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It's true, I was an
ambulance chaser. I am not proud of that. I want to tell you this story, so that you can learn
exactly what kind of shysters there are out there.
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| In 1981 I was making $600. to $800.
a week chasing, while everyone else I knew
considered $300. a week good money back then. |
Hear the Audio Book, Ten
Keys to
Safe City Driving.
If
everyone read this book and drove accordingly,
there would never be another traffic
jam or road rage story to tell.
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Me Ambulance Chaser!
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I started
out with a rip-off body shop and soon
worked my way up to chasing like a pro.
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Chicago, 1981.
I just got out of the Army and I needed a job. I found one at Majestic
Towing on
Pulaski and Diversey. The owner, George, simply gave me a tow-truck
and said "ok, go make
some money." The deal was 50/50. I had to pay half the
gas and I got to keep half the
money. He didn't have any kind of a following, no advertisement,
no customers calling, nothing.
Just a body shop and a couple of tow-trucks.
I drove
around
for three days and made about $30.00. I walked in there one
morning ready to quit. As I handed him the keys, he said "meet
your new boss, Gary."
And there was Gary, sitting at the bosses desk with his feet
on it, smoking a cigar and trying
to look like a big-shot. He looked like a mechanic that just
got off work. He was dirty and
fat. I wondered what made him so important.
He flicked an
ash on the floor and said "I'm gonna show you how to make
some money with a tow-truck.
First thing you gotta do is clean that filthy piece of crap.
Let me know when you're ready
and then we'll go out and make some real money."
I had nothing to loose, except more time, so I played along.
I cleaned the truck and we hit
the road. We came upon an old lady who was broke-down. She
told us she needed a jump. We jumped
her alright. Gary hooked the jumper cables up on the rubber
part of the battery cables. That way,
her car would surely NOT start!
We towed her in and put a used starter on her car and then
we put her old starter on the shelf,
for the next victim. We collected $180.00 and he handed me
$90.00!
That was real money back then. The most I ever made in one day, prior to that, was about $40.00.
Gary put a police scanner in my tow-truck and then we
went out
"Chasing".
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Let's go Chasing. |
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We
drove around listening to the scanner.
Everytime we heard a call for an auto-accident, we would rush
to the scene. Sometimes, we would
get there before the cops and the ambulance. Most times, we
would find more chasers there.
There was a mutual respect thing going on. First come first
serve. We'd get out of our truck
and mix with the crowd until we were talking to the owner of
the newest smashed car. The other
chasers would be racing us, mingling with the crowd. Whoever
got to the owner first, got the
"hook". We got to know the competition and we even
became friends with some of them.
All
of the chasers were all pretty cool and respected each other. That is,
all except Mike. Mike was an asshole that nobody liked. That's
because he didn't respect anyone,
not even the cops. Mike would tell you to leave, that he owned
the cops around here and that you were wasting your time. Then,
he would go talk to the cop
and slip him $100.00. Then, the cop would walk up and tell
you to "get out of here" before you get arrested.
Mike even threatened some cops.
He would tell them that he could get them fired if they didn't
play ball, his way. There was
even a rumor about a cop that did get fired because of him,
so they believed him and they went
along with his power trip. He always acted like some kind of
a bigshot too. He wore a fur coat
and showed up in a different sports car everytime.
Everybody
hated Mike. So, one day when he was discovered shot to death, six rounds
in the side of his head, no one cared. In fact, a few people
laughed and high-fived over the
fact.
The
investigators questioned me about it too. I told them truthfully that nobody
liked him and it could have been anybody that knew him. Everybody
wanted to kill him. He was
such an asshole. The newspapers called it a "gangland
style execution".
I
did have a suspect in mind, at the time. I had no proof, it was just a hunch. His name was
Junior and he was from Kentucky.
Everybody liked Junior. Especially the day he threw Mike down
an embankment.
There
was a big
ten-car pile-up on the Kennedy Expressway one night. All of
the chasers were there and everybody
had at least one car to tow. We all stood back talking while
the cops did their paperwork.
There must have been ten of us. All of a sudden, Mike shows
up and tells us all to get out
of here, that he owns the Kennedy Expressway. Well, Junior
grabbed him by the fur coat and
tossed him over the guard rail and he rolled down a steep hill
about a hundred feet down. Everybody
was cracking up. Mike couldn't climb back up, because it was
too steep and full of snow. We
all laughed at him repeatedly while he tried, then gave up
and walked about a mile back around.
By the time he got back, we had all towed our cars and were
gone. That was the only time I
personally had seen anyone get over on Mike. It was usually
the other way around. That made
my day and everyone elses too.
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The
next day, Mike was dead and Junior
was nowhere to be found.
Rumor has it, that Junior went back to Kentucky. The only problem was, nobody knew
Juniors last name, or where he lived, or anything about him.
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The investigators
who questioned me, somehow knew who all of the chasers were
and they knew I was a chaser. I
wondereded why they allowed chasing to keep happening.
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Chasing
was really a minor law violation. All
they could charge us for, was soliciting
without a license. It sounds minor, but the corruption
that it brings, is what makes
it dangerous.
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Everytime
I towed a car, I
had to give $50.00 to the cop! I made $175. per car, so I could afford it.
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And if you thought
you
could get away without paying them, then you wouldn't be a
chaser for very long. Next time
you see the cop that you didn't pay, he would tell you to leave
the scene. He would say something
like "I don't go for all that ambulance chasing bullshit."
But if you go hide
around the corner, you will see another chaser show up and
give him fifty bucks and then tow
the car. I know this, because my brother was a chaser for about
a week, then he had to quit
because none of the cops would do business with him. I, on the other
hand, chased for
about a year. I always took
care of my cops. Here's
one of the SCAMS chasers pull on you. The guy I used to
chase for taught me this little ditty. You just had an accident.
You're still kind of shaking when I pull up. I walk up to you
and say "are you alright?" You say "I think
so, but look at my brand new car, waaah." I say "do you
need any help? I could drive you home, or call somebody for you." You say "yeah,
call my wife, here's my number." I go call your wife
and then I come back. "She's on her way, do you want me
to get you something to drink?" You say "yes"
and I do. Then I say "do you want me to call a tow truck
for you?" You'd be surprised
to know how many people say yes at this point, but let's say you
say "no". And maybe you even add the fact that you
don't have any money on you right
now. Then, I say "I
know a body shop and they are right down
the street. They will bill your insurance company for the tow,
you wont even have to pay for
it. I know the owner, he did it for me and even for a friend
of mine once."
So you say "I
want
my uncle Joe to fix it at his body shop, but it would be nice
to get it off the street for
now, so ok, go ahead." Then I tow it in,
or if
I don't have a tow truck, I just go call my buddy. No harm
done yet, I have really been helpful. I
get your information and I'm gone, with your car. You go home
and sleep off that nasty bump
on your head.
- The next morning, I call you, posing as your insurance company.
I suggest that you let that shop fix your car, because they
are
a reputable outfit and we have done business with them many
times. You say "ok, great."
- Then, I call your insurance company, posing as you.
I say, I had an accident and my buddy at the body shop has
my car. Go write an estimate on
it and lets get it fixed there.
- Then, your insurance adjuster comes to
the shop and writes an estimate. But before he does, we take
some parts off. Your hood is still
good, but I take it off and hide it in the back room. Then,
I take your nice front tire off
and put a flat tire with a big gash in it and a bent rim, on
your car. It must have gotten
damaged in the accident.
- The adjuster comes and writes a nice estimate, paying me for the parts that I will
put back on, plus the damage from the accident, plus the tow and storage.
| Then, after
I fix your car, I use it for a few days and go chasing with
it. After that, I call you and
tell you your car is ready. You come and pick it up and you
love me for the good work I did. |
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| How can you
avoid these shysters in the future? |
| The best
way, is to never get into an accident in the first place. Sound impossible? |
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All
you have to do is, two things, to make sure that an accident
will never be your fault. Stay
in your lane. And always be ready to stop. These two simple
things will always keep you in
the right. If you do have an accident, it surely will not be your fault.
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If you do get into an accident,
call your own tow truck and/or body shop. If you don't know anyone, get a phone book, or call
information. Or better still, call your insurance company.
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Sometimes
the cops will make you call one right away, or sometimes the
cops will call their
guy, whether you like it or not. And there is nothing
you can do about it.
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Except follow-up. Call your insurance company right
away and tell them where the car is at and where you would
like to get it fixed at. You
have the right to pick your own body shop. And it wouldn't
hurt if you were there, when the
adjuster comes out to look at it.
I know ambulance
chasing is
still happening.
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Since the cops are in on it, it's very difficult to fight it. But you can protect yourself
simply by knowing it's there and taking some precautions, as mentioned above.
Every once in a while, the news
will crack down on it. The chasers just lay-low for
a while and then one day, they come back. I think it will never
end.
The way the cops and chasers look at it, they're
doing a public service. Big deal,
they pay the cops $50. or $100. a car. Cops don't make enough
money anyway and this is one
way to help them get paid some decent money. After all, they
risk their lives everyday. And
for what? A measly $30-45,000 a year?
Footnote: Some ambulance chasers
work for a lawyer, not a body shop. They will show up at your
accident recomending a good lawyer. I suggest you find your own.
Most of these guys are shysters, with no conscience. Many will
even fabricate a case for you.
They send you to a chiropractor who will want to see you again
and again. They will create
a huge medical bill and sue some poor sucker for a lot of money.
This is illegal and should
be reported to your local Bar Association.
Footnote
of footnote: I have some crazy stories from those days.
Check back often, I will be writing
more and adding it every so often.
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Ten Keys to
Safe City
Driving
™
(Now available on Audio CD- Only $5)
1. Understand Traffic Waves
2. Prevent Traffic
Jams
3. Stay Calm
4.
Do The Math
5. Be Predictable
6. Time Traffic Lights
7. Expect the Expected
8.
Compensate for the Ignorant
9. Teach Others
10. Make Sure an Accident is
Never Your Fault
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