4 Interesting Facts You Probably Didn’t Know About The Towing Industry
Almost everybody is familiar with tow trucks. They are vehicles with a hook and chain that carries your car away. Towing services are in charge of transporting severely damaged, broken down or improperly parked vehicles.
Many condemn everything related to tow trucks due to bad experiences like scams or damage done to the vehicles during the towing process.
However, not all towing truck companies are like this. The majority of today’s towing companies are honest people doing their job with the client’s best interest in mind. It is a big mistake to put all drivers in the same bunch.
The towing industry has much more to it than bad stories, a bunch of trucks and drivers. There are many fun facts about this industry that will surely change your mind about it.
Here are some things you probably didn’t know about tow trucks.
- THE FIRST TOW TRUCK WAS CREATED IN 1916
The first tow truck ever was created in 1916 by Sr. Ernest Holmes. Holmes sought to change the whole concept of towing by switching from manpower to machine power.
The idea came to him after having to pull up a wrecked car from a creek with several other men using nothing but ropes and human strength. That towing process took about eight hours.
This made Holmes begin to think of an easier way. After that day, he worked to create an alternative solution for towing vehicles to consume less time and energy when towing a vehicle. The final result was the first tow truck.
- THERE ARE MANY TYPES OF TOW TRUCKS
As the towing and car industries evolved, so did the tow truck models. Although all of them are called “tow trucks,” there are a total of five very different models of tow trucks existing today. These are the hook and chain, flatbed, wheel-lift, boom and the integrated tow truck.
The hook and chain towing method is the first one that ever existed. Eventually the industry developed the other four types to reduce the damage done to the vehicles during the towing process.
- THERE IS A SCHOOL FOR TOWING
Many believe that being a tow truck driver is the typical “learn on the job” profession. Actually, there is a whole school drivers have to go through before they can drive a tow truck and provide towing service.
Also, companies check the drivers’ eyesight before hiring. Towing could be a very tricky process and must be done perfectly to avoid damaging the vehicles.
- TOW TRUCK DRIVER SALARY
It’s always interesting to know about the salaries of different jobs. A tow truck driver’s yearly salary is between thirty and forty thousand dollars. Although it is a pretty fair salary, some drivers feel underpaid for the frustration they deal with every day.
Many tow truck drivers also make some extra money from tips.
Hopefully this article made you a little more interested in tow trucks. There is much more to know about the industry, and towing services are full of rich stories and fun facts.