You use the words "Their 1 ton"...So do you own your 550.. or is it a company wrecker ??
Joe
I Wish I owned that truck, right around $100K new!
I have been playing with the idea of buying my own truck, tho I'm still unsure how long I want to stay with this industry, being with it for only 2 years now. The problems with that idea would be truck expenses, maitence, fuel ect. The big one insurance, that is a huge chunk of our budget, and pay verses how much I would pay for. Very similar to an O/O, not sure if I would come ahead...so no, we don't own them, but we all take our trucks home, and keep our truck all the time, so its almost like its yours, lots of freedom.
Which brings me to Stroked68's comment, I have gotten very used to the wrecker. It is more manuverable, fits in my garage, and has 4wd. Roll backs are awesome tho...
You can get either a 1 ton style, like a 550 with a 21' bed or heavier duty ones with tons of weight options. One huge benifit is that you can haul at least 2 cars at once. Around here a big option is the side puller in addition to the main winch, this adds downriggers and side mounted winch for pulling without blocking traffic. A company called Dynamic started making a rotating rollback that turns 180* for even easier recovery.
So I don't write a book, a wrecker is for quick towing, especially with an autoloader. A rollback is for heavier, extremely disabled or unusual loads. I can use my wrecker for most every thing, but often the rollback is much easier. Well, I'll stop for now, and feel free to ask more questions.
Just got new Hi Vis gear for the season today, the snow is coming! I might be crazy tho!
Yeah, we are 24hr, but the boss or manager has the phone's, we have 2 companies, and were on a rotation. We work 8 to 4:30, and just on call a few nights a week and every third weekend, with 3 full time drivers. However now, when the snow stays, I'll be having many 5am to 9pm days, which makes for some nice pay! If you owned one, just hire dispatchers, depending on your size of course. On those long days, we can be backed up as much as 5 hours to get to that last call...and there are 8 towing companies in Fargo.
