WHEELS DONT LOCK!!!

[thorshammer1348]

YOUR NOT A JERK,, YOUR A IMPOUND DRIVER THATS SERVING THE PUBLIC ,PROVIDING A VALUABLE SERVICE!!!!!

[mkymonkey]

@thorshammer1348 HAHA that's right! you tell 'em brother!

[thorshammer1348]

Towing #101 ; "UNLOCK THAT VAN (after you get it off property in a safe spot) AND TIE THE STEERING WHEEL OFF,IF EVER SEEN A VEHICLE DRIFT AND SMACK A PARKED CAR ETC. YIKES !!! MOST CHEVYS MADE AFTER 1996 DONT HAVE LOCKING STEERING WHEELS,I DONT KNOW WHY CHEVY DID THIS.!

[mkymonkey]

@thorshammer1348 Yep, thats exactly what I did. But it was in the middle of the night in an area of town that has little to NO traffic. I was surprised that there was a car behind me when I left the property. Anyway, I pulled into another lot and tied the steering wheel down :0)

[zermeno51]

Got to love it when that happens

[mkymonkey]

@zermeno51 right?! its like a small adrenaline rush on top of the adrenaline built up from taking the car! haha

[ANTIFASHISTA1]

so whats the point?

[Rob95758]

We do the same thing. We'll hook and book it off the property and get off site then strap, chain, and straighten the wheel or dollies if required.  Especially out of some of the apartments we tow out of it's just too dangerous.

[mkymonkey]

@Rob95758 Thank you for validating me for the rest of the people here! what state do you tow in?

[Rob95758]

@mkymonkey We're in California. We specialize in PPT and do nothing else.

[mkymonkey]

@Rob95758 really? PPT as in Private Party Towing? you in socal?

[Rob95758]

@mkymonkey yup, all private property. we're in the Sacramento area.

[mkymonkey]

@Rob95758 Awesome man!

[taximanfrank]

thats just stupid and risky towing it with the wheels unlocked

[mkymonkey]

@taximanfrank you do what you have to, to get the car. plus experience and an open parking lot makes it easy.

[TheRepoTeam]

that'll make ur butt hole pucker

[mkymonkey]

@TheRepoTeam haha thats for sure!

[deadbodyman81]

pop in the astro van...takes 20 seconds with a wedge and reach bar...on your way to another call so you were in a hurry...hell if they catch charge a drop fee instead of going back to the yard.....that shits reckless on the open road....ill tow one to the yard sideways sometimes if its late at night w/ no traffic ...but not with the wheels unlocked....PPI 's kick ass

[mkymonkey]

@deadbodyman81 I'm a pretty seasoned driver. So I know what I was doing. Besides this card and a couple others, the parking lot was empty. this was also towed very early in the morning around 2 or 3am. traffic was really nonexistant.

[vaporsilver]

@mkymonkey Ignorance is bliss....

[mkymonkey]

@vaporsilver uh ?

[stewartx5]

If the vehicle was indeed left overnight and the owner was not around, why were you in such a hurry to snatch it and leave - in a hurry enough to tow in such a clearly unsafe manner? Personally, I don't like the predatory behavior of tow truck drivers engaged in such activities (repos, towing from parking lots, etc). It's a sleazy way to make money.

[mkymonkey]

@stewartx5 Well stewart, when you're technically stealing someones car you dont really want to get caught even if the car was left overnight ( this case was only for a few hours and i was called by the security agent). AND i had another call to tend to. and as they say, time IS money

[pumpkinheadedsob]

@mkymonkey ok bro maby you dont get it, its illegal to tow a vheicle without the steering locked, and illegal to tow one without straping the tires to the wheel lift or attaching safty chains. and as you stated you were called by security on the premisis, you could have had them watch your back if you were worried about the owner comming up on you. yes time is money, but theres always time to do your job right. you may have gotten lucky this time but one time youll lose one off the lift.

[mkymonkey]

@pumpkinheadedsob Yes you're completely right. It IS illegal to tow a vechile without it being strapped down. BUT I have always towed a car off property without straps since I started towing. The only times I dont do that and actually strap the car down is if for some reason there is no wheels on the car, the wheels don't fit on my lift, or the car is in neutral on all wheels and it WILL fall off. Yes I have had cars fall off the lift, I think every tow driver has gone through that one.

[mkymonkey]

@pumpkinheadedsob but experience always kicks in when you have done it for so long. Not shown in the video is me going to the property next door turning the car around, dropping linkage, and strapping, chaining and putting lights on the car. There is NO way I will ever tow a car all the way back to the yard without them. BUT to get them off property I will. In CA a driver cannot charge a drop fee on property, but you can off property...so if the people were to come out even with the security

[mkymonkey]

@pumpkinheadedsob guard there, I wouldn't be able to get paid for it. I'd have to drop the car right off the batt. SO...the selfish driver that I am, I want to get paid for every car I touch. Therefore, I will always tow the car off property as soon as possible and worry about strapping it off property.

[pumpkinheadedsob]

@mkymonkey My bad, I didnt realize you where in CA where they have all those limp dick liberal laws. I'm used to MO. where once your truck is engaged with a car there is no legaly required on site drop. its too late for the owner, although I've been known to drop a car for the right amount of cash. plus I carry a .45 for protection.

[mibars]

Lesson #1 - if your car is FWD and you want to make tow truck driver job harder pull your parking brake as hard as you can, leave it at reverse with steering wheel locked in full right position :D

[mkymonkey]

@mibars it would only take another 3 minutes to get out open the car and take the brake out. putting it in reverse wont matter because we would just tow it from the front since its a front wheel drive car. and even if we didnt want to get into it we could always just use dollies to tow the car and now have to worry about opening the car at all :D

[brettg949]

@mibars also cranking the tires left would make it harder because of the way go jacks work..... all in all your dumb

[ConnorCor]

I had a Ford Crown Vic that was rear wheel drive the tie rod busted and couldn't tow it from the rear so I just hooked to the front popped to basket straps on it and towed it from the front. The lady couldn't figure out why she couldn't go forward I took her around to the passenger side and showed her that her wheel was almost under the car.

[mkymonkey]

@ConnorCor cool!

[rojadrik]

I'd be one to just strap it, pop the lock and use a tie-down on the wheel to the frame under the seat. I hate dropping axles, and I won't do it unless it's a AWD/4WD or if the front end is demolished.

[mkymonkey]

@rojadrik because this is a PPI I dont like opening cars...unless i absolutly have to. i know it creates more work to turn it around and drop linkage but its "safer" in a way that i dont have to be in the car and accused of stealing something....also i think i was just too lazy to get my tools out lol. i usually hook and book and drop linkage if i have to other wise to the yard!

[rojadrik]

Well that is understandable. We do work for the Fort Stewart Police Department and we remove all of the abandoned vehicles from the base. We always have a police officer with us so they don't care if we pop a lock.

Ft Stewart's Post is also 20 miles away from our yard, so we'll have out F450 with a Jerr Dan snatch kit and out three International 4300DT466 rollbacks with us. 7 cars at a time, within 45 minutes.We gotta haul two per truck to cover the fuel.

[mkymonkey]

No...I only use dollies if i have to. I know I can control this car without a problem. Sure nothing is a for sure thing and IT IS dangerous. But I've done it long enough to know my way around wheels that dont lock. My motto is work smarter not harder...and dropping linkage is a lot easier than setting up dollies. :D

[hitmeup63]

you dont use dollies.......?????