Towing services are vital for all commercial and private motorists driving and operating cars and trucks. You never know when your vehicle might break down or suffer a traffic accident and become inoperable. If that happens, you must pull your vehicle to the side of the road and call a professional towing company for assistance.
Do you have a towing company in mind for such emergencies? Many different towing companies offer vehicle towing, recovery and relocation services throughout Australia. Most of them serve specific states and local regions of the country.
As you browse the various companies in your area, you might feel compelled to choose the cheapest towing service provider available. It might seem sensible to try and save a little bit of money on a service multiple companies provide. However, you may want to think twice before searching for the cheapest towing company because some setbacks could be attached to their towing services.
Below are the top five reasons you should avoid cheap towing services.
1) Hidden Fees
A towing company may seem to offer cheap services on its website. But in many cases, cheap towing companies only promote their service rates without telling you about the additional fees they attach to those rates after the towing job is finished.
Hidden fees, such as excess kilometre and additional service fees can easily be attached to flat service rates at the end of the job. You won’t even know about these fees until you receive the final invoice with the hidden fees added to the service price. It’ll be too late to back out of the deal by that point.
Therefore, you must request a copy of the agreement or terms of service information before hiring a cheap towing company. You could also look up their customer reviews to understand their hidden business practices.
2) Improper Equipment
Modern towing requires advanced towing equipment and tools to tow and transport vehicles safely. The towing operator must secure the vehicle properly to ensure no damage is inflicted during transit. But if they don’t have the proper equipment and tools, they cannot do a good enough job of protecting the vehicle from accidental damage.
Don’t expect cheap towing companies to have the best towing equipment. They will usually perform the bare minimum without going above and beyond to correctly load secure your vehicle for transit.
3) No Official Credentials
Any reputable towing company will be fully licensed and insured. A license proves they have undergone the necessary educational training to provide professional and reliable towing services.
Unfortunately, many cheap towing companies don’t have official credentials like licenses and insurance policies. No insurance is the worst because any damage inflicted upon your vehicle during transit isn’t covered under any insurance policy. You may not be able to use your own car insurance policy to seek compensation.
Take it upon yourself to investigate the credentials of a cheap towing company before you hire them for a towing service. Ensure their licenses and insurance policies are active. Then you can have peace of mind when hiring them.
4) Unreliable
Cheap towing companies may not have the fastest turnaround time after requesting emergency towing assistance. While other towing companies may respond within 60 to 90 minutes, you could wait for more than 4 or 6 hours if you hire a cheap towing company.
After all, most cheap towing companies are small-time companies without a fleet of tow trucks to dispatch to the nearest stranded customer. As a result, you could end up with a small one-man operation with only one or two tow trucks. If that’s the case, there’s no telling how long you’ll need to wait for emergency assistance.
5) Lack of Experience
Cheap towing companies will often hire towing operators without the proper training and experience in delivering professional towing services. So if you receive poor-quality towing services, you could end up with a towing operator who unintentionally inflicts more damage upon your vehicle or may have trouble completing the task at hand.
Towing can be a complex process requiring the appropriate steps and measures to be taken to ensure the vehicle is transported safely. An inexperienced tow operator is bound to make foolish or careless mistakes that’ll cause further damage to the vehicle they are trying to transport.
Call a Professional and Avoid the Hassle
Do you really want to deal with all this hassle? Sure, you could use a cheap towing company but what if they accidentally make careless mistakes and damage your vehicle. Wouldn’t you rather want to call a professional towing company and avoid the hassle of dealing with an inexperienced company?
An experienced and reliable towing company with the appropriate licenses and insurance policies will always be more trustworthy than a cheap towing company without official credentials. The company likely won’t charge any hidden fees, and they’ll have the proper equipment to perform a professional and quality towing service.