Towing Issues: Minivan towed... tire marks left in place??, furniture dollies, oily compound

Question
QUESTION: Hi all,

I'm seeking explicit detail on how exactly professional towing works.  Recently I parked my '97 Dodge Caravan and over the course of exactly 1 hour, it was towed.  However, the car was parked face-in and the transmission is front-wheel drive, automatic.  How exactly is the car maneuvered so that the front wheels don't move (and hence the transmission destroyed)?  

Also, I noticed a set of what looked like two tire marks (the width of my van) that led out of the parking lot and faded with distance.  Upon closer inspection, the marks were caused by a clear, oily compound.  Any idea what that was??  

I got the minivan back the next day and it's been driving fine... just curious if someone could lend a little insight though.  Thanks!

ANSWER: Well, there are lots of "tricks" which tow truck drivers use to get vehicles to "move" when they are nosed in...

WE do have some equipment, mainly dollies (the little wheels you see on the back of the tow trucks), or "go Jacks" which are similar to furniture dollies... Lets not forget that we have "plastic skates" which are placed under the wheels allowing for the tire to ride up onto the plastic and then it slides on the skate.

Then there are drivers who use dishwashing soap (dawn is very popular), WD 40, engine oil, transmission fluid and any other "slick liquid"  I like to use white lithium spray grease...


What it sounds like is they slid it out far enough to lift get to the front end and then lift it that way. Some times they do that for a few feet, sometimes its a bit of a distance like out of the parking lot...

As to if anything was damaged, well that is hard to say, the fact that it drives ok, means at least that nothing major was done to damage it... They might have slightly flat spotted your tires doing it but that would be about it...

Hope this helps

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi,

Thanks that helped a lot!  I do have a quick follow-up question thought.  Assuming it was a flatbed (and what you said about the oily residue in the shape of tire tracks makes sense now), how do they unload the car once it's at the impound?  Thanks!

Answer
unloading is done usually in reverse of the load procedure and more "slick stuff" is used... Then the vehicle is either "shaken" down the bed or if they can hook to something in front of it then they pull it down... Of course then there is always the method of rehooking the winch line though a pulley and winching it down off the flatbed....

Just a few of the tricks available.