Do car carriers need tow truck endorsement?

LOL...okay, I will ask: What is a Tow truck Endorsement?

EDIT: Nevermind. it's a New York thing like the steel coil endorsement.

 

My question also......never heard of that endorsment

 

///So you gonna have seven or eight trucks stacked on top of your deck///

 

I asked a friend that pulls out of the Newburgh auction. That'd be your best bet to get the real answer.



He said you need the endorsement if it's on a tow truck, but not if you have a 3-10 car hauler trailer. Ie if it's a tow truck that you could pull cars out of a ditch yes, a trailer to move cars in bulk no.

 

New York defines a tow truck as a vehicle designed to transport or recover motor vehicles by means of a hitch assembly or winch and deck that moves to the ground to facilitate loading. Short answer, on a multi car trailer no tow truck endorsement is required, but on a 2 or 4 car flatbed type hauler you do need a tow truck endorsement.

 

Well I have never heard of this

 

Are you sure that is not a permit that is needed in NY to pick up cars/trucks from the side of the road?

I know I have seen signs that say permit needed to remove cars on the high ways of NY. So if I was to break down in my PV in NY I cannot have my CT tow truck come tow it off the high way UN-LESS they have the needed permit. But to come pick the PV up at a shop that towed it off the high way no permit needed IIRC.

NY has you coming & going with tolls and if you need a tow truck!
Dave ----

 

The permit required signs you are referring to in NY are for the NY Thruway and most NYC highways and they usually apply to passenger vehicles only. On the NY Thruway you can not even legally change your own flat tire on your car, although a lot of the cops will stop and provide help. If you have a commercial vehicle on the NY Thruway you can purchase a $2 road service permit and have any company of your choice provide repair or towing services except if you are in an accident then it is Thruway authorized garage only. In NYC you are stuck with their authorized towers but they have to drop you at the nearest point off the regulated highway, so long as you can pay on the spot, then from there you can have any tower you want come service you. The NYC permitted only tow trucks to tow into, out of, or thru the city was struck down a few years ago, but they still maintained control of the expressways and bridges in the name of safety and quick clearance.

What the OP is asking about is the tow truck endorsement that NY requires on your driver license to operate a vehicle meeting the definition of tow truck, which is in addition to any local or county towing licenses or permits those jurisdictions may require. NY is a tough state to operate a tow truck or company in. SOme of my friends that live and work in the NYC/Long Island area have five or six different tow operator licenses or permits so they can work in all the local towns and sometimes even police precincts, such as in Freeport, Long Island where you must have a permit for each of the four individual police precincts to tow from that part of the tow.