Oklahoma Wrecker Owners Association
P O Box 25604, OKC, OK 73125 - (405) 319-1724 www.okwoa.com
February, 2001 Newsletter
Dear Fellow Wrecker Owners:
The weather of the New Year has been a great help to many wrecker services.
It has also caused a great number of problems for many Oklahomans.
But, this is Oklahoma. And
as Will Rogers stated, "if you don't like the weather, wait around for
a few minutes, it will change".
I might be wrong but I think Will Rogers also said "OU Sooners are
National Champs". But I could be wrong.
Our last meeting was in Krebs, Oklahoma. Henry Moss of Moss Tire & Wrecker did another great job
setting up the meeting at Pete's Place.
We had a good turn out and the meal was wonderful. The door prize was a great looking "Peterbilt"
jacket donated by Rush Truck Center in Oklahoma City. We also had 2 new members join (and 2
renewals) at the meeting. We
discussed our legislative agenda and discovered that some of the language
we planned might cause problems in the long run.
We will change the language to meet our needs. That is the best reason for being a member of an Association,
that input from others will help build our industry. Several other concerns of wrecker owners were discussed and
possible options for the solution were brought up.
This year will be very interesting in the Legislature. There are many new Legislators and the
"politics" is changing. There
has already been a lot of press coverage about the differences in the Legislature. This could be a very difficult year for
everyone due to the number of changes.
We hope to be successful with our bills this year. More importantly, we hope to be able
to have input into any bills that could cause problems to wrecker owners. This is the most important reason to
have lobbyists at the Capitol every year to make sure we know of any bills
that could make our jobs even more difficult.
We hope to have success in the area of cleaning up accident scenes and
allowing wrecker owners to collect for the services we provide at the request
of a law enforcement agency. It
doesn't seem fair that a wrecker owner may be the only person that doesn't
get paid at an accident scene. This
is what we need to change. This
bill could face a large challenge from the insurance industry.
We must point out to the Legislators that we are entitled to be paid
when we perform a service at the request of a law enforcement agency for
the good of the public.
The wrecker owner doesn't own the vehicle involved in a collision,
he doesn't insure it, he didn't hit it, he is just responsible for clearing
the roadway. The insurance company
is responsible for any damage caused by their insured's vehicle, why aren't
they responsible to "clean up the mess".
It is at the request of a law enforcement agency that the road is
cleared. Why don't the insurance companies understand
that no one wants the vehicle that is rolled into a ball. We don't want the vehicle, we want
to be paid. We are entitled to
be paid.
Lt. Dukes from Troop A Dispatch has agreed to attend our next meeting.
We hope other dispatchers will decide to attend.
The purpose of this meeting is to allow the dispatchers to tell what
it is like for them. There are many wrecker owners that have
no idea what challenges a dispatcher faces every day. I think this will help us understand.
I was amazed to learn that there are only 17 dispatchers for Troop A
and the Turnpike. These individuals
cover 365 days of the year. Sometimes
they are required to perform up to 3 jobs at a time. We hope we can learn how we can gain some insight into what
they are facing and how we can help them perform their jobs and not make
things worse. This is the first time that the dispatchers have attended a
meeting. These are Troop A dispatchers
only. I don't know what insight
they can provide to other Troop's situations.
Dispatchers are not responsible for rotation areas or procedures.
If you have any special questions or concerns, this will be the meeting
to attend. We appreciate Lt.
Dukes accepting our invitation. We
are very grateful for his acceptance.
We also hope other dispatchers will be able to attend. Any input will help all of us do a better
job for the Public. This is not a meeting for complaints,
it is to be a constructive meeting for the benefit of wrecker owners to learn
how we can be more efficient and serve the public.
Also at the meeting will be our lobbyists to discuss this Legislative
Session and what we need to do to help our bills through the Legislative process.
They will discuss the pros and cons of our position and what opposition
we may encounter this year. They will also be able to let us know
of any bills that have been introduced that might be detrimental to our
industry.
Suppose there was no OWOA. What
if you learned that there was a bill that would change wrecker hookup rates
to $12.00, day and night, with no fees for mileage. What if the bill also made changes that would restrict you to
not charging for storage for 2 weeks.
What would you do? Where
would you turn? How would you
as one individual make a decent effort to stop this bill?
What would you do first?
Better yet, how would you find out about the bill before it passed?
Do you read the mountainous list of bills being introduced?
Do you know where to look? What
would you do if this letter stopped informing you of possible changes? Who do you think pays for this letter? What are you going to do or where are
you going to turn when you need answers "real quick"? This Association is for members. Any wrecker owner is welcome to join.
Join now so we will be there when you need us. Who knows, we may decide to make all the bills suit us. Wouldn't you like to have some input? Is $13.33 (for 1 wrecker, $18.34 for
4 or more wreckers) a month too much for you to afford to be a member? If you can't afford $18.00 a month
for an Association that got you $13.00 per hookup more, you might think about
another profession.
Just to settle rumors, dues paid are for a 12 consecutive month period.
Dues are not for a specific year only. If you pay dues in January, 2001 the membership
is good thru December, 2001. If you
pay in February, 2001 the membership is good thru January, 2002.
It doesn't matter when you join, it is for a 12 month period.
Also, the dues amount depends on how many wreckers you have up to 4
wreckers. If you have one wrecker
dues are $160.00. If you have
2 wreckers dues are $180.00. Three
wrecker is $200.00. The maximum
dues are for 4 wreckers which are $220.00.
No matter how many wreckers you have, $220.00 is the maximum dues.
Payments are acceptable for dues.
Payments are accepted for any amount - for as many payments as you
wish (up to 12 payments). If you
have one wrecker and wish to join, you may make 12 payments for $13.33 each. For the increase in ONE hook-up per month (obtained by
the OWOA) you can be a member and make monthly payments. How can you NOT afford to be a member.
Is there any other organization (or person) that has done more for
you than the OWOA?
NEXT
MEETING
Our next meeting will be in Oklahoma City at the
Spaghetti Warehouse in Bricktown. Spaghetti
Warehouse is located at 101 E Sheridan. The meal starts at 7:00 PM and the meeting
at 8:00 PM. As always, the meeting
is on the second Tuesday of the Month which is February 13th. So bring your Valentine for an early
Valentine's meal. (This is
your "HINT" that Valentine's Day is near.)
The meal is dutch treat and the 15% tip will be included on your
"tab". The dress is casual and we will have
a room to ourselves. The food
is excellent. We are excited about having the Dispatchers
from Troop A at our meeting and we hope to learn how we can be more efficient
and help them help us.
There are no activities at the Myriad on Tuesday
night, so there should be plenty of parking available. There is paid parking across the street
on Sheridan and there is free parking on the back side of Spaghetti Warehouse. I am not too sure that there will be
room for the BIG WRECKERS.
I would be cautious about planning on bringing a truck wrecker to
this meeting.
You can check for the location of the next meeting
on our web site. The web site
is www.Okwoa.org.