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Local towers take hit during rough economy
Jim Dowell stretched his thumbs an inch or so above his palms and reached for a disheveled stack of red folders.
The owner of the Battlefield Service Center towing company tucked the handful of folders and papers near his right side and walked back to the service window.
With a plop, the stack hit the counter in front of him. Folders on the top bounced once ever so slightly from the impact.
"Twenty-seven in 30 days" he said.
These were not just the number of calls the towing company fielded in the last month. The figure he cited marked how many tows called in by police went unpaid.
One came from a stolen vehicle out of Texas. Another had its roof and doors removed by police after the driver crashed into a ditch. No license, no tags; no way to trace the original owner.
This is the worst economy his company has ever battled through, according to Dowell, who has been with the company since it used to be located along Wellington Road before the Route 234 Bypass was built.
Business at the Manassas-based company that opened in 1973 is down 60-70 percent in the last two years. It's down 50 percent since last year alone. The company's full-time work staff is down to four employees from previous years when the company employed between 6-10 people, Dowell said.
As for those red folders, they used to only stack three-high in six months. Times are different now.
For instance, Dowell talked about a recent weekend when state police summoned Battlefield to pick up three broken-down cars on the side of the road along Interstate 66 in the western part of Prince William County.
Battlefield managed to complete only one tow. Twice, tow trucks showed up with nothing to haul away.
Dowell, who often spoke with a light laugh at the end of what were otherwise unpleasant sentences, suspected unscrupulous and possibly unlicensed towers passed each accident, pulled over and offered to take care of the situation, all within the half-hour response time mandated by state police.
That can be dangerous for motorists who accept their offers, he said. And it means Battlefield is left with the cost of driving up and back and the company still has to pay its employees for their labor.
The state police "have no way to know who picked it up," he said of the broken-down vehicles. Unlike Prince William County police, state police are not required to stay with a stopped motorist until the tow truck arrives.
"Really, I feel that the consumer doesn't know the safety" problems, said Dowell.
He explained that tow truck owners and operators in Virginia must be licensed and go through background checks in order to determine if anyone has a criminal background. That includes sex crimes, drug offenses, and other felonies.
Licensed tow trucks have "A" or "B" stickers on their sides. "A" trucks can take light and heavy loads; "B" trucks can only haul smaller vehicles. The drivers also have a badge the size of an identification card that reads "Driver Authorization Documentation" from the state's towing association.
"And we worked hard to get this board established," said Dowell, president of the Virginia Association of Towing and Recovery Operations.
When Battlefield towers are not being sent out on empty missions, 50 percent of other calls are going unpaid. Tow trucks that haul away, store and eventually "junk" abandoned vehicles do so at a cost to the company.
Someone the towers must research DMV reports at a cost and attempt to contact the vehicle owner. Often times, abandoned cars do not have up-to-date tags, which means its previous owners have already given up ownership rights. That leaves Battlefield and other towers without anyone to bill for their services.
When asked what could be done locally to better his company's situation, Dowell had a simple reply:
"Basically, everybody needs to be responsible for themselves," he said.
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