Tips on How to Prepare Your Vehicle for a Tow Truck

We all have our car towed at one time or another. Here’s how to make the whole process smoother.

Whether your vehicle won’t start and you’re stranded in a downtown Minneapolis MN parking lot or you need your SUV winched out because of some deep snow on a Brooklyn Park MN interstate because you slide off the road in, the hassle of calling a tow truck can be daunting. It’s never fun having to get your vehicle towed, but here are a few tips and insight into making the process of towing stress free and easy.

1. Remove Personal Belongings and Necessary Items

Make sure that the first thing you do is to grab all of your personal belongings from your vehicle. You don’t know how long you will be without your vehicle or how trustworthy a towing company is, so it’s best to remove these items before the tow truck arrives. Make sure to take your insurance card(s) and registration for the vehicle, as you may need these items while your vehicle is in the shop.

2. Take Photos of Your Vehicle’s Interior and Exterior

What happens if you get your vehicle back with scratches or dents that weren’t there before the tow truck hauled your vehicle away. Instead of finding out the hard way, make sure to take photo of each side of the car on the outside and several more on the inside as well. Most people these days carry a phone with a camera, so use this to document the state of your vehicle. An abrupt stop while the tow truck transports your vehicle could cause damage, so cover yourself.

3. Make Sure Emergency Brake is not Engaged

If your emergency brake is engaged and the towing company doesn’t notice it, your vehicle could suffer some damage. Most of the time this is avoided by reputable towing companies, as they typically check on this before towing your vehicle. We all know that no one is perfect, and people make mistakes, so it’s better to cover your arse. This is most important when you leave the vehicle for the towing company to pick up.

4. Close All Doors, Windows and Trunk

You may think this one is a no-brainer, but you’d be surprised by how many people forget this step. We’ve seen people leave windows, doors, moon roofs and trunks open, when leaving their vehicle unattended. What happens if it rains or a little critter decides to look for a nice warm and cozy home? You don’t want to find out. Both of these things can cause a lot of vehicle damage.

5. Make Sure Your Vehicle is Accessible

Many times, people leave their vehicle to be picked up by a towing company, but forget that they need a way to access the vehicle’s interior. If you’re not going to be present when the tow truck arrives, make arrangements for access to the vehicle. If you have a magnetic key box, that’s a great place to store your keys on the exterior of the vehicle. If you don’t have one of these, your best bet is to leave the vehicle unlocked and put the keys under a mat. Either way, make sure you communicate to the towing company where you put your keys, so there is no confusion.

We hope these tips help make having your car towed in Minneapolis a much smoother process. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact us.