Kansas City-area tow company could take 1,000 calls due to winter storm
LENEXA, Kan. — Tow companies are extremely busy after Tuesday’s snow.
Santa Fe Tow Service Office Manager Kaileigh Kupchin says her family business in Johnson County is swamped to say the least.
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“The phone has probably rang almost a thousand times,” Kupchin said in an interview with FOX4 Tuesday.
“Securing the calls, how many we’ve completed, I would say we’re at 175 for the last 24 hours,” Kupchin said.
Kupchin added her company has about a 70% ‘land’ or 70% chance of securing a job for a customer that calls her business.
“I would love to say that we get to everybody,” she continued. “Unfortunately, with this weather, we’re doing the best we can.”
Kupchin said the other 30% of people either get police to help them with their car, or they use their insurance to get them a tow.
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North of Santa Fe Towing off I-35 is Eveland Brothers Collision Repair in Merriam.
“Down the road, within two to three days, we’ll start to see more of these jobs coming in,” General Manager Glenn Hermreck said.
Hermreck said the cars that were damaged in wrecks Tuesday will go to a tow lot like Santa Fe’s before they come to his place.
“There’s a process to go through,” he continued. “You have to go through insurance. We’ve got to bring them in, blue print them, and we are right now six to eight weeks out scheduling, so it’s going to be a while before those cars can get back out on the road.”
The long wait for your car to get fixed can become a problem for the customer because their insurance will run out for their rental car.
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Hermreck said his workers try to stay on top of this, but fewer shops across the metro have techs that can handle all the work they’ve seen in the last year and a half.
At 2:45 Tuesday afternoon, a spokeswoman for the city of Merriam said officers had responded to four car crashes since Tuesday night.
