
And here I am.
Where did you meet him?
What was this at?
Was it like a get-together, orwas this just like?
Speaker 2 (07:51):
I was doing a run and I was sitting there waiting
just eating my lunch until I hadto go do another pickup because
I've been hauling stuff around.
And he pulled up next to me andhe drives a bus and he started
shooting the breeze with me.
Just, you know how people killon time do?
(08:11):
Just shaking up a conversationand yeah, he was talking.
He asked me what I was doing.
I told him and I said but Iused to tow Like I'm not in the
industry anymore.
In case you didn't know if thatwasn't abundantly clear.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
We're going to fire him from the show, unless he
gets back into it very soon,though, don't worry.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
Yeah, don't worry, I'm keep, I'll just keep wearing
the merchandise, so you justdon't know.
And and then we started talkingabout all that stuff.
So, yeah, it was, I guess, menot being in the industry.
That kind of like brought joyto my, joy to me again.
And I had a couple people ask meover the last couple weeks oh,
(08:52):
do you like what you're doingnow, hauling stuff around more
than towing?
I was like no, towing's justlike it's.
There's nothing else like itthat I can like.
Nothing comes close to towing.
And uh, they're like oh well,why don't you get back into it?
And I just got to give them allthe fucking bullshit reasons,
right, excuses, whatever youwant to call it, go through the
(09:13):
routine, yeah, but I I think, aswe call ourselves a brotherhood
, what you would do for othertowers.
Like you know, when you get ona tow call and some guy says, oh
, I towed back in the day and hehas no idea about what the
industry is or how it works, andyou're like, yeah, sure, you
(09:35):
did, bud.
But then you meet someone whohasn't been in the industry for
a couple years but he's actuallybeen in the industry, like this
guy who I was dealing withowned his own company for 27
years.
I think it was down in the city, like he knew he's got a good
understanding.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
He's how the industry works.
It's not just a guy who I drovetow truck for three weeks back
in the summer of 1972.
Right.
Like this guy actually had abeat on like a pulse on the
finger on the industry.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
Right, and like he could teach you a thing or two
type thing, and I feel like Icould just be a nice guy or a
dumb guy or an idiot, whatever,but I feel like if he wasn't a
toer, I wouldn't have offered myservices to help him today,
right.
Right, because we had thatconnection and we're able to
(10:24):
form a quick bond of theindustry in a two, two and a
half hour conversation, and justhow that conversation flowed.
If we didn't have that incommon, that connection never
would have made and I was nevergoing to be able to help that
guy today.
Right, and I think that'ssomething that we talk about.
We can never get together as anindustry, which is true, but I
(10:46):
think, on a personal basis, likea operator to an operator or an
owner to an owner, I think it'svery easy to come together and
work together and form thosefriendships and bonds and being
able to help each other outbecause of the industry that we
work in.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
I think you're right on that too.
But again, I think a lotapplies to it in this case.
Like the fact that you'reneither of you are in the
industry anymore.
Yeah, like it's back in the day, if that guy was your
competition or that guy wasworking out prices to undercut
you all that kind of things youwouldn't want to give that.
You know that kind of helpedtoo.
But the fact that you both yeah, absolutely, it's just.
(11:21):
You know it's like two guysthat played you know you know
sports in college or high school, whatever, like that.
You both yeah, absolutely, it'sjust.
You know it's like two guysthat played you know you know
sports in college or high school, whatever.
Like that.
You find a common bond off it.
You know, I think that's how Ithink that's called like how
being friends as an adult isRight it's not as easy as back
in the day on.
You want to play, yeah, okay,it's it's.
You find a commonality andyou're willing to help people.
Now, you've always been aperson that does like helping
(11:43):
people.
I think that's what a big pushfor you in the industry was.
Yep, um.
So, that being said, did heactually pay you?
Oh, yeah, he paid me.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
He asked me how much I wanted, and I told him exactly
what I wanted.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
And you, there you go , you obliged perfect, well,
well, sometimes it's not as easyto get paid for jobs as that,
right, so consider yourself verylucky.
Um, there was a story that Iwanted to bring into the podcast
.
It's actually a three partstory that we've been running
into in our current area andit's something that's been
(12:15):
talked about and I know it.
It was a lot to do um with the,the ideology um behind the day
of action that we talked aboutweeks back, right?
Ideology um behind the day ofaction that we talked about
weeks back, right, the idea thattowing companies with new laws
are being forced to follow allthese procedures, all these
practices, but, have you know,no protection built into the
industry in the sense ofguarantee of payment, right?
(12:36):
So their idea was is that theywere not doing any calls during
that time?
Um, that the police ordered,unless it was an emergency?
Um, as a way of showing theirdiscontent and hopefully work
towards a solution.
So we did not participate inthat weekend, but we definitely
have taken a new approachwhenever it comes to calls that
we are receiving.
So first example is I get acall from the Ontario Provincial
(13:01):
Police for a motorcyclerecovery out of a quarry.
So, a motorcycle was stolenseven years ago, oh, when it was
reported stolen and it wasdumped into a quarry.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
Recently, or just I think it was back then.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
It's just they drained the quarry.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
Recently a section of the quarry and they found the
motorcycle.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
So someone walking their dog whatever it was called
it in reported cough found it.
They called us, so we'd likeyou to come out and get it.
Nope, I said, hold on a second.
They're telling me first of all, like, send me some.
Do you have any photos what I'mlooking at?
What kind of recovery are wedealing with?
They send me the worst photo.
They send me a photo from likeacross the quarry that makes it
look like I'm gonna need arotator and a sea dew to get the
(13:46):
line out there.
So they send me that andthey're yeah, you're gonna need
a rotator, you're gonna needthis, you're gonna need this.
And I'm like, okay, whoa, whoa,whoa, who's paying the bill?
Because I've got a motorcyclethat was stolen seven years ago.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
That's been underwater for seven years.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
It's a right off.
Yeah Right, I have no guaranteeof payment.
I am going to send out you knowthe way they made it seemed I
would need my bigger rotator.
I'm going to send out a threequarter million dollar to a
million dollar piece ofequipment plus labor to recover
this thing.
And, at the end of the day,what is a motorcycle worth in
(14:25):
scrap metal?
Because nobody is going to comeforward for this thing?
Yeah, 50 bucks if you're lucky,exactly.
So the answer was no, it wasn'tno, right, I don't like the
word no.
I like not until we can figureout payment for this item.
So no problem.
The police I explained to themthe stance.
I said I want to help you out,but you know, at the same time,
I'm not publicly funded.
(14:46):
I need to be paid for myservices.
So I get a call back about anhour later from a sergeant and
he answers the phone hey, thisis Sergeant so-and-so.
And right away I go oh, he'snot going to be happy about this
.
No, and he goes here is theinsurance company, the policy
number and the registered ownerof the bike.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
wow, I said, oh great , that's normally the
information we have to fightover from them to get, if we
just show up, yeah, 100.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
So, um, I'm like, oh, wow, that's, that's awesome.
Okay, so this was like a sunday.
I said, all right, well, I'llget on the phone with the
insurance on monday and see whatI can get figured out.
No problem.
So, and I said you know, I hadhis number.
I said I'll keep you up to datewith what we have.
So I reach out to the insurancecompany with that claim number
I had.
Now, it was a fun processbecause that claim was from
(15:38):
seven years ago.
This person is no longerinsured with them.
Yeah, so we go through all therigmarole.
I'm gonna have to have somebodyfrom my towing and recovery
team reach out to you, to, youknow, validate any invoice or
agreed any charges.
No problem.
So they reach out to me.
We settle on a price, a veryfair price, right, but a price
that covers my cost.
(15:59):
Now, at this point, once theyare interested in the price
because I never went out thatnight to look at it okay, this
is about an hour away, yep, so Isaid once they said like, yeah,
if you can get us a pricetogether for it, we'll see what
we can set up.
I said, okay, well, now I'llinvest a little bit of time into
this and sure enough I went out.
I took a look at it.
We brought the with us forgiggles.
It ended up being off anembankment about 25 feet but I
(16:20):
could get a truck right to theend of it, so like a light duty
wrecker could do this job.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
Yeah, so instead of a couple of thousand dollar bill
it could be a thousand dollarbill type thing.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
Not quite that.
But there's travel time andeverything else and so we come
up with a very fair price of thewith the insurance company.
They agree they want it broughtto the auction.
They ask for a price to get itbrought there.
We put this all together tothem, lay out the bill, prices
included, and we go and werecover the unit and we bring it
and there's a check waiting forus, picked up, done, Beautiful,
it worked beautifully.
(16:51):
You know we were paid right forour services.
The job was done.
Now, if I would have jumped thegun and just went and got that
and that bike would have beensitting in my yard collecting
storage, it would have been alot harder to get after the
insurance company for it.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
Well, yeah, the insurance company then knows,
well, the job's already done,because I'm pretty sure the
insurance company is stillliable for that vehicle.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
They are because it was never recovered.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
Exactly If it's sitting in your yard.
Well, sorry, it's's beenrecovered.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
There's nothing holding them accountable per se,
but now that they know thepolice are involved and the
police are wanting it removedand and all this, it puts a
little more pressure on them todo the right thing, which they
did, I have to admit, andironically, as you know, my wife
works in the impound in my, myworkplace she, when I told her
who the insurance company whereshe was like, good luck.
I hate dealing with them.
(17:42):
I had a great experience.
So I guess just different, uh,different experiences with it,
but we see that problem more andmore.
We're running into it.
Another perfect example theother night we got a call from
our local fire department for amotor home that was on fire,
like an rv type, you know,powered motorhome.
And I get there, cops are allgone, it's just this fire chief
(18:06):
there we're talking.
I pull up and he go, he goes.
This is a good one.
The whole front of this thing,it's like a 1970s or 80s rv.
The whole front is burned, thewhole back is fully intact.
I go.
What's the story?
He goes.
Well, this young lady herebought it off somebody outside
of town and um called to get ittowed to her place but couldn't
afford the tow bill.
(18:26):
She was quoted like twelvehundred dollars for the tow bill
.
So, uh, she decided to drive itunplated, uninsured, like
herself and the like, drive it.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
Drive it, not tow it, like oh it's a yeah, it's an rv
, not a trailer.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
It's an rv yeah, so drives it no insurance, no
plates, takes the risk.
Well, on its way, somethinghappens battery explodes,
whatever the story is, and itcatches fire and she pulls into
an old commercial propertythat's, uh, for lease right now,
and it and it lights on fireand the first thing I say is I'm
never gonna get paid for this.
He's like what do you mean?
(19:04):
I'm like, well, who's gonna payme for this?
Because now it isn't.
Even if I say, well, can't youget scrap metal?
Not for rvs.
No, rvs are the worst, becausescrapyards won't take them.
You got to pay to dispose ofthese things.
So not only am I gonna move it,or you're hoping I'm going to
move it and remove it at a costof my business that I'm not
going to recoup.
(19:24):
Plus, I'm going to have to putmoney to get rid of it so that
it's not just sitting around myyard that doesn't fly in
business.
So again it becomes.
Let's see how we're going toget paid.
It can stay here tonight.
There's no risk, even if itreignites it's far.
It's in the middle of a parkinglot, any vandalism whatever,
it's not a risk to the property.
It's not a risk to anything.
So we're going to leave ittonight.
We'll talk, we'll figuresomething out in the morning.
(19:44):
Right?
Property owner calls us up andsays hey, I want it removed.
What's it going to cost?
I'll pay the bill.
Right, like, I'll take care ofthat bill.
Cool, exactly now we've movedit again.
The same problem would happenif you just jump to the gun and
pull it and now go.
I'm gonna go collect off theproperty owner in the morning.
No, you're not, because if I'ma property owner and you came on
(20:05):
my property, remove this, it'scommercial property and again I
have a long-standingrelationship with this property
owner?
right, so there might have been,but if, if it's anyone else
they're not gonna go, okay, I'llpay you for the services that
you did.
That I didn't ask you to do.
You know what I mean.
Like, yes, it helps my propertyout, but I'm not responsible
for this.
Like, the property ownershouldn't have been responsible
(20:26):
for this the registered ownerand I told him he's more than
happy to go after her.
Like, if you would like to tryand recollect, here's all the
information I gathered, that allon scene for you.
But somebody's got to pay mefor my services.
The towing industry is one ofthe only responses to any of
these sort of MVCs cleanups,fires, any of those things that
(20:47):
is not guaranteed payment.
Right, we've talked about thisover and over again.
We're the only ones that showup that are not publicly funded
and are not guaranteed payment.
So you can take stands inlittle ways to help fix these
things right.
Just if another company wantsto go get that rv at a loss and
(21:07):
pay money to dispose, how aboutit?
Why are we so worried aboutthese jobs?
If you explain it in the properway to the authorities on why
and don't just go over the phonelike I, you can't go.
Hey, abc telling yeah, I've gota car, it's been an accident.
Well, is it insured?
Is it, is it this, is it, this,is it this?
(21:29):
You can't do that, right, you,you need to take the steps,
attend the scene, assess thesituation, explain to the
officers.
If it's something now on a car,it's a different story.
A car that hit a box culvert,that they're not insured, that
you're going to pull out of theditch with a light duty truck,
you should be able to recovermost of your cost of scrap value
out of that vehicle.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
Cars are one thing, but when someone blows the tire
on their old 1972 fiberglassboat and they just leave it
there sitting on the side of theroad side of the highway, pull
their plate off their trailerand rip the tag off their boat
and just leave it there.
You're not going to get anymoney out of that.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
No, right, no, and, like I said, it might end up
costing you to dispose.
So we ran into the samesituation again last night.
Ironically, get a call at 1 am,all I get is a trailer on fire
on the on the highway.
So I go out, I call the officer.
I knew the officer that was onscene.
He left the number to call himto assess right.
(22:29):
So I'm on my way out to him.
I give him a call, I go, whatdo you got?
Well, it's a camper trailerconversion that he's hauling
snowmobile, all this kind ofstuff fully engulfed.
I mean, there's nothing left ofthis trailer, fully engulfed.
No insurance on it, of course.
Now ontario is weird, though,because the truck pulling the
trailer insures the trailer inthe case of an accident most
(22:52):
times yeah but a fire is alittle bit different.
I don't know if he had you knowwhat I mean fire insurance on
the trailer.
I don't think the truckinsurance carries over for that.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
I'm not sure even if you have fire and theft on the
vehicle that's towing, I'm notsure if that does I don't think
that carries, I'm not sure.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
So because of that, when I got on scene, I advised
this guy of that and I said look, I'm not sure if your insurance
is going to cover this, likethe trailer itself specifically
wasn't insured.
Right, I understand that youcan have insurance through the
truck insurance and whatnot, butlike it's.
So here's what my you know.
So I give a breakdown.
(23:29):
This is what I'm going to do.
I'm going to need thisequipment, this equipment, this
equipment.
I'm going to need it for thismany hours tonight to do this
job.
Plus, I'm going to need it foranother two hours the day that I
go deliver this stuff to, um,the landfill, right, and whether
it be because again, it won'tgo to scrap steel, it's, it's
gonna be very hard to see ifthey take that.
So you know, here's thebreakdown, here's the fee.
(23:52):
I I last one I did that wassimilar, it was about this price
.
So I'm gonna, I'm gonna chargea flat rate fee for the dumping
fee and you know, if it's alittle higher, well then I'm
going to take the hit on that.
And here's my price.
And he goes no, I think that isreasonable, I think that is
fair, and he paid my bill on thespot, perfect.
But how many times are we soquick and I keep coming back to
(24:13):
this point we're so quick tojust go oh, police called, okay,
do it Now.
It's also one of those veryhard times because unless you
have road supervisors, unlessyou have I I'm there's a couple
of my drivers that I would trustto make that decision Because
they don't understand thebusiness side behind it.
Right, no-transcript, yep.
(24:37):
And then I look at it and goyes, you're right, you get paid
if you get the job, but how do Iget paid?
How does the company get paid?
Right, so you can't just.
Could you imagine back when weworked together, us making those
decisions on scene?
We weren't, we weren't in aposition to do that.
No, we didn't have theunderstanding of the business,
we didn't have the.
Speaker 2 (24:57):
You know the background there was times when
we would say to officers onscene or even other drivers that
we're getting stuck with this.
There ain't no way thecompany's getting paid for this
100.
That's just bullshit.
We can't really say, hey, wecan't do this because we know
the company's not getting paid.
But when we also work together,the industry was completely
(25:18):
different eight years ago towhat it is today.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
I you know what though the problem with paint,
with payment within the industry, was completely different eight
years ago to what it is today.
I you know what, though theproblem with paint, with payment
within the industry, was stillthe same.
This isn't a new problem.
No, this, this, this stuffbeing brought forward is just
the industry is finally bringingit forward because now they
feel like it is uneven to theextent that it needs to be well,
there's so many moreprotections in for the consumer.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
Yes, and there still hasn't been nothing to do for
the actual towing industry.
Speaker 1 (25:45):
No, exactly.
So next time you're doing thatpolice call or you know, if you
do a mix of on road and you'vegot some you know like maybe
talk to your guys and come upwith something.
And what I was amazed is howwell it was received among the
police.
Now, every time I've actuallyended up doing the job right and
(26:05):
to say that I would have nevergotten paid without it.
You can never guarantee that.
The chances of me getting paidnow we took, or were less, much
less.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
Can you answer me this?
I can edit it out.
If not, was it local orprovincial police?
Speaker 1 (26:20):
Um.
Two were provincial, One waslocal.
Speaker 2 (26:23):
Okay, okay, so an even mix fairly, yeah, yeah,
yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
And the one that was local.
It was the fire department Iwas dealing with, not the police
.
Oh right, the police weren'teven there.
The police, no, had zero caresabout this in the world.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
So you're not the reason why I ask that is because
you don't carry contracts forprovincial police.
Normally you carry contractsfor, like, regional police or
regional police departments, soI could see where the police
department.
Let's say, if you're contractedin the city of Toronto for
whatever reason I don't know ifthey have contracts or not but
(26:57):
you're contracted to Torontopolice and they get this vote,
or he's done all the contractsor not, but your contract to
Toronto Police and they get thisboat and they expect that it
gets cleared, because they calla towing company and it gets
done regardless.
And to start bringing thisstuff up might, especially when
you're just dealing with anofficer on scene they probably
were done two hours ago and theyjust want to get the fuck home,
(27:18):
right, but again a car.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
In most of these situations I was talking about a
boat that was just want to getthe fuck home.
Right now you're tying them upon the side of the road a car in
most of these situations.
You know I was talking aboutlike a boat that was abandoned,
a boat that was about yeah, thesame thing I was talking about
earlier a boat trailer, no motor.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
They don't have a motor, like there's no value.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
But there's certain things, a lot of times that when
you have these contracts withmunicipal police, with regional
police, with um, there is,you're right, no contract with,
technically, the provincialpolice.
But there is the pilot projectin toronto which is, you know,
kind of goes along those lines alot of times there is options
like with our, with our localpolice, like, depending on what
the service is, they'll pay forit.
(27:54):
Right, like we run into that.
So if we get, like, a stolen,recovered vehicle that they want
brought to their ident, theywill pay the tow to their ident.
They will.
They will pass the tow, thecost of the tow from ident to
our yard, plus accumulatingstorage, on to the customer,
(28:14):
right, but it will be, they'llcover.
Like.
So if there is things like theyhave had some weird things like
a chop shop that got dismantled,that we had to go in and pull
all kinds of stuff which prettymuch just went into a roll-off
bin, yep, um, they will pay forthat kind of services.
So if you were to get thoseweird ones, I imagine there's,
for the sake of good business,for the sake of whatever there
is, um protection built into acontract I would hope about, I
(28:38):
would hope now with theprovincial police.
That's actually the tougherpart, because there is no
contract, right, there is nolike.
You can't go bill them.
No, right, like they.
Good luck I implore you to try Ihave yeah we have billed them
for certain services thatthey've requested right, on
(28:59):
certain fatalities and differentthings like that, you can bill
them.
But for this car that just youknow they called you to remove
out of the ditch, you ain'tbilling them for that.
They're they're not gonna paythat bill.
So it really becomes a tougherone because there's no kind of
contracts put in place for thatkind of stuff.
So if it's something that's notimpeding traffic, right, we've
(29:22):
seen it.
We've seen.
I've seen trailers left on theside of highways and in certain
parts of the country right,because they want to guarantee
payment.
And it's the same thing.
We're seeing brand new unitsabandoned in our year brand new
transports 2023s because theyweren't insured and they got
(29:45):
into a wreck.
Right, that is a huge thing.
I know it is.
It was a big debate in thetowing industry for a long time
was holding on to cargo right.
If, if I get a tractor trailerthat rolls over and we recover
it with the cargo and the unitcomes back, the first thing they
want is the cargo?
Yeah, because the cargo is thevalue and they have requirements
they need to meet.
But you have to hold on to thecargo because once you let go,
(30:09):
of that cargo once you let go ofthat cargo they have.
No, if they have a wreckedhighway tractor, you know
there's value in it fromsalvages and whatever, but
there's not going to be valueanywhere near the cost of
recovery.
No.
So you know, the government hastaken steps to protect the
(30:29):
consumer in these ways and oneof them is yeah, well, you can't
hold the cargo because it'sit's you know, but but you have
to because once that cargo isgone, the, the company has no,
you know no reason to pay me.
They'll pay me my invoice.
Now, that's the problem.
This becomes and this issomething that goes into the us
side of what I wanted to talkabout because it becomes, they
(30:51):
look at it as predatory towingpractices because you are
holding something hostage inorder to get paid now and then
you're, and then, in their eyes,because the public does not
fully understand the, the costthat goes into running a towing
business and and and doing thesekinds of recoveries, right,
they look at it and go.
(31:11):
Not only are you holdingsomething hostage, you are
holding something hostage forunbelievably high prices that
you want for a recovery.
Yeah Right, they don't look atthat.
That's a million dollar truckthat you know we needed to buy,
maintain, upkeep, pay for fuel.
You know all those costs that weall know go into the towing
(31:32):
industry.
They don't care about that,they just go well.
There's no way you can charge,let's say, a thousand dollars an
hour for a unit like that.
We go well, yes, you can, andyes, we did, and we made the.
You know we went out and madethat investment and spent that
money to be able to do theserecoveries by limiting damage,
(31:54):
everything else, increasingsafety, all that.
But you want to call itpredatory because you don't have
a full understanding on howfinancially the business works.
And so, by holding on to thecargo, you could just see how
this would be an absolute spreadall over the news.
Local towing company holdscargo hostage, especially if it
(32:16):
would be something like a loadof like medical supplies, right,
or did you imagine if it'sanything essential, like grocery
, right, holds a load ofgroceries hostage.
This is why the the prices aregoing up and refuses to release
it unless paid exorbitant, youknow, unless paid.
30, 40, you know, 20, 30thousand dollars.
Speaker 2 (32:39):
And to the public, oh my god, that's so bad the
industry is meanwhile, they justhave to throw out the load
anyways, but they need aheadline exactly.
Speaker 1 (32:48):
Meanwhile, they don't talk about the 8 to 12 hours,
or you know, eight hour recovery, that this bill was um in the
middle of the night and thepouring rain, and the amount of
resources that it took to dothis to open up one of the
busiest highways in northamerica and and why that cost.
Is that cost right?
So you know the us is startingto see it.
(33:10):
Where they had this memo goneout about predatory towing and
prices?
Right, they want to startlimiting the towing industry.
Um on fees they can charge.
Right, they're talking aboutall these hidden fees within the
towing industry.
Now, this is something that wehave seen a lot.
And if you want moreinformation on predator, these
fees in this program that we'rediscussing or this new bill that
(33:31):
they're drafting up in the usbecause we do have a large us
listener base I suggest you headover uh to the tow business
podcast.
They have a lot moreinformation.
Uh, southwest wrecker operatorsas well did a show on this.
Uh with one of the hosts fromthe tow business podcast.
They have a lot moreinformation.
Uh, southwest wrecker operatorsas well did a show on this.
Uh with one of the hosts fromthe tow business podcast.
I suggest you guys check thatout again.
Being in Canada, we're a littleless connected on it, but we
(33:51):
can go off what we've read, whatI've heard, what I've listened,
what I've had a couple ofpeople talk about.
So, um, they are trying toeliminate added fees into the
towing industry Right now.
That is something the Ontariogovernment has recently done
with this new to see a programwhere there is fees that you are
not allowed to charge for, likeborder crossing fees, like fuel
(34:15):
surcharges, all that kind ofstuff.
So companies have now justadopted them into their hourly
rate but there is certain fees.
So I'll read kind of theheadline US Department of
Transportation supports strongprotection for truckers against
predatory towing junk fees.
(34:36):
I love that they call them junkfees.
Yeah, I'll pull it up here.
Um, washington, the U Sdepartment of transportation,
federal motor carrier safetyadministration, fmcsa I love
dealing with them.
They're the people that make usdo drug testing in the States.
Um, today expressed strongsupport for truckers protection
against predatory towing fees ina comment filed on the federal
(34:58):
trade commission's proposed rulebanning junk fees.
When a truck driver's vehicleis towed, they can't earn a
living until they get it back,leaving them vulnerable to
predatory junk fees from towingcompanies.
Predatory towing negativelyimpacts consumers, including
commercial motor vehicle driversand trucking companies.
It is detrimental to overallhealth of the trucking industry
(35:21):
and it's time to end excessiverates, surcharges and other
unfair fees associated withpredatory towing.
Speaker 2 (35:29):
That was from the fmcsa deputy administrator, sue
lawless.
I love that last name lawless.
Speaker 1 (35:38):
You can go ahead and find the links for these, if we
ever remember to actually dothem, in the description for the
episode.
Um.
So yeah, again they're talkingof excessive fees that can add
up to thousands and thousands ofdollars yeah, then they got a
couple of bullet points downbelow.
Speaker 2 (35:54):
Ban junk fees for unnecessary goods or services.
The fmcsa suggests adding aprovision that prohibits
companies from charging any feefor any good or service that has
no value, costs nothing extrato provide or that reasonably
using equipment that theyalready own and use routinely to
(36:14):
provide the towing service.
Speaker 1 (36:31):
So I'm a little and I wish I would have done.
Speaker 2 (36:34):
I'm scared by that.
Speaker 1 (36:35):
You need to bring your mic closer to you, by the
way, I'm scared by that.
Okay, but no, it is somethingso.
So I don't know what they meanby that equipment fee.
Now are guys just throwing arandom invoice line item on an
invoice that says equipment feeand not explaining it?
Are they trying to charge forspecialty equipment for these
(36:56):
towing and recoveries?
You know we joke.
We talk things like the backpull hitch, the iver tool,
bigger scale, uh, airbags, right, like I don't know what.
It is the threshold they'retalking about.
This equipment fee, um, or isit that you're just doing?
Okay, it's 200 and it's 250 anhour for this truck, it's this,
this, this, this, and then we'readding on a um, a five percent
(37:20):
equipment fee.
Right, I don't know how.
I haven't seen the us invoicesin this way.
Now again, they're standing onthe backs of the truckers to
protect the truckers.
At least that's what they'regoing at, right, because it's
like this, you know, is hurtingthe trucking industry.
Speaker 2 (37:34):
Well, I'm not a towing industry kind of sort, of
a trucking industry as well.
Speaker 1 (37:39):
Well, I'm not.
I'm not in the us, so I can'tsay what's wrong with your
trucking industry.
I can tell you that if youstart enforcing that you know
the trucking industry has properinsurance to cover their cargo
and not three-party insurancefor all this kind of stuff would
probably do more to protect thetowing or the trucking industry
against the towing industry byhaving proper coverage for the
services they provide, by havingexperienced, experienced
(38:01):
drivers, by strickening uprequirements for drivers, by
doing all those kinds of things,so we don't get all these guys
with three months experiencethat are going and driving
tractor trailers into therhubarb because they figured out
they can't drive more than youknow four hours without falling
asleep.
Yeah, now the fear is that theywant to be able that you can
have, should have everything inan all in price, right?
(38:23):
So in other words, we should beable to call, we should be able
to get an all in price.
Well, here's my problem withthat, coming from somebody who
has quoted and build for heavyrecoveries, you can't quote that
up front.
No, I can give you and that iswhat Ontario has kind of asked
for, which is where they have alittle bit more leniency I can
give you what my units, a fulllist of my units and what they
(38:45):
run at per hour, and I will keepit within these rates.
But to tell me to pull up onscene to look at a job and to
flat out give a rate, first ofall, I'm going to go high.
If that's how it's got to be,I'm going high.
Speaker 2 (38:59):
I'm going high.
Yeah, I'm adding an extra fivehours on everything, just to be
on the safe side.
You have to because thingshappen.
Speaker 1 (39:07):
There is things that you may not see until you get
partway into that recovery,right, there's all these kinds
of things.
So you can't give a flat rateprice.
Yeah, then, not to mention.
Okay, so let's play this oneout.
So the company is now priceshopping and getting their flat
rate price.
So three scene coordinators areall going to show up to the
same rack.
They're all going to look at it, they're all going to give
(39:28):
their price and then the companywill go with the cheapest
option, because that's whatthey're concerned about here.
It is not about the, you know,what's going to save their cargo
, what's going to do any of thisout there, it's about the
cheapest price.
That's why you want the all inprice and they're going to go
with the cheapest one.
And now we're three hours intothis and we still haven't moved
(39:50):
a truck.
Right, the U?
S is very strict on their, ontheir quick clearance projects
that they have.
Right, the state, you know, orthe, the city, whatever it is,
will require, every time thatit's tripped, that these, this
amount of equipment, has to rollto a, to a scene.
Right, I ran in, I seen anarticle and I want to say it was
down in georgia where a boxtruck company got an invoice for
(40:12):
you know whatever the numberwas and they were outraged by it
.
Well, the problem was that thestate trooper had deemed it as a
trip with their incidentresponse, which requires, like
two heavy wreckers, a blockertruck and I want to say
something else attend.
So they moved this box truckoff the highway like a mile and
(40:34):
got off the highway, but nowyou're paying for all three of
those trucks.
Yep, like they didn't buildthat system right.
Like they were told if, if, youget a call under this, this is
what you have to respond with.
So they had trucks on standbythat have to meet response times
and that, okay.
So it ended up being a 26 footbox truck.
It wasn't a, you know, 80 000pound loaded tractor trailer, it
(40:54):
doesn't matter.
You've got to pay for theequipment, right.
So you get this price shoppingthat starts going on.
You get that you are going tonegatively affect the quick
clearance of highways, right.
Then you throw the pocket ontop of that.
You're going to give thecheapest price.
You're going to, you know, yes,there's competitiveness to it
to keep us all in check, whichI'm all for, but you're going to
(41:18):
, you know, encourage the raceto the bottom.
I'm all for.
But you're going to, you know,encourage the race to the bottom
.
And then you're going to loweryour price to do the service,
only to find out that they don'thave proper insurance and
you're not going to get paid andyou have no recourse in action
to go after them to get paid.
Speaker 2 (41:32):
Well, I'm also kind of concerned.
Okay, so you give the peopleability to price shop around.
Okay, cool, whatever they say.
Okay, cool, whatever they say.
Okay, I'm going to go with the$3,000 option instead of the
$6,000 option.
The $6,000 option bigger outfitThey've got a really good
(41:54):
record behind them.
And the $3,000 option fewertrucks, a little smaller.
The smaller operation that gotthe job for three thousand
dollars goes out, starts the job, realizes it's out of their
scope, can't finish the job.
And now what do they do?
Can they call another truck infrom the people that charged or
was going to charge six thousanddollars, but now that wasn't
(42:17):
agreed upon the rates originally, because now they would have to
pay.
That is the company thatoriginally got the job for 3 000
just going to have to eat thatcost.
Or now does the customer nowhave to agree to this other
company's rates just to get thejob done?
Like, how is that going to workand how is how going to?
(42:38):
Well, you said you could do itfor $3,000 and now you can't.
So now who's at fault for that?
Like and the towing industry?
The one reason why most of uslove it is because it keeps us
on our toes.
Let's say you got a tractortrailer that's hit a tree
sideways and as you're pullingit away from the tree, the tree
decides to fall down in betweenthe tractor and the trailer.
(43:00):
And then, away from the tree,the tree decides to fall down in
between the tractor and thetrailer.
Well, now, that's made yourrecovery twice as long because
you got to remove the tree orseparate the trailer and the
truck to get it around from thistree.
Well, yeah, it's something youcould potentially try to bill
for, you know, but at the end ofthe day at the end of the day
you're not.
That's not a normal thing thathappens, because nothing in this
(43:21):
industry is a normal thing thathappens when it comes to
recovery.
But the government the issue.
Speaker 1 (43:26):
Yeah, the government seems to want it to be a normal
set out price structure, and andthat is what it is.
And until these lawmakers.
Now, you know, the U?
S is lucky in the sense thatthey're just beginning to draft
this bill, right't you know?
This isn't the ontarioassociation, six months behind
the ball after it comes outgoing, oh right, like they're
ahead of it.
(43:46):
And and the one thing I can sayis that the american towing
industry seems to stand togethera little better on this stuff.
They seem to have moreorganized because this is at the
federal level.
To my understanding, this isnot a state to state thing.
Speaker 2 (43:59):
This is at the federal level yeah.
Speaker 1 (44:02):
So the advice that I can give you if you want more
information on it because I knowthere's a lot going on, there's
a lot of petitions that are out, there's a lot of information
on that side you you can send usa private message.
I will get you in touch withsomebody that can better educate
you on it than than what youheard on this Um.
But I think the importancewould really be to look at
joining your local, state andfederal associations.
(44:23):
Right, the T R a is is a bigone in the States.
Look to them for theinformation.
Join your associations.
They are going to need yourhelp to fight this before you
end up like Ontario, whereeverything is regulated to hell
and we're hoping that they'llgive us a bone later on down the
road.
Like that is what we're at.
Like that's that's the phasethat we're at.
So if you guys have theopportunity to have your input,
(44:46):
have your say.
Have some change made on this.
You know, check out our friendsat southwest toe operators on
facebook.
They're the ones that hostedthe show um called recovery
alley.
They went over it.
It was a good episode.
I watched it.
You can find it over on theirFacebook page.
I, I.
I think they were on YouTube aswell, I'm not sure, um, or you
know.
Again, the tow business podcastis another great one where they
(45:07):
share a lot of information.
Um, you know I've made jokesbefore where they're a little
drier, they're geared a littlebit more towards management and
ownership, but it's definitelysomething easy, even as a driver
.
You need to be aware of that.
You can help before it becomestoo late for the industry where
you're at.
Speaker 2 (45:23):
So yeah, I think one thing america normally does good
as a whole is a rally aroundthe flag movement right when
times get you where he's sixthwas a perfect example.
They rallied around a flag, allright um, when, when the going
gets tough, people come togetherand are able to fight what they
(45:47):
need to right, and I thinksomething like this is.
We always talk about how theindustry is so divided.
Something like this is easy forcompanies to come together,
especially in its infancy.
Like this is now to say hey,this is what's going on, this is
the reason why we do certainthings.
(46:07):
Uh, I'm I'm assuming these arecoming from those people that
hold cars hostage and won'trelease it until the bill gets
over ten thousand dollars or thepeople, yeah, or like us, who
hold cargo hostage yeah, becausewe want to make sure we're
fairly paid.
Speaker 1 (46:23):
But it's missing, you know, represented yeah exactly
so.
Speaker 2 (46:27):
It could be the bad actors in the industry which we
need to do something to be ableto cut them out of the industry,
because we don't need them here.
They're only making it worsefor everyone, as you can look at
ontario, right.
Just look at, look at us as acase study, for you don't want
the whole you don't want what wegot going on over here.
You don't, um, so just get onit while it's early, stay on top
(46:52):
of it and don't stop fightinguntil you get what you deserve.
Speaker 1 (46:56):
It's it's not all maple syrup and free health care
okay, and the free health careis shit.
Yeah, the free health care iskind of shit it's got more and
more shit I would like I almostwant I've, I've, like I'll work.
I'll work more to make moremoney to pay for private health
care at this point.
Yeah, if it gets me there whatI need sooner.
Speaker 2 (47:19):
I kind of want to move to Texas.
Speaker 1 (47:22):
Oh boy, you look like the type that would move to
Austin.
Speaker 2 (47:27):
However, Brandon Herrera didn't win his seat in
Congress, so I'm not sure if Iwould want to move to District
23.
Speaker 1 (47:32):
I have no idea.
You look like you should moveto Texas.
I'm pretty sure they've had acouple of cults that have gone
real south down there.
Speaker 2 (47:41):
Perfect, I'll fit right in with my cult up here.
Speaker 1 (47:45):
That is about all the time that we do have for today.
Again, we do appreciate youguys joining us.
It was fun to talk Americansand finally bag on the issues
they're having rather than theones we're having here at home.
So, yes, if you have againquestions, comments, concerns
for the show, visit us byheading to our website at
wwwtowinglifeca, email usdirectly at thetowinglife at
(48:08):
gmailcom, or find us on Facebookat the Towing Life podcast.
Don't forget to like andsubscribe.
It should make the little thingdance, as G said, and if you
are watching on the YouTube side, you can leave that comment
down below.
So, on behalf of myself, mywonderful co-host, mr Toman G,
we thank you for joining us foranother episode of the Toman
Life Podcast and we cannot waitto see you again next time.
(48:31):
Take care, toodles, I think thesubscribe button only dances
the once.
Boo, youtube sucks.
Hey, your internet didn't blur out when we started
recording.
Look at that.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
I know, it's almost like I have my wireless mode
right here beside my computer.
Look at this fancy contraption.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Hashtag Starlink.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Hashtag Starlink.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Wait, it's wireless as in.
It's not.
You're still not hardwired toyour computer.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
No, I need to buy a a 250 adapter to plug into the
back of this for an ethernetplug they're like apple where
they they create the problem andsell you and sell you the
solution yep yeah that's a,that's genius, genius marketing
starling good job thanks, daddyelon out there in the stars.
Hey everyone, I'm Brad fromCalgary.
(00:55):
This is Sean from Cambridge,Ontario.
I'm Terry from Cornell Ontario.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Hey, this is Larry from Pit Metals, British
Columbia, and you're listeningto the Towing Life Podcast.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Welcome to the Towing Life Podcast, where the ditches
are deep, the trucks are loaded, but the drivers are not.
I am your host, tow man G.
As usual, I'm joined by myco-host, friend and former
co-worker, the man with verystrong opinions, mr Playing Guy.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
What is going on?
G.
What is going on?
Speaker 2 (01:30):
It's been a day my dog is a little frustrated per
se for being in here.
There's a birthday party goingon upstairs and all her dog
friends are up there, so if shedoes make a bit of noise during
this episode, I do apologize.
I'll try to mute my mic andyell her.
If she gets too bad I'll giveher a spleen kick do not say
(01:52):
that on the show.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Uh, it's so funny.
Spleen kicks um, it's an inside, it's a personal joke from when
g and I used to work together.
Um, but yeah, spleen kicksdefinitely were efficient and
effective.
Yeah, no, you're right, it'sbeen a month, but it's also been
139 episodes.
So the fact that you still haveyet to nail that down, or you
(02:16):
have moments where you fumblewith it is a little concerning I
was going to edit it out.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
They wouldn't even know.
Now that you said that, now Igot to edit that out.
Now I'm going to have to editthis out.
You're just making an editingnightmare for me.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
Well, that is part of my job is to increase the
workload that you have to makeyou earn your keep within the
show.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Oh, thanks man, Greatly appreciated.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
So, as you said, welcome to another episode of
the Tone Life podcast.
We thank you for coming backonce again this week.
We know that last week'sepisode was a late release, so
we're here fresh with some newcontent, new things coming out
and we actually have quite a bitto get into today A little bit
on the US side of towing, alittle bit of guarantees of
(03:01):
payment, a little bit of somestories from my personal
experience, as well as G on sometopics that he did not want to
talk about before the show,because he is very much a one
trick pony and if he says thestory once, it's not going to
get any better the second timearound.
So he's a one shot wonder.
(03:22):
So, before we do get into allthat wonderful thing that we
have planned, it is a good timeto mention we always appreciate
your questions, comments,concerns for the show.
Where do you find us?
It's pretty simple.
You can head over to ourFacebook page, the towing life
podcast on Facebook.
You can head over to ourwebpage at wwwtowinglifeca.
You can email us directly atthetowinglife at gmailcom.
(03:46):
And don't forget, if you'rewatching over on the YouTube
side, be sure to hit that thumbsup.
Leave your comment down below.
We always appreciate the inputof, you know, people that are
either more opinionated thanourselves, which can be hard at
times, or more experienced, lessexperienced, or any of the
above.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
I think now, since, since youtube is upgraded, if
you're watching this on like adesktop or I think even a phone,
when I say, please like thisvideo and subscribe, the
subscribe button does a fancylittle dance.
Oh, there you go.
It's all nice and purple.
There you go.
I'll have to see if that worked.
That's why I had to that.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Don't forget to like and subscribe and, you know,
keep the comments and questionscoming.
We will put together an episode, as we go normally.
When we get these comments,whether they be through YouTube,
we'll put them together on ashow.
We'll go over some stuff.
So, yeah, that is it for me.
So you have some interestingquestions or stories, or I don't
even know what it is you wantto talk about today.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
I am just going to feed off it.
I'm currently just going over tothe YouTube just to double
check to see if we actually haveany comments to talk about.
But I met the older gentlemanthe other last week I guess it
was.
It was last Thursday actuallyToday's Sunday of time of
(05:05):
recording, just to give you atime frame and I started talking
to this older guy and he was inthe towing industry for 30
years.
So we we sat there, we talkedand shot the ship for about two,
two and a half hours abouttowing and bullshit and how it
was in his glory days of towing.
And he was like, yeah, the goodold days of towing.
(05:26):
I don't know why anyone wouldget into it now.
And I kind of felt like sayingto this guy it's like hey, we
did a podcast on this not toolong ago, but I didn't.
I didn't, selfish or shameless,plug IRL because that's weird.
Anyways.
So I formed this relationshipwith the guy.
(05:47):
He gave me a contactinformation for a potential job
down the road, so I wrote thatdown and we exchanged numbers.
I didn't think anything of it.
He said that he'd be talking tome later and I just thought
it'd be in passing.
Right, turns out he called methe next day, so Friday, in
(06:08):
passing right.
Um turns out he called me thenext day, so friday, and he was
like, hey, I, you said you had atrailer to haul your tractors
around.
How big's your trailer?
It's like uh, I told him howbig my trailer was and he was
like I just bought a boat ramprail thing and I would need need
a hand moving it.
I was like, oh, okay, he's likeI'll pay, I'll pay.
I was like, okay, whatever.
And I didn't think it wasactually going to happen because
he still said there was likeeight pieces in the puzzle that
(06:31):
he needed to put together.
Well, those eight pieces kindof fell together and apart.
And uh, today, sunday, afteronly meeting this guy for two
and a half hours last Thursday,I hook up to my trailer and I
take my truck an hour north topick up this boat ramp thing
(06:51):
with him and a couple otherpeople, unbolting it out of this
pool house, walking it out witha foot in between the boathouse
and the water and rocks, andthey're all like eight foot by
seven foot long pieces.
Some of them are 10.
They're all like three, fourhundred pounds each, walking
them up these stairs, becauseit's a beautiful house that
(07:13):
we're pulling it out of and thenloading them all up onto the
trailer.
And of course it was pouringrain, like absolutely pouring
rain.
As soon as I get there and Ithink to myself.
It's like, am I just this dumb?
Like I met this guy because theother kid that was there.
(07:34):
He was like, oh, so were youused to be his neighbor?
I was like no, he's like, oh,how do you know him?
It's like I met him last, thispast Thursday.
I've talked to him for twohours.
Here I am, where did you to him?
Speaker 1 (07:44):
for two hours.
And here I am.
Where did you meet him?
What was this at?
Was it like a get-together, orwas this just like?
Speaker 2 (07:51):
I was doing a run and I was sitting there waiting
just eating my lunch until I hadto go do another pickup because
I've been hauling stuff around.
And he pulled up next to me andhe drives a bus and he started
shooting the breeze with me.
Just, you know how people killon time do?
(08:11):
Just shaking up a conversationand yeah, he was talking.
He asked me what I was doing.
I told him and I said but Iused to tow Like I'm not in the
industry anymore.
In case you didn't know if thatwasn't abundantly clear.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
We're going to fire him from the show, unless he
gets back into it very soon,though, don't worry.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
Yeah, don't worry, I'm keep, I'll just keep wearing
the merchandise, so you justdon't know.
And and then we started talkingabout all that stuff.
So, yeah, it was, I guess, menot being in the industry.
That kind of like brought joyto my, joy to me again.
And I had a couple people ask meover the last couple weeks oh,
(08:52):
do you like what you're doingnow, hauling stuff around more
than towing?
I was like no, towing's justlike it's.
There's nothing else like itthat I can like.
Nothing comes close to towing.
And uh, they're like oh well,why don't you get back into it?
And I just got to give them allthe fucking bullshit reasons,
right, excuses, whatever youwant to call it, go through the
(09:13):
routine, yeah, but I I think, aswe call ourselves a brotherhood
, what you would do for othertowers.
Like you know, when you get ona tow call and some guy says, oh
, I towed back in the day and hehas no idea about what the
industry is or how it works, andyou're like, yeah, sure, you
(09:35):
did, bud.
But then you meet someone whohasn't been in the industry for
a couple years but he's actuallybeen in the industry, like this
guy who I was dealing withowned his own company for 27
years.
I think it was down in the city, like he knew he's got a good
understanding.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
He's how the industry works.
It's not just a guy who I drovetow truck for three weeks back
in the summer of 1972.
Right.
Like this guy actually had abeat on like a pulse on the
finger on the industry.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
Right, and like he could teach you a thing or two
type thing, and I feel like Icould just be a nice guy or a
dumb guy or an idiot, whatever,but I feel like if he wasn't a
toer, I wouldn't have offered myservices to help him today,
right.
Right, because we had thatconnection and we're able to
(10:24):
form a quick bond of theindustry in a two, two and a
half hour conversation, and justhow that conversation flowed.
If we didn't have that incommon, that connection never
would have made and I was nevergoing to be able to help that
guy today.
Right, and I think that'ssomething that we talk about.
We can never get together as anindustry, which is true, but I
(10:46):
think, on a personal basis, likea operator to an operator or an
owner to an owner, I think it'svery easy to come together and
work together and form thosefriendships and bonds and being
able to help each other outbecause of the industry that we
work in.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
I think you're right on that too.
But again, I think a lotapplies to it in this case.
Like the fact that you'reneither of you are in the
industry anymore.
Yeah, like it's back in the day, if that guy was your
competition or that guy wasworking out prices to undercut
you all that kind of things youwouldn't want to give that.
You know that kind of helpedtoo.
But the fact that you both yeah, absolutely, it's just.
(11:21):
You know it's like two guysthat played you know you know
sports in college or high school, whatever, like that.
You both yeah, absolutely, it'sjust.
You know it's like two guysthat played you know you know
sports in college or high school, whatever.
Like that.
You find a common bond off it.
You know, I think that's how Ithink that's called like how
being friends as an adult isRight it's not as easy as back
in the day on.
You want to play, yeah, okay,it's it's.
You find a commonality andyou're willing to help people.
Now, you've always been aperson that does like helping
(11:43):
people.
I think that's what a big pushfor you in the industry was.
Yep, um.
So, that being said, did heactually pay you?
Oh, yeah, he paid me.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
He asked me how much I wanted, and I told him exactly
what I wanted.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
And you, there you go , you obliged perfect, well,
well, sometimes it's not as easyto get paid for jobs as that,
right, so consider yourself verylucky.
Um, there was a story that Iwanted to bring into the podcast
.
It's actually a three partstory that we've been running
into in our current area andit's something that's been
(12:15):
talked about and I know it.
It was a lot to do um with the,the ideology um behind the day
of action that we talked aboutweeks back, right?
Ideology um behind the day ofaction that we talked about
weeks back, right, the idea thattowing companies with new laws
are being forced to follow allthese procedures, all these
practices, but, have you know,no protection built into the
industry in the sense ofguarantee of payment, right?
(12:36):
So their idea was is that theywere not doing any calls during
that time?
Um, that the police ordered,unless it was an emergency?
Um, as a way of showing theirdiscontent and hopefully work
towards a solution.
So we did not participate inthat weekend, but we definitely
have taken a new approachwhenever it comes to calls that
we are receiving.
So first example is I get acall from the Ontario Provincial
(13:01):
Police for a motorcyclerecovery out of a quarry.
So, a motorcycle was stolenseven years ago, oh, when it was
reported stolen and it wasdumped into a quarry.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
Recently, or just I think it was back then.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
It's just they drained the quarry.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
Recently a section of the quarry and they found the
motorcycle.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
So someone walking their dog whatever it was called
it in reported cough found it.
They called us, so we'd likeyou to come out and get it.
Nope, I said, hold on a second.
They're telling me first of all, like, send me some.
Do you have any photos what I'mlooking at?
What kind of recovery are wedealing with?
They send me the worst photo.
They send me a photo from likeacross the quarry that makes it
look like I'm gonna need arotator and a sea dew to get the
(13:46):
line out there.
So they send me that andthey're yeah, you're gonna need
a rotator, you're gonna needthis, you're gonna need this.
And I'm like, okay, whoa, whoa,whoa, who's paying the bill?
Because I've got a motorcyclethat was stolen seven years ago.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
That's been underwater for seven years.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
It's a right off.
Yeah Right, I have no guaranteeof payment.
I am going to send out you knowthe way they made it seemed I
would need my bigger rotator.
I'm going to send out a threequarter million dollar to a
million dollar piece ofequipment plus labor to recover
this thing.
And, at the end of the day,what is a motorcycle worth in
(14:25):
scrap metal?
Because nobody is going to comeforward for this thing?
Yeah, 50 bucks if you're lucky,exactly.
So the answer was no, it wasn'tno, right, I don't like the
word no.
I like not until we can figureout payment for this item.
So no problem.
The police I explained to themthe stance.
I said I want to help you out,but you know, at the same time,
I'm not publicly funded.
(14:46):
I need to be paid for myservices.
So I get a call back about anhour later from a sergeant and
he answers the phone hey, thisis Sergeant so-and-so.
And right away I go oh, he'snot going to be happy about this
.
No, and he goes here is theinsurance company, the policy
number and the registered ownerof the bike.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
wow, I said, oh great , that's normally the
information we have to fightover from them to get, if we
just show up, yeah, 100.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
So, um, I'm like, oh, wow, that's, that's awesome.
Okay, so this was like a sunday.
I said, all right, well, I'llget on the phone with the
insurance on monday and see whatI can get figured out.
No problem.
So, and I said you know, I hadhis number.
I said I'll keep you up to datewith what we have.
So I reach out to the insurancecompany with that claim number
I had.
Now, it was a fun processbecause that claim was from
(15:38):
seven years ago.
This person is no longerinsured with them.
Yeah, so we go through all therigmarole.
I'm gonna have to have somebodyfrom my towing and recovery
team reach out to you, to, youknow, validate any invoice or
agreed any charges.
No problem.
So they reach out to me.
We settle on a price, a veryfair price, right, but a price
that covers my cost.
(15:59):
Now, at this point, once theyare interested in the price
because I never went out thatnight to look at it okay, this
is about an hour away, yep, so Isaid once they said like, yeah,
if you can get us a pricetogether for it, we'll see what
we can set up.
I said, okay, well, now I'llinvest a little bit of time into
this and sure enough I went out.
I took a look at it.
We brought the with us forgiggles.
It ended up being off anembankment about 25 feet but I
(16:20):
could get a truck right to theend of it, so like a light duty
wrecker could do this job.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
Yeah, so instead of a couple of thousand dollar bill
it could be a thousand dollarbill type thing.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
Not quite that.
But there's travel time andeverything else and so we come
up with a very fair price of thewith the insurance company.
They agree they want it broughtto the auction.
They ask for a price to get itbrought there.
We put this all together tothem, lay out the bill, prices
included, and we go and werecover the unit and we bring it
and there's a check waiting forus, picked up, done, Beautiful,
it worked beautifully.
(16:51):
You know we were paid right forour services.
The job was done.
Now, if I would have jumped thegun and just went and got that
and that bike would have beensitting in my yard collecting
storage, it would have been alot harder to get after the
insurance company for it.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
Well, yeah, the insurance company then knows,
well, the job's already done,because I'm pretty sure the
insurance company is stillliable for that vehicle.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
They are because it was never recovered.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
Exactly If it's sitting in your yard.
Well, sorry, it's's beenrecovered.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
There's nothing holding them accountable per se,
but now that they know thepolice are involved and the
police are wanting it removedand and all this, it puts a
little more pressure on them todo the right thing, which they
did, I have to admit, andironically, as you know, my wife
works in the impound in my, myworkplace she, when I told her
who the insurance company whereshe was like, good luck.
I hate dealing with them.
(17:42):
I had a great experience.
So I guess just different, uh,different experiences with it,
but we see that problem more andmore.
We're running into it.
Another perfect example theother night we got a call from
our local fire department for amotor home that was on fire,
like an rv type, you know,powered motorhome.
And I get there, cops are allgone, it's just this fire chief
(18:06):
there we're talking.
I pull up and he go, he goes.
This is a good one.
The whole front of this thing,it's like a 1970s or 80s rv.
The whole front is burned, thewhole back is fully intact.
I go.
What's the story?
He goes.
Well, this young lady herebought it off somebody outside
of town and um called to get ittowed to her place but couldn't
afford the tow bill.
(18:26):
She was quoted like twelvehundred dollars for the tow bill
.
So, uh, she decided to drive itunplated, uninsured, like
herself and the like, drive it.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
Drive it, not tow it, like oh it's a yeah, it's an rv
, not a trailer.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
It's an rv yeah, so drives it no insurance, no
plates, takes the risk.
Well, on its way, somethinghappens battery explodes,
whatever the story is, and itcatches fire and she pulls into
an old commercial propertythat's, uh, for lease right now,
and it and it lights on fireand the first thing I say is I'm
never gonna get paid for this.
He's like what do you mean?
(19:04):
I'm like, well, who's gonna payme for this?
Because now it isn't.
Even if I say, well, can't youget scrap metal?
Not for rvs.
No, rvs are the worst, becausescrapyards won't take them.
You got to pay to dispose ofthese things.
So not only am I gonna move it,or you're hoping I'm going to
move it and remove it at a costof my business that I'm not
going to recoup.
(19:24):
Plus, I'm going to have to putmoney to get rid of it so that
it's not just sitting around myyard that doesn't fly in
business.
So again it becomes.
Let's see how we're going toget paid.
It can stay here tonight.
There's no risk, even if itreignites it's far.
It's in the middle of a parkinglot, any vandalism whatever,
it's not a risk to the property.
It's not a risk to anything.
So we're going to leave ittonight.
We'll talk, we'll figuresomething out in the morning.
(19:44):
Right?
Property owner calls us up andsays hey, I want it removed.
What's it going to cost?
I'll pay the bill.
Right, like, I'll take care ofthat bill.
Cool, exactly now we've movedit again.
The same problem would happenif you just jump to the gun and
pull it and now go.
I'm gonna go collect off theproperty owner in the morning.
No, you're not, because if I'ma property owner and you came on
(20:05):
my property, remove this, it'scommercial property and again I
have a long-standingrelationship with this property
owner?
right, so there might have been,but if, if it's anyone else
they're not gonna go, okay, I'llpay you for the services that
you did.
That I didn't ask you to do.
You know what I mean.
Like, yes, it helps my propertyout, but I'm not responsible
for this.
Like, the property ownershouldn't have been responsible
(20:26):
for this the registered ownerand I told him he's more than
happy to go after her.
Like, if you would like to tryand recollect, here's all the
information I gathered, that allon scene for you.
But somebody's got to pay mefor my services.
The towing industry is one ofthe only responses to any of
these sort of MVCs cleanups,fires, any of those things that
(20:47):
is not guaranteed payment.
Right, we've talked about thisover and over again.
We're the only ones that showup that are not publicly funded
and are not guaranteed payment.
So you can take stands inlittle ways to help fix these
things right.
Just if another company wantsto go get that rv at a loss and
(21:07):
pay money to dispose, how aboutit?
Why are we so worried aboutthese jobs?
If you explain it in the properway to the authorities on why
and don't just go over the phonelike I, you can't go.
Hey, abc telling yeah, I've gota car, it's been an accident.
Well, is it insured?
Is it, is it this, is it, this,is it this?
(21:29):
You can't do that, right, you,you need to take the steps,
attend the scene, assess thesituation, explain to the
officers.
If it's something now on a car,it's a different story.
A car that hit a box culvert,that they're not insured, that
you're going to pull out of theditch with a light duty truck,
you should be able to recovermost of your cost of scrap value
out of that vehicle.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
Cars are one thing, but when someone blows the tire
on their old 1972 fiberglassboat and they just leave it
there sitting on the side of theroad side of the highway, pull
their plate off their trailerand rip the tag off their boat
and just leave it there.
You're not going to get anymoney out of that.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
No, right, no, and, like I said, it might end up
costing you to dispose.
So we ran into the samesituation again last night.
Ironically, get a call at 1 am,all I get is a trailer on fire
on the on the highway.
So I go out, I call the officer.
I knew the officer that was onscene.
He left the number to call himto assess right.
(22:29):
So I'm on my way out to him.
I give him a call, I go, whatdo you got?
Well, it's a camper trailerconversion that he's hauling
snowmobile, all this kind ofstuff fully engulfed.
I mean, there's nothing left ofthis trailer, fully engulfed.
No insurance on it, of course.
Now ontario is weird, though,because the truck pulling the
trailer insures the trailer inthe case of an accident most
(22:52):
times yeah but a fire is alittle bit different.
I don't know if he had you knowwhat I mean fire insurance on
the trailer.
I don't think the truckinsurance carries over for that.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
I'm not sure even if you have fire and theft on the
vehicle that's towing, I'm notsure if that does I don't think
that carries, I'm not sure.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
So because of that, when I got on scene, I advised
this guy of that and I said look, I'm not sure if your insurance
is going to cover this, likethe trailer itself specifically
wasn't insured.
Right, I understand that youcan have insurance through the
truck insurance and whatnot, butlike it's.
So here's what my you know.
So I give a breakdown.
(23:29):
This is what I'm going to do.
I'm going to need thisequipment, this equipment, this
equipment.
I'm going to need it for thismany hours tonight to do this
job.
Plus, I'm going to need it foranother two hours the day that I
go deliver this stuff to, um,the landfill, right, and whether
it be because again, it won'tgo to scrap steel, it's, it's
gonna be very hard to see ifthey take that.
So you know, here's thebreakdown, here's the fee.
(23:52):
I I last one I did that wassimilar, it was about this price
.
So I'm gonna, I'm gonna chargea flat rate fee for the dumping
fee and you know, if it's alittle higher, well then I'm
going to take the hit on that.
And here's my price.
And he goes no, I think that isreasonable, I think that is
fair, and he paid my bill on thespot, perfect.
But how many times are we soquick and I keep coming back to
(24:13):
this point we're so quick tojust go oh, police called, okay,
do it Now.
It's also one of those veryhard times because unless you
have road supervisors, unlessyou have I I'm there's a couple
of my drivers that I would trustto make that decision Because
they don't understand thebusiness side behind it.
Right, no-transcript, yep.
(24:37):
And then I look at it and goyes, you're right, you get paid
if you get the job, but how do Iget paid?
How does the company get paid?
Right, so you can't just.
Could you imagine back when weworked together, us making those
decisions on scene?
We weren't, we weren't in aposition to do that.
No, we didn't have theunderstanding of the business,
we didn't have the.
Speaker 2 (24:57):
You know the background there was times when
we would say to officers onscene or even other drivers that
we're getting stuck with this.
There ain't no way thecompany's getting paid for this
100.
That's just bullshit.
We can't really say, hey, wecan't do this because we know
the company's not getting paid.
But when we also work together,the industry was completely
(25:18):
different eight years ago towhat it is today.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
I you know what though the problem with paint,
with payment within the industry, was completely different eight
years ago to what it is today.
I you know what, though theproblem with paint, with payment
within the industry, was stillthe same.
This isn't a new problem.
No, this, this, this stuffbeing brought forward is just
the industry is finally bringingit forward because now they
feel like it is uneven to theextent that it needs to be well,
there's so many moreprotections in for the consumer.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
Yes, and there still hasn't been nothing to do for
the actual towing industry.
Speaker 1 (25:45):
No, exactly.
So next time you're doing thatpolice call or you know, if you
do a mix of on road and you'vegot some you know like maybe
talk to your guys and come upwith something.
And what I was amazed is howwell it was received among the
police.
Now, every time I've actuallyended up doing the job right and
(26:05):
to say that I would have nevergotten paid without it.
You can never guarantee that.
The chances of me getting paidnow we took, or were less, much
less.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
Can you answer me this?
I can edit it out.
If not, was it local orprovincial police?
Speaker 1 (26:20):
Um.
Two were provincial, One waslocal.
Speaker 2 (26:23):
Okay, okay, so an even mix fairly, yeah, yeah,
yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
And the one that was local.
It was the fire department Iwas dealing with, not the police
.
Oh right, the police weren'teven there.
The police, no, had zero caresabout this in the world.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
So you're not the reason why I ask that is because
you don't carry contracts forprovincial police.
Normally you carry contractsfor, like, regional police or
regional police departments, soI could see where the police
department.
Let's say, if you're contractedin the city of Toronto for
whatever reason I don't know ifthey have contracts or not but
(26:57):
you're contracted to Torontopolice and they get this vote,
or he's done all the contractsor not, but your contract to
Toronto Police and they get thisboat and they expect that it
gets cleared, because they calla towing company and it gets
done regardless.
And to start bringing thisstuff up might, especially when
you're just dealing with anofficer on scene they probably
were done two hours ago and theyjust want to get the fuck home,
(27:18):
right, but again a car.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
In most of these situations I was talking about a
boat that was just want to getthe fuck home.
Right now you're tying them upon the side of the road a car in
most of these situations.
You know I was talking aboutlike a boat that was abandoned,
a boat that was about yeah, thesame thing I was talking about
earlier a boat trailer, no motor.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
They don't have a motor, like there's no value.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
But there's certain things, a lot of times that when
you have these contracts withmunicipal police, with regional
police, with um, there is,you're right, no contract with,
technically, the provincialpolice.
But there is the pilot projectin toronto which is, you know,
kind of goes along those lines alot of times there is options
like with our, with our localpolice, like, depending on what
the service is, they'll pay forit.
(27:54):
Right, like we run into that.
So if we get, like, a stolen,recovered vehicle that they want
brought to their ident, theywill pay the tow to their ident.
They will.
They will pass the tow, thecost of the tow from ident to
our yard, plus accumulatingstorage, on to the customer,
(28:14):
right, but it will be, they'llcover.
Like.
So if there is things like theyhave had some weird things like
a chop shop that got dismantled,that we had to go in and pull
all kinds of stuff which prettymuch just went into a roll-off
bin, yep, um, they will pay forthat kind of services.
So if you were to get thoseweird ones, I imagine there's,
for the sake of good business,for the sake of whatever there
is, um protection built into acontract I would hope about, I
(28:38):
would hope now with theprovincial police.
That's actually the tougherpart, because there is no
contract, right, there is nolike.
You can't go bill them.
No, right, like they.
Good luck I implore you to try Ihave yeah we have billed them
for certain services thatthey've requested right, on
(28:59):
certain fatalities and differentthings like that, you can bill
them.
But for this car that just youknow they called you to remove
out of the ditch, you ain'tbilling them for that.
They're they're not gonna paythat bill.
So it really becomes a tougherone because there's no kind of
contracts put in place for thatkind of stuff.
So if it's something that's notimpeding traffic, right, we've
(29:22):
seen it.
We've seen.
I've seen trailers left on theside of highways and in certain
parts of the country right,because they want to guarantee
payment.
And it's the same thing.
We're seeing brand new unitsabandoned in our year brand new
transports 2023s because theyweren't insured and they got
(29:45):
into a wreck.
Right, that is a huge thing.
I know it is.
It was a big debate in thetowing industry for a long time
was holding on to cargo right.
If, if I get a tractor trailerthat rolls over and we recover
it with the cargo and the unitcomes back, the first thing they
want is the cargo?
Yeah, because the cargo is thevalue and they have requirements
they need to meet.
But you have to hold on to thecargo because once you let go,
(30:09):
of that cargo once you let go ofthat cargo they have.
No, if they have a wreckedhighway tractor, you know
there's value in it fromsalvages and whatever, but
there's not going to be valueanywhere near the cost of
recovery.
No.
So you know, the government hastaken steps to protect the
(30:29):
consumer in these ways and oneof them is yeah, well, you can't
hold the cargo because it'sit's you know, but but you have
to because once that cargo isgone, the, the company has no,
you know no reason to pay me.
They'll pay me my invoice.
Now, that's the problem.
This becomes and this issomething that goes into the us
side of what I wanted to talkabout because it becomes, they
(30:51):
look at it as predatory towingpractices because you are
holding something hostage inorder to get paid now and then
you're, and then, in their eyes,because the public does not
fully understand the, the costthat goes into running a towing
business and and and doing thesekinds of recoveries, right,
they look at it and go.
(31:11):
Not only are you holdingsomething hostage, you are
holding something hostage forunbelievably high prices that
you want for a recovery.
Yeah Right, they don't look atthat.
That's a million dollar truckthat you know we needed to buy,
maintain, upkeep, pay for fuel.
You know all those costs that weall know go into the towing
(31:32):
industry.
They don't care about that,they just go well.
There's no way you can charge,let's say, a thousand dollars an
hour for a unit like that.
We go well, yes, you can, andyes, we did, and we made the.
You know we went out and madethat investment and spent that
money to be able to do theserecoveries by limiting damage,
(31:54):
everything else, increasingsafety, all that.
But you want to call itpredatory because you don't have
a full understanding on howfinancially the business works.
And so, by holding on to thecargo, you could just see how
this would be an absolute spreadall over the news.
Local towing company holdscargo hostage, especially if it
(32:16):
would be something like a loadof like medical supplies, right,
or did you imagine if it'sanything essential, like grocery
, right, holds a load ofgroceries hostage.
This is why the the prices aregoing up and refuses to release
it unless paid exorbitant, youknow, unless paid.
30, 40, you know, 20, 30thousand dollars.
Speaker 2 (32:39):
And to the public, oh my god, that's so bad the
industry is meanwhile, they justhave to throw out the load
anyways, but they need aheadline exactly.
Speaker 1 (32:48):
Meanwhile, they don't talk about the 8 to 12 hours,
or you know, eight hour recovery, that this bill was um in the
middle of the night and thepouring rain, and the amount of
resources that it took to dothis to open up one of the
busiest highways in northamerica and and why that cost.
Is that cost right?
So you know the us is startingto see it.
(33:10):
Where they had this memo goneout about predatory towing and
prices?
Right, they want to startlimiting the towing industry.
Um on fees they can charge.
Right, they're talking aboutall these hidden fees within the
towing industry.
Now, this is something that wehave seen a lot.
And if you want moreinformation on predator, these
fees in this program that we'rediscussing or this new bill that
(33:31):
they're drafting up in the usbecause we do have a large us
listener base I suggest you headover uh to the tow business
podcast.
They have a lot moreinformation.
Uh, southwest wrecker operatorsas well did a show on this.
Uh with one of the hosts fromthe tow business podcast.
They have a lot moreinformation.
Uh, southwest wrecker operatorsas well did a show on this.
Uh with one of the hosts fromthe tow business podcast.
I suggest you guys check thatout again.
Being in Canada, we're a littleless connected on it, but we
(33:51):
can go off what we've read, whatI've heard, what I've listened,
what I've had a couple ofpeople talk about.
So, um, they are trying toeliminate added fees into the
towing industry Right now.
That is something the Ontariogovernment has recently done
with this new to see a programwhere there is fees that you are
not allowed to charge for, likeborder crossing fees, like fuel
(34:15):
surcharges, all that kind ofstuff.
So companies have now justadopted them into their hourly
rate but there is certain fees.
So I'll read kind of theheadline US Department of
Transportation supports strongprotection for truckers against
predatory towing junk fees.
(34:36):
I love that they call them junkfees.
Yeah, I'll pull it up here.
Um, washington, the U Sdepartment of transportation,
federal motor carrier safetyadministration, fmcsa I love
dealing with them.
They're the people that make usdo drug testing in the States.
Um, today expressed strongsupport for truckers protection
against predatory towing fees ina comment filed on the federal
(34:58):
trade commission's proposed rulebanning junk fees.
When a truck driver's vehicleis towed, they can't earn a
living until they get it back,leaving them vulnerable to
predatory junk fees from towingcompanies.
Predatory towing negativelyimpacts consumers, including
commercial motor vehicle driversand trucking companies.
It is detrimental to overallhealth of the trucking industry
(35:21):
and it's time to end excessiverates, surcharges and other
unfair fees associated withpredatory towing.
Speaker 2 (35:29):
That was from the fmcsa deputy administrator, sue
lawless.
I love that last name lawless.
Speaker 1 (35:38):
You can go ahead and find the links for these, if we
ever remember to actually dothem, in the description for the
episode.
Um.
So yeah, again they're talkingof excessive fees that can add
up to thousands and thousands ofdollars yeah, then they got a
couple of bullet points downbelow.
Speaker 2 (35:54):
Ban junk fees for unnecessary goods or services.
The fmcsa suggests adding aprovision that prohibits
companies from charging any feefor any good or service that has
no value, costs nothing extrato provide or that reasonably
using equipment that theyalready own and use routinely to
(36:14):
provide the towing service.
Speaker 1 (36:31):
So I'm a little and I wish I would have done.
Speaker 2 (36:34):
I'm scared by that.
Speaker 1 (36:35):
You need to bring your mic closer to you, by the
way, I'm scared by that.
Okay, but no, it is somethingso.
So I don't know what they meanby that equipment fee.
Now are guys just throwing arandom invoice line item on an
invoice that says equipment feeand not explaining it?
Are they trying to charge forspecialty equipment for these
(36:56):
towing and recoveries?
You know we joke.
We talk things like the backpull hitch, the iver tool,
bigger scale, uh, airbags, right, like I don't know what.
It is the threshold they'retalking about.
This equipment fee, um, or isit that you're just doing?
Okay, it's 200 and it's 250 anhour for this truck, it's this,
this, this, this, and then we'readding on a um, a five percent
(37:20):
equipment fee.
Right, I don't know how.
I haven't seen the us invoicesin this way.
Now again, they're standing onthe backs of the truckers to
protect the truckers.
At least that's what they'regoing at, right, because it's
like this, you know, is hurtingthe trucking industry.
Speaker 2 (37:34):
Well, I'm not a towing industry kind of sort, of
a trucking industry as well.
Speaker 1 (37:39):
Well, I'm not.
I'm not in the us, so I can'tsay what's wrong with your
trucking industry.
I can tell you that if youstart enforcing that you know
the trucking industry has properinsurance to cover their cargo
and not three-party insurancefor all this kind of stuff would
probably do more to protect thetowing or the trucking industry
against the towing industry byhaving proper coverage for the
services they provide, by havingexperienced, experienced
(38:01):
drivers, by strickening uprequirements for drivers, by
doing all those kinds of things,so we don't get all these guys
with three months experiencethat are going and driving
tractor trailers into therhubarb because they figured out
they can't drive more than youknow four hours without falling
asleep.
Yeah, now the fear is that theywant to be able that you can
have, should have everything inan all in price, right?
(38:23):
So in other words, we should beable to call, we should be able
to get an all in price.
Well, here's my problem withthat, coming from somebody who
has quoted and build for heavyrecoveries, you can't quote that
up front.
No, I can give you and that iswhat Ontario has kind of asked
for, which is where they have alittle bit more leniency I can
give you what my units, a fulllist of my units and what they
(38:45):
run at per hour, and I will keepit within these rates.
But to tell me to pull up onscene to look at a job and to
flat out give a rate, first ofall, I'm going to go high.
If that's how it's got to be,I'm going high.
Speaker 2 (38:59):
I'm going high.
Yeah, I'm adding an extra fivehours on everything, just to be
on the safe side.
You have to because thingshappen.
Speaker 1 (39:07):
There is things that you may not see until you get
partway into that recovery,right, there's all these kinds
of things.
So you can't give a flat rateprice.
Yeah, then, not to mention.
Okay, so let's play this oneout.
So the company is now priceshopping and getting their flat
rate price.
So three scene coordinators areall going to show up to the
same rack.
They're all going to look at it, they're all going to give
(39:28):
their price and then the companywill go with the cheapest
option, because that's whatthey're concerned about here.
It is not about the, you know,what's going to save their cargo
, what's going to do any of thisout there, it's about the
cheapest price.
That's why you want the all inprice and they're going to go
with the cheapest one.
And now we're three hours intothis and we still haven't moved
(39:50):
a truck.
Right, the U?
S is very strict on their, ontheir quick clearance projects
that they have.
Right, the state, you know, orthe, the city, whatever it is,
will require, every time thatit's tripped, that these, this
amount of equipment, has to rollto a, to a scene.
Right, I ran in, I seen anarticle and I want to say it was
down in georgia where a boxtruck company got an invoice for
(40:12):
you know whatever the numberwas and they were outraged by it
.
Well, the problem was that thestate trooper had deemed it as a
trip with their incidentresponse, which requires, like
two heavy wreckers, a blockertruck and I want to say
something else attend.
So they moved this box truckoff the highway like a mile and
(40:34):
got off the highway, but nowyou're paying for all three of
those trucks.
Yep, like they didn't buildthat system right.
Like they were told if, if, youget a call under this, this is
what you have to respond with.
So they had trucks on standbythat have to meet response times
and that, okay.
So it ended up being a 26 footbox truck.
It wasn't a, you know, 80 000pound loaded tractor trailer, it
(40:54):
doesn't matter.
You've got to pay for theequipment, right.
So you get this price shoppingthat starts going on.
You get that you are going tonegatively affect the quick
clearance of highways, right.
Then you throw the pocket ontop of that.
You're going to give thecheapest price.
You're going to, you know, yes,there's competitiveness to it
to keep us all in check, whichI'm all for, but you're going to
(41:18):
, you know, encourage the raceto the bottom.
I'm all for.
But you're going to, you know,encourage the race to the bottom
.
And then you're going to loweryour price to do the service,
only to find out that they don'thave proper insurance and
you're not going to get paid andyou have no recourse in action
to go after them to get paid.
Speaker 2 (41:32):
Well, I'm also kind of concerned.
Okay, so you give the peopleability to price shop around.
Okay, cool, whatever they say.
Okay, cool, whatever they say.
Okay, I'm going to go with the$3,000 option instead of the
$6,000 option.
The $6,000 option bigger outfitThey've got a really good
(41:54):
record behind them.
And the $3,000 option fewertrucks, a little smaller.
The smaller operation that gotthe job for three thousand
dollars goes out, starts the job, realizes it's out of their
scope, can't finish the job.
And now what do they do?
Can they call another truck infrom the people that charged or
was going to charge six thousanddollars, but now that wasn't
(42:17):
agreed upon the rates originally, because now they would have to
pay.
That is the company thatoriginally got the job for 3 000
just going to have to eat thatcost.
Or now does the customer nowhave to agree to this other
company's rates just to get thejob done?
Like, how is that going to workand how is how going to?
(42:38):
Well, you said you could do itfor $3,000 and now you can't.
So now who's at fault for that?
Like and the towing industry?
The one reason why most of uslove it is because it keeps us
on our toes.
Let's say you got a tractortrailer that's hit a tree
sideways and as you're pullingit away from the tree, the tree
decides to fall down in betweenthe tractor and the trailer.
(43:00):
And then, away from the tree,the tree decides to fall down in
between the tractor and thetrailer.
Well, now, that's made yourrecovery twice as long because
you got to remove the tree orseparate the trailer and the
truck to get it around from thistree.
Well, yeah, it's something youcould potentially try to bill
for, you know, but at the end ofthe day at the end of the day
you're not.
That's not a normal thing thathappens, because nothing in this
(43:21):
industry is a normal thing thathappens when it comes to
recovery.
But the government the issue.
Speaker 1 (43:26):
Yeah, the government seems to want it to be a normal
set out price structure, and andthat is what it is.
And until these lawmakers.
Now, you know, the U?
S is lucky in the sense thatthey're just beginning to draft
this bill, right't you know?
This isn't the ontarioassociation, six months behind
the ball after it comes outgoing, oh right, like they're
ahead of it.
(43:46):
And and the one thing I can sayis that the american towing
industry seems to stand togethera little better on this stuff.
They seem to have moreorganized because this is at the
federal level.
To my understanding, this isnot a state to state thing.
Speaker 2 (43:59):
This is at the federal level yeah.
Speaker 1 (44:02):
So the advice that I can give you if you want more
information on it because I knowthere's a lot going on, there's
a lot of petitions that are out, there's a lot of information
on that side you you can send usa private message.
I will get you in touch withsomebody that can better educate
you on it than than what youheard on this Um.
But I think the importancewould really be to look at
joining your local, state andfederal associations.
(44:23):
Right, the T R a is is a bigone in the States.
Look to them for theinformation.
Join your associations.
They are going to need yourhelp to fight this before you
end up like Ontario, whereeverything is regulated to hell
and we're hoping that they'llgive us a bone later on down the
road.
Like that is what we're at.
Like that's that's the phasethat we're at.
So if you guys have theopportunity to have your input,
(44:46):
have your say.
Have some change made on this.
You know, check out our friendsat southwest toe operators on
facebook.
They're the ones that hostedthe show um called recovery
alley.
They went over it.
It was a good episode.
I watched it.
You can find it over on theirFacebook page.
I, I.
I think they were on YouTube aswell, I'm not sure, um, or you
know.
Again, the tow business podcastis another great one where they
(45:07):
share a lot of information.
Um, you know I've made jokesbefore where they're a little
drier, they're geared a littlebit more towards management and
ownership, but it's definitelysomething easy, even as a driver
.
You need to be aware of that.
You can help before it becomestoo late for the industry where
you're at.
Speaker 2 (45:23):
So yeah, I think one thing america normally does good
as a whole is a rally aroundthe flag movement right when
times get you where he's sixthwas a perfect example.
They rallied around a flag, allright um, when, when the going
gets tough, people come togetherand are able to fight what they
(45:47):
need to right, and I thinksomething like this is.
We always talk about how theindustry is so divided.
Something like this is easy forcompanies to come together,
especially in its infancy.
Like this is now to say hey,this is what's going on, this is
the reason why we do certainthings.
(46:07):
Uh, I'm I'm assuming these arecoming from those people that
hold cars hostage and won'trelease it until the bill gets
over ten thousand dollars or thepeople, yeah, or like us, who
hold cargo hostage yeah, becausewe want to make sure we're
fairly paid.
Speaker 1 (46:23):
But it's missing, you know, represented yeah exactly
so.
Speaker 2 (46:27):
It could be the bad actors in the industry which we
need to do something to be ableto cut them out of the industry,
because we don't need them here.
They're only making it worsefor everyone, as you can look at
ontario, right.
Just look at, look at us as acase study, for you don't want
the whole you don't want what wegot going on over here.
You don't, um, so just get onit while it's early, stay on top
(46:52):
of it and don't stop fightinguntil you get what you deserve.
Speaker 1 (46:56):
It's it's not all maple syrup and free health care
okay, and the free health careis shit.
Yeah, the free health care iskind of shit it's got more and
more shit I would like I almostwant I've, I've, like I'll work.
I'll work more to make moremoney to pay for private health
care at this point.
Yeah, if it gets me there whatI need sooner.
Speaker 2 (47:19):
I kind of want to move to Texas.
Speaker 1 (47:22):
Oh boy, you look like the type that would move to
Austin.
Speaker 2 (47:27):
However, Brandon Herrera didn't win his seat in
Congress, so I'm not sure if Iwould want to move to District
23.
Speaker 1 (47:32):
I have no idea.
You look like you should moveto Texas.
I'm pretty sure they've had acouple of cults that have gone
real south down there.
Speaker 2 (47:41):
Perfect, I'll fit right in with my cult up here.
Speaker 1 (47:45):
That is about all the time that we do have for today.
Again, we do appreciate youguys joining us.
It was fun to talk Americansand finally bag on the issues
they're having rather than theones we're having here at home.
So, yes, if you have againquestions, comments, concerns
for the show, visit us byheading to our website at
wwwtowinglifeca, email usdirectly at thetowinglife at
(48:08):
gmailcom, or find us on Facebookat the Towing Life podcast.
Don't forget to like andsubscribe.
It should make the little thingdance, as G said, and if you
are watching on the YouTube side, you can leave that comment
down below.
So, on behalf of myself, mywonderful co-host, mr Toman G,
we thank you for joining us foranother episode of the Toman
Life Podcast and we cannot waitto see you again next time.
(48:31):
Take care, toodles, I think thesubscribe button only dances
the once.
Boo, youtube sucks.
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