When stranded on the road due to breakdowns, accidents, or improper parking, two important words are likely to be used: tow truck and recovery truck. Though the words are used interchangeably at times, they refer to two types of vehicles designed for different purposes. Knowing the difference between the services offered by a tow truck and a recovery truck goes a long way in helping you when you find yourself needing such service. This article will explain the different roles they play, their uses, and why choosing the right one is very important for all your car towing needs.
The Purpose of Car Towing
Car Towing is mainly utilized in delivering cars that cannot move on their own due to mechanical failure, failure of tyres, or legal cause for illegal parking. Tow trucks are also versatile in a way that they are built to move vehicles from point A to another efficiently. They are mainly utilized in situations that involve the everyday use of relocations of vehicles where recovery operations are not extensively required.
Types of Car Towing
There are many types of tow trucks, and each is related to a different situation that may arise. These include:
Flatbed Tow Trucks
Flatbed tow trucks carry a big and flat platform that can be brought down to the ground. The cars are positioned on this flatbed for towing; therefore, they are ready to go in moving luxury cars or sports cars, or even those that have been damaged but are still assembled. It keeps the car in place during transportation and hence it saves it from further damage.
Wheel-Lift Tow Trucks
Wheel-lift tow trucks hoist either the front or the rear of a vehicle’s wheels off of the highway by using a hydraulic system. This is a very normal usage considering that wheel lifts are normally used for a very short distance. This is also highly deemed as an appropriate option for conventional vehicles.
Hook and Chain Tow Trucks
Once the most prevalent form, hook-and-chain tow trucks secure and lift a vehicle by hooking chains under it. However, this has the potential to cause damage to a vehicle’s frame and is thus not as popular today-especially when it involves modern cars.
Integrated Tow Trucks
In heavy-duty towing, an integrated tow truck combines both a boom and wheel lift breakdown for very short-distance operation. In its design and is fitted to handle bigger vehicles such as buses or trucks.
In a nutshell, tow trucks get the job done while towing cars as long as the vehicle can be moved without additional recovery efforts. They also provide speedy solutions for roadside assistance and relocating a vehicle.
The Role of a Recovery Truck
While a tow truck is designed to deal with comparatively simple situations, recovery trucks are designed to cater to somewhat complicated requirements to handle. These are situations when retrieval of the vehicle is required from a point where it cannot be accessed. Recovery trucks offer a range of specialized equipment and machinery to manage such challenging situations like vehicles stuck in ditches, overturned cars, and severely accident vehicles.
Features of Recovery Trucks
Recovery trucks differ from normal tow trucks in many respects. Booms and winches constitute the main equipment in the recovery process. Hydraulic arms extend outwards and reach the vehicle that happens to be in areas with no accessibility. Winches, on the other hand, drag the vehicle out of a difficult situation.
Rotators: Some recovery trucks are fitted with rotating booms. These allow these to lift vehicles at different angles. This becomes quite helpful when the vehicle has rolled over due to an accident or has landed in a precarious position.
Heavy-Duty Build: Recovery trucks are built to carry massive loads; hence large or severely damaged vehicles can be extracted.
Recovery trucks play an essential role in recovery situations that require much more than just towing a car. Advanced equipment and capability enable recovery trucks to carry out difficult recoveries both competently and safely.
How to Tell the Difference between Car Towing and Recovery Trucks
The differences between tow trucks and recovery trucks mainly summarize the choices that one would make. The major differences are as follows:
Purpose: Tow trucks are principally utilized for instances in which the movement of a vehicle to another location is needed due to minor problems that prevent the car from moving. Recovery trucks are employed in cases where a car lands in a difficult-to-access location or puts the occupants in danger, such as accidents and being driven off the road.
Equipment: The towing trucks use flatbeds, wheel-lifts, or hooks for mere conveyance of vehicles. The recovery trucks use booms, winches, and underlifts/rotating arms for difficult recoveries.
Scenarios: Tow trucks are used for common towing purposes, such as breakdown and illegal parking. Recovery trucks deal with severe states of vehicles following overturned, deep into the ditch, or multi-vehicle collisions.
Price: The charges of car towing are much cheaper as the practice is usually simple. Recovery truck services are very expensive as complex machinery and skills are required.
At Maningham Towing, we make sure that the service provided for whatever your specific need is done so with professionalism and to your requirements. Please do not hesitate to contact us today for further inquiries about our car towing services, and come experience the difference that it makes to work with professionals who truly put safety and satisfaction above everything else.