American Towing and Recovery Institute onThe Go
American Towing and Recovery Institute onThe Go
Fred from Henry's, Innovations, Mergers, and Best Practices in the Industry
Ever wondered how towing companies are revolutionizing their operations or how strategic mergers can double a business's footprint? Tune in to hear the latest developments from the frontlines of the towing and recovery industry. We kick off with an in-depth look at the recent training sessions that took us to Rhode Island and highlight some upcoming events, including the Midwest Regional Tow Show in Ohio. From specialized electric vehicle classes to heavy-duty towing training, we discuss the importance of continual education and community support, emphasizing initiatives like the Wounded Driver Fund and cross-training with fire departments.
In our second segment, we dissect the transformative merger between Henry's and Roadrunner in the Washington DC metro area. Learn how syncing GPS and dispatch software through Traxo has led to unparalleled operational efficiency. We also dive into the nuanced world of financial partnerships, contrasting the benefits of family fund investments with private equity. Hear why family funds often provide more robust long-term support, allowing business owners to retain their operational expertise while pursuing strategic growth.
Lastly, we tackle the often complex topic of towing fees and operational best practices. Discover why a flat rate system could be a game-changer for both consumers and towing companies, reducing disputes and ensuring fair pricing. Police-authorized towing contracts in Northern Virginia are highlighted as a model of success. We also explore the legal strategies for recovering costs and the importance of detailed documentation. Wrapping up, we discuss the ethical principles that can benefit every employee and secure generational wealth, offering opportunities for consolidators to collaborate and grow together.
Welcome one and all to the American Towing Recovery Institute podcast. Remember this is your podcast to promote safety, education, positive public relations and networking within the professional and business-minded towing and recovery industry. I'm your co-host, dj Harrington, better known as the Tow Doctor, and my other host is Wes Wilburn, over 40-year towing industry veteran, the founder of American Towing Recovery Institute of Fayetteville, north Carolina. He has produced and conducted training and certification programs for leading towing companies, equipment distributors, towing associations, dot, fire departments, rescue, as well as military installations across the United States. Wes has been published over 100 times in major towing publications published over 100 times in major towing publications.
Speaker 1:Wes has developed many courses, including the most recent awareness-level course for all responders that specialize in electric vehicles as well as hybrid, natural gas and hydrogen vehicles. Wes has provided insight as the main speaker for over 30 years at more than 900 training classes and has been recognized as one of America's greatest towing trainers. He is well known for his straightforward but down-to-earth teaching style. West Wilbur and his American Storm Recovery staff have developed an electric vehicle phone app, wwwev-clevercom, with over 700 passenger vehicles and over 100 heavy-duty vehicles, bringing you a new level of convenience for information at your fingertips for all responders and their groups Without further ado. Here's my dear friend and a great guy for our industry, wes Wilber.
Speaker 3:As always, DJ, I appreciate your kind words. You're too kind. It was really a godsend when we got introduced together. I have to admit, DJ, I appreciate you more than you know.
Speaker 1:Well, vice versa, I am so proud to be your co-partner on this deal. I'm proud to be with you, wes, but I'm proud to be part of this industry because you really do care about the end user. You care about the one out there working the white line, so I'm very proud to be part of it. So tell all our listeners what's happening this week, because we got a great guest. I know that Well, as I'm recording this.
Speaker 3:I'm getting ready to go to Rhode Island for a class, but if people will be, listening to it that class will have just happened. We can't mention that. Or we also wanted to give a shout-out for the North Carolina show, like we did in the last episodes. Yes, that will already have passed when people listen to it. I hope they had a good strong show there, Coming up right before the week when people will be listening to this will be the Roberts Center the Midwest Regional Toe Show, September 12th through the 15th.
Speaker 3:It's at Roberts Center, Wilmington.
Speaker 2:Ohio.
Speaker 3:Great show, I know you're going to be involved there with many different things and we had Bruce on the program. I guess what two episodes DJ Does that sound right. Yes. And he's got a lot of great things planned this year A parade and a hog picking. I believe it was pig picking. I don't know if they call it pig picking in that part of the world. Dj.
Speaker 1:Yeah, celebration of Life is where we're going to remember all the loved ones, whether you were killed on the white line or just maybe a heart attack in the office or out fishing with your son. We want to remember anyone in the towing industry, so it's called Celebration of Life, which is that Thursday night. Then, as a thing that you promote all the time, this is the Wounded Driver Fund and Wes. You know, you're a real reason why they started all that and that's been very, very successful and I'm speaking there and, of course, you sent me stuff to. They're going to raffle off up there and I'm bringing it with me and it's a donation from the american towing and recovery institute.
Speaker 1:So, uh, you're a very kind guy and a lot of people don't know how much you do for the industry well, thanks, dj.
Speaker 3:I appreciate that. Um, we'll be at Lynchburg Virginia. On September, the 20th we're doing an electric vehicle class. That's Friday evening 6 to 9. That's a free class. We're going to feed you dinner at 5 o'clock, so get there a little bit early. And on the 21st 22nd, lynchburg Virginia, we're doing a heavy duty class with some rotator usage, heavy duty, towing and recovery. September 21, 22,. That class is about a little bit over halfway filled up right now.
Speaker 1:So we're looking forward to that September the.
Speaker 2:Tennessee Toe Show September 25-28.
Speaker 3:Contact Brenda at toetimesmagcom for more information and then the first week of October we'll be out in Oregon it's a private school. I think they've got it about filled up. Then the next class will be in lake station, indiana our good friends at wafco october 18th electric vehicle class.
Speaker 3:It's three hours on a friday evening 19th and 20th, heavy duty with some rotator usage. November 2nd and 3rd we'll be back in Elkhart, indiana, with a light to medium duty class, two-day class, full-blown hands-on. And then the last public class of the year at this point is November 16th 17th 2024, two-day fire tower cross training in Sumner, south Carolina. It's a fire department cross training will be myself and ron moore teaching the class, so we'll look forward to seeing some of our friends there. Sumner tower is a great friend of the podcast. I've got a youtube channel that they're very active relatively active, I guess, would be the right term and and really nice folks.
Speaker 3:Hal Watts, the principal there at Sumner Record, is a paid firefighter. Very instrumental on helping cross-train between a small department and the community. So we're looking forward to a great class there also, DJ. I want to talk about one more thing before the break. Next year, early May, we're looking forward to a great class. I want to talk about one more thing before the break next year, early May we're doing a complete training class started light duty all the way through heavy duty.
Speaker 3:We talked about doing it boot camp style. I don't think we are at this point. Boot camp style is when you check in at one time and you don't check out until a week later and you're involved in the class the whole time. I do not think we're going to do that. I do believe what we're going to do is teach a class like we normally do, but we might have a couple evening sessions. First day is going to be light duty. Second day is heavy duty, the two days that I teach Me and JT and a few others. They're teaching that course. And then, for the last three days, tommy luciano is going to come in and lead the course. I'm going to help them with jt and the rest of the crew. So it's going to be kind of a special thing. It's going to be all of our collective information, complete training program. We've got a deal worked with a local hotel so we can offer an all-inclusive price. We're really excited about that, dj.
Speaker 1:We think it's going to be a hit. Oh, that'll be fantastic With Luciano. The place will be packed.
Speaker 3:We're doing it in Warrant, I agree with that. We're doing it in Warrant, I agree with that. We're doing it in Warrington, missouri, which is out a little bit west of St Louis. We got some rural property secured so we can have some hills and some ditches and we can get a big heavy track vehicle really stuck out there as well. We're going to I say hopefully try to achieve I've never been to the piece of property, but we're going to achieve getting it really stuck.
Speaker 3:And we're talking, we're going to get some heavy stuff to do that with. So it's going to be a real live class and the beauty of a class like that is you attract people from all over the country. So more information on that or any of our upcoming classes 910-747-9000 or wwwamtowriorg Got a great show lined up for you. Just come to drink. Get rid of this frog in my throat. Hang around till after the break and we'll be right back.
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Speaker 6:That includes hybrid, fully electric fuel cell, compressed natural gas and hydrogen buses and heavy trucks.
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Speaker 2:Information in this podcast is made possible by generous sponsorship from Henry's Wrecker, serving the community with quality towing and recovery for over 40 years. Henryswreckercom.
Speaker 1:Welcome back listeners. Of course you know you're listening to the number one podcast in the towing and recovery industry. You are listening to the American Towing and Recovery Institute podcast with Wes Wilburn, dj Harrington, better known as the Towing Doctor. We every week bring you exciting episodes like this one. By all means, download and listen. We're available on Spotify, itunes, pandora, stitcher, iheartmedia the number one podcast Amazon or wherever you get your podcasts. This is going to be a great one. This man's been on before, so, wes, I'll turn it over to you.
Speaker 3:Thanks, dj. I appreciate that I want to introduce to some present to others, our founding member, first member of the American Tire Recovery Institute and a great supporter of what we do, fred Sheeler with Henry's Record Service. Fred, introduce yourself to the group and I say Henry's. I'm not even sure how I'm supposed to introduce you, so help correct that for me.
Speaker 4:Yeah, wes hi. As everyone, in case you don't know, I'm fred schiller. I'm the executive chairman of hws, which is henry's record service, roadrunner record service and windsor town out of baltimore, predominantly in the dmv area which is uh around dc northern virginia, dc northern Virginia. We have three companies. We currently run roughly 100,000 tow calls a year and looking to grow and expand even more.
Speaker 3:Your group is what is called a consolidator consolidating towing companies together. Can you give a brief overview of that in general on how that's applying to the towing industry?
Speaker 4:Well, yeah, just like with the body shop industry and other industries, the best scenario I can give you is Caliber Collision, which started out with a couple body shops in Texas, and the group has gone around and bought up a lot of independent shops and relabeled them as Caliber Collision, so they're now nationwide. What we're doing. I teamed up with a family fund, which is different from private equity, and we are currently purchasing other companies. I already had two when I partnered with them and we've added a third one which is Roadrunner, and we're looking to add another three. Purchasing other companies.
Speaker 4:I already had two when I partnered with them and we've added a third one which was Roadrunner, and we're looking to add another three, hopefully by the end of this year, yeah, which would increase our revenue even more, and we found out by doing the Roadrunner deal that we were able to consolidate a lot of stuff and get better pricing from our vendors that were more favorable towards us as a whole because of our volume, and that goes from everything from purchasing of trucks to equipment, to insurance, the workers' comp and just fuel was another big savings off the top of my head, but it's worked out really well.
Speaker 3:So let me describe this just a little bit for our listeners. Well, first of all, what's the name of your organization?
Speaker 4:The family fund is called Full Guard.
Speaker 3:Full Guard and you did mention private and family trust. I want to come back to that in a moment, but before we do that, you talk about Henry's being big in Washington DC metro area, which they are, which is also where I grew up, and then Roadrunner is also in the same marketplace, but y'all basically deal with two different counties. I mean, you do business in the counties, but one focus is one county. Loudoun, and one focus is the next county. Fairfax by joining together. Tell us how that's helped things.
Speaker 4:Well, it expanded our local footprint, basically doubled it, because now we have the entire Loudoun County. We do do some work in Prince William County through Roadrunner. Henry's also does work in the Alexandria side of this and Arlington and Prince George's County on the other side of the Beltway in Maryland, and then you know, henry's also has Montgomery County which is on the other side of the Beltway in Maryland, so we pretty much encompass the entire Beltway in DC region and by teaming together we're able to help our customers out, because most of our customers, you know, in the DMV area, if you may be based in Loudoun, but your trucks of your contracting company, your trucks are all over the place. You're in DC, you're in Montgomery County, you're going to be in PG County, prince William County, et cetera. It just allows us to give our customers better service, better response times, and they are willing to pay for that.
Speaker 3:Well, that's good, and also by being closer and better response times, it's also a more efficient call to run at that point most of the time isn't it?
Speaker 4:Yes, we're right now just over a year and a half into the deal and we are in the process of syncing software. Our GPSs have already been synced up, but the big thing will be syncing up our dispatch software through what's it? Traxo? Traxo is the parent company, so it gives us better reporting and better tools to use to manage the locations and everybody to work more efficiently together. So you're not sending trucks and passing trucks around.
Speaker 3:Boy, that makes a lot of sense. That was always, I know, when I was in the business back here decades ago at this point, less empty miles the trucks were running was better for everybody.
Speaker 4:Better for the money better for everybody's mentality. Exactly, and the drivers then are able to make more money. Also because, theoretically, if you're not running, on average, 15 miles to get to a call and your average drops down to eight to five miles to get to a call, you're able to run more calls, which means more money in the pockets of the drivers.
Speaker 3:money in the pockets of the drivers because, as we know, drivers drive the business and that return comes back to you as the ownership, as in better profitability, absolutely um the two different type of equity funds, trust funds that are being used to finance different operations in the general world of consolidation. Can you talk about that for a moment?
Speaker 4:Yeah, sure you know, when I was going through this phase of wanting to grow, how do I do it?
Speaker 2:And I know I needed a partner.
Speaker 4:So I went through what they call the dog and pony show, had a bunch of different groups come in, lay the pros and cons of what they felt they could help me with and how they would help, and the thing I found out with private equity is they have just as much cash as the family funds do. But the difference is private equity comes in. There's a time limit, usually five to seven years, maybe eight. They make the investment and then they're going to want out of the investment and get the returns from the people that they went and raised money from. Family fund totally different. Yes, they have raised money, but the money they raise is people coming to them giving the money and telling them to go out and find businesses to invest in and purchase. There is no time limit on that fund.
Speaker 4:So, as you're growing your business, if they decide nobody comes along and gives them a multiple that they really wish for, or if the company's doing well, there's no time frame for them to sell their shares. They'll stay in it for 10, 15, 20 years, whereas an equity comes in again wants to flip you and every other equity group I've met with. They all seem to think they know the towing business better than you, the actual who built the business, and immediately want to come in and make changes. A lot of those changes are reflected in payrolls benefits. There may be a few good things they do that cut costs but they again come in thinking they know more about business as a whole than you do. Family fun. They leave the operations up to us. They're there to support us, help us in any way and provide cash when needed to do a purchase or grow the company. Yeah, we go to them and explain why and if it's deemed necessary and it's a good plan, they fund it.
Speaker 3:Which you know. Actually it's all done from a logical standpoint, having another set of eyes, that know a fair amount about business. Having another set of eyes looking at things amount about business. Having another set of eyes looking at things probably not a bad thing, is it?
Speaker 4:No, it's actually a good thing, I would say there's out of a couple ideas me and.
Speaker 4:Dave Butcher, who was the owner of Roadrunners now the president of the group came up with and there was one of them they knocked down and when they explained why, it kind of made sense to us and we agreed. But everything else we've wanted to do and explain to them why we want to do it, they totally understand it and have been in full support of us. They have never come in and said to us you need to cut payroll, you need to do this or stop purchasing from this person. We think we can get you a better deal on this or force you to use relationships they have in insurance. Um, they leave it up to us. Operations are totally on us to do and obviously they expect you to perform. But but if you're an owner, you've already been performing. So it's nothing new to have that pressure of performance on you and I say pressure, but it's. It's the same as if you own the company yourself.
Speaker 4:The only difference is I got a chance to cash out a good chunk of it. Leave my 20% in and we'll grow the thing. It's easier to grow something with somebody else's money than keep constantly putting your own money out, for the risk is what I always said, and there will be a time maybe not tomorrow, but there will be a time that you know they look to recoup some of their investment and the company will probably be sold again and at that point in time the advantage to this way is I get a second bite of the apple. I got my first cash up front. When they sell again I'll get another chance to cash out again.
Speaker 3:So let's talk about that a little bit. I know you talked about it on previous podcasts, but you sold a large percentage of your organization to this group. Explain how that works.
Speaker 4:All right, it's done in a stock deal. So I sold them stock in the corporation. The company's name, your name, stays the same, nothing changes your tax ID number, your lettering on your truck DOT number all that stays the same because it's not an asset purchase. Since they're purchasing stock, they give you X amount of dollars based off of your EBITDA and multiple and that varies depending on your EBITDA number, on the multiple. So I cashed out, I kept 20% ownership in my stock and then, as we go around purchasing these other companies, I keep my percentage of stock because I help pitch in some money also when we purchase these other companies.
Speaker 4:So I have some skin in the game and they know I'm making good, sound decisions because it's my money also and we grow the company and that next owner we buy also keeps the percentage in. So he has stock in the entire company, not just his company. Now he now owns part of Windsor Henry's and Roadrunner. If we were to do a deal, let's say tomorrow, with somebody, they would now have a percentage of all three companies plus their own company combined in the parent company.
Speaker 3:All right. So two questions come to mind. But we're getting to the point. We've got to take a break. Can you hang around until after the break? Of course I can.
Speaker 4:That's anything for you.
Speaker 3:We'll be right back listeners.
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Speaker 1:We look forward to serving you. Welcome back listeners. You're listening to the number one podcast in the towing and recovery industry, the American Towing Recovery Institute podcast, with Wes Bilburn, dj Harrington and our special guest, of course, fred. But let me remind all of you we have over 15,000 listeners and growing. We can't thank you enough for sharing. Remember to like and review. Wes reminds you. Please like, by all means. If you want to hear another industry expert like Fred, just dial 706-409-5603. That comes right to the podcast center and, just like the last time he was on, very informative, very up-to-date. Take out your pencils and papers and learn from the master. All right, wes, I'll turn it back over to you. Thank you, dj.
Speaker 3:And, fred, I thank you for sharing. A couple of questions pop into my mind. Well, first of all, in the first segment I talked about the Lynchburg Virginia class being almost sold out, and part of that is y'all's participation, the Roadrunner and Henry Director's Service. I should have said that when I talked about the Lynchburg Virginia class, so we do appreciate that, fred. Two questions come to mind about what we've talked about. One is as you expand, does someone have to be right in your area for y'all to work with them? And then also, is the business deal that you made with 80-20 or whatever the percentages were? Does the deal have to be structured like that or are there other variables?
Speaker 4:All right To answer the first part of your question do you have to be in our footprint? The answer is no, I can tell you. Currently, two of the companies we're hoping to get a deal done with are not within our footprint and are a know a good bit away from us, which is fine because they're well-run companies.
Speaker 3:um, both those owners and that's the key right.
Speaker 4:Well, that's what you're looking for yeah, well-run companies, who've, you know, do their bookkeeping the proper way, pay all their taxes. You know everything is recorded properly. And both those owners also wish to stay on and see the bigger picture of growing the business. And you know we're here to help them grow their business and connect, you know, connect the dots, as we call it, across the map in major areas. So, yes, those owners will stay on and the percentage it can vary. You can do 20 percent, 15, 10, you know it varies back and forth.
Speaker 3:But people have to stay with skin in the game.
Speaker 4:That's what I was getting to no, they do not have to stay with skin in the game. That's what I was getting to. No, they do not have to stay with skin in the game. But what will? I would say we would like them to stay on for at least, if they're not going to have any skin in the game two years and we'll give them a two-year employment contract. That is very favorable, which you know, that's how I started out with the two-year contract, which you know that's how I started out with. It was with a two-year contract and then it extended to indefinitely, and same with Dave, because we see the bigger picture.
Speaker 4:But you know, you can do an asset purchase also, which we looked at on a couple smaller companies. At possibly doing that, we would just be able to, you know, relabel the trucks and just fold them into the umbrella already, and there are some reasons for those, because they're not really running a solid EBITDA number but strategically it makes sense and they're close enough that we can take over the management of the companies. But there again, well-run company, if you have somebody underneath of you, which you should, as an owner, always be trying to train somebody to be the next owner and take your place, even if you don't sell. So you have more time for family and other activities that you wish to do. And that's how I approached it.
Speaker 4:When I was growing henry's was making sure I had the staff underneath me and the right people in place that I could afford to go on a three-week vacation or leave the state and stuff, and a lot of owners won't do that because they're afraid that person leaving or taking trade secrets. But you need to grow your own people. Well, that's good advice, no matter where you are in business. Oh yeah, you as an owner, I mean you bust your. It's to reward yourself, indulge in a couple little things and take that family time, because it goes by fast, as we all know.
Speaker 3:That it does that it does EBITDA. Quick explanation of that, oh.
Speaker 4:EBITDA.
Speaker 3:EBITDA.
Speaker 4:Earnings before interest taxes, amortization, depreciation, Depreciation, amortization. Excuse me, Got it backwards.
Speaker 3:And those are numbers folks should be paying attention to, right.
Speaker 4:Correct. And your accountant I mean I get it, I'm not the financial wizard, but my CFO at the time or your comptroller or your accountant, should be able to take your financials, whether you're doing quarterly, monthly, yearly and tell you what that number is. And that is the multiple that has been used, or the formula used since the 80s of evaluating the business. And then there's a multiple put on it. Sometimes it's as low as three, sometimes it can be high as double digits, depending on that.
Speaker 3:EBITDA number and that's something that we talked about in the previous podcast that I'm going to challenge our listeners to go back and listen to is in great detail. You explained the importance of being accurate with those numbers, and I say in great detail in a very down-to-earth way. Right now I want to shift gears for the few minutes we have left. What's going on around your operating area and I hear Virginia is looking at some things.
Speaker 3:I'm also interested in any opinion you have on what's going on on the federal junk fees and whatnot on the federal level.
Speaker 4:Yeah, in Virginia my group, Northern Coalition of Towers, lobbied Virginia Senate and House to regulate which they already. Let me back up. They already regulate trespass telling prices in the state of Virginia but to get an increase you have to go back every year, every so many years. Convince the lobbyists I mean not the lobbyists, the senators and the House representatives to want to increase your rates. And no senator or lobby or members of the House wants the vote usually to give towers an increase. They're afraid their constituents will be mad at them and won't vote for them for the next election. So what we propose is that it's taken out of their hands and put into the hands of the SEC, which regulates all businesses. Let them set the rate. They are impartial. They are not tied by political bounds or parties or constituents.
Speaker 4:So what they decided to do was do a study. The state funded it. They hired a firm out of I want to say it was Utah who was doing the study on what a cost and the rates that we should be. They're going to propose rates that we should be getting for those gas tows. Those rates will be set and once that is approved which we feel will be approved this next session, then every year after that we are lobbying that we take the CPI index from the transportation department and that will be the increase that is given every year automatically.
Speaker 4:So if the transportation index is 4%, our rates automatically go up 4% across the state. There's no going back and renegotiating with the senators and house representatives, it just goes up. Then possibly every five years, if the state wants to double check everything, hire the firm again. Let them do another study. This way it takes out the politics out of towing, which they really shouldn't be in. We're a business like any other business. I don't feel that just because somebody doesn't like tow companies that they shouldn't vote for us to get a raise Right.
Speaker 4:So I believe it's a good thing for the industry. A lot of people don't like regulations. They're afraid it's going to open the door up to something else. But we made it clear in our bill this is all they are regulating. They're not regulating whether we have to get second signatures or how we do the tow, uh, what records we have to keep. It's just strictly based on the price of doing business, which I think helps all the towers in the state absolutely taking it away from a political consideration, absolutely what do?
Speaker 3:you think about what's going on with the Fed and junk fees?
Speaker 4:All right, the Fed and junk fees. That's a good one. They're considering our junk fees, basically our admin fees, from what I read on it, saying that there are extra fees no different than when you go to an airline and all of a sudden they're charging you a check bag fee. Well, if you want to take that away, that's fine. But in reality, here's what's going to happen. If Southwest Airlines, for example, or any airline, is charging you, let's say, $50 to check a bag, well, what's going to happen is, whether you check a bag or not, your ticket price is going to go up $50 to check a bag. Well, what's going to happen is, whether you check a bag or not, your ticket price is going to go up $50 and they're going to get rid of all check bag fees. But whether you're checking the bag or not, you're paying that $50 extra on your airline ticket. If your ticket normally costs you 200 bucks, it's now going to cost you 250, plus taxes.
Speaker 4:Same thing with towing. They're talking about our admin fees, but by law we are supposed to be sending out these notices. So what's going to happen is those admin fees are just going to get lined up and added on to the charge of the tow. So you're really not solving any problem. The consumer is still going to pay the same price for the tow, it doesn't, or the airline ticket or whatever else they're calling junk fees, just like with hotels. You know, I get it. Hotels kind of hide the resort fees. You know you see the advertisement for the room and then real small print resort fee of 25 a day oh, yeah, yeah, you know what I?
Speaker 4:mean so, just so. So, just, I feel that and I've always felt this way, uh, even when it was comes to towing and especially trespass towing a lot of counties and municipalities I've dealt with over the years want to break all the charges down. There's a hookup charge, there's a dolly fee charge, there's an afternight charge, there's a weekend charge, there's a holiday charge. There are some states and municipalities that you can charge extra. Why not just make it one flat bill? It makes life so much easier. The consumer walks in, sees the bill Okay, it's $225, for example. Okay, well, you can get to that $225 by having $150 hookup, $50 for dollies and then another $50 for nighttime and weekend fees. And they look at those fees, separate it and they feel they're getting ripped off. More so, in my opinion, than if I got a bill that said $250 is the cost of the tell.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I can't.
Speaker 4:Because then they number one. They're not really. The question isn't how much the bill is when they look at it, when it's completely broken down to all these separate fees. The question is well, wait a minute, why did you charge dollies on my car? You should have had to dolly my car. It didn't need dollies. But we know that is a safer way to tow a car is with dollies and dragging it from behind. And it's just.
Speaker 4:They're more going to argue with why their car was towed when you had the photographic evidence to show them. Simple and dumb. When you have to explain the fees and the amount you're charging, everybody's going to say well, the state says I can charge for dolly, so we dollied your car and charged you, didn't matter whether it needed it or not. Most tow companies charge it and the drivers will dolly it. So they're gonna argue over an admin fee. They're gonna argue it's just. Why'd you tow my car? You waited till after I was parked there all day. Why'd you wait till after night to tow it? So you charge me the extra fee? Just incorporate everything in one fee is my opinion. Yeah, that fee is going to be higher for some customers who would have just paid a flat fee, but it's a lot easier when you're dealing with a consumer. You're still going to make your money because all the other fees are incorporated into that one flat price.
Speaker 3:That's right.
Speaker 4:And I believe it's just less arguing. Then the only argument that customer has when they come to pick up their car is why you towed me. That's it. They're not arguing over dollies or go jacks or uh, you know all these other little miscellaneous charges. Whether it was towed after eight o'clock at night, whether it was towed before eight o'clock at night, how many miles the car was towed back to the storage lot. I just believe in flat rates for specially trespassed towing. It just makes life easier, I feel, on your employees at the counter and on the consumer, because they don't feel like they're being all these little additional charges added on to take advantage of them.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it makes crystal clear sense. As much as you can share that same mindset with your police, authorized towing, don't you?
Speaker 4:Yes, you know, with our police authorized towing, it is a contract. The prices were set on this contract around but they took a lot of input from the towers and gave us fair pricing in the hookups. And you know I am really fortunate being in Northern Virginia and Fairfax County that the contract that they use and the police officers that are on that contract and the purchasing department, they understand the business. They've been around the business. A lot of them have had parents who were in trucking or some form of business. They understand that we're not a nonprofit, that we are here to make money and they also understand they don't want to feel that the consumer is gouged.
Speaker 4:So they sat down with us and they look at the rates and they asked us questions and we gave them information. They came up with a really great fair rate. That's a flat rate. Whether you tow a car for the police department, it's on a flat bed, a wheel lift has dollies, no dollies. Um, they left the recovery part up to us and as long as we are able to justify what we charge in recovery, they're fine with it. And my last conversation about a month ago was things are going great on our contract, which is a 10 year contract and we're only a year and a half into it with the pricing structure and we get automatic increases at a rate of no higher than 3%, based on the CPI.
Speaker 3:That's excellent. I mean, you can't ask for much more than that, especially in the towing world.
Speaker 4:No, you can't. And again, they understand that there's going to be exceptions to the rule. You know you have that one tractor trailer that's rolled over down an embankment or hanging off a bridge or loaded down with diesel fuel or just fuel in general, or in their cleanup. The key and I feel a lot of tours miss this is in their documentation. Really take good pictures, but when you write up your invoice, don't just give them an invoice, give them a complete, detailed subscription, time on scene, what you had to do, what equipment was used, when it was used. And I find that 90% of the time I wind up getting my bill paid in a reasonable amount and paid in full. There's always that 10% out there that refuse and think everything's overpriced. But that's what the court systems are for and fortunate enough in Virginia if I sue a trucking company and I win, no matter what the dollar amount is, I win. They also have to add on there and pay my attorney bills.
Speaker 3:That's substantial.
Speaker 4:Which is a law we got passed about two years ago. It went into effect and the other thing I can tell you is I was lucky enough to stumble across a great attorney who not only sues the trucking company but he also goes after the owner of the cargo because it's their responsibility and they're paying somebody to haul their cargo around. That person carries enough insurance in case something does happen, because a lot of times you hear that, oh well, the cargo coverage is already used up to pay for the cargo, so there's no money left over. Um, even if it's a liability claim and you're just, you know, for restoring the flow of traffic you're charging for, you can't actually charge for the tower storage, but go after the the cargo. Uh, there's no law that says you can't sue the person who owns the cargo and the broker, because there's another person involved. Usually that broker is the cargo to these independent truckers and other companies.
Speaker 3:That's the whole reason. They should be involved in case something does happen, including a wreck or whatever. That's the whole reason for a broker. I understand it, one of the main reasons.
Speaker 4:Let me word it like that and I had a case. It took me about a year and a half but we won it and we ended up going after the cargo holder and the broker, suing both of them in federal court and we won. They were responsible and what ended up happening is the broker ended up Paying out of his pocket to us For the tow bill because he did Not want to lose his relationship With the person who owns the cargo because they Ship so much cargo and make so much money Off of them a year. So the broker actually bellied up the money To pay the tow bill and recovery and storage. So there's a lot of ways to go after to pay the tow bill and recovery and storage. So there's a lot of ways to go after nowadays and there's no reason why, because they're responsible for their cargo, they can say well, no, I gave it to the broker. The broker made sure the person had the property. Well, guess what? Your broker didn't do his job. That still doesn't make you unliable. You're liable for your cargo.
Speaker 3:Wow, that's an excellent point. Now quick question Are these issues something that if someone was part of your umbrella working with y'all, that y'all would provide help with?
Speaker 4:Of course, of course, that's what we all do. We operate as one company. Of course, of course that's what we all do. We operate as one company. They may be separate names and be in separate locations, whether they're in a separate county or a separate state or even a separate region.
Speaker 4:We all work together as one company when it comes to stuff like this workers' comp, truck insurance, employee benefits, making sure that all the employees have the same benefits.
Speaker 4:And if by chance, we purchase a company, a partner with another company and they are providing better benefits than we are, then it's a win for everybody who's already an employee of ours, because all those benefits, then we match them to make sure they're better.
Speaker 4:So let's say, for example, if you're, if you, if you pay a hundred percent of your employees health insurance and we were to purchase your, your, your company, well, we're not going to tell your employees, well, now you're not not getting a hundred percent of your health insurance covered, right, that wouldn't be fair to your employees, that's not up to what we do by purchasing your company. We look at that and say you know what? We need to up our standards for our employees. I feel right now we have one of the highest standards for employees when it comes to benefits, whether it be their 401k, match their life insurance, dental insurance, health insurance. I feel we have a really, really, really good compensation package on that, and you know. But if somebody out there has it better and we decide that we're going to partner with them, then their employees aren't going to. Benefits aren't going to go down. Our employees will go up If their benefits aren't as good as ours. Their employees that work for them benefits go up to match ours.
Speaker 3:Well, many of the biggest service providers in the country and over the world were founded and grew on these same principles, so it's nice to see this business logic being applied to the towing industry.
Speaker 4:To me it's an ethical thing. How can I come in and partner with you and then take away from your employees?
Speaker 4:The whole object of the partnership is to benefit the company. When I say company, that's to benefit every employee that's working there, not just the owner because he's getting a chunk of change. It's to benefit the individual employee, whether they're the dispatcher, the yard person, the car release person. It's to benefit them all. And then that helps build the teamwork effort and just lift everybody up, because as you're growing, you want to lift everyone up that you're affecting.
Speaker 3:You want to lift them up with you. Absolutely, absolutely. Well said, fred, how does someone get in touch with you if they want to get more information? Do you have an email?
Speaker 4:Yeah, sure, my email is fred underscore S as in Sam at henrysreckercom. All one word, or they can even reach out on our phone at 1-324-1954.
Speaker 3:You bubbled a little bit. Give me that number again.
Speaker 4:What did you say? Wes you kind of bubbled on me that time. Yeah, give me that number one more time. It was a little bit. Give me that number again. What'd you say? Wes you kind of bubbled on me that time.
Speaker 3:Yeah, give me that number one more time. It was a little bubbly the 301 part of it. So give me the whole thing again please.
Speaker 4:Yes, 301-324-1945. Excuse me, 540.
Speaker 3:Now you got me mixed up. Yeah, I tend to do that, fred yeah, I noticed that over the years there you go well. Thank you for a great interview and some great information to the other consolidators, if any of them out there listening. I keep hearing you are we'd love to have you all on. We do have Jay and I out of St Louis going to be on with us in one of the upcoming episodes.
Speaker 3:There's a whole bunch of the rest of you out there. If you're interested, come on and tell us what you're doing.
Speaker 4:One more thing I'd like to add to that these other groups that are consolidating, free to reach out. We're not afraid of going. You know, if you already consolidated, let's say, eight companies or five companies, whatever it is, we're not afraid to take a look at that either.
Speaker 4:Excellent, there's plenty of opportunity out there for everyone right now and you know I got to. I have a feeling that you know again, it starts out by the these groups doing consolidation, and then these groups consolidate with one another and partner up and it's just going to keep growing from there, and we are always open to something like that also.
Speaker 3:That's good to hear and you know some people are scared of this. But if you step back and look at the big picture, this is nothing but good for the industry and for the employees working in the industry and whole, and also for the small business owner that's hardworking and is able to capitalize on some of their hard work to secure their family's generational wealth. I always think that's really good for a lot of hardworking company owners.
Speaker 4:I would like to say that, too, a lot of the mom-and-pop places and the smaller companies are afraid of this. In reality, they should embrace it and try and get in at the ground level when this is starting, because their percentage of shares will only go up in value as it grows. Just like if you look at the person who got involved in Apple when Apple was just starting out right, his shares grew over the years to where he's now a billionaire Over. So it's no different. Now I'm not saying you'll end up being a billionaire, but I would gladly say you would be a millionaire over. You know, it's just you get in early and you help make it the right company. Yeah, but you're put your stamp on it. You know, grow, help us grow, and it's always nice to look back and say, hey, I was a part of this, that's right.
Speaker 3:And the other thing is, by being a part of something like this, it allows you to have a life with your family. Yeah, part of something like this allows you to have a life with your family yeah, it does in the business you love but not have to dedicate so much of your life to it.
Speaker 4:You know, I hear a lot of owners saying well, wait a minute, I don't want to do it because me and my son's coming up. He's definitely going to be running the company. He's in his early 20s and or mid-20s and I want him to take over the. Hey, that's great, that can still happen. But not only him to take over. Hey, that's great, that can still happen. But not only can he take over your company.
Speaker 4:With this partnership, he could move up in the ranks and maybe take over and be in charge of three or four companies or a whole region and make more and do more and have more life than you did building the business. So don't feel like you're shutting the opportunity out on your son or daughter who's going to take over the business, because they're going to sell you the business. You have to sell it to them. They're going to have to make payments to you. I'm sure and that's how you look at it, that's being your retirement is your son or daughter take over the business and they make monthly payments to you. But there's really no guarantee, is there? At least this way, I feel you have a better guarantee because you get a good chunk of the money up front, you still have the opportunity for your son, daughter to grow with the business. You can give them your shares, even and part of.
Speaker 3:And again, people should go back and listen to one of the two others that I can think of off the top of my head where we talked about this with Fred. We talked about if you own your real estate, they're renting at a fair market value, the employment contract, how you found that to be favorable. So I do challenge people to go back and listen. Fred, I hate to cut you off but we're out of time. Thanks for a great interview today and again, thanks for your long-term support. You're number one member, first person to sign up for the Institute when we started it, and I'll never forget you for that, fred, thank you so much.
Speaker 4:It's my pleasure to be able to help our industry become safer, looked at as more professional industry over the years. Wes, I'm glad you took the time in your life to dedicate it to do this for our industry. I can't count on fingers how many lives you saved over the years by doing your instruction classes and always preaching safety in your first. Job Description is to always come home safe every night to your family. That's right.
Speaker 3:God bless our listeners. Be safe Till the next time.