OWOA NEWSLETTER
JUNE 2001
Dear Fellow Wrecker Owners:
There are three reasons why you are receiving this version of the newsletter.
Your dues have expired, you are not a member, or I have made a mistake. If its the latter, please let me know.
I do make my fair share of mistakes.
Please check the date on the mail label above your name for the date
of the last dues payment. Dues are for a 12-month period and will
expire one year from the date on the label. I needed a default date to be able to sort in my computer program
so I selected 1/1/90. This
is a default date. I know many
wrecker owners were not in business in 1990. I do not have any records older than the end of 1998.
I would like to invite you to join with us as we improve our industry.
The dues are how we pay our lobbyists.
We no longer collect extra fees for lobbying events.
We need to have a presence at the Capitol every year. We must make sure we get the changes
needed to let us survive and prosper in this changing environment. No longer can we passively sit on the
sideline and let someone else determine our fate. That’s what happened when we didn’t get a rate
increase for 9 years. We need
to make sure our unlicensed competitors follow the same rules we are required
to follow. We need to make sure that lien holders
don't force unreasonable requirements on us and cause us to lose storage and
wrecker fees. We don’t
want insurance companies to "dump" junk cars on us. All these things need attentive lobbyists to watch out for
our interests.
Please fill out the membership form on this newsletter and join us.
The dues are for 12 consecutive months.
If you join in June 2001 they will expire in May 2002.
We take payments. You
may divide the dues in any amount, anyway you like in a 12-month period. Don’t sit on the sideline and
let others determine the regulations your business will need to meet. Help us decide together. This is an organization owned by wrecker
owners and ran by wrecker owners.
We now have a new address for the OWOA. The United State Postal Service decided to close the Downtown
Post Office in Oklahoma City. That
was the location of our Post Office Box. The Postal Service wouldn’t move the boxes and wouldn’t
let the number stay the same. So
we were required to change our address, again. The Directors at the Ardmore meeting approved the use of the
address of the building next door to Puckett’s. This will not only save the PO Box fee, but also save me a
lot of time checking the PO Box. The
Directors at any meeting can change this decision at any time. The new address is: 300 S.W. 29th, OKC, OK 73109-6793.
The OWOA will begin to sell invoices to members and non-members. If you like the OWOA form that Rose
and Odell had designed for the OWOA, we will be able to continue this form. The OWOA will receive 10% of the sales
price for our use. A price
list is enclosed in this newsletter and orders may be sent to the OWOA's new
address. Shipping is not included in the price.
They can be picked up to save shipping fees.
The prices are for 2 part and 3 part carbonless paper. There is not a setup fee if the sample
form is used. If you have a special need or design,
a small setup fee will be charged and estimates can be made. The forms will have your business heading
(name, address, and phone) printed on the form. Please send the beginning number you
would like on the forms. Quotes
for larger quantities can be made.
Send the requests to the OWOA.
On May 1st I received a call from the Association of Central
Oklahoma Governments requesting that a representative attend an Incident Management
Training session. The session
was May 16th and 17th in Bricktown. These events have taken place in almost
every major city in America. The
purpose is to make plans and options for major accidents (large truck accidents)
in larger cities. It is to
train supervisors of law enforcement, fire, rescue, medical services, DOT,
traffic reporting media and towing services.
There were 2 instructors. One
was from Chicago and the other from Seattle. There were 30 attendees. Since I don't have a large truck wrecker,
I asked our Vice-President, Dewey Farrington, to represent us. It turned out to be a good choice. Both instructors knew Dewey from prior
meetings and were very supportive of our industry.
Dewey took time off work to attend and represent the OWOA and the towing
industry and offered valuable input to the incident management session.
The purpose is to get ideas and suggestions to make plans on how to
handle major wrecks with possible special considerations of the cargo of the
vehicles. There was much discussion as to how much the towing industry
could actually help the process. There
was one comment from a law enforcement officer that wrecker drivers may not
be advantageous to the process. But the instructors were quick to point out that without qualified, trained
wrecker personnel the highway won’t get cleared. That’s why we need to work together.
There was much discussion about certification of wrecker services and
having trained wrecker drivers to handle situations. One of the major concerns of the attendees was that the wrecker
personnel weren’t trained and had no idea of what to do when first arriving
at a scene. The word "certified"
was used. All of the emergency
personnel are trained and certified. But they still don’t know how to do our job. I am sure Dewey was there to point out
that the first duty at any accident scene is to evaluate the situation and
do a "walk about" before anything else happens.
Speaking of certification, the OWOA is holding it’s first TRAA Certification
Test in Cushing on June 2nd. (It may be over by the time you receive this newsletter.)
There were 8 applicants scheduled to take the exam.
We will schedule additional exams in Oklahoma City and Tulsa in the
next few months. If you would
like to be TRAA Certified, please call Jim Wilson (918 225-1013), Dewey Farrington
(405 319-1724) or Chris Puckett (405 632-4401) for an application and a study
guide. The test fees for members
are $100.00 for Level One ($125 for non-members) and $160.00 for Level Two
($200 for non-members). You
must complete Level One before being allowed to take Level Two.
The Friends of Towing and the International Towing and Recovery Hall of
Fame and Museum have selected Dewey Farrington for induction to the Hall of Fame Class of 2001. The event will take place in Chattanooga,
Tennessee on August 17th at 6:00 PM. This is a very great honor and very
few individuals are selected for induction.
I want to congratulate Dewey Farrington for this great honor. He has worked hard for this industry
and is known in towing and recovery circles all across this country. Dewey is a great supporter of education
in the towing and recovery industry and has given many hours to help train
other wrecker owners and competitors.
His unselfish devotion to the industry should be rewarded and I applaud
his nomination. Congratulations DEWEY!
It has come to the attention of a few members that non-members are using
the OWOA Logo. This is not
allowed and must be stopped immediately.
If you are not an OWOA member in good standing, you must remove the
OWOA Logo from any and all invoices and paperwork. You may not represent yourself as a member of the OWOA. The OWOA Decals must be displayed by
current members only. This
is an indication to the public that a wrecker owner cares about his industry
and is willing to join an organization that improves the industry and service
to the public. We are gaining
support and making great strides to a better image to the public. But we still have a long way to go.
At the Ardmore meeting a discussion was raised about what we should do
next Legislative Session. Now
is when we need to make plans for next year.
Several topics were raised and input is needed to decide which areas
we should work on first. Even
though we received a raise in the hookup fee in 2000, the increase in fuel
prices has removed a lot of the profit.
There have been some other areas as far as fees that should be addressed.
The members at the meeting felt we should look into getting the "Fuel
Surcharge" in State Law. The
OCC has allowed the trucking industry to use the Fuel Surcharge since fuel
prices are so high. Unfortunately
our rates are set by State Law and not by the OCC. We are unable to legally add this fee, which was a safety valve
in the past. With oil prices
being so volatile we should reinstate this needed fee. Also the "after hours fee"
should be changed with reasonable guidelines.
A $5.00 fee is ridiculously low.
There may even be some variations between arrests and other wrecker
calls. We do want to be fair
to the public, but we also want to be fair to wrecker owners. The suggestion was also made to round
the other fees up to an even amount.
The second biggest complaint seemed to be the "additional labor"
charge. Apparently temporary
labor charges more than State Law allows us to charge to remove cargo from
a trailer, especially if its after hours or on a holiday. It doesn’t seem fair for a wrecker owner to pay $20.00
or $30.00 per hour for labor services and only be able to legally collect
$14.28 per hour. That’s
wrong and needs to be fixed.
Once again illegal wreckers came up and some ideas were kicked around
to make the law a little more enforceable for law enforcement agencies. We are gathering ideas to be able to
present them to law enforcement and possibly make a law that everyone can
live with. We do not want to
put anyone out of business, but we want them to follow the rules also.
I want to thank Michael and Kateri Thompson of Mud Creek Wrecker in Ringling,
Oklahoma for setting up the meeting at Cattle Rustlers in Ardmore.
It was very good food and we had plenty of rolls to eat.
It was a fun time. You
should’ve been there.
Our next meeting will
be in Oklahoma City on June 12th (2nd Tuesday of June). We will be at Red Lobster in South OKC.
The address is 1000 W I-240 Service Rd.
It is located West of Western on the South I-240 Service Road.
We will order off the menu.
The meal will start at 7:00 PM and the meeting will start at 8:00 PM.
We are trying to get a representative from the Oklahoma Tax Commission
– Motor Vehicle Division to discuss "title 42s".
I have contacted Curt Byers, Director of the MVD, to request Brent
Jones attend our meeting. Brent
is in charge of "title 42s" at the MVD.
If you have any questions or concerns that you would like Brent to
address, please fax, email or mail them to me before the meeting and I will
get them to Brent to research. I
also invited anyone else from the MVD that would like to attend, including
Curt Byers. I know "Title 42s" are confusing
to a lot of wrecker owners and feel this will be very informative for all
of us. It is also nice to be
able to put a face with a name, on both sides.
I hope Mr. Byers will approve the attendance at our meeting.
NEXT MEETING
Tuesday -
June 12th, 2001
Red Lobster
1000 W I-240 Service Road
Oklahoma City, OK 73139
Meal 7:00 PM – Meeting at 8:00 PM