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TOWING & RECOVERY August 2012 Keeping industry pros on their tows FOOTNOTES 3 ® AD Partn tow ers Se VI e P S ag O e 1 R MEMO TO ALL TRUCK/EQUIPMENT DISTRIBUTORS Please put the Footnotes editor on your emailing list at bill@trfootnotes.com Send us press notices of new or improved equipment, special events and demos, successes and awards, and everything else you do! I THE BUSINESS ISSUE I www.trfootnotes.com Russ On A Roll BUILD BETTER BUSINESS In The Towing In This Issue: See page 10 T&R FOOTNOTES HELPS as a shop that offers specialized services in a one-stop setting. Customers come for repairs, parts, or advice on every-thing from lawnmowers to trucks to luxury, electric, or hybrid cars. Jones also is a regular inventor, designing equipment in his head and then building it himself. His latest product is an Advanced Warning System for towers (see sidebar). “If customers are do-it-yourself mechanics, he’s set up to help them,” said Jones’ wife, Julie. “If they want Russ to work on it, he’s set up to help them. His philosophy has always been to keep a step ahead of technology. If he doesn’t have a part or a tool or a necessary piece of equipment, he gets it. Sometimes that means he has to fabricate it from scratch.” Never The Same Jones has never been a fan of sitting around. That’s why towing and recovery work is one of his passions, particularly the medium-and heavy-duty jobs that are his company’s specialty. He loves figuring out how to clear mangled vehicles and hazardous scenes safely and quickly, or how to salvage loads with specialized equipment such as air cushions. “No two scenes are the same,” he said. “You always have to think about how you’re going to clear the scene quickly without causing additional damage. I like to be right in the middle of that action. When my guys are out on a job and I’m not there, I can hardly stand it.” Growing up on a farm, Jones, now 46, always loved tinkering with different equipment. He built his first pulling tractor at age 11 by combining his father’s old tractor with the motor from a car that his sister had wrecked. “My dad is a great mechanic,” Jones said. “I learned a lot from him.” SPOTLIGHT Tow Business Russ Jones of Russ Automotive For September: Insurance For October: Fire & Rescue Special Issue Advertise Now! Call David Abraham 877-219-7734, Ext 1 Volume 23, Number 4 x $3.95 © 2012 Causey Enterprises, LLC. All Rights Reserved. How Russ Jones built a successful business from scratch, towing and inventing as well as doing all things automotive BY ALISON JOHNSON When Russell Jones opened his busi-ness in 1989, he was down to his last $100. He had rented a 30-by-40-foot building on his parents’ old farm in Callaway County, Missouri, to open the auto repair shop he had long dreamed about. PRST STD U.S. POSTAGE PAID PEORIA, IL PERMIT NO. 315 Towing & Recovery Footnotes P .O. Box 64397 Virginia Beach, VA 23467 ® He’d sold his pickup truck to a friend to keep the bank from repossessing it. Winter was coming fast, and the build-ing had a concrete floor and no heat, insulation or hot water. Jones had a choice: rent a cheap room for a week or buy a sleeping bag fit for subzero temperatures. He bought the sleeping bag and moved into his shop, which he called Russ Automotive. and that tiny original building is built into approximately 16,200 square feet of space at Russ Automotive (www.-russautomotive.com). Once a one-man repair facility, the company now offers a full line of towing and recovery servic-es, minor roadside repairs and fluid replacements, complete automotive repairs, and retail auto parts. “We pride ourselves on doing every-thing, from start to finish,” Jones said. “We’re all about tackling challenges.” Russ Automotive has positioned itself “He buys smart and he takes care of it” Fast forward to today, 23 years later, In Russ Automotive’s early days, customers would drop off their cars in the morning for a diagnosis, stop by after lunch to give Jones money so he could run into town for needed parts – 12 miles one way – and pick up their cars at day’s end. When Jones needed to move vehicles, he would use an old truck and trailer. He was so driven that he had an unlisted telephone number See RUSS ON A ROLL, page 3

Russ On A Roll

Alison Johnson

When Russell Jones opened his business in 1989, he was down to his last $100. He had rented a 30-by-40-foot building on his parents’ old farm in Callaway County, Missouri, to open the auto repair shop he had long dreamed about. He’d sold his pickup truck to a friend to keep the bank from repossessing it. Winter was coming fast, and the building had a concrete floor and no heat, insulation or hot water. Jones had a choice: rent a cheap room for a week or buy a sleeping bag fit for subzero temperatures. He bought the sleeping bag and moved into his shop, which he called Russ Automotive. Fast forward to today, 23 years later, and that tiny original building is built into approximately 16,200 square feet of space at Russ Automotive (www.- russautomotive.com). Once a one-man repair facility, the company now offers a full line of towing and recovery services, minor roadside repairs and fluid replacements, complete automotive repairs, and retail auto parts. “We pride ourselves on doing everything, from start to finish,” Jones said. “We’re all about tackling challenges.” Russ Automotive has positioned itself as a shop that offers specialized services in a one-stop setting. Customers come for repairs, parts, or advice on everything from lawnmowers to trucks to luxury, electric, or hybrid cars. Jones also is a regular inventor, designing equipment in his head and then building it himself. His latest product is an Advanced Warning System for towers (see sidebar). “If customers are do-it-yourself mechanics, he’s set up to help them,” said Jones’ wife, Julie. “If they want Russ to work on it, he’s set up to help them. His philosophy has always been to keep a step ahead of technology. If he doesn’t have a part or a tool or a necessary piece of equipment, he gets it. Sometimes that means he has to fabricate it from scratch.” Never The Same Jones has never been a fan of sitting around. That’s why towing and recovery work is one of his passions, particularly the medium- and heavy-duty jobs that are his company’s specialty. He loves figuring out how to clear mangled vehicles and hazardous scenes safely and quickly, or how to salvage loads with specialized equipment such as air cushions. “No two scenes are the same,” he said. “You always have to think about how you’re going to clear the scene quickly without causing additional damage. I like to be right in the middle of that action. When my guys are out on a job and I’m not there, I can hardly stand it.” Growing up on a farm, Jones, now 46, always loved tinkering with different equipment. He built his first pulling tractor at age 11 by combining his father’s old tractor with the motor from a car that his sister had wrecked. “My dad is a great mechanic,” Jones said. “I learned a lot from him.” In Russ Automotive’s early days, customers would drop off their cars in the morning for a diagnosis, stop by after lunch to give Jones money so he could run into town for needed parts – 12 miles one way – and pick up their cars at day’s end. When Jones needed to move vehicles, he would use an old truck and trailer. He was so driven that he had an unlisted telephone number bother him as he worked. By 1996, Jones had tired of driving to town constantly and added on to the original shop so he could stock parts. County officials, meanwhile, had opted to widen and pave the narrow gravel road leading to his business because of high traffic volume. And then in 1998, Jones, who had towing in his blood from earlier days building and running wreckers for others, bought his first wrecker, a Dodge Indy 500 truck. After that, “it wasn’t too difficult for law enforcement to convince him that heavy duty towing and recovery was desperately needed… and the fleet grew,” Julie Jones remembered. Buying Smart Russ Automotive’s fleet now has 16 vehicles, from a 1977 6x6 homemade wrecker to a 2012 Peterbilt twin-steer 65-ton NRC sliding rotator, as well as many pieces of specialty equipment. Options include heavy-, medium- and light-duty wreckers and an emergency response trailer that carries two sets of air cushions, tools, and supplies to handle recovery situations, including leaks and spills. “If something comes out that’s new or innovative, we’ll always take a look at it,” Jones said. Added Julie: “Russ can’t count on an equipment rental company to be open when he needs something special for a recovery. He doesn’t usually buy new, and he doesn’t always buy pretty, but he buys smart and he takes care of it.” One equipment highlight is the company’s new NRC sliding rotator, which Jones ordered late last year. “We already own a large rotator, and the things we can do with it are just amazing,” he said. “We wanted to step it up just a little bit more, to have even quicker clearance and move heavy stuff easier.” Jones also is a big fan of using air cushions to save loads (see sidebar). Many people, he believes, mistakenly fear they will damage a trailer they’r pushing against when in fact they should just move the load inside. “If the bags are positioned properly, you should be fine,” he said. Top Asset On the auto repair side of business, offerings range from regular maintenance to major, complex repairs. As for parts, Russ Automotive focuses on what’s the best fit for each vehicle – not necessarily brand names or bargains – and is a Show-Me distributor with a full line of emergency lights and sirens. Russ Automotive also is passionate about regular training for its six fulltime and three part-time employees, along with the numerous others who help during major incidents. “Our number-one asset is our honest and loyal employees,” Julie Jones said. “They are fully trained and certified, and you will rarely find them with anything but smiles on their faces.” Jones hopes his family business will continue for years. While his son Bradley, a student at Southwest Baptist University, appears to be headed toward a teaching career, his 12-yearold daughter Eryn seems to have caught the towing and recovery bug. “She knows pretty much everything,” Jones said. “She’s been right beside me since she could walk, trying to go out on wrecker calls.” So Jones has come a long way from his days camping out on a cold concrete floor – and he wouldn’t be surprised if his old store needs to expand again soon. “As long as I remember to keep God in control, I can just roll with the flow,” Jones said. “I love what I do. Every day, I want to do it all a little better than the day before.”

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