Two tips to follow if you have to get your car picked up by a tow truck when it's snowing

Here are some tips to follow if you ever have to get a towing company to collect your car when it's snowing.

Take action if you notice snow accumulating around your tyres

If it's snowing heavily, the tow truck driver may need to drive to your location a bit more slowly than they usually would. If you end up waiting for them for quite a while, the snow that falls around your car may accumulate around its tyres. If this occurs, you should get out of the car if it's safe to do this and use either your hands or any implement you happen to have in your vehicle to move as much of this snow from the ground around your tyres as you can.

If you were to sit in your vehicle and let this snow accumulate, the tow truck driver might have a hard time attaching and lifting your vehicle onto their truck, as they'd have to move all of the snow out of the way before they could do this. In contrast, if you periodically move this snow aside whilst you wait, the tow truck driver will have no difficulty accessing your car and will be able to attach and load it to their tow truck very quickly.

Prevent your vehicle from sliding around on the icy ground

If possible, you should try to prevent your vehicle from sliding around on the icy ground whilst you're waiting. This could happen even if your car is parked and switched off, especially if the ground on which you've had to park isn't level. You can do this by, for example, wedging an object into the base of your front tyres. Some examples of the items you might have in the car that you use for this purpose include a rolled-up blanket or yoga mat. These obstacles would reduce the chances of the tyres sliding but would be soft enough not to damage them.

Doing what you can to keep your car from moving on the icy ground will mean it'll be less likely to slide into, for example, a lamppost or a tree before the tow truck arrives. This is important, as if your car collides with something, you'll have to deal with this damage before the tow truck driver can take away your vehicle. Furthermore, if this collision happens when you're sitting in the car, you could get hurt.

Reach out to a towing service for more tips.