Tow truck companies, mechanics already busy ahead of another batch of winter weather

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- As another winter storm quickly approaches, tow truck companies and mechanics are still busy helping drivers affected by last weekend's winter storm.

Another storm system is threatening to bring winter weather to the triangle, including the chance for snow, this weekend.

Some drivers are still picking up the pieces Wednesday after last weekend's storm.

ABC11 spoke to a driver in Durham who got into a wreck during the weekend.

She didn't want to be identified, but she said she has to use crutches now after her car slid on ice and hit a wall.

"I was on the expressway, and I slipped because of the ice, so I spun out and hit the side of the wall," she said. "Just be safe. Don't be hard-headed like I did, thinking you could just drive through the snow."

David Overman, the owner of Dave's Tow-A-Way Inc. in Durham, said this driver is one of a handful they helped during the weekend.

"Most of what we did have were stuck in their driveways. No fatalities, thank goodness. And very few fender benders. People did go into a ditch," said Overman.

He said that even though they did not see too many terrible crashes or car wrecks during last weekend's storm, their phones stayed busy throughout the storm.

"We had people, believe it or not, people in Greensboro, as far away as Greensboro, were calling, wanting to know we could get to them," he said.

Other people who are staying busy since the storm are mechanics.

Matthew Sanders owns Encore Automotive Diagnostics and Repairs. He has a shop in Smithfield and does mobile repair work in Raleigh as well.

Sanders said drivers are dropping thousands of dollars to fix damage caused by ice on the road.

"You got a lot of people sliding, hitting curves, hitting embankments. So you have a lot of steering components that are bent, broken or just come dislodged from where it needs to be. So you got a lot of front-end work going on," he said.

He said now is the time for drivers to do what they can to prevent breakdowns during dangerous cold weather.

"You need to make sure you got good belts on your vehicles, good hoses," said Sanders. "You want to make sure that you get the proper mixture in your cooling system because the cold weather puts added stress on those materials."

Sanders said to make sure car batteries have a good charge so vehicles can start properly, and top off all of the fluids in a vehicle.

The North Carolina Department of Transportation said brine trucks will be back out on the road starting Thursday morning.

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