Owning and operating a tow vehicle can be a big advantage to a drive-away contractor. The speed with which you can move between A and B is the primary advantage of the investment you have made in a tow vehicle; however, using a tow car comes with responsibilities as well as advantages.
Recently a customer reported a claim – one that resulted from a contractor’s choice of a tow vehicle. An almost funny photo shows a little 10,000 GVW truck pulling a full-size pick-up truck with more than 1,000 lbs. of gear in its bed. The customer is claiming damage as his vehicle which was not designed to tow anything, towed a vehicle larger and heavier than itself cross-country.
Some larger than 3500 lb. tow vehicles have been grandfathered as they belong to drivers who have been contracted to MTI for years, but no new tow vehicles which exceed 3,500 lbs. have been accepted since 1-01-12. If you own a large vehicle, please use your own good judgment. A dispatcher may forget what you tow, but you will not. Do NOT accept dispatch to a vehicle which you cannot/ should not tow behind. The risk and potential expense will wipe out any profit of the trip, and poor customer service will be the result.
