OWOA NEWSLETTER
NOVEMBER 2002
Dear Fellow Wrecker Owners:
This month I will make one newsletter for all wrecker
owners. Last month in the newsletter for members I
covered the last of this years rule changes and laws that will go into effect
on November 1st. Let’s get ready for the
upcoming election and this coming legislative session.
VOTE -- November 5th - Contact your Future Legislator
NOW!
The reason I need to make one newsletter is to
make sure all wrecker
owners understand how important the upcoming election is to each and every
wrecker owner. The election will be held November
5th. If you haven’t registered to vote,
shame on you. This election is one of the most important
steps in making sure your voice is heard and you get your concerns and ideas
across to your legislator. Every wrecker owner, driver,
and family member should be registered and ready to vote as a solid unit
with one voice. We saw how we were “outgunned” this
last legislative session. The leinholders (bankers
& credit unions) made sure to limit the amount of liability they could
face in state law and stop our improvements to make sure we were paid for
our services.
The insurance lobby changed our wording from 2001
to make it less likely for us to collect from the liability insurance carrier. We saw how the Department of Insurance (headed by Carroll
Fisher, Insurance Commissioner) decided that they only should observe insurance
laws and ignore Title 47 laws. That might be a consideration
for you this coming election when you get to the Insurance Commissioner selection. Do you see how important it is that we become one solid,
cohesive unit??????
You have read in the OWOA newsletter about the
State Farm Insurance Lobbyist and how we sometimes “butt heads” and how we
many times “get along”. If you were curious as to
what the State Farm Lobbyist looked like, and you live in central Oklahoma,
you have seen him on television. He is running an
advertisement on OKC local TV stations. His name is
Jim Walker and he is running for State Senate for District 28 (parts of Lincoln,
Oklahoma, Pottawattomie counties, & Seminole county).
I believe that is mostly Seminole county. If
you live in that area you may want to contact Jim Walker (McLoud, Dem.) and
ask what his position is for the coming year if he is elected as your state senator for issues
that are of importance to you and your business. His
opponent is Harry Coates (Seminole, Rep.). You may
want to contact him also and see what his opinion is about wreckers and state
law. They should both be listed in the phone book
or at least you should be able to get a phone number from information. If not, contact your local county election board (or the
State Election Board – Both are in your local phone book or on the internet)
and ask for the phone number. If you like what they
say, support them. If not, support the other candidate. If you don’t like what either says, maybe you should run
in 4 years. And now you know what elections are about,
in case you didn’t before.
It’s not just Seminole, Oklahoma that needs to
look at candidates and what choices for votes can be made.
It’s all of Oklahoma. Here is where I really,
really need your help. If you have been in contact
with your legislator and have a good relationship, please ask the legislator
if he/she will be agreeable to author or co-author a bill for the OWOA to
help us help law enforcement. If they seem receptive
to the request, please let me or any director know before the coming meeting. We need a list of any and all supporters for the OWOA. We could use as many co-authors as possible. We want to make sure our bills “fly” through the legislature. If we have enough support and enough momentum, we can
pass anything. All legislators want to be fair to their
constituents, and any American wants to make sure any worker is paid for services
provided. That’s where we need help. That’s our goal. If you want to
help, if you want to be sure you get paid for your work, if your are tired
of giving away your labor for a $25.00 piece of “junk” without getting paid,
then you need to get involved. We can make it happen. We can make it work. But each and
every one of us must get involved and we must be UNITED!
It’s not too late to contact your local legislator/campaigner. They are like small business and may have expenses that
haven’t been totally funded. Even after an election
there are expenses that must be paid as the final bills are tallied. While it is better to help as soon as possible, it’s never
too late. Most legislators start collecting funds
for the next election after this one is completed. Sounds
bizarre, but it’s true. Call the legislator you wish
to support and let him know you can put up signs, call friends and relatives
in the area to support with votes. Hopefully you can
help with funding also. It doesn’t need to be a huge
amount, although no one turns down money at election time.
Any and every amount can help. Whether it’s
$25.00, $50.00, $100.00, $200.00 or more. It all adds
up and it all helps the campaign. Call today. Don’t put it off anymore. It’s
too important to not call.
Did you know that if your vehicle is towed in Florida
and you don’t pay your wrecker fees that your driver’s license will be revoked? Do you think the Florida wrecker owners are united? Do you think they did their homework?
Do you think they get paid every time? (No,
not every time, but a whole heck-of-a-lot more than we get paid.) Would you need a raise if you got paid on almost every
tow? Let’s not work longer hours; let’s start working
smarter.
Come to the meeting on November 12th
with at least one name of a legislator that is willing to help sponsor our
bills so we can make a living in this industry. If
our insurance prices aren’t going to be regulated, if insurance companies
aren’t going to be made to pay to clean up the Oklahoma roadways without
litigation, then we need some more help to change these things and we need
to make sure we get paid for a job well done. We want
to be treated fairly with respect.
So here’s the deal. If you
have any names for possible authors, please let me or any director know as
soon as possible. We will give these names to Bruce
Robertson and Bob Morgan (Capitol Consultants) to help decide and set up
our bills for the 2003 legislative year. We will need
to make sure we keep a watchful eye out for other bills that may cause us
concern or problems like last years “blind sided” attack on liability insurance
paying wrecker and storage fees. If we have enough
support we can reverse what happened last year and make an agreeable compromise
with the liability carriers. After all, they are business
people just like we are and we can always reach an agreeable compromise so
we both can “win”.
2002 Changes to rules and laws
All licensed wreckers received the DPS letter about
changes in law for 2002. Most have already taken effect. On November 1st there will be a change that
insurance companies will be using to try to release vehicles to the salvage
pool. The insurance lobby also changed that liability
carriers are not necessarily responsible for towing and storage fees. (Perhaps we can work on this together for the coming legislative
session.) The change I want to warn you about is this;
the insurance lobby has apparently told their companies that they will be
able to release any vehicle to the salvage pool with a phone call. While I am not an attorney or legal counsel for you and/or
your business, you should make plans as to what you will require for release. If a phone call is fine for you, then that’s what you
should accept. If you want something in writing then
that is something you will need to set up for your business if you so choose. The amount of proof is also something to consider. I covered this last month in the newsletter for members. If you didn’t get the newsletter, I hope (for your sake)
you are prepared. It’s now a State Law. You are required to release certain vehicles with certain
requirements to insurance companies to be released to a salvage pool. If you don’t comply, the DPS has no choice but to follow
State Law.
2002 – Other
Events of the Year
While we had more success in the legislature in prior years, we still didn’t come out all bad. We were able to get an increase in “after-hours release fee” that makes getting out of bed on a cold, wet winter day a little more palatable. We also have made a little headway in starting to limit illegal wreckers in a few counties. This is an area that we hope to make advances in during the next year. We also have gained a much better working relationship with the DPS. This is probably the most gratifying for both sides. We are no longer on a confrontational “battlefield” but on a level playing field that both sides are looking at what the other side must perform. While insurance is a great problem, we should be striving to gain the sympathy of legislators to help us overcome this possible stumbling block to our success.
No longer does it take 2 or 3 (or longer) weeks to have new equipment inspected to be able to respond to a rotation call. The goal of the DPS is 5 days or less and they are striving hard to beat the 5 day goal. We perhaps could help by suggesting to our legislators that even in times of government cut back, the DPS could use more investigators to help stop illegal wreckers and make inspections meet the goal set by the DPS/Wrecker Services. Two investigators for the entire state is not enough. They need some help. Once gain, we don’t want an adversarial relationship, but a “working together for the common good” relationship. (Did you ever think the DPS/MVID would be called Wrecker Services Division?)
OWOA Towing &
Recovery School
We not only have increased wrecker skill certification in Oklahoma but have also increased the knowledge and skill of wrecker operators. We held one of the best training schools this year in Oklahoma City. The success and “special tools” were mostly due to the efforts of Dewey Farrington and the Oklahoma City Fire Department Training Facility. Never has any state association had the resources that the OCFD Training Facility gave to us. And the most unbelievable part is, they are going to let us use their facility again the first weekend in May, 2003 for an exclusive 2 day HEAVY DUTY RECOVERY SCHOOL. The OCFD has held out their hand in friendship and education to take the first step in Incident Management. And they would like to further this goal. This is the coming “thing” in the towing industry. No longer is the wrecker driver the “scapegoat” or clean up “guy”. The wrecker drivers are now recognized as an integral part of the recovery team, the incident management team. Just as Oklahoma City wrecker owners were extremely helpful during the recovery effort in the 1995 OKC Bombing, we are needed to be effective in any and all “incidents” for the success of the entire operation. We do have expertise and equipment that is necessary to any incident.
I also want to mention that Gene Fitzpatrick and S.T. Bolding attended the Towing and Recovery school in OKC this past year. Not only did they attend the school, they did so on their own time. So if you think you can “baffle them with B-S” about a recovery instead of “dazzle them with brilliance”, think again. They came away from the school with a newfound respect and knowledge about wrecker recoveries as taught by an expert in our industry. While our school offered a full and complete/no questions asked refund; not one person requested one penny back. Now that’s a school!
Last Meeting
We were kind-a rained out, plus the newsletter was late in getting out of OKC. I seem to have a hard time judging when “bulk mail” will ship our letters. If it’s too early, everyone forgets, if it’s too late, no one gets it in time. Come to think of it, this is really like being a wrecker owner, isn’t it? We had around 20 faithful that weathered the rain and we had GREAT food. I hope to get to return to Freddie Paul’s Steakhouse in Stillwater real soon. Maybe even after an OU win in November this year (my apologies to OSU fans, including my wife, OU is my Alma Mater). Ron Hammond of J. T. Neal Insurance Agency (Lawton) donated a battery jumper box as a door prize. Calvin Bennett of Rush Truck Center Body Shop in OKC also donated a miniature collectable wrecker as a door prize. Thanks to these businesses for their support. We should support them also.
Next Meeting
The next meeting will again be held in Oklahoma
City on November 12th. The meeting will
be at the Super China Buffet located at 4401 W Reno. They
not only have Chinese food, but also Italian, Mexican, seafood, and more. This meeting will be our Legislative Agenda meeting. Anyone that has contacted their Representative and/or
Senator about helping sponsor bills for the OWOA should let us know. We need to know who would like to author bills for us
and who will support the OWOA. If you have a legislator
that was favorable to authoring a bill, please let us know. If you can’t attend, please email, call, or fax me or
any Director or Officer of the OWOA with the legislators name and commitment. We need to make sure we take charge this year and not
let our guard down. This is a very important meeting. This is the last chance we will have to meet and discuss
what we want before the deadline for new bills to be “set up” in the legislature. By mid-December the deadline for bills will be over. That’s what hurt us last year. The
deadline came and went before we were ready. We aren’t
going to let that happen this year. If you have any
ideas, please attend and share them.
CHECK THE DATE ON THE MAIL LABEL
Be sure to check your mail label for the expiration
date. Your dues expire one year from the date on the
label. If the date is in November 2001 (or before),
your dues are due. If the date is October 2001, this
is your last newsletter until the non-member newsletter during the first
quarter of 2003. When sending in a dues payment, be
sure to note that our address has changed. We no longer
have a Post Office Box. Our mailing address is 300 S.W. 29th, Oklahoma
City, OK 73109-6793.
If you have 1 wrecker the dues are $160.00. Two
wreckers dues are $180.00. Three wreckers equal $200.00. Four wreckers are $220.00 (which is the maximum). Associates members (no wreckers) dues are $200.00. If you have questions please don’t hesitate to call the
OWOA (405 319-1724). You may also email “the Prez”
at www.OkWOA.org. A
membership application should be included in this newsletter.
TUESDAY – November 12TH,
2002
8:00
PM (MEAL STARTS 7:00 PM)
(East of Meridian and Reno,
North side of Reno)
Suggest Authors to our bill(s) this coming session.