Needing to tow your vehicle isn’t a great thing and certainly means you’re in trouble. But towing can be dangerous for your car if done by an amateur towing professional. There can be numerous reasons why your vehicle might need towing services. For example, unfortunately, your car broke down on a remote road during a long trip or a faulty fuel gauge surprises you, and now the car needs to be towed to the nearest gas station or auto mechanic shop. Whatever the reason, you will need to employ the best towing company with extensive expertise to get a reliable towing experience.
Towing a vehicle is a complicated endeavor and requires proper training and experience. But the question is, can you rely on a professional towing company to safeguard your vehicle? And how to avoid damage to your car during towing? People often try to pull their cars themselves in the hope of avoiding the cost, while others hire inexperienced tow truck drivers to get away cheaply. However, they don’t realize that these methods can potentially damage their car and cost them much more than they may have anticipated.
Using the wrong towing approach and similarly, an inapt tow truck service can lead to many problems. And can result in severe damage to your vehicle. You need to be vigilant and estimate when to call a tow truck service and what information you need to gather before calling the service agents. Whether you’re towing your car yourself or hiring a professional company, you need to stay cautious. Therefore, our experts compiled a detailed cautionary profile for you to go through before towing.
Bumper Damage
One of the very first damages that occurs due to improper placing of the towing hook. This kind of damage can often be experienced with inapt towing companies or if you are trying to tow the vehicle yourself. Untrained tow truck drivers may even bash your car, causing severe problems and adding more repairing costs.
Auto Body Damage
Body or cosmetic damage is standard when employing an inexperienced and untrained tow truck driver. As the vehicle is wrongly towed, often incorrectly hooked can result in exterior damage, such as dents, scratches, dings, and sometimes damage to the wheels.
Though these problems may not influence the vehicle’s performance, they are expensive to repair and deteriorate the car’s overall flair. Even when you use a professional towing company’s services, you need to pay close attention to the towing technique and equipment to ensure they secure your vehicle appropriately. This way, you can make sure that your car’s exterior or any part will not be damaged.
Transmission Damage
Yes, you read it right. An improper towing can cause severe issues for the vehicle’s transmission. Besides damaging the car’s exterior looks, unfair towing practices can also negatively affect the mechanics and transmission.
Transmission issues can arise in both manual and automatic transmission vehicles. Still, a manual transmission is more comfortable to tow as compared to the more complicated automatic transmission. For example, if you pull a car with an automatic transmission with all wheels on the ground can significantly damage the car. Towing experts at SPN America recommends towing all-wheel drive vehicles with back wheels on the floor.
Moreover, towing a manual car with the transmission in “park” instead of the “neutral” can be detrimental for your car. A manual car should only be towed in “neutral” to keep the transmission linkage intact and not affect the linkage, tires, and internal transmission system.
Tires Damage
If using the wheel-lift or tow-bar towing technique to tow your vehicle, the tires on the ground can be damaged adversely. If you are towing the car for long-distance, the wheels on the ground can wear more than those in the air and cause trouble later. So, if you’re planning to tow your vehicle long distance, prefer to use a flatbed tow truck as it can save your tires from wearing on the ground.
What do you need to do to prevent damage while towing a car?
Put Transmission in Neutral
To keep the transmission system of your car in good shape, engaging the neutral gear is essential. That is why a reputable and adept tow truck service driver will always ask you to put your car in neutral before towing.
However, the situation varies depending on the towing method you’re employing. For example, if the towed vehicle is in drive or park gear, it depends on the wheels that remain on the ground. If using a flatbed tow truck, then the car should be in the park, and if using a wheel-lift towing solution, you’ll have to put the car in neutral to save the vehicle from transmission, linkage, and tire damage.
Double-check the parking brake
As much as the towing professionals stress about putting your vehicle in neutral, you also need to make sure the parking brake isn’t on as well. Because if the brakes are left on, and the car is dragged by the tow truck, it can badly damage the braking and transmission system.
All-wheel-drive cars can be extra tricky.
All-wheel drive vehicles are the ones where the engine powers all the wheel equally. It is different from four-wheel-drive cars because it can put the car into a front-wheel or four-wheel drive.
For all-wheel drive, the SPN towing experts recommend that the rear driveshaft be temporarily removed from the vehicle because the rear wheels will be on the ground and will make it easy for the transmission system to move.
Most Importantly – Always Hire an Experienced Company
You’ll probably not think much about a company’s experience and expertise before calling them for emergency towing service. However, you need to be aware of a reliable and experience tow truck service in your area to utilize the service in any unfortunate case. Also, communicating the right information can be crucial for the towing company to provide the appropriate assistance. A professional company can efficiently facilitate and alleviate the problem with its high-class customer service, professional towing agent, and equipment.
Well, towing does not and should not damage your car if done correctly. SPN America network of local towing companies takes it upon themselves to maintain the car’s external and internal components and systems intact and functioning correctly.