Tag Archives: Indianapolis tow truck services

How to Perform a Pre-Tow Check Before a Road Trip

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If you are planning a road trip that involves towing a trailer with your vehicle, it is wise to learn how to perform a correct pre-tow check and ensure your safety, as well as the safety of your cargo. Continue reading for some helpful tips.

Indianapolis Towing 317-247-8484

Indianapolis Tow Truck Service 317-247-8484

The first part of towing safety is preparation, which is why learning how to perform a pre-tow check before a road trip is so valuable. Not only is it important to know what to check, it is important to complete the task before every road trip, regardless of distance.

Getting Started

To start, you want to ensure your hitch and trailer are safely connected to one another. For a standard ball hitch, be sure that the tongue of the trailer is correctly connected to your vehicle’s hitch, with the locking mechanism snapped and lock pin in place.

While inspecting your hitch and trailer tongue, also be sure that your trailer connection is setup right. Between the vehicle and the trailer, there should be two chains that are crossing over each other, forming an “X” figure.

Check the security of the hitch by pulling up on the trailer to pull the hitch off. It should not be able to come off. If it does, you need to reconnect it and make the proper adjustments. Check that the wheel or stand for the trailer is in the “up” position.

Next, inspect your trailer lights and the lights on your towing vehicle. Be sure that the brake lights and turn signals are working properly and in sync. If something is off, check the electrical wires for looseness or defects. If you cannot get the brake lights to work, it is VITAL that you do not take it on the road.

Need a Professional Tow?

Indianapolis Roadside Assistance 317-247-8484

Indianapolis Towing and Roadside Assistance 317-247-8484

Call Zore’s Towing at 317-247-8484 for safe and affordable Indianapolis tow truck services you can trust. Our licensed and insured tow truck operators provide punctual and prompt tow truck services, 24 hours a day and 7 days a week! We also provide numerous community services, roadside assistance services, wrecker and recovery services, and much more. Call 317-247-8484 to request a free estimate, anytime!

What You Need to Know About Non-Consent Tows

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A consented tow is when you hire or permit a tow truck driver to transport your vehicle. Other times, a vehicle is towed without the owner’s permission. This is called a non-consent tow. Non-consent tows are usually legal, but sometimes, they can be contested by the vehicle owner. Continue reading to learn what you need to know about non-consent towing, including when they are permitted and how to contest one in your town.

Indianapolis Towing 317-247-8484

Indianapolis Towing 317-247-8484

Non-Consent Towing

Most non-consent towing occurs when a vehicle is parked illegally, posing a safety hazard, or obstructing traffic. For instance, if a car is double parked, parked in a handicap zone without proper tags, blocking a fire lane, or abandoned and obstructing traffic, it can be legally towed at the owner’s expense and without their permission, either by the authority of the city or the private property owner.

This form of non-consent towing is generally provided by a third party towing company. And this is the party that tends to get all the grief for the tow, even though they are just a hired hand being ordered by the actual party in charge. So if your car is ever towed, don’t take it out on the tow truck driver; instead, you can contest the tow, or simply go through the standard process of regaining possession of your vehicle.

How to Contest a Non-Consent Tow

If you believe the property owner, city, or towing company made a mistake, you may challenge the non-consent tow. If you wish to move forward with contesting a non-consent tow, your first step is to request a tow hearing. You can do this by visiting the county’s clerk’s office or courthouse and file a written request. A tow hearing will give you the opportunity to tell a judge why you believe your vehicle was wrongly towed. It can take several weeks for a county to process this request, so it is important to file it immediately after the incident.

How to Prepare for a Tow Hearing

You will need to bring physical evidence with you to support your claim. One of the strongest forms of evidence you can bring are photographs of the area where your vehicle was parked, including nearby street signs, parking lines, and more. Obtaining witness statements at the actual time of the tow are also valuable to your case. If your vehicle was towed from a “customer’s only” parking lot of a store you were shopping at, receipts of purchases you made at the store would be a quality piece of evidence.

Satisfy All Fees Prior to Your Hearing

Even though you are claiming that your vehicle was wrongly towed, it is very important to pay all of your tow fees in full prior to your tow hearing. If you do not win your case, you will still owe the money, so do not let hefty fees accumulate in the meantime.

Trust Our Indianapolis Towing Pros for Advice and More!

Zore's Towing Indianapolis 317-247-8484

Indianapolis Towing & Roadside Assistance 317-247-8484

Call Zore’s Towing at 317-247-8484 for safe and affordable Indianapolis tow truck services you can trust. Our licensed and insured tow truck operators provide punctual and prompt tow truck services, 24 hours a day and 7 days a week! We also provide numerous community services, roadside assistance services, wrecker and recovery services, and much more. Call 317-247-8484 to request a free estimate, anytime!

The Two Main Types of Hitches for Heavy Duty Towing

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Although Class I through V receiver hitches are suitable for towing cargoes like horse trailers, campers, and light boats, sometimes, you need more pulling power than they can offer. This is where heavy duty hitches can help. They let drivers tow larger, heavier freights by placing the hitching point in the truck bed, over the rear axle. This type of setup allows your towing vehicle to support a lot more weight than a traditional bumper hitch. When it comes to heavy duty towing, it is important to have a quality hitch setup in order to remain safe on the road. There are two main types of heavy duty hitch systems: Gooseneck hitches and Fifth-Wheel hitches.

Continue reading to learn some basics surrounding each hitch system, and who to trust for professional towing service or advice.

Indianapolis Heavy Duty Towing 317-247-8484

Indianapolis Heavy Duty Towing 317-247-8484

Gooseneck Hitches

Gooseneck hitches are very well-suited for trucks, especially those with 4-wheel rear axles. They are designed for a precise fit for any make or model truck, SUV, or van. The ball mounts in the middle of the truck bed, which allows for heavier weight and tighter turns. Furthermore, this setup allows for easy hitch ball conversion; simply pull and twist the latch pin, then turn the ball over, and finally re-engage the latch pin. This easy set up allows for simpler and safer truck towing.

Other great features include:

☑ They Meet All OEM Mounting Requirements
☑ It Bolts to All Existing Holes in Truck Frames
☑ No Need for Drilling or Welding
☑ Truck Bed Doesn’t Need Removed
☑ Manufacturer’s Warranty
☑ Minimal Need for Changes
☑ 30,000 lb. GTW/7,000 lb. TW
☑ Long-Lasting Powdered Coat Finishes
☑ All Gooseneck Products are Manufactured in the USA

Recommended Product: B&W Turnover Ball Gooseneck Hitch, $502.70 – $592.90

This hitch is widely popular because it doesn’t require truck owners to drill holes into their frame for installation. Instead, it has an easy design making it simple to use. In just seconds, it allows you to set the hitch and return to a flat level bed in just a few seconds! However, it does require a four inch hole in the truck bed; but it’s rated to 30,000 pounds Gross Trailer Weight and 6,000 pounds Tongue Weight.

Fifth Wheel Hitches

Fifth Wheel Hitches look just like the hitches you see on semi-trucks, but they are not quite the same. Similar to Gooseneck hitches, they retain a very high tow weight capacity. Because of their bed-mounted design, they can tow between 16,000 and 30,000 pounds Gross Trailer Weight (GTW), and up to 5,000 pounds Tongue Weight (TW). These hitches are great for towing large campers and multiple vehicles since they are easy to install and maneuver well. They are usually mounted to rails that must be permanently bolted to a truck bed, but can be removed at any time for better truck bed access. Furthermore, many fifth wheel hitches are made with a pivoting design that absorbs and adjusts to changing road conditions, rendering a smoother towing ride.

Recommended Product: Curt E5 or Curt Q24 Fifth Wheel Hitch, $276.73 – $722.12

Trust Our Indianapolis Towing Pros for Advice and More!

Zore's Towing Indianapolis 317-247-8484

Zore’s Towing Indianapolis 317-247-8484

Call Zore’s Towing at 317-247-8484 for safe and affordable Indianapolis tow truck services you can trust. Our licensed and insured tow truck operators provide punctual and prompt tow truck services, 24 hours a day and 7 days a week! We also provide numerous community services, roadside assistance services, wrecker and recovery services, and much more. Call 317-247-8484 to request a free estimate, anytime!

Important Advice for Safe Towing

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Towing a car or truck safely requires experience and knowledge because there are several potential issues and dangers that can arise during a routine haul. It is important to know the proper procedures and safety precautions required to perform a successful tow, as well as, how to use towing equipment since it can cause serious injury if handled improperly. Furthermore, a beginner should always be accompanied by someone who has experience towing vehicles and other commodities. And this is just the start; there is much more to safe towing! Continue reading to learn important safety tips when it comes to towing a car or truck with your own equipment.

Indianapolis Towing 317-247-8484

Indianapolis Towing 317-247-8484

Safety Chains

Whether you are towing an SUV, jet ski, trailer, or car, safety chains are a must-have for every job. They are the ties that keep the connection solid between your truck and your haul. It ensures that your cargo will not get separated, potentially damaging other drivers on the road. Safety is the main reason why the use of safety chains is also the law.

Never tie these chains to the bumper of your towing vehicle. This can cause the bumper to come right off! They need to cross under the tongue of a trailer instead, for proper connectivity. This way if the hitch comes undone, the trailer will still not separate. In order to make safe turns while towing a cargo, be sure to add a little slack to the chains. Manufacturer’s instructions define the proper procedures and safety precautions for hooking up tow chains. Be sure to refer to them as often as possible to reminders about safe towing.

Towing Capacity

Never exceed the tow capacity of your vehicle. This means towing a haul that weighs more than the vehicle itself. This action can quickly damage your vehicle’s drive train. An inflicted drive train is a dangerous situation; especially when it comes to uphill driving. Life threatening accidents and injuries can occur of a load is lost as a result of a damaged drive train. Be sure to brush up on your vehicle’s tow capacity and how to calculate your load weight accurately.

Turn Signals and Brake Lights

An area that is commonly overlooked by novice towers is light synchronization. When you hook up a trailer to your vehicle, your brake lights are not visible; instead, the ones on the back of the trailer are. It is important that these brake lights and signal lights are in sync with the actual brakes and other components. This allows other drivers to share the road safely while you tow. Lights that should be synchronized include hazard lights, brakes, turn signals, flashers, headlights, and fog lights. Don’t forget that this particular safety tip is also the law.

Where to Get Reputable Towing Service in Indianapolis

Zore's Towing Indianapolis 317-247-8484

Zore’s Towing Indianapolis 317-247-8484

Call Zore’s Towing at 317-247-8484 for safe and affordable Indianapolis tow truck services you can trust. Our licensed and insured tow truck operators provide punctual and prompt tow truck services, 24 hours a day and 7 days a week! We also provide numerous community services, roadside assistance services, wrecker and recovery services, and much more. Call 317-247-8484 to request a free estimate, anytime!