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Who Tows My Car After an Accident in Bakersfield?

Who Tows My Car After an Accident in Bakersfield?

Bakersfield Police or the CHP will call for a tow truck if you need them to. You are permitted to choose your own tow truck company and call them. Your car insurance company may want to dispatch a tow truck to you.

Being in a frightening accident on Highway 99 or in the busy lanes of Ming Avenue might leave you stranded in a disabled or totaled vehicle. It’ll ultimately be up to you to decide who comes to tow your car away and where it should be taken, but after a Bakersfield car accident, you’ll have options.

Towing After a Bakersfield Car Accident

After an accident, make sure that you and those with you are safe. Ask for an ambulance if needed. Once help arrives, you’ll have to consider how your vehicle will be taken from the scene and where it should go. If it’s badly damaged, you’ll likely need a tow truck to give your car a lift.

Bakersfield Police use a rotating list of local tow truck operators to clear accident scenes. But you don’t have to use these choices if you don’t want to.

After a Bakersfield car accident, victims will have several choices for how their damaged vehicle is handled:

  • Bakersfield Police will call a tow truck. They will contact a company the city of Bakersfield routinely works with. Make sure you know who is taking your vehicle away and where it’s going.  Your responding officer should have information about the tow truck company that responds.
  • Call a tow truck company of your choice. You can choose to call your own preferred towing company. You’d also need to select the body shop you want your car towed to.
  • Your Insurance Company Contacts a Towing Company. Your car insurance company may work with a particular tow truck operator and body shop in Bakersfield. If you can reach an insurance representative, this may be the best way to get your car towed. They may dispatch a tow truck to you or ask you to call a certain business.

Towing for Bakersfield Accidents Handled by the California Highway Patrol

You may be in an accident one one of Kern County’s major highways or perhaps along Freeway 5. The California Highway Patrol usually responds to these incidents. The CHP works with a long list of approved Kern County tow truck companies to remove vehicles that have been in a collision. These qualifying tow truck operators respond to accidents in Bakersfield and across Kern County.

The CHP makes calls for service to different tow truck operators with each new accident based on a rotation. On a yearly basis, the Bakersfield CHP area commander establishes guidelines for reasonable rates that will be charged. This is a look at the 2022 – 2023 TOW SERVICE AGREEMENT that the California Highway Patrol uses.

Vehicle owners can decline a tow service called for by an officer, even after a tow truck has arrived, without charge. The driver or the driver’s insurance company can call for an alternate tow truck.

The CHP requires that tow truck companies and employees they work with refrain from acts of misconduct including:

  • Rude or discourteous behavior.
  • Lack of service, selective service, or refusal to provide service that the operator is capable of performing.
  • Any act of sexual harassment or sexual impropriety.
  • Unsafe driving practices.
  • Exhibiting any objective symptoms of alcohol or drug use.
  • The operator/tow truck driver shall submit to a preliminary alcohol screening test upon demand of the CHP if an odor of an alcoholic beverage is detected upon the person.
  •  Any acts of discrimination based on a protected group.

Tow truck companies can be disciplined and even removed from the Highway Patrol’s trusted list if they break these rules or it’s found they charge excessive towing or storage fees.

Contact a Bakersfield Car Accident Lawyer After a Serious Accident

If you or a loved one suffered a serious injury after a careless driver’s mistake, please speak with a skilled Bakersfield Car Accident Lawyer. Martin Gasparian, the founder of Maison Law, has an extensive history of helping injured local victims and their families recover the compensation they need to rebuild their lives after a major collision.

Mr. Gasparian offers a free consultation to all Bakersfield and Kern County accident victims. It’s a no-risk way for victims to find out how much their injury is worth and how to avoid accepting less from a car insurance company. Medical bills, towing fees, and car repairs should all be fully covered by an at-fault driver’s car insurance provider.

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