Wife hit unexpected black ice on a run last night forty to fifty miles away. Got a call that I am off the road at the bottom of a long steepish incline. In the snow. We are not hurt though.

Okay it is dark and I know she is going to need at least a tow truck. Before I get things lined up the wife calls back. A woman has stopped and claims her neighbor just down the road has a tow truck and is an exceptional individual. Does she want me to call him? I tell the wife yes.

He shows up in twenty minutes and they wait for police cruisers to come and close the highway. He goes down and starts to shovel all the snow away from the path it will take in recovery. This continues a long time before and even after the police arrive.

The police want the wifes paperwork. She tells them it is in the car down the slope. So can they just wait until the car is pulled back up. The pathway being shoveled is changed every time he hits a rock the wife tells me later. Eventually they block the road and he moves the truck into position. He is moving the tow truck multiple times to change the direction of the recovery.

One officer tells the wife he served a mechanical apprenticeship under him before he joined the police force. He was one very skilled mechanic and fair. It will take time but he will not contribute to the damage.

He retired and closed his business and went to Florida. He came back after a few years and brought the tow truck not long ago.

Anyways I get a phone call from him. What do I want done with the car? His suggestion as there are no service facilities around here. Is for three hundred dollars I will deliver the car and your wife and passenger to your place.

The damage is moderate but the police do not want to see your wife driving it until it has been examined up on a hoist. Otherwise I could make it at least mobile in a few minutes for her.

I had a look at it up on the flatbed at home. Exhaust system is off the hangers as It probably snagged on something on the way up. Fasteners for the rubbers need re welded on. Underneath plastic sheathing is wrecked but easy to remove and do without. One back wheel has a slightly bent rim. Crack in the front plastic lower facia.

She was lucky he mentioned as if she had touched the brakes the car would have probably flipped he thought. Anyways I told him to go for it really thankful they were not hurt.

The wife very early had asked me how she could pay if he did not have a card machine in the truck. At that point she though after recovery the car would be as it was.

I suspected otherwise but suggested he may accept a cheque. Just ask him before he starts. He said he would from her.

When they pulled into the driveway I went out and inspected the car as well as I could on the flatbed. Exhaust was off the hangers and the hangers needed welded back on as I mentioned. No dents in the oil pan or transmission pan or in any area of the floor I could see and no leakages. I also thought one pipe section was bent a little.

It is cold here and there is snow. So I asked him. Since you have to go back through town can we drop the car off at about the only garage I still respect and trust there. I will go along if that's okay and give you directions if needed.

After we drop the car off you can drop me at an all night convienience store. That is on the way back to the highway. I will then get a cab or ride home otherwise. He said fine.

Paid him the three hundred and he mentioned that when he talked to the wife and with the light damages the car had. He figured I would not involve the insurance company. Although if I did he would expect me to pay him the sales tax portion to get a bill for them. I told him we did not even have to discuss that. Automatically it would be done. If it came to it.

Although we both knew it would not be the best ideal to put it through insurance anyways. I know his business type was really busy with many of the same situations out there that night. He took a path that possibly cost him a lot of additional calls last night. He could have held the car and delivered it as soon as things quieted down. Left it up to me to recover the wife and passenger. Refused to take a cheque from her.

Just pulled the car back up without taking the effort to reduce the possibility of further damage. The woman that stopped also stayed until they left. At todays costs that car could have so easily been just a total write off. Either from the decent of the rocky slope or a sloppy job of recovery.

On the way to town he told us we knew his daughter and he was just going to try this towing thing for five years. He was a very social guy as well. He was already close to my age.

I point him out as the exception to the rule. He also treated the wife and young passenger like family. On the way back to town he was clashing gears and explained the truck was very new to him as he just reciently started this towing enterprise. . He just was not used to the transmission yet.

Again good coincidence impacted my family. The right woman stopped to see if she could help doing anything. Her personal recommendation for a certain towing truck was right on the money as far as I am concerned.

After it all was done if he had said a thousand dollars I would not have flinched at all. Wife and young passenger where home safe and sound and the car was better than expected thanks to him.

In hindsight I made two errors. One was not inviting him in for a coffee as it was a cold night as well. Plus offering him a tip. Although after getting to know him I think he would have refused the tip.

What I do know is it will probably be some time before I run across an individual like him again. Would I also recommend him as the woman did? No questions in my mind at all about that. Towing is just not a business to that person.

The wife said his daughter was also a very nice person with a lot of brain power. I slightly remember meeting her once as well. As for the woman that stopped to help if possible. The tow truck driver told the wife on the way home. She married very late as she had stayed home to take care of both her parents that were in poor health for many years. Until they both expired.


I wondered and asked the wife if perhaps most of the people that remained in that area since the new highway bypassed it long ago. Might all be nice. Or we just were the victims of good circumstance.


In any event it restored my faith in people. I had gotten tired of the current everything is just about money approach when doing business with so many concerns today. Customer retention used to be based and still is on people that make an effort to do the right thing. Or probably that do more than expected in almost any given situation. His business will thrive to whatever level he wants it to.

Yet the practice of it seems steadily to grow less and less. I know years ago we treated our customers well enough that a relationship was formed. After all they were our bread and butter. We were trusted as well in turn.


Like myself to some extent the work ethic is so strong he possibly really did not want to retire to just laying around basically. Just a guess but perhaps his wife expired and he found himself at loose ends. I would not and did not ask.