Many MANY people do not realise that when their vehicle is disabled in an accident, that they can, have their vehicle towed to their house.


A collision shop is generally pushed by police, but you dont have to take your vehicle to a shop... you can have it taken to your house.

If you are under your 3/36 the towing if free via road side assistance under ford, just look in your manual. Even if a tow truck magically appears on the scene, call the 1800 number. Cause unless you have over $300 in cash, your truck is going to be locked up to where you cant get to it till a work day...

Cal road side assistance tell them you need a tow home...

the benefits of having a ranger that is all smashed up in your driveway is: you KNOW your truck is safe.

You can take unlimited pictures to show off to all your ranger buddies.

and you can CLEAN the gore off (as in my situation) so the shop doesnt have to...

I paid about $165 to have my truck towed via flat bed 7 miles to my house.

do not, under any circumstances allow a tow truck to tow your truck with the rear wheel down. DEMAND a flat bed.

I dont care if its a 1/2 block away. a flatbed is a must.

Having your truck in your driveway, after an accident gives you the ability to choose, more easily which shop your going to have fix it. It also allows you to remove any goodies from the daged area so the shop guys have an easier time fixing your truck, in my case I removed my WAAG bar and KC's.. but only after the adjuster seen the truck...

Make sure to leave all gore present till the adjuster takes pictures.... after that you can do what you want... and if you smash it up on friday night, you can atleast sit in it all weekend to fight off the 'ranger withdrawl' till it gets towed sunday night to the shop of your choice.

In my situation the cop was a dick and lied to me... told me I had to use the service that was available. Not so in NYS.... I can use any service I want. the tow guy pushed HARD for me to have my truck taken to his shop... but my dad always told me, no matter how bad the accident, or how bad its mangled, have the vehicle delivered to your house... no matter what.... you want your truck in your driveway... or your parents driveway...

 

thanks. ill keep that in mind

 

thats good to know. plus i can part out stuff i put in and replace it with stock parts too

 

Good Info

Question: Why do you have to have a flatbed? What happens if you have the rear wheel down?

 

When were you in a accident Dave?

 

What happened to your truck?

 

 

Yes I learned this after fighting with a place to get my mother's car free. They charge some really bogus rates to keep your car there too. I think it's ridiculous.

 

Keep this in mind. Hope we never have to worry about something like this though.

 

Spoken like people that dont have collision on their vehicles. lol


Personally, if I was hit by someone else and there's 100% chance that THEIR insurance will be paying, then I just have the towtruck tow it to their yard.

If I know it's totalled, I have it towed to their yard.

I see no reason why I would WANT a totalled/messed up vehicle sitting in my driveway taking up space. I understand there's the opportunity to remove whatever aftermarket stuff you want to keep... but you're allowed to do that when you're told the car is a total loss anyway.

 

any time my trucks have ever needed a tow they go straight to my driveway

 

here in MN they'll tow your vehicle to your home (if requested) unless it was involved in an accident where someone has died or is seriously injured. the police want to keep the vehicle "secure" so nobody tampers with it or the "evidence" inside.
If nobody is hurt and the police see no reason to keep the vehicle as "evidence" they will allow you to have it towed home.

 

Can cause damage to the transaxle.

(usually manual trans this can be done on, (I still don't recommend it) but with autos never have the drive train on the floor while towing.)

4wd, flat bed. 2wd, front tires on the ground.

 

This is ( COMMON SENSE ) duhhhhh, what happens is sometimes people don't have the money ON THE SPOT to pay tow company to take the vehicle to their address so by default it is taken to the tow yard were you are BILLED for storage.

I really thought anybody with some reasoning would realize you could have your own vehicle towed to your own house IF you wanted, after all it was an accident and not involved in a crime.

 

ive never been in a wreck where i couldnt drive whatever i had away with no tow

but my girl woulda been screwed on storage if her vehicle wasnt declared totalled. We were able to get everything we wanted out of it, i advised her to leave the aftermarket cd deck cause the cd didnt work anyway and she would get more money with a deck than without and sure enough thats how it went down.

Only time this really sucks is if you are far from home.

 

I always thought you could have the car taken where you wanted but never thought it was the law or anything. I do know that when dealing with staties on the highway or something they want the road cleared as soon as possible. They usually do what they want/need to do to get traffic moving again.

I was less than 2 miles from my house and because I was taken away by the ambulance the car got towed about 4 miles to the tow yard in the opposite direction from my house.

I almost asked for the car to be towed to my house but with everything going on and everyone involved going to the hospital I didn't bother.

I might have had a say in where it went but not being able to pay the tow company on the spot they would have probably taken it to there lot anyway. I misses out on stripping the car to make some money off it after I declared it totaled (only had comp on it). Lost 2 new tires, new struts all around, new clutch, full tank of gas ect.

 

Ya having money on the spot is total BS too...There are tons of places that can bill you and they already have their services rendered. And usually the charge is 300 dollars....I mean who has 300 dollars on them on a regular basis.

Of course insurance pays for it but you end up paying for it yourself through premiums anyways.

 

i dont have collision and if the accident is my fault id definitley want it brought to my house ..... there are plenty of places that will pick up the shell for scrap after i got done stripping it.

 

Did not know they would tow to your house. Only time I had an accident I just had them take it wherever.

 

random

 

You would be surprised how many people DONT know this.

For one, stripping your goodies, off your truck in the comfort of your driveway with in a few feet of ALL your tools is ALOT easier than lugging all your tools to some yard. On top of that many places charge a 'storage fee'. Your driveway is free.

If your vehivle is under warranty, towing is free. So is AAA... you dont have to use the tow service on the scene, you can call your own.

btw I wasnt in any accidents recently - knock on wood... but seeing that many have been recently, this information should be out there. Cops geenrally get a 'kick back' from the tow guy for calling them and raping you.

 

Flatbeds are becoming a normality now. It's very uncommon for professional tow companies to use the old style truck with hoist lift. The ones you DO see are usually from "ma and pa" type gas station/garages or really shady looking independent tow operators.

Many vehicles have proper towing procedures in their owners manual too. Many ONLY highly suggest using a flatbed for transport.

 

On a rear wheel drive vehicle, it needs to be towed with the front wheels down especially with an auto trans. If it's towed with the rear wheels down, the pump wont be turning (because the input shaft which is attached to the engine) drives the pump to lubricate the gears in the transmission, thus causing it to overheat and fail. An all wheel drive vehicle always needs to be towed on a flatbed due to similar problems.

 

Great information! Thanks.

I wish this post was around the weekend I towed my Ranger behind a U-Haul with the rear wheels down. 900 miles later the trans was burned up and had NO tranny fluid in it. It had all BOILED OUT the dipstick tube!!! HA!