Once upon a time, my boyfriend and I were stranded at our campsite in the mountains. Have you ever had to push-start a car because the starter motor was dying? Well, in the mountains, with only two people to push, you only get one shot. It didn't work, and we needed a tow to get out of a low point in the road.
We called AAA first, expecting that they'd send someone from Marv's as usual. There was only intermittent reception, so we were able to place calls about one in every dozen tries, but nobody could call us back. We called a couple of times to check in, but the AAA agents ended up spending hours trying (with honest and earnest effort) to pinpoint our location, because they were in some phone bank in another state, and couldn't interpret it from locally-based directions. We encouraged them to just call the local tow contractors (last we knew, Marv's) and tell them the local directions, because we were sure locals would understand them and know the area.
My boyfriend was waiting by the main road when a Marv's truck drove by; it turned out that driver was on an unrelated call, but he stopped when my boyfriend waved, and informed us that AAA doesn't work with Marv's anymore (we later found out from our own driver that this was AAA's decision). The passing driver regretfully wished us luck (and stopped on his way back as well, to ask about progress. Nice guy). Anyway, after five hours of a whole lot of nothing, it was apparent that AAA's dispatchers -- and what we later learned was their own new private fleet of drivers -- wouldn't be able to find us. But that gets us to the good part, calling Marv's; this is a review about how spectacular Marv's is, not the huge mistake AAA has made by ceasing to contract them!
The Marv's dispatcher was very understanding; it seems they've had an increase in calls since AAA dropped them. He said a driver would be with us within the hour, and he was right; in a quick blip of reception, we managed to get on the phone with our driver, who also needed to clarify our exact location. However, he knew the area well enough that he had already begun on his way -- he'd headed a long way around due to his truck being too long for the cutbacks coming up the direct route. (Now that's the kind of local knowledge we were talking about!) We gave a couple more details about the forest road we were on, and he estimated 15 minutes, then arrived in 10.
Some tow truck drivers are just tow truck drivers, doing their job and leaving it at that. But the job attracts a certain kind of helpful people, who are just naturally talented heroes, and those people make an art of the profession. If you meet him someday, you'll know him as James. His last name will be kept to the thank-you card I'm sending to his supervisors, and I hope they name an award after him. That said, for this review, I'll honor the moment when my boyfriend and I exchanged a look and silently agreed "We got a badass over here" -- the moment when James loosely chucked a tow hook under the car and it latched with near-telekinetic precision, not to mention style and flair. Because of this, our driver will henceforth be known as Batman.
I can't paint with words how skillfully Batman handled every bit of the operation. Watching him work on the uneven, rocky forest service road was like watching an artisan shaping a temperamental material; he used the maze of levers on the side of the truck to finagle astoundingly precise raisings and lowerings, never scuffing a bit of our car on the abundant giant rocks, manipulating physics in enviably subtle ways. (This guy must be a god at moving furniture through awkward doors.) This was only matched by how impressively he could turn an enormous truck around in single motions, on a road where we'd seen passenger vehicles make seventeen-point turns more often than not.
Not only all this, but Batman also had driven plenty of junker cars and understood our problem well; the strategy was to tow it to a high point for more jump-starting, and he ended up teaching us how to pop-start a car in reverse, and even helped attempt to pop-start the car himself when we struggled with getting it to engage. He answered lots of questions, gave good advice about the engine's character and sound, and ultimately solved our problem by trying a super powerful jump from the truck (which, with two alternators working hard, still took some effort to bypass our starter motor).
Batman had one surprise still in store for us; both he and the dispatcher had prepared us for the worst-case scenario about the fee for the tow, but as soon as the car started, Batman informed us that he would be able to charge us a minimal fee for just the jump, even with all the time he'd spent. Further, he was obviously delighted to spring that happy ending on us.
We knew that Marv's was great, but I think they should create a subscription service to compete with AAA. We're in! Next time you call, ask for Batman, tell me what happens. ;) read more
