64 | Technology changing the towing business Today, the towing operation has eight staff and 10 trucks, and is part of the seven-member National Recovery Alliance. CONTRACTING North Harbour Towing T T Hugh de Lacy The electronics in modern cars, especially electric ones, are making their transport and towing more complex for tow-truck operators, says a man who ought to know – 40-year towing veteran Russ Baldwin of North Harbour Towing. “When towing cars we used to just put the car out of gear, lift the front wheels up and tow it away, but now there are some that we can’t even open the doors if the keys are missing or there’s no power to the car,” Russ says. “The modern electronics lock the car in gear and the hand-brake on too, so the back wheels are immobile. That means we have to put dollies under the back wheels before we can tow them, and that all adds time and cost to the operation, not to mention the cost of the dollies.” And costs, in the form of new trucks, plant and equipment, are another modern eye-opener, Russ says, with new tow-trucks costing between $1 million and $1.5m. Another huge change that Russ has seen take place in the towing business is that “98% of the trucks these days are owned by specialised towing companies, of which North Harbour Towing is now the longest-established on the North Shore. “Back in the day, a good 80% of tow trucks were owned by panel beaters, and just 20% by towing companies. Even 20 years ago, most of the panel beaters’ trucks were home-built or put together in the workshop; now they’re made by an engineering company or imported.” North Harbour Towing began as a rigging business that Russ’ father Watmo Baldwin launched in the early 1960s as Auckland Height Services, and Russ’ first work was as a steeplejack on such landmark projects as the Auckland Skytower. When Russ took it over from his father in the mid-1980s, the company had an inventory of plant that ranged from sand-blasting rigs to winches, and these and its big V8 trucks were serviced by Action Towing. Recognising the efficiencies that could be created in his existing company, Russ bought Action Towing and re-branded the whole operation as North Harbour Towing in the early 1990s. Today, the towing operation has eight staff and 10 trucks, and is part of the seven-member National Recovery Alliance (NRA), which services the whole of the Auckland motorway network under contract to the police. North Harbour Towing operates in the Rodney area, including Warkworth and the Hibiscus Coast, as well as its North Shore base, but also undertakes work over the Greater Auckland area, where it is contracted to the police to cover the urban roads in its immediate vicinity. The company also operates a large 4x4 winch tractor built to access beaches, boggy paddocks and areas that normal tow trucks can’t get to. It has more than 150m of wire on its 15-tonne winch, which makes a versatile unit teamed with a front-end loader. Smart lending solutions for business growth and success. 021 040 8095 LOOKING TO GET AHEAD? TALK TO CREDIFLEX. JP Hechter PARTNER 021 040 8095 jphechter@crediflex.co.nz
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