Anybody with a tow truck in Fort Wayne?

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  • Sylvain

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    Nov 30, 2010
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    I'm looking for someone with a tow truck in/around Fort Wayne.

    My friend is having some issue with her car, the brakes stopped working.
    I'm hoping to find a solution or at least some advice.

    I assume that you can't tow it with a regular truck (with a rope) since the brakes don't work.

    Maybe there are other solutions instead of using a flat bed or tow truck, like some kind of towing bar ... idk. :scratch:

    I looked for "how to tow a car with no brakes" and found this ... not sure it's the best solution. :):

    8-examples-of-how-not-to-tow-a-vehicle.jpg
     

    Super Bee

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    I do not have a tow truck but I use a company here in town, they are very reasonable.

    I also have a mechanic buddy who works at a local Chevy dealer who does stuff on the side.
     

    Bigtanker

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    You can get it there. Put her car in the front, a pickup behind her. She pulls the pickup, the pickup acts as the brakes.

    (This was the answer to an old Car Talk Puzzler)
     

    churchmouse

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    You can get it there. Put her car in the front, a pickup behind her. She pulls the pickup, the pickup acts as the brakes.

    (This was the answer to an old Car Talk Puzzler)

    Believe it or dont we have done this back in the day. Brakes went out on my sisters car. I put my truck behind it and had my brother drive it and I drove the car. We took the side roads and got it to my house so I could fix the brakes.

    I would not recommend it in this day and age. LEO would be obligated to intervene I am sure.
     

    rosejm

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    Or, anyone your friend knows with AAA?
    A AAA member can have any car towed with their membership, not just their own.
     

    Vigilant

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    Thanks.

    I thought it would be way more expensive.The car needs to be towed outside the city limit though so I have to see how much that would be.
    Just tell them you’ll mail them a cashiers check for $1,000,000 and all they need to do is deposit it send you a small handling fee, and they can keep the change. Other than that, find someone with AAA that’s willing to us one of their”free” tows. Also make sure your friends car insurance doesn’t have a roadside assistance q
     

    DoggyDaddy

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    Depends on the level you buy. Had one for 25 years (up to 100 miles).
    Only needed to use the tow twice, but it was worth it. Also helped out a few friends that locked themselves out.

    Ah, that makes sense. I've just got the basic I think. Haven't had to use it much for myself as much recently but have helped out others it seems like at least once a year, which more or less pays for the membership.
     

    maxwelhse

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    Parker is $45 anywhere in town, I think Blue Eagle is the same.

    Realizing OP's problem has been solved already...

    I've been having Parker's tow stuff for my entire motoring career when I was still in the FTW area. I had them tow my collision damaged pickup from my house a couple of miles north of Dupont out to my parent's pole barn in rural Laotto when I moved and sold the house. They made me pay mileage both ways since it was so far out (about 15 miles between the 2 locations, plus about 5-7 miles from their dispatch location on St. Joe Rd) and it was something like $97. VERY reasonable, IMO. Especially since the truck had locked up rear brakes and had to be dragged out of my garage. They freed up about 1/2 way up the flat bed.

    It does make a large difference in pricing if you call them and tell them it's a non-emergency and they just need to call you before they come get it on any particular day. In that case I called Saturday morning and they got to it by around 5pm. Suited me fine.
     

    Sylvain

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    Realizing OP's problem has been solved already...

    I've been having Parker's tow stuff for my entire motoring career when I was still in the FTW area. I had them tow my collision damaged pickup from my house a couple of miles north of Dupont out to my parent's pole barn in rural Laotto when I moved and sold the house. They made me pay mileage both ways since it was so far out (about 15 miles between the 2 locations, plus about 5-7 miles from their dispatch location on St. Joe Rd) and it was something like $97. VERY reasonable, IMO. Especially since the truck had locked up rear brakes and had to be dragged out of my garage. They freed up about 1/2 way up the flat bed.

    It does make a large difference in pricing if you call them and tell them it's a non-emergency and they just need to call you before they come get it on any particular day. In that case I called Saturday morning and they got to it by around 5pm. Suited me fine.

    Probably way more expensive if you need them right now in the middle of the night.
     

    maxwelhse

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    Probably way more expensive if you need them right now in the middle of the night.

    It's not like they're doing 1/2 price towing for me just because I'm in no rush. I'm guessing I'm getting a 10-20% discount by being patient. I've had them do a couple of emergency calls for me in the past too, and the prices weren't outrageous, but its been so long ago now that trying to remember what I paid is impossible, and fairly irrelevant. Middle of the night / bad weather has more to do with how long you wait than it does what it costs.

    For some frame of reference, I have AAA Premium (or platinum... or whatever it's called) as well, which will tow you once a year up to 200 miles and twice a year up to 100. The paperwork I received from a random tow outfit that AAA contracted to haul a car from Valpo to Fort Wayne was right about $300 (and is about 100 miles... so about $3/mile, and that truck had to go back to Valpo empty so that bill was probably adjusted for 200 miles, in reality). So, it appears to me that towing in general in our part of the country isn't anything like the horror stories you see on the internet of guys in the huge cities, or vast empty deserts out west, getting completely boned by towing companies that behave like pirates that are holding you for ransom at the side of the road.

    Anyhow... I'm glad you got it handled and this is just food for thought next time. I've used Parker's a bunch, am happy with them, and they don't behave like pirates looking to loot you. AAA has also been awesome, but you're going to wait, and wait, and wait some more for one of their contracted trucks to show up to get you. I'm positive those guys treat AAA calls as their lowest priority since they probably have negotiated really low rates with them. Standard time to have one of their trucks show up as been about 4 hours, except for the one that broke down in a construction zone and completely stopping traffic. That truck was there in 15 minutes.
     
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