Novice

Thinking ahead here. Since my C4S is complete debaged, and the P-car undercarriage being so cleanly covered. It is going to be tough to id that it is a 4 WD vehicle.

To cover my behind and legal reason, in case my car get tow. I am thinking of having some small custom warning labels made to put on the front spoiler or on the window. (btw. I can use one on my Audi quattro too)

What do you guys think ? or any interest in a group-buy ?

Philip in AL

I think it's a great idea. Do you think that a 4x4 shop may have some stickers already made?

Rick Lee

I'm curious - is a tow truck liable for damage if they tow a car that's parked in gear?

Novice

1. Yes, but in court, the more I give tow operator notice the better; thus, my idea. (honestly, I am very sick of warning labels everywhere, but we are in the US of A :-) )
2. Park in gear or not. the center differential will be toasted in just a few miles. this applies to all full time 4 wd without lever to disengage the transfer case (center diff)

Remember how expensive it was (on this board) the CA emission putting a C4 on a 2wd dyno ?



Oh. 4x4 shop won't have such label, as it is much easier to spot the front and rear drive shaft on the truck, which is what tow operators do to determine front or back lift-towing

btw. the label will also be great for 2wd cars to "advise" to flat-bed the P-car to minimize damages to the spoilers anyway !!!!

Rick Lee

Gerry, I meant getting towed "involuntarily" - like being parked illegaly when the no-parking sign is gone or for unpaid parking tickets. One time when my old BMW was for unpaid parking tickets, the driver must have been on the ball, because they lifted each wheel into a dolly, so my wheels never turned once. But had they just hoisted it up onto a flatbed or dragged it while in gear with E brake on, I wonder if they're liable for that.

TheOtherEric

Just curious- where are you thinking about putting such a warning? Something like this?

Novice

Liability? there is always finger pointing ! e.g. the city says is the tow contractor's fault, in the mean time the tow operator already closed their business and open another under different names. ( Can't you tell I was a New Yorker :-P )

the purpose of the label is to avoid the whole mess if possible.


Regarding location. I have thinking of small ones toward the bottom of the spoiler (locatiosn where the towing guy will see when he is on his kneels) no more than 1/4 inch by 2 inch.

mlincoln

Brother makes label printers (their "P-Touch" line) that use various colors of tape. You might try using transparent printing tape with a contrasting color of ink (compared to your car's color). For example at http://www.officemax.com see item #20127499 (computer printer, $83) or item number 20345814 (manual key printer, $40). With both machines you can vary point size, style of font, and the width and background color of the tape cassette. For example, you might choose to use a 3/4 inch wide, transparent background tape, and print something like: "<36 point, red> WARNING! <24 point, dark blue> 4WD car, dolly tow only!". With a transparent background you'd really only see the lettering once applied. The labels would cost about 2 cents apiece, so you could make and place as many as desired. Maybe you'd occasionally have to replace one after washing, but would be very cheap to do so (compared to a custom print shop printed label job). This system is also nice to label all your tech equipment (e.g., which power supply adapter goes to which computer peripheral widget, since they're all black boxes that get thrown in a drawer eventually).

Mike

TheOtherEric

Someone told me that tow guys might have to record the VIN before towing the car. If that's true (dunno) then the little sticker described by Mike could go next to the VIN on the dash. Was anyone a tow guy in a prior life?

Novice

Mike. good idea, I wasn't aware of color P-touch.

Eric. I doubt that they will "have-to", as Vin is such a PITA to copy down. At most they will write down the plate.