Towers (think tow trucks, not tall buildings) are a crucial part of the car donation process, even during the coronavirus epidemic. At least if you’re donating your car to Kars4Kids, that is. Vendor Associate Hannah Leeder is in charge of the whole shebang, making sure our towing companies in all 50 states know how we work, and helping to coordinate services in as smooth a manner as possible.
Leeder has been at this work for the past decade, so we figured she was the right person to speak to if we wanted to know how coronavirus was affecting the process of picking up donors’ cars. After all, one of the main reasons donors choose Kars4Kids is to get their cars towed away, for free. But what happens to towing companies when states go under lockdown and businesses can’t operate as usual? We went to Leeder to find out:
Kars4Kids: Has coronavirus changed the car pick-up process?
Hannah Leeder: A lot of towers expanded on what we called used to call “unattended pickups” and are now called “contactless pickups” where the owner leaves the title and keys in the car, and the driver takes it and leaves the receipt in the mailbox. I feel like during corona in general people are more appreciative of the small stuff and everyone was just a lot more pleasant and nice to each other; and that goes both ways to make it a more pleasant experience for everyone involved.
Kars4Kids: What are some of the difficulties encountered by towers as a result of the coronavirus epidemic? How have these problems been solved?
Hannah Leeder: In some states, the entire towing business was forced to shut down and they had to shut down all operations for as long as 3 months. Thankfully, state orders are slowly being lifted. Some drivers actually came down with the virus and had to stop picking up cars until they recovered
Kars4Kids: Do you have any positive stories about towers going the extra mile for a donor during the lockdown?
Hannah Leeder: We had a story just last week. A tower picked up a pickup truck full of dirt and emptied the whole back of the truck, shovelful by shovelful, so the truck would be accepted by the scrapyard and could be donated to Kars4Kids. He didn’t have to do that. It’s not part of his job description. But the towers we work with are like that: always ready to go the extra mile to serve a Kars4Kids donor.
Pickup truck, full of dirt, stranded in stand of trees Truck is winched out of stand of trees Towers empty dirt from truck so it can be donated Ready to roll!!
