I want to talk again about the towing season that is squarely upon us. These winter events will be a prominent and costly occurrence over the next several months for all fleets. To be quite clear, there are other items that I can elaborate on, but this one has risen to the top of my list again in recent weeks and deserves the additional attention.

Earlier this year I expounded on the work that is going on at TMC (ATA Technology and Maintenance Council), regarding the epic "non-consensual" towing events. During this blog I stated that towing event percentages have escalated over the last 5 years to an alarming rate 30% from a low of 9% in 2000. A recent nationwide webcast stated that towing events were well under control at a level of only 4% of total road breakdown reasons, thus indicating minimal concern going forward. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but this estimate is both inaccurate and un-documented and should be noted as an error in presentation. Towing events are not only on the rise incrementally, but also on the rise with regards to cost. Obvious contributors to the towers' rising costs are pretty standard within the overall operation environment of heavy duty trucks, i.e. insurance, tires, parts, labor, etc.

As stated in my earlier blog and knowledgeable to all fleet managers, today's trucks are much more susceptible to the necessity of a tow. Reasons are obvious in the scheme of electronically controlled engines, transmissions, fuel systems, etc. The list goes on and I shouldn't waste your time listing all of them.

Specifically from a cost perspective, high towing rates added to the upward spike in non-consensual incidents are, in most cases, void of pricing control and work assignment. Hostage situations are more prominent with un-ethical towers in addition to high storage charges. I want to make it clear that not all of the towing news is bad as there are many hard working, ethical and honest towers in the national network; you just have to do your due diligence well in advance of your selection process. That's assuming that you have a choice.

The main strategy at the onset of a recovery, accident, or winch-out is to know about the event as quickly as possible therefore allowing you to select the towing company of choice, rather than allowing a rotation tower to be selected by the state patrol. When this happens, you pay "rotation rates", as opposed to pre-negotiated rates and can add up to thousands of dollars per event.
Be attentive, and cautious to whether or not a tow is needed as opposed to a minor repair. Many units have been towed for issues that are not detrimental to the operation of the units.