Automotive

Scams in towing business: Save yourself from being conned

The business world is a tricky place since everyone involved is trying to earn an extra buck. With rising prices and a depleting economy, it makes sense that businesses will try to take advantage of gullible customers. Places where you expect the least sometimes turn out to be a conning scam.

Some businesses still follow rules and engage in ethical business transactions. However there are many out there that try to cut corners and are not following the regulations. Similar is the case with the towing business. So you need to be careful when dealing with a towing company and avoid their scams.

A towing company is a sigh of relief for many who become stranded on the road in the middle of nowhere. For many tow truck drivers are Samaritans that help them take care of their car in case it stops on the road or you get in a road accident. Some of these companies are well aware of the vulnerable position that you are in and have devised sneaky scams to reel in extra money from customers. Before you learn more about how to avoid their scams, it is important that you are aware of the different scams that many companies use.

Some of these scams include:

There are several towing companies that will tow away your car without waiting for the required time to finish. Everyone is allowed a certain time limit for parking their cars. However, some towing companies don't consider the time and tow away the car regardless. This is common in parking areas where the time limit is either one hour or less since sometimes many of us don't realize how much time has passed.

Tow companies sometimes act as predators looking for cars that may be breaking parking or traffic rules. They prey on the simplest of violations like parking close to a fire hydrant or near an apartment building. The law doesn't leave any room for towing companies to find traffic rule violators, however some companies are keenly participating in this activity.

Towing companies that are participating in these scams are known as bandit towing companies. These towing companies choose a car according to its make and model. The more expensive ones imply that their drivers will be able to give higher payouts. These companies like traditional bandits will not look for older cars since that would mean lower payouts. As customary of bandits, they will not look for very expensive cars since that would translate into lawsuits.

Other unethical problems that you may have to consider are towing companies that ask for very high charges when you violate traffic rules and in case your refute the charge or challenge them, they take out their revenge through escorting your car roughly.

What can you do?

There are numerous things that you can do to ensure that you don't get conned by a towing company. First of all adhere to all traffic laws of your state or city. It is important that you cover all grounds when it comes to traffic and parking laws. If you have violated traffic rules then you are going to attract towing companies like flies to garbage.

When talking about traffic rules, it is recommended that you should be aware of all of them. Get a traffic rules book that you can get for free from your local police station and look into it. Learn all parking laws and if you already know about them, just skim through the booklet to refresh your memory.

When at home, it's a good idea to do some homework on towing businesses. Start researching online about different companies and their history. There are many tow companies out there and it is best that you narrow down at least three of them for calling up. Go to "Better Business Bureau", a website where you can learn about different towing companies and their performances since they are rated there. This website has everything on towing companies, from reviews to their histories. So you can easily find out whether they have pose any legal problems or not.

If you want to survive in this competitive world it is important that you transform yourself into an informed consumer. This will help you protect yourself from not only towing companies' scams but also from scams that exist in other businesses.

Mary Kane has not only taught different age groups how to drive but also helps the local traffic authorities in conducting awareness sessions on traffic rules and regulations. She talks about different scams that exist in towing business and how you can protect yourself. Her work is published on many websites like wilsonstowing.com.au and numerous blogs as well.

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