I got towed off the freeway one morning. I’m not sure how far but less than 5 miles to the nearest shop and it cost me $80 about 15 years ago. Seems to me it was a $50 hook up charge and the rest for mileage. Now the guy that I used to use would tow me 50 miles home for $125 so just depends on location and demand I guess but if they are booked solid because of the storm, I can see the rates adjusting.
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My daughter hit a dog once. Had to have it towed. I called a tow company and they quoted me $150. Seemed reasonable for the amount of miles. But in passing I told them she hit a dog. They said “oh, it’s an accident, then that will be $400.” No way. I called an acquaintance and gave him $200 to trailer it.
I assumed they had a minimum fee for showing up, similar to how a maintenance shop has a minimum fee or a diagnostic charge. Say you want a check engine light read at a shop, I figure you’re not getting out for less than an hour labor ($100-$150). And you drove to them, whereas the tow truck drives to you. But I’ve never had a car towed (yet), so I don’t know that for sure.
Motor club member $65 a year, 100 miles free towing. Longer story if needed, I have my daughter on also, probably lost money over the years, kind of like every other insurance I buy. Having it there when needed has been a plus. No start, free jump, nail in sidewall free spare put on, daughter flat tire, and busted timing chain towed to bud mechanic 40 miles away in the last 3 years. probably only 1 other incident in the last 10 years.
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I’ve got Amoco and they were gracious to cover my son with a tire problem half way to Duluth in the Winter. Don’t remember why anymore but paid for a tire over the phone the next day so it must have been shredded. Of course some years later when my wife had a problem at the airport, the dispatcher (I assume in India now) couldn’t find Minneapolis on her map. You take the good with the bad but nice when a family member is taken care of.
I’ve had my share of tows or service requests and never had a problem but when you report you are on I 35 north bound at mile marker such and such, and they have a problem finding it, ya kinda wonder.
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GPS is confusing. On I90 going out of Madison, it is highway 39, even in minneapolis, on 694 continue on Hwy 10, WHY!
Roads going in the same direction can be combined with others. No point having two roads next to each other. I think 39 goes north and south but takes a turn to the west using 94 for a while then continues north again around the Dells. 10 too is kind of a major road going north through St. Cloud etc. Don’t know where it goes south but you can either take 10 from 694 or stay on 94 and zip over to 10 at St. Cloud. Haven’t been that way for a while but gotta go up to Walker later this month so my memory will be refreshed.
Main thing there is no good way to go north and south without dealing with the twin cities traffic. Kinda like Indianapolis. You have to go through there to get somewhere else.
We have drifted out of the lane of the original thread!
Some of us are in the senior age group. When I35 was first completed through Minneapolis there were times when I had driven it when I saw only a few other cars on the road. Since then the population of the earth has nearly doubled. Most major cities are a nightmare to drive through, even with GPS. I can’t imagine driving an 18 wheeler through and into any of them.
OP’s car is fixed. The end.
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Thank you, I’ve enjoyed this discussion!
For me, it’s not the end because I’m looking to sell this car, buying it was a mistake.
I bought it to replace my 2007 Corolla, but I’m finding that it’s inferior in some very important ways.
+1
My father was always interested in driving on new highways as soon as possible after their completion. I can recall riding on I-287 in our '63 Plymouth a year or so after that road was completed, and at least on weekends there were very few other cars on that highway.
I can recall hearing my father’s conversations with people who had no clue as to what “Interstate” highway meant. He would even try saying, “You know… the ones that are marked with red, white and blue signs in the shape of a shield”, and–more often than not–he just got blank stares in return. 
I hate to admit but I am part of the some of us in the :geezer err senior age group the interstates were just getting started when I first started driving so we sort of grew up together I can remember driving on an interstate and coming to the end then running on other roads for a ways then getting back on another part of same interstate that was finished for a ways farther then rise lather and repeat mostly with an 18 wheeler.
I was very happy when they finally finished I 90 west to Sioux Falls. I don’t remember what year but late 70’s or early 80’s I think. Time they got it done though they were ripping up other sections that needed replacement.
It was that way with most of the interstates.
Back as recently as the late '60s-early '70s, I-95 was not continuous. I recall driving to Florida three times and there was a lot of “I-95 ends here”, with a detour to–I guess–US-1 in The Carolinas and Georgia. Then, maybe 30 miles later, you could enter another stretch of I-95 that had been completed. Lather, rinse, repeat–several times.
When we first rode on I-287 North, circa 1964, it terminated at Route 22, in Bridgewater, NJ. And, it still terminated in the same place until… I think… the late 70s, or maybe the early '80s. There was a lot of community opposition to its original routing, and it took more than 15 years to sort it all out and complete the path of that highway.
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I think it was that way allover the country plus the problem of aquireing right of ways. I think t was about the mid 80s when the system was pretty much completed.
Actually in St. Paul they are still pining away about a neighborhood cut in two by I 94. Now they are talking about building a deck over the road to reconnect it again. Of course everyone pretty much moved on or died but the controversy is still there. Then of course just south of there when they built I 35E they finally had to agree to a 45 MPH speed limit for a stretch to satisfy the neighbors. Even went to court so no way can it be changed now. Nobody drives 45 though anyway unless the patrol are short on citations.
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[quote="Bing, post:97,
controversy is still there. , . I believe that as long as the population grows in an around the big cities the controversy will always be there as far as I know all the big cities that have a loop beltway or what ever they want to all them there is no land left to add more lanes. Here in Georgia about 9 or 10 years ago there was talk of building a outer loop about 60 or 70 miles outside of I 285 to ease the traffic but so far nothing came of it.
I35 took away my HS football field, but several years after I graduated.
Yeah I guess there were some pretty unhappy farmers too that had their land split in two. Can’t drive machinery over the interstate and sometimes miles to get around to the other side. Not so much around here but I see in other parts of the country, houses pretty close to the interstate, like really close. I suspect that’s what happened. I think they only get paid for the land taken not for loss of enjoyment.
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