Category Archives: Accident Recovery Towing

Chicago Towing offers the best recovery services for those individuals who are unfortunate enough to be involved in an accident.

Driving in Winter Conditions

Published March 23, 2016 By Chicago Towing

Advance Preparation

In the frigid winter weather, Chicago residents often encounter poor to bad driving conditions. Since most drivers never learn defensive driving techniques for bad weather, during the winter many accidents occur that otherwise never would have. Because of this, it’s absolutely essential that you prepare for driving under poor weather conditions; first of all, always keep a raincoat, umbrella, and gloves/scarf in the trunk of the car. You might have to change a tire in the middle of a snowstorm or cold downpour. Also keep a working flashlight in the trunk; as you’ll never know when you’re going to have to change a tire on a dark street or highway. Always remember to keep jumper cables in the trunk – you want to avoid being stranded in a car with a dead battery without the materials to jump start it. Keep your gas over the halfway mark as a force of habit, that absolutely reduces the chances of accidentally depleting your car’s gas. Ensure that you have a car jack, the proper tire iron for your vehicle, and a correctly blown-up spare tire. If your area gets especially cold during the winter, it couldn’t hurt to have a certified mechanic look at your car to make sure that everything is working correctly. Ideally, if there’s any problems found, you would get them taken care of before being caught driving in an unpleasant weather event, when it might really affect you. By following active awareness and preparation, you can avoid having to spend even more time, effort, or money if your vehicle suffers a breakdown.

Careful Practices

Whenever any bad weather event occurs – be it a blizzard, hail, frozen roads, or a rainstorm – one of the most important defensive driving techniques one can adopt is to drive slowly. By driving at a slower speed, you’re increasing the amount of time that you will have to react in case you come into/across some kind of accident. Also, if you’re driving slowly, and keep a large space between your car and the other vehicles that are driving, you’re going to have a much lesser chance of bumping into the back of one of them if they suddenly break. If the roads are incredibly slippery, one thing you should do is keep the brakes lightly applied while driving at a slow pace – for extra traction.

Top 7 Towing Myths DEBUNKED

Published March 17, 2016 By Chicago Towing

There’s a ton of misinformation out there being hawked by scam towing companies and blogs alike. Here’s a list of the most common towing misconceptions.

Myth One : You can increase a vehicle’s towing capacity by upgrading its hitch.

Untrue. A trailer’s hitch does not cancel out the maximum capacity rating of your vehicle – however it does maximize it. You should never tow more weight than your hitch is rated for.

Myth Two: Tongue weight makes up ten percent of the towed weight.

Untrue. The safe amount of tongue weight is somewhere between ten to fifteen percent of the trailer’s weight – depending on a range of criteria, including the load distribution and the position of the trailer’s axles. Often too much of the load is placed at the trailer’s front – which puts way too much weight on the tongue. If a heavy tongue is a concern for you, make sure to install a rated weight distribution mechanism, which can allow for more towing weight on your vehicle. The tongue prevents the trailer from swaying fast – this sort of sway can also be canceled if you increase the tongue weight, or place sway control devices on the trailer hitch.

Myth Three: All towing extensions work on truck campers.

Untrue. Hitch extensions have to have the right capacity of tongue weight for your truck – shorter extensions can handle weight better than longer ones, as a general rule.

Common Towing Mistakes

Published March 3, 2016 By Chicago Towing

Hitching a trailer to your truck and hauling out all your belongings on the open road sounds exhilarating for many people – but if you’re not skilled with long heavy tows it can be an incredibly complex process. There’s 8 major mistakes that people usually make when they’re towing. If you want to avoid paying extreme fees for mistakes, educate yourself on this list of potential mishaps before you embark.

Having the Wrong Weight Distribution Bars

The weight distribution bars between your vehicle and trailer have to be set up correctly; otherwise, the vehicle and the trailer will be bouncing away from each other – causing a bumpy ride, and potential damage to the trailer’s frame and hitch. The size of the weight distribution bar shouldn’t matter – many tunable chained bars come in many different levels of strength or weight – if you use the right bar size, it will be completely parallel to the frame of the trailer.

Heavy Duty Towing Safety Tips

Published February 23, 2016 By Chicago Towing

There’s variable reasons that cause a car to need to get towed. Whether you suffer an unfortunate accident in your vehicle, or if it breaks down on the highway, you should know the proper safety measures that both you and any towing specialist you may contact should take on the road, to protect your safety.

Driver Safety Tips

If you’re in the middle of driving and need to pull over to get towed, it’s absolutely necessary to follow these safety tips. First of all, move your car as far away from other cars as possible. If there’s a shoulder to the road, move onto it as soon as possible, as close to the edge as you can. Additionally, leave your hazard lights on – this is particularly important at night – so other drivers driving can see you, and also so the towing company can have an easier time recognizing you. If you have an emergency roadside kit in your car, place reflectors around the perimeter of your vehicle.

As you’re waiting for the tow company to get there, take anything that you might need (like license information, insurance records, registration, etc…) out of the car before it’s towed. It might be a few days before you see your car and you’re going to need to provide this information to the towing service during the process. While you’re waiting for the towing company to get there, make sure to wait inside the car, so you don’t put yourself at risk for the passing cars or any weather that might be occurring.

The Heavy Duty Towing Truck Safety Tips

Not only does the initial driver of the vehicle need to take safety measures to ensure the protection of their being and their vehicle’s being in the event where a towing is necessitated, but the driver of the tow truck that will transport your vehicle absolutely needs to follow safety measures. One of their initial steps is to increase the visibility of your stranded vehicle, by placing cones and flags around the area. This is to protect both you and them from oncoming traffic.

Tow truck drivers are also required to check whether their cable lines are intact, and not damaged. They need to make certain that their truck is capable of hauling your stranded vehicle safely. This information will be verified over the phone upon your first contact. Drivers additionally have training to never unwind the towing cables all the way when they’re loading a vehicle, and to make sure that the wheel-lift is extended far enough after the loading that they can safely and easily make turns. Drivers are also trained to avoid any electrical lines, and ensure that bystanders stand a safe distance during the entire towing process. All these safety measures are completely necessary – the operation of towing requires a great deal of safety attention, and drivers for the right company are thoroughly trained in all these measures to protect both their own neck, but yours, and that of your vehicle.

21 Essential Road Trip Tips

Published February 17, 2016 By Chicago Towing

If you’re planning on traveling through the United States on a road trip, driving without stopping has advantages – you’ll save money on hotels, have more time once you get to your destination – not to mention the sense of exhilaration you get on a nonstop drive. However, in order to stay safe and energetic, it’s integral to follow these tips to make sure your ride goes smooth.

Get a good night’s sleep before the journey

Scientific studies have shown that missing a few hours of sleep can impair your driving to a comparable level to being intoxicated with alcohol. Don’t let this happen by making sure that you get a lot of sleep the night before you leave.

Wear Sunscreen

This is a very underrated tip. If your skin is in direct sunlight for hours at a time, your skin is going to be exposed to harmful UVA rays. You’re going to need sunscreen to protect your exposed skins from getting burns. Apply liberally, and repeat when necessary.

Eat Nutritiously

Don’t just eat roadside fastfood. Instead of stopping at a drive through, stop at a supermarket, and get salad, fruit, or a hearty sandwich – rather than fried food that won’t give you the nutrition you need through your journey.

Avoid Staying at Rest Stops

Pulling over and sleeping in your car can be dangerous – and it’s illegal in some states. We don’t recommend it. Use rest stops to stretch your legs, get a snack, or go to the bathroom. Then get back on the road.

Common Car Towing Questions

Published February 1, 2016 By Chicago Towing

Can tow trucks tow the car backwards?

Most tow trucks can hook themselves up to the front or the back of the vehicle that’s being towed. This is actually the ideal (and most widely used) method for vehicles with rear wheel drive, although front or all-wheel drive vehicles can also be towed from the back if the car’s front can be lifted with a pulley or dolly.

Can your car get towed if you’re touching it?

Absolutely not. In order to complete the towing job safely, the tow truck driver will need you to stand away from your vehicle. If you’re physically blocking the car from getting towed, If your car is being towed due to legal injunction, and you’re physically blocking it from getting towed, the driver might contact the police to escort you away – which may result in a fine or civil charges of obstruction.

How can I prevent my car from being able to get towed by a roll-back or flatbed tow truck?

These trucks get their name from their flatbed that tilts backwards so that vehicles can get rolled on to it for transporting. These trucks usually transport strangely shaped, damaged, or large vehicles – but also commonly tow regular cars. Since the flatbed’s driver needs to position the truck directly in line with the car so that it can be winched up, you can prevent one of these trucks from being able to tow you by parking somewhere there the flatbed truck can’t reach the front or back of the car.

Five Most Common Tow Truck Types

Published January 7, 2016 By Chicago Towing

There’s five kinds of tow trucks in general usage. In this short blog post, I’ll detail the different ones, and how they operate. At Chicago Towing we focus on the 2 main types wheel-lift and flat bed towing

Flatbed Tow Trucks

Flatbed tow trucks are also known as “slides” or “rollbacks.” The entire rear area of the truck is attached with a bed that can be hydraulically inclined and shifted to a ground level, allowing the vehicle that’s getting towed to be pulled onto it easily.

Booms Tow Trucks

These tow trucks use adjustable boom winches to rescue vehicles from any area that’s hard to reach for a vehicle. Booms are used to recover vehicles from ditches, craters, or natural embankments. Some booms are fixed to the truck, while others have pivoting A-frames, or pneumatically fueled telescopic tubes.

Wheel-Lifts Tow Trucks

Otherwise known as “spectacle” lifts due to their resemblance to square eyeglasses, this method of towing involves a metal yoke that’s placed under the front or back wheels of a car to hold them, dragging an end of the car up off the ground with a pneumatic or hydraulic hoist so that it can be towed. Usually, these devices lift the drive wheels of the vehicle, only touching the tires.

Integrated / Repo Trucks

This method of towing involves a wheel-lift and a boom synthesized into a single unit. Commonly used in light duty towing in order to quickly move illegally parked, or repossessed vehicles, many of these trucks have the towing controls inside the truck’s cab, to make the pickup as easy as possible – there’s no need to even exist the vehicle. Industrial grade heavy duty trucks are made with integrated lift options. Similar to integrated trucks, some specialty flatbed units carry wheel-lifts, and some wheel-lifts offer combined booms and slings.

8 Essential Safety Tips for Family Road Trips

Published December 27, 2015 By Chicago Towing

If you’re getting ready to embark on a long, family road trip, it’s best to ensure safety – and pleasure – if you develop and act on a checklist that you follow prior to leaving. In this blog post, I’ll list a number of the criteria that I’ve developed on my own checklist before a family vacation last summer. Feel free to add as you go – this list simply acts as a great initial structure to follow which will take care of all the safety essentials. Here we go.

Tip One – Keep your Phone Book Full

Make sure to program a bunch of contacts into your phone before leaving on your trip. You want to be able to have all the phone numbers of your family, doctors, neighbors, and even tow truck companies that you might need to reach in the event of an emergency.

Tip Two – Keep your Cell Phone on Hand

Make sure to always carry your cell phone, maps, and GPS navigation system with you during the entire course of your trip. Additionally, research the route you’re taking before you leave, so that you know you have the proper directions. It will save you alot of last minute ground work.

Tip Three – Make sure your vehicle is Happy

Before leaving, check the fluid levels of your vehicle, and inspect its tires, hoses, and belts. You want to be certain that all aspects of your car are working correctly before you leave, so there’s no nasty surprises. If you get stuck on the road always have an emergency number for an expert roadside assistance company.

Tip Four – Back up Car Gear

In the event of an automobile malfunction, you want to be prepared. Make sure to bring an inflated spare tire with you, as well as a jack and a lug wrench – you would need both these tools in the event of a tire blowout, or a damaged tire.

Tip Five – Make sure your tires are full.

You’re going to want to check the air pressure of all 4 of your tires, according to the specifications in your vehicle’s owner’s manual. Driving with under-pressured tires can result in dangerous sidewall blowouts, and a level of poor traction that can make drivers totally lose control of their cars.

Tip Six- Gear for Light and Darkness

Always carry a flashlight and flare. If you’re stranded on a dark road this can be a lifesaver. Additionally, make sure to carry protective eye gear like sunglasses.

Tip Seven – Emergency Provisions

Always carry at least a gallon of drinking water, a bottle of aspirin or ibuprofen, a warm blanket, any eye-drops you may need, a roll of paper towels, a change of clothes, a warm sweatshirt or jacket, and any medication that you might take,

Tip Eight – Mind your Body’s Clock

It’s important to get at least 8 hours of good restful sleep before embarking on your trip. This ensures that you’re alert, awake, and have the ability to drive safe, with full awareness of the traffic around you. This will help prevent any of the careless mistakes that often result in accidents for driver’s that can’t maintain a level of steady alertness on the road.

6 Essential Tow Truck Towing Tips

Published December 8, 2015 By Chicago Towing

Always know your ratings

Tow trucks can only carry a particular amount of weight. By overloading a tow vehicle or trailer, you can cause a variety of problems like broken suspensions, failing brakes, overheated transmissions, or broken tires. It’s important to be certain of your vehicle’s tow ratings before you tow anything, making sure that your hitch system is matched to your vehicle’s towing specifications. The tow vehicle’s specifications are usually listed in a vehicle’s owner’s manual, as well as on the window will of the driver-side door. With trailers, the unloaded weight, and rest of the weight ratings, can be found on the Vehicle Identification number plate.

Gross Vehicle Weight Rating

This is the weight limit for the entire vehicle, including the vehicle itself added with all passengers, cargo, and accessories.

Gross Combination Weight Rating

This is the maximum weight of the tow vehicle plus the loaded trailer, equipment, fuel, passengers, or anything else inside the car.

Gross Axle Weight Rating

This is the amount of weight that one single axle can hold safely. This is important to know for both tow vehicles and trailers.

Tow Truck Towing Capacity

This is the total amount of weight that your vehicle is able to pull.

Tongue Weight

This is the amount of the trailer’s weight picked up by the trailer’s hitch. This should be 10 percent of the entire trailer weight – with too much tongue weight, your vehicle’s steering becomes less responsive. With too little, the trailer might sway too much. Tongue weight can be measured with a specialized tool that you can buy at trailer supply shops. If you’re having issues calculating the combined weight of your trailer plus cargo, bring the trailer to a vehicle scale at a weigh station or trucks top.

Always remember to put on brakes and wires

The combined weight of the trailer and the cargo gives your vehicle extra momentum – taking longer to reduce speed. This is why many areas require that trailers of a certain high weight to have special braking systems installed. Trailer brakes improve navigation and control, and can also stop trailers from moving away if they get separated from the tow vehicle. You can get electronic trailer brakes (attached to a controller inside the vehicle) and surge brakes (independent hydraulic brakes activated by particular momentum.) Since cars behind you can’t see lights on your tow vehicle, federal law requires that trailers are equipped with taillights, turn signals, brake lights, and reflectors that are powered through a connection cord attached to your vehicle. It’s important to ensure that the wires are tight enough to not drag on the road, but loose enough to stay plugged in during turns.

Load your cargo correctly

If your tow truck is packed off-balance, it will be harder to drive and control. Ensure that your cargo is distributed evenly, with 60 percent of the weight in front of the axle (but not excessively far forward.) Make sure to secure cargo to prevent them from moving around and shifting during movement, and to keep the center of gravity low.

Remember that you’re towing a trailer

Regardless of how strong and dexterous your vehicle is, it will be a lot less responsive when a trailer is attached behind it. Since you won’t be able to accelerate, brake, or turn as fast as normally, you’re going to want to plan it advance and give yourself extra time to change lanes or slow down. It’s always great to do some practice drives to get the hang of navigating the trailer before embarking on your major trip.

Always check tire pressure of

If it’s been awhile since you’ve used your tow truck, it’s highly likely that the tires need to be inflated. Driving a loaded trailer with low-inflated tires is incredibly dangerous – under inflated tires can lead to crashes, blowouts, or rollovers. Make sure to check the tire pressure on your tow vehicle and your trailer before you go, and refill tires, or replace them if necessary,

Always check local regulations

Remember that towing regulations and laws are different in different states. Some states require taillights on your trailer, as well as safety chains that connect the trailer to the tow vehicle. Other states might require specific braking equipment, or side and rearview mirrors. Some states have different maximum towing speeds, trailer width requirements, and amount of towable vehicle requirements. Always familiarize yourself with the local laws in any state that you will be traveling in.