I met with an accident, the details of which I do not wish to discuss in this thread, I still have some related questions and the details posted in another thread.
I want a thread dedicated for towing, tried to locate an appropriate thread, didn't find, hence started a new thread.
This thread is for the benefit of many who may, God forbid - go through similar harrowing experience, but unprepared. To add to the ordeal most towing operators tend to take unsuspecting owners literally on a joy ride.
I have included the details on how the unfortunate accident occurred in the following posts, though in the first place that too is a wrong thread and I shall relocate it to an appropriate thread.
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techni...ml#post3467263 http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techni...ml#post3468082
After my accident I requested my friend to check on the net and T-BHP for suggestions and contacts of towing operators, he said there wasn't much information, later I checked and it is kind of here and there, I realize that the degree to which one many be exposed to private towing operators may be far less when the car is new, as the showroom takes care of this, but for the countless others whose car is beyond warranty, this may be use full.
Unfortunately I do not have pictures (phone battery dead) to show how I executed a stupid idea of towing the car by connecting a rod with a Tata Ace, but despite all the rudimentary precautions there seems to be more damage done to the car after the initial towing (though difficult to confirm as the damage could be there in the first place, only got amplified by towing).
I want the experts to discuss here, the appropriate process of towing and what points to take care of, or avoid when towing long distance.
Importantly I'd appreciate if users across India could share the contact details of the towing services they have utilized and how positive their experience was, this can be really useful to someone travelling across India and finds himself in an unfortunate event wherein the vehicle needs to be towed, for them, this can be a valuable thread.
We usually end up picking the most easily available process in unfavorable times rather than what is appropriate, due to lack of easily accessible information.
In my case, I called multiple towing crane operators back in Goa (accident occurred in Mirjan, KA - 75 kms from Goa border at 3:00 am) and all talked about requiring permits to get across to KA (this was a sunday, hence permits could take half a day, is what they told me, as offices open only at 10 am or so), also their charges were about 9-10k for a total distance of about 320 kms, calculated based on a fixed deductible of Rs 2000 + KA permit = Rs 1000 + Rs 6400 (calc at 20Rs/Km for 320 kms negotiated from Rs30/Km).
So some good Samaritan bystander suggested towing by a Tata Ace as the villagers concluded there aren't many options around, the Ace guy was confident about it and my helpful friends who rushed to the accident site inadvertently added to the pressure situation by voicing opinions that I would otherwise critically analyze, anyway all we wanted was, get to Goa as soon as possible.
Actually I wanted to drive to the nearest PS and seek suggestions, on a side note, I called 100 after the accident to report the rash behavior of the Mahindra pick up, and after 10 minutes of listening to some Kannada inter spaced with Hindi words, all I understood was that someone who knows Hindi will call me back, that call never came, I left it at that, its sad, as there should be some multilingual person answering the police lines at least in the night, as there is no one else you can approach.
Back to the towing process, as can be seen in the photographs, the car crashed into the Tata Ace as the towing eye sheared after about 80 kms, (I am foolish to not have foreseen this first itself), damaging the left head light and bumper further, I believe the clips of both were broken in the accident, else it would be sad if it happened while towing.
After a totally disappointing first part, there came a silver lining, a good acquaintance shared the contact of a flatbed service which I am happy to recommend on T-BHP for their professional service. I wish I had called this acquaintance right early, things would be a lot smoother and cheaper.
The towing service provider is
Trinity Services (Melvin) and he has a Flatbed based in Mapusa and Verna, for Goans this is a good thing as most service centers are between these two places so there isn't any added running as these operators calculate the kms driven from start point.
Best part is this guy does not have to pay any permit charges as he is privately registered and can go anywhere so straight gain of 3k, also he quoted close to the towing crane "per km" rate, which makes the flatbed totally VFM. If I were to get them to pick the car from Mirjan it would cost me about 6500 which is a substantial difference and I wouldn't have had to spend a hot afternoon by the road side.
As crazy as this sounds unfortunately one of my friends dad who was terminally ill expired after my friend reached Mirjan and they had to rush back, all this added to the tension and clogged thinking.
After the accident:
After initial towing (before flatbed):
Maybe proper towing procedures can save good money for lot out there, Thanks.