Provincial change to tows | GTAMotorcycle.com

Provincial change to tows

slowbird

slowbird

Well-known member
Got an e-mail from CAA about some proposed changes for tows.

www.moresafetows.ca

We Need More Safe Tows

Tell the government you support regulating Ontario's towing industry.
www.moresafetows.ca www.moresafetows.ca

I've always wondered why the Police don't use their own tow trucks as my experience, both in Emergency services and personally, tow trucks can be real nasty. I can't count how many times they would tow peoples vehicles away and not take the car off the hook unless the driver paid them a large sum.
 
I have mixed feelings about this. It absolutely does need regulation, but asking the province for a legislative solution is definitely a monkey's paw situation. They rarely seem to take outside input on their great ideas, and I am worried they would come up with something that would end up permanently installing CAA & Abrams as gatekeepers to the industry.

Prior examples of this happening:
-Pitbull ban
-Street racing law
-"Legalization" / monopolisation of weed
-Googling for a fresh example, "Security from Trespass and Protecting Food Safety Act" seems to fall under this category
 
slowbird said:
Got an e-mail from CAA about some proposed changes for tows.

www.moresafetows.ca

We Need More Safe Tows

Tell the government you support regulating Ontario's towing industry.
www.moresafetows.ca www.moresafetows.ca

I've always wondered why the Police don't use their own tow trucks as my experience, both in Emergency services and personally, tow trucks can be real nasty. I can't count how many times they would tow peoples vehicles away and not take the car off the hook unless the driver paid them a large sum.
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Police do use their own tow trucks, havent you watched the news? A big part of the problem is the ease of exploitation and lack of desire to clean up the police.
 
I agree that the government can take it and run with it too far as they sometimes do. But I also know right now it's a bit out of control.

Tow drivers are sometimes just insane, and some of them shouldn't be driving a car let alone a tow truck.

They also are a strain on Emergency Services as they tend to "skew" the facts of the accident to get emergency services to respond.

GreyGhost said:
Police do use their own tow trucks, havent you watched the news? A big part of the problem is the ease of exploitation and lack of desire to clean up the police.
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They do? Which Police service?

Peel Police has contracts with tow companions like Hansen or JP.
In Toronto when a cager hit me on my bike, the tows onscene weren't Police operated.
 
I don't know about today, but both Peel and Metro at one time had tow trucks.
They used them to tow police cars. Only police cars.
The metro one used to work out of 2 Traffic.
 
bitzz said:
I don't know about today, but both Peel and Metro at one time had tow trucks.
They used them to tow police cars. Only police cars.
The metro one used to work out of 2 Traffic.
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I'm pretty sure Peel doesn't. I can see the tows coming and going from my window at work.

Even the important cars that need to be checked for evidence, filled with bullet holes and what not get towed in by not special tow people.
 
slowbird said:
I agree that the government can take it and run with it too far as they sometimes do. But I also know right now it's a bit out of control.

Tow drivers are sometimes just insane, and some of them shouldn't be driving a car let alone a tow truck.

They also are a strain on Emergency Services as they tend to "skew" the facts of the accident to get emergency services to respond.



They do? Which Police service?

Peel Police has contracts with tow companions like Hansen or JP.
In Toronto when a cager hit me on my bike, the tows onscene weren't Police operated.
Click to expand...
There was some sarcasm involved wrt cops owning tow businesses on the side and feeding them work.
 
Metro has its own trucks but AFAIK they are for vehicles involved in major crimes and possibly police vehicles.


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CAA tow company’s are some of the worst offenders. At $22 a call in my area they cheat as much as possible to try and make a living wage. It maybe a caa call to the pound but after that it’s private. No limits on what they try to charge. Most municipalities have a contract rate for tows on rotation. Opp is the Wild West. First on seen. Trucks racing to get to accidents. The province tried to set regulations but stupid ones. Didn’t consult anyone. Police had to ignore them.
 
If they're going to fix the tow industry they should do a bundle with storage as well.

I don't give a rat's arse about the guy that got his important BMW towed from a no-stopping zone but there are others that get towed over a minor error and the punishment doesn't suit the crime.
 
GVH said:
CAA tow company’s are some of the worst offenders. At $22 a call in my area they cheat as much as possible to try and make a living wage. It maybe a caa call to the pound but after that it’s private. No limits on what they try to charge. Most municipalities have a contract rate for tows on rotation. Opp is the Wild West. First on seen. Trucks racing to get to accidents. The province tried to set regulations but stupid ones. Didn’t consult anyone. Police had to ignore them.
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They have contract rates, but these are simply administrative -- tow operators don't follow them. Tow operators also cheat... my kid had a tow recently and when he got the bill it was double the filed rates PLUS there were surcharges: $150 for highway hookup (he was able to get well off the highway onto an offramp intersection) $150 for dollies (never used, dash cam footage shows dollies neatly stowed on the truck), and another $40 surcharge for 407 tolls (again, never used). A tow from Markham Rd to his mechanic at HWY and Woodbine (about 15km) was $500.
 
Mad Mike said:
They have contract rates, but these are simply administrative -- tow operators don't follow them. Tow operators also cheat... my kid had a tow recently and when he got the bill it was double the filed rates PLUS there were surcharges: $150 for highway hookup (he was able to get well off the highway onto an offramp intersection) $150 for dollies (never used, dash cam footage shows dollies neatly stowed on the truck), and another $40 surcharge for 407 tolls (again, never used). A tow from Markham Rd to his mechanic at HWY and Woodbine (about 15km) was $500.
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Insane!
 
The tow trucks with TPS branding, are only used for "official" purposes, IE towing broken down cruisers, or "chain of custody" for evidence purposes, such as a vehicle contains a body, and they need to preserve evidence, so the police tow truck, tows it, to the garage they use to examine vehicles for evidence, or it may be towed to the coroner's building to remove the body and examine the vehicle.

GreyGhost said:
Police do use their own tow trucks, havent you watched the news? A big part of the problem is the ease of exploitation and lack of desire to clean up the police.
Click to expand...
 
Both times I was rear ended - I opted to drive my car instead (it was still driveable in both instances) and head over to my preferred body shop.
As of late I've ponied up for the annual CAA membership as my manufacturer road side assistance expired after the first 5 years of ownership.

I was 22 when I got my first lesson with Tow trucks...after this long winded story of how the insurance and MTO would reimburse me for my costs (there were around 8 vehicles that had a tire blwo out after hitting this piece of wood on the highway), proceeded to have me pay him $380 in cash (even drove me to the ATM lol - this was when I was a Uni student with barely $500 in my chequing account) and left me there with the vehicle stating that it was driveable on the suspicious looking spare that he swapped on lol.
Long story shot, MTO denied my claim after 3 months, insurance told me GTFO.

Guess most of us learn lessons the hard way...
 
justride said:
Stop this racket of vehicles getting automatically impounded doing 150kmh. Cops and their criminal buddies are making a killing.
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Yeah, no, I'm perfectly good with that happening. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.
 
PrivatePilot said:
Yeah, no, I'm perfectly good with that happening. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.
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So it is good with you of they decide to randomly impound your car and make you pay the fees even if you weren't going 50 over and the cop made it all up. Still on the hook for thousands after being found not guilty.

Sent from my moto g(8) plus using Tapatalk
 
Scuba Steve said:
So it is good with you of they decide to randomly impound your car and make you pay the fees even if you weren't going 50 over and the cop made it all up. Still on the hook for thousands after being found not guilty.

Sent from my moto g(8) plus using Tapatalk
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If found not guilty take action on the police. They will pay to get rid of the bad press. I know it has happened with the truck safety checks. Cut a cheque for towing and impound fees. Plus lost wages. Only because they screwed up. If you have a good lawyer do it for you they may have it all done in court. Yes still a huge pain in the ass.
 
GVH said:
If found not guilty take action on the police. They will pay to get rid of the bad press. I know it has happened with the truck safety checks. Cut a cheque for towing and impound fees. Plus lost wages. Only because they screwed up. If you have a good lawyer do it for you they may have it all done in court. Yes still a huge pain in the ass.
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No they won't it has happened and no one has ever got a red cent back from the police.

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