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i just wanted to know if there's anybody that found any of the Wreckmaster courses beneficial.  i am a great admirerer(sp?) of Donnie Cruse and everything he wanted in the industry.  i just didn't find the wreckmaster courses all that beneficial.
I definitely think the Wreckmaster courses are beneficial.

First as a driver, I think the classes instill confidence while teaching the operator to work safer in what can be some rather dangerous situations. I Think most drivers come away with a couple more rollover or recovery techniques that add to their overall ability.

As an owner, a safer employee costs you less to employ in the long-run by causing less damage. If a driver is more efficient and needs less help while performing his duty that also lowers your operating cost. Plus, having a third party agency train and certify your operators lends credibility to our industry while instilling public confidence in the companies ability, much like ASE does for auto mechanics.

I must say that when hiring, a Wreckmaster trained driver would certainly have a leg-up on a non-Wreckmaster trained driver in my eyes. It speaks volumes that a driver took the time to improve themselves and was humble enough to know there is always room for improvement.
i just found it hard to justify all the info that was presented in the classroom portions.  i don't know about anyone else but if i got to a recovery scene on the highway and pulled out my calculator to start adding up weights and resistance to figure out exactly what weight i was going to be pulling, we'd never get called back from that highway patrol officer.  

we also had a company up here try and bill out a recovery the Wreckmaster way (a calculation of time and weight etc..) and the bill came to some outrageous amount and the insurance company told the towing company where to put it.  long story short, they're still going through legal BS.
Yea, I agree. Most recoveries don't require calculation and indeed, the police can be vary impatient. But, some recoveries, such as mired extractions and heavy vehicles, often do. Of course, one of my companies is in an area where we perform a variety of recoveries on a daily basis.

I sometimes use the "charge by pound" billing method, but I have seen it work effectively for heavy duty recoveries. For instance, if you recover a rolled-over 80,000 lb. truck and trailer, and charge .04 per pound, your bill would be $3200. I think that's a reasonable fee for the skill and equipment required to safely perform that recovery. That rate generally includes delivering the combo to the companies location.

Keep in mind that you are not only responsible for the truck and trailer but also the load inside the trailer which can be quite valuable. In order for you to take that much risk and come out ahead in the long run you must charge enough to overcome the occasional loss.

In fact, when that trailer is loaded with $500,000 in home electronics, the company will gladly pay $3200 for a safe and skillful recovery that minimizes their loss.

I think the problem with many insurance companies is they don't have any idea what's involved in a heavy recovery and therefore do not see the value in the fee. Whenever we bill out a recovery we are sure to itemize the bill and include a thorough accounting of everything we do at a scene. This builds value into the bill that the insurance company can see.
good points
I've never been to a wreckmaster class, I was trained by some old
wrecker operators who knew what they were doing but even at the age of 52 I would love to go to one if only I had the extra money to do it, and I'm sure insurance companies if you not'd them would lower your insurance prem's if the courses were taken. :drivin:
Quote (Singlehook Towing @ Oct. 25 2004, 12:09 pm)
I've never been to a wreckmaster class, I was trained by some old
wrecker operators who knew what they were doing but even at the age of 52 I would love to go to one if only I had the extra money to do it, and I'm sure insurance companies if you not'd them would lower your insurance prem's if the courses were taken. :drivin:

not only lower rates.  one of the ideas of wreckmaster was to have a uniformed certification for ALL operators that would allow us to charge insurance companies more money.

but we all know that there is always somebody out there willing to do it cheaper.  this is one of the aspects of wreckmaster that i strongly agree with because it will weed out all the under-cutters.
I recently went to wreckmaster 2/3 for the second time and I find it amazing to hear all the whining about the cost. Maybe its the fact as an industry we haven't had to pay out of pocket for training or to certify employees. I'm sure a few of the towers on here all also ASE Certified and know the cost. How can you not afford to further your education? I know money is tight but how can you make more if you don't know more. Wreckmaster or something equal to I think is a must have right next to your CDL.  :drivin:  :thumb:
We have a number of wreckmasters in our company and some of the things they teach are good. But we do not do our invoices by the pound because of the insurance companies up here. The drivers found it very useful at times in recoveries. CAA has help out big time with the cost.
Howdy ya'll : The WreckMaster program is not only good but required to get on law enforcement rotation lists in both Idaho where I am as well as Utah. Now Wreckmaster cert. not on police list that simple. Your insurance bill goes down if you prove your WreckMaster Certified, and the benefits outweigh the costs and frustration. Donny did one heck of a job setting up this course. What we are trying to do is get the course installed in one of our 4 year colleges here as part of the courses on trucking . Many would be truckers start as towers and I'd rather have somone that knows there stuff out there working a wreck with me than a rookie with cert. Opps gotta go tow See ya'll
Highway Hooker
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