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Fleet managers in need of a towing service should heed the advice from the movie Ghostbusters: ‘Who ya gonna call?’

Carriers who call or contract the wrong towing company could be unleashing a potential nightmare of bloated bills, costly damages to equipment and freight, inflated insurance claims, or even lawsuits. We’ve all heard or experienced the horror stories of fleets victimized by dishonest and incompetent tow truck operators.

 

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the tow truck but these days there’s much more to towing than finding an operator who can get your truck back on the road quickly and cheaply. Although fleet managers are always at the mercy of unforeseen breakdowns and accidents, they can minimize their towing and recovery costs by contracting their towing operations to companies properly equipped to handle their specialized needs. They should spend the same time and due diligence on hiring a towing vendor as they do with other suppliers.

Joey Gagne is chief executive officer of Abrams Towing, the largest towing company in the country with a fleet of 200 trucks working the highways in seven Ontario cities. Gagne’s crew is also featured on the Discovery Channel show Heavy Rescue 401. He says carriers need to be more demanding.

“Ask to see certifications and training certificates,” says Gagne, a member of the International Towing and Recovery Hall of Fame, and president of the Provincial Towing Association of Ontario. “I wouldn’t hire a vendor who was going to be handling my $300,000 piece of equipment without doing some background checks on them. Ask for credentials. Credentials are valid CVOR (Commercial Vehicle Operators Licence); credentials are appropriate insurance ($5 million to $10 million); credentials are adequate training and safety. Make them prove that their training has been upgraded. It’s not the same as 10 years ago.”

Changing technology in the trucking sector has had a major impact on the towing industry. In a quest to shed weight and increase payloads, most fleets are now running tractors with more sophisticated systems including transmissions that often require a different towing process. Trailers made of aluminum parts are easier to damage in the wrong hands.

“Twenty or 30 years ago, you threw a chain on it and and you got going,” says Gagne. “The vehicles we are recovering now are getting a lot more complicated. Creating new technologies on trucks means creating new technologies for (towing operators). Suspensions on trucks are different, transmissions are different, and trailers are lighter. If you pull a vehicle that has one of those i-shift transmissions, you can damage the transmission. There are a lot of things you need to know.”

Established towing professionals advise carriers to examine all facets of a towing company’s operation. Under-equipped and improperly trained operators in the unregulated towing and recovery industry have given fleet managers ample reason to be wary of fly-by-night companies. Properly equipped towing companies are investing in sophisticated equipment designed to efficiently handle the recovery of expensive freight, dangerous goods, and environmental spills.

Towing companies are spending upwards of $500,000 on 35-to-50-ton custom-built rotators, rigs that are essentially mobile cranes designed for extreme recovery operations. They also require certified crane operators who undergo rigorous training. Abrams Towing sends its operators to their own 20,000 sq. ft., state-of-the-art training centre.

Chris Young, development leader for Cliff’s Towing in Edmonton, the largest towing company in Alberta, says training extends beyond towing and recovery. Their drivers undergo extensive health and safety training. Some even take advanced Emergency Medical Response training to deal with the injuries they encounter on the scene. Cliff’s drivers are required to undergo criminal checks.

Young advises carriers to study the highways their fleets are running and to tailor their towing needs accordingly. A ‘one-size-fits-all’ is the wrong approach. Carriers need to have several towing companies on contract or at least know which ones to call depending on the location and the situation. “You need a totally different towing setup in northern Alberta compared to the 401. We don’t have anything wider than three or six lanes and in northern Alberta it’s two lanes,” states Young.

One of the advantages of pre-vetting a towing contract is to secure a consistent service and reliable rates. Carriers and their drivers know the towing company they’re calling in an emergency can handle their needs. They also know they won’t be held hostage by an operator who may try to ‘gouge’ them with an outlandish bill. Carriers stuck with a bill for thousands of dollars beyond what it should be are not uncommon.

A towing contract should outline a detailed rate breakdown including mileage, hours, services provided, and the billing process. Thanks to GPS technology, the exact time and distance to the job should never be in question and is usually included in the invoice. The rates at Cliff’s Towing, for example, are regulated because the company has a number of government contracts.

“You can’t make up a number and go with it,” says Young. “Nowadays everything is based on a set rate. You can’t charge what you want. You’re not getting a whopping charge because your tower had go out in the middle of the night. The rate is always the same.”

Drivers armed with a pre-vetted towing contract can also fend off police and other transportation officials who urge them to hire a first-on-the-scene operator. “Unless this guy can provide you with his qualifications on the side of the road – and most of these people can’t – you shouldn’t be comfortable handing him your $200,000 or $300,000 piece of equipment,” says Gagne. “You should tell the police or the MOT (Ministry of Transportation) that the guy they’re pushing on you hasn’t been pre-vetted and ask if they are willing to accept liability.”

If his contracted customers break down in an area Abrams doesn’t service, dispatchers will recommend the nearest towing company that can do the job properly. Some companies will even provide a training session for dispatchers and drivers so they know the exact procedure to follow in an emergency.

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It's well past time the Feds Provinces Territories Come Together to effectively Monitor Commercial Motor Carrier Safety Fitness Rating

The Feds, Provinces & Territories Must Work Together to effectively Monitor Carrier Safety Fitness

 

The System in place currently has been broken for a long time, and solutions offered by Industry have yet to be acted upon

(the below is an exert of a communication that was sent by the PMTC to the CCMTA, Transport Canada & The Council of Ministers Responsible for Transportation)

Currently Commercial Motor Carriers who wish to operate a trucking fleet in Canada must apply for a Safety Fitness Certificate to the Provincial Authority in which they plan to licence their vehicles. If the Provincial Authority of the base jurisdiction approves the application, a National Safety Code (NSC) will be issued to the Carrier. The base jurisdiction is then responsible for monitoring the motor carrier for safety and compliance, based on National Safety Code 14, which is a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) all jurisdictions agreed to several years back. https://www.ccmta.ca/en/national-safety-code 

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