Why are we tow truck drivers
By Richard Wolfe
Have you ever given any thought to why you are a tow truck driver? Is it because that you like helping people, or is it because that you like that you are driving a real fancy piece of equipment? Or is it because you have it in your blood, growing up in a towing family?
Whatever the reason, I think you are in it for the challenge. Think about the recoveries you do and the good feeling you get after helping someone who is having car trouble.
We all know you have long hours of work and unpredictable days off, and that is not the best in the times of bad weather. Benefits, well that is something that is finally coming to the industry, so you know you are being treated better now than you would have been 30 years ago. Training, that was not even there when I started towing 20 years ago. It was called on the job training then. No seminars, video tapes or towing books.
All of us old towers had to learn the hard way, bend it or do it right. And there was a lot of the first one that was done, until we got it right, (but remember, back then the vehicles were built better and stronger, so they did not bend as easy)
I got into the towing business the normal way, I worked at a gas station that had a tow truck, and I started to learn what it could do and not do by riding with the owner. I later went on to another station that had three tow trucks (big time for me). I got to dispatch them and also pump gas. I also rode along and learned what they did and how to use them properly, from some very good people. I liked to help people and enjoyed the feeling that come when we rescued a person in distress. There is something about the feeling of being a modern day knight in a shining tow truck.
The next thing that happened was time in the military, after which I got to come back and dispatch and pump gas again.But now I was able to take the service truck and actually run some calls. I finally got to change companies and actually learn to run a tow truck. What fun I had with a Holmes 220 in a pickup and with a Holmes 480. I got to work nights, and I learned a lot about being on call. (Maybe I should have realized what that meant.)
Now everyone bashes AAA, but remember for a person who is just learning the business, you do learn a lot running those calls. You have to do every kind of call. Of course, there were people in the industry who would help you if you have questions. Now some of them are retired or have moved up to the sales of tow trucks.
Over the years, I moved around from company to company, learning what I could and also getting trained and using newer equipment and bigger stuff. I even wound up back at the original tow company again as a driver. Seems that I had been bitten by the towing bug, And looking back, I realize that I enjoy it a lot, and it is my life and job I want to do.
My wife was an AAA dispatcher when I met her. She enjoys the business also, and she loves to dispatch. My kids like it when I come home and tell them about what I did at work. It also makes a heck of a show and tell project for school reports. A lot of kid’s eyes get real big when they get to go outside and for the show and tell time. Ever notice the amount of kids that show up when you are hooking up a car in the neighborhood? They seem to come out of the woodwork.
Now about kids, would you let your kids grow up and become tow truck drivers? My son wants to, and I hope he enjoys it as much as I do, but without the ulcers. He was also told that if he wants to drive a tow truck, he should go to college and get a business degree, so that he can run a profitable business. This was by another tow company owner who described us old towers as dinosaurs. I did not even think of myself as one but later that night I realized we just might be.
We are self-taught, we did it the hard way, and we are not going to change our ways very easily. There are computers in the cars, computers in the office, and fancy tracking systems in the sky. All this high-tech stuff is hard for us to understand, and the next generation of towers will be much more trained and informed than we could ever be. It is pretty scary to see the changes that have been made in the last 10 years. Imagine that the next 10 years will be like.
Enough rambling on, let’s all just have a nice time in the business, and let’s all enjoy the New Year and hope it is full of profit for all of us. And remember, we are what we make ourselves to be, so let’s all be professionals out there.
(article reprinted with permission of Towing and Recovery Phootnotes, and was printed in the January 1999 issue on page 15.)
