well ive been toying with the idea of this for a long time, getting my self a small recovery vehicle and doing light recovery , possibly insurance work, and if possible working towards police work, after the past two weeks in work , some of you may have seen other posts, Im seriously considering it, living in rural west wales , the big players like rac and aa etc use the smaller firms to pick up theyre work, if overheads can be kept low and work reasonably regular , things may be ok , anybody got any info on this field and thoughts on this idea , positive and negative , cheers guys…
I can’t comment on your location, but round here, there’s lots of people with little recovery trucks fighting for work, rates are ■■■■■ if you do get the work.
There’s some big guys round here too, so they get all the police work.
Good luck if you go for it, but check it out seriously before you commit any money.
waynedl:
I can’t comment on your location, but round here, there’s lots of people with little recovery trucks fighting for work, rates are [zb] if you do get the work.There’s some big guys round here too, so they get all the police work.
Good luck if you go for it, but check it out seriously before you commit any money.
Police work is hard to get, as all the H&S rules have to be fully complied with, such as testing
all your equipment, proper certificates for the required training.etc.
You haven’t seen bull until you start dealing with them.
Normally, they will use either a large or time served company and even then,
it’s not a golden goose as so many motorists now belong to a motoring organisation
and nominate their own recovery company.
Just like haulage, too many people chasing too little work = poor rates.
Regards,
Nick.
I am a manager at a long established recovery company. We contract to all the breakdown clubs, 3 police forces, Highwaymen, Customs + Excise and VOSA, for both heavy and light work.
The industry is [zb].
We get the same rates now as we did 10 years ago. The 2 biggest overheads, wages and diesel have obviously gone up considerably. The job is nowhere near as profitable as it once was (times were good in the '80s) .
We’ll quote £38 to do a lift and shift job in the town, that gets you a properly trained and qualified op in a 50k vehicle, using properly maintained, tested and certified equipment.
We’re constantly getting undercut by the beavertail brigade who are fighting between themselves for work.
They’re charging £10-15 a job. So that would be at least an hours work, no training, no test certs, no nothing. Just a boyo in a pair of rigger boots and a Transit beavertail he bought off Ebay.
Bodyshop work - You won’t get by with a beavertail, will need a tilt n slide. You will only be able to put little cars on a 3.5 ton tilt n slide (legally). If you refuse to pick up a range rover, they won’t bother ringing you with the Fiesta, unless you’re working for £10 a job. Ideal for bodyshop work is a 6.5 ton tilt n slide. But with that comes the O license and Tacho.
The industry standard for training and equipment is PAS43:2008, most of the big bodyshops will insist on this before entertaining you. Plus, of course, they’ll need proof of your GIT insurance, PL insurance, EL insurance if applicable.
Police work can be profitable, especially the heavies, but it’s not just PAS43 you’ll require. ISO 9001, as well as providing approved premesis (secure premesis for storage/inspection of vehicles used in crime or kept for evidence). Expect some cars to be stored for years for no or very little fee. Provide 4 post lift for the Collision Investigation Units, SOCO bays for forensics.
But most of all, you need to be able to respond to anything they give you, at whatever time.
We’ve been called to an accident on the motorway involving 7 cars and 3 artics, at the same time called to recover a car involved in a murder, whilst still responding to the club jobs. Could you respond to that call? You can’t sub work out on the police schemes, nor can you refuse it. You accept the job and deal with it or you lose the contract - simples 
All the clubs (AA,RAC) will insist on PAS43 at the very least. Their rates are atrocious, it’s the volume of work that makes the money, having lads working 15 hours a day. You get the same price for each job in your area. 3 jumpstarts in a row in the town will make a profit, because you can do them in 1.5 hours. But then you could be sent 30 miles away for a wheel change, that’ll make a loss, 'cos it’ll take 2 hours or more. Moreso, you will have to be able to transport the passengers (including disabled). You won’t be able to do this in a Single cab Beavertail, you’ll need a crewcab. You won’t be able to use a 3.5 ton crewcab as you’ll be too heavy and won’t have enough payload to carry the vehicle and passengers, so again it’s bigger vehicle, tacho and O license.
In particular, the way Green Flag/RBS have structured their company means the whole industry will soon self distruct, killing off hundreds of independant ops, leaving but a few ‘Super Ops’ (likes of CMG, Lanterns, Egertons, Mansfields).
Without putting you off too much, I really do think anyone will struggle to start out in recovery now. To do the job properly and professionally you’d be competing with the other professionals, but without the club or police work, you’d be left fighting for the backstreet garage and bodyshop work (and be constantly undercut by the beavertail brigade).
To do the job un-professionally, you’d be competing against the other Beavertail brigades, £10-15 a job for what could be a couple of hours work. You would have to undercut them to get the work.
The difference is, the professionals can load an accident damaged car without causing any further damage. Which if the customer is paying for the repair, that is exactly what they want.
The beavertail brigade just rive them on, rip bumpers off, pull bottom arms out, bend track rods, it’s all bad.
I’ve even see one winch a car off the side of their transit, it rolled right off, landed on it’s side on the road 
This is because they have no training. But like anything else in life, you get what you pay for.
What about motorcycle recovery with a smaller vehicle, is there many people covering that ■■?
All the established recovery companies (ourselves included) will have dedicated (and qualified) motorcycle recovery outfits, be it a bike trailer, covered trailer or Razrback van.
We hold contracts with several bike clubs, and deal with them direct.
As well as this, there are dedicated recovery companies nationwide who only deal with bikes, mostly operating Razorback vans. These tend to work out of Bike garages/dealers.
But as they only usually use vans and not trucks, expect the rate to be lower than that of car recovery.
Trukkertone:
What about motorcycle recovery with a smaller vehicle, is there many people covering that ■■?
Yes, but if you had a vehicle for that, you may get on with some of the specialist motorcycle insurers, but again, you’d still be competing with the pro’s.
Although, when my mate broke down, it was a good job we were there, cause the recovery op didn’t have a clue
Friend of mine had this amazing clamping system, was in a van, then we put it on a trailer.
I’ve put a couple of pics on it, but as you can see, an ingenious design for transporting bikes in good condition without putting any strain on the suspension or fork seals etc.
Probably no use for crashed bikes though.
See, the clamps push down on the top of the wheel as well as pushing them towards each other, and the clamp at the bottom of the front wheel is adjustable for different width front wheels.
Only change I’d have made (before it got nicked 
) would be to put a bit of protection on that clamp at the bottom of the front as it could chip paint off some rims. A 1cm rubber strip would’ve been perfect.
Just an observation but, in the more rural areas, people tend to fend for themselves.
I mean, if they crash their car, they’re much more likely to ring a mate with a trailer or get a lift home and come back with a tractor, do the job themselves rather than call for recovery.
In the towns, a crash often causes an obstruction of some sorts, and the pressure is on for the customer to get it moved before the police do.
In the country, cars will sit in a field for days before the owner has it moved.
waynedl:
Friend of mine had this amazing clamping system, was in a van, then we put it on a trailer.
I love the terms ‘Ingenious’ and ‘amazing’ bike carrier mate, but we tend to use the term ‘industry standard’ 
.
Our bike trailer drops flat onto the floor, so the bike gets wheeled onto it without a ramp, the front wheel sits into the dyna-cycler as shown above, the back gets clamped onto the back wheel and then the whole trailer lifts up off the floor for towing.
You can put accident damaged bikes on it, providing the front wheel can be turned straight.
We also carry bike wheel clamps and frames on all our spec lifts, so they can carry bikes of any size, and carry dyna-cyclers on the flatbeds so they can carry any bike.
Pretty much the whole fleet can carry bikes properly.
We contract to Carole Nash, Footman James and Bikesure, to name a few.
EDIT: This isn’t my vid but it’s the same trailer: youtu.be/ILajMExVY5Q
You still need to strap them on mind.
cieranc:
waynedl:
Friend of mine had this amazing clamping system, was in a van, then we put it on a trailer.I love the terms ‘Ingenious’ and ‘amazing’ bike carrier mate, but we tend to use the term ‘industry standard’.
Our bike trailer drops flat onto the floor, so the bike gets wheeled onto it without a ramp, the front wheel sits into the dyna-cycler as shown above, the back gets clamped onto the back wheel and then the whole trailer lifts up off the floor for towing.
You can put accident damaged bikes on it, providing the front wheel can be turned straight.We also carry bike wheel clamps and frames on all our spec lifts, so they can carry bikes of any size, and carry dyna-cyclers on the flatbeds so they can carry any bike.
Pretty much the whole fleet can carry bikes properly.
EDIT: This isn’t my vid but it’s the same trailer: youtu.be/ILajMExVY5Q
You still need to strap them on mind.
The reason I put about that being amazing is it’s a private owned 1 for our own use, not an industry 1. Was pointing it out because a lot of people just strap bikes down which puts oil seals under a lot of pressure (can blow them) and doesn’t do the shocks any favours.
I’ve not been in recovery for over 5yrs, but we just strapped bikes down back then, obviously times change as people see an oppertunity to earn, 1st time I saw a decent system was a Carole Nash recovery operative with a system like we had, and was well impressed.
Also, if you look at the one in my pics, you’ll see that NO straps are required, because it’s angled down on the tyres at front and rear, no amount of bouncing or anything would budge it.
Ahh I see your point.
Privately owned but still available to buy from all the regular recovery sellers, Recovery World, Cardno and RED all sell them 
Is there any chance of buying a franchise for this kind of work .I once thought of a Snap on business ,any thoughts on this folks.
Kemaro - there’s a few big 'uns round here and I would imagine they have most of the work pretty well sown up. Ken Williams, Civic and Millbrook spring to mind (others are available!). Not something I would want to muscle in on 
gardun:
Kemaro - there’s a few big 'uns round here and I would imagine they have most of the work pretty well sown up. Ken Williams, Civic and Millbrook spring to mind (others are available!). Not something I would want to muscle in on
Yes; there’s another one down at Llanteg whose name escapes me at the moment, and Dragon Rescue too.
You’re stuck with the age-old problem of being out on a limb in Pembrokeshire; you might get work to take to England but my guess is you’ll be back-loading glider engines and there’s no money in that!
alamcculloch:
Is there any chance of buying a franchise for this kind of work .I once thought of a Snap on business ,any thoughts on this folks.
Not really, Ops just tender to the clubs for work, and either get the work or don’t.
There are claims handlers such as RTR who pass work, the types that then push claims for whiplash/no-win-no-fee types.
But again, that work will come through the insurers and often direct to the bodyshops.
Forget the snap-on franchise, best mate done this and cost him dear, they have to sell a set amount of kit a month , started at 20k per month but they put it up every 3 months, if you don’t sell that amount then they expect you to buy the extra to make up your quota and keep this stock for resale, mate ended up with 140k of stock and 140k of debt 
Problem is you are then playing catch up all the time i,e your target for the month could be 30k but you need to sell some of your own stock on top of that otherwise your debt is still rising, when your franchise ends you still have all that kit to sell and cannot get full price as you are no longer a authorised seller, mate ended up selling his 140k stock for around 80k and was left 60k out of pocket
It doesn’t say what weight it is.
If it’s 3.5 ton, I’d reckon it weighing off at nearly 3 ton empty, meaning you can’t carry a car of any size legally.
If it’s over 3.5 tons, then O license and tacho required, meaning you’ll struggle to operate it competetively as a one man band.
Also, be wary of any advert that says ‘needs glow plugs’. It’s a dead easy and cheap job to put right by the seller before sale. But I know a few people who’ve bought vehicles ‘needing glow plugs’. Funnily enough, fitting new plugs never cure the starting faults, usually turns out to be low compression/knackered engine.
Not that I’m sceptical mind
I had my covered transporter converted by Belle Engineering in Lowestoft with 4 Dynacyclers as we did repat work from Europe. They chose mine because I hold a bike licence 
I hated picking crashed bikes up as it reminded me of those lost before
The clever trick with it was that they were detachable and clipped into the punched decking when needed, and upside down under it when carrying cars.
As for the beavertail brigade, since Ebay there are dozens of the buggers, my mate bought a car from Worcester and had it delivered for less than it would have cost in petrol to collect it 
cieran i aggree with everything u say so true
aa rac green flag wont take on guys with 1 or 2 trucks they want someone with a fleet so when its get s busy they wont have to ring 10 diff guys to cover the work they just want to make one phone call and with all the regulations they want u to comply with u need a serious amout of work to keep afloat.
The motorbike stuff i dont know a lot about as although was trained to lift them i never did but i met a lot of guys on my travels that used to transport them most like the beavertail guys cheap iveco long wheel base and a plank of wood and wheel the bike into the back of them and away they go
i too would have bought a recovery truck in the morn still would do it and go alone but alas for the hassle hrs involved etc its just easier work for someone