How to save money getting a tow truck

Every once in a while everyone needs to get a tow truck service from their local towing company. For me I used to get them a lot more often until I got a reliable car. But you never know when you might need to get a tow truck in Victoria, BC, again so these tips are always good to know. I have tips on how to save money when getting a tow truck service and now I’m going to share them with you.

TIP #1: Have a roadside assistance plan. Here in Victoria, British Columbia, we have a thing called BCAA which is about $160 per year and you get 3 free tow services per year from it. And if you don’t use up your 3 yearly tows you can still redeem them to help a friend instead of wasting them. My friend actually used his BCAA to tow my car to Canadian Tire on Shelbourne St. and it worked great, no cost and all covered.

TIP #2: Be loyal to an affordable towing company. One thing I love about the towing industry is that it’s still dominated by many small local businesses operating in their own parts of Canada rather than a giant franchise that serves the whole country. I love helping small family owned businesses so it’s fun to choose a towing company in town you can do long-term business with. One company called Victoria Tow Truck Service is great – ran by a local guy who loves to help, providing great tow truck Victoria BC service. They have the most affordable towing rates that I have found so far and that’s why they’re on this list of tips. Sometimes my towing rates are even lower with them because I know the drivers so well and they love to assist me when I need it. So it’s a great way to save money on towing costs, having a company you’re loyal too that already charges fair prices.

TIP #3: Avoid towing costs in the first place. This is an obvious suggestion but it’s always good to remind yourself about certain precautions you can take to avoid the need for getting a tow truck in the future. One is always checking your oil, tire pressure and car fluids regularly. Another is having snow tires for the winter. Doing these small things compound over time to essentially bring you good luck on the road, so you’re less likely to get into an accident or have car engine troubles. Read your car manual and get to know it well, make note of what the manufacturer recommends in terms of how frequent oil changes should be made and what the tire pressure should be. Drive safe and you should be fine!

I hope these 3 tips save you money. They certainly have saved me hundreds if not thousands of dollars over the past decade of living in Victoria. And that’s all money I put towards getting a new, more reliable car, which is all part of the plan. Safe driving!

A Landscape to Match Your Motorcycle

One thing almost all motorcycle enthusiasts have in common is the selfish need to display our precious bikes out in the driveway for our neighbors to get jealous and all passersby to admire. Just admit it! While we might be proud of our polished and tuned-up motorcycles as they’re erected in the driveway for all to see, it doesn’t look so impressive when the surrounding landscape design in the front yard doesn’t meet the bar so to speak. This year I noticed that more than other years. I had just finished cleaning my motorcycle and put it out on the driveway when I went out onto the street to take a photo of it. In the photo, the bike looked mouth-droolingly delicious, but the landscape behind it was horrendous. The landscaping at our front yard was so bad that I didn’t upload the photo until after a landscaping Victoria company came out and touched up our garden design. Now my front yard landscape looks just as good as my bike, so I’m no longer one of these stereotypical motorcycle collectors who can never look at the details behind the bike.

A bike photo with a beautiful landscape background

So this discussion now brings me to the part of the story where you, dear ready, come into plat. Are you like me and love to take photos of your freshly washed bikes or scooters in the driveway? Are you also like me and neglected their front yard landscaping and so those pictures you took, no matter how nice the bikes are, look like crap? Then – boy! – do I have the solution for you.

It’s called “a landscape to match your motorcycle” and it’s a really clever idea. I’m now encouraging you to try something different with your motorcycle collection this summer. I don’t care if you hire a professional landscaping company like I did or do the yard work yourself, but next time you take a picture of your bikes or scooters on the driveway and upload them onto social media, I want the background in the photo to look just as good as the bikes. You may also need to take your bike to a public park or something to do this, because not all of us have front yards to do landscaping in, after all, but you get my point, I hope. What I’m trying to say is note everyone who loves bikes thinks our photos of them are any good if the backgrounds look like crap. Now I suspect you’re giggling now and, yes, I am trying to be funny, but for the sake of people who don’t care about bikes it’s our duty, in order to get more likes on our photos, to make the backgrounds look good!

Ha! Thanks for reading and I hope you had a good laugh. But I’m serious….

There’s nothing wrong with driving a car till it completely breaks down.

From what I’ve seen out and about, I believe it’s most common for people to sell their car and replace it before it completely breaks down to the point of no repair. After all, it wouldn’t be safe to drive a car that was on the brink of falling into pieces at any moment, especially on the freeway. But if you have a plan, and you know your car isn’t going to explode, what’s the harm in driving a piece of garbage until it can’t be driven anymore? Is it so ethical to put the car out of its mystery like a beloved pet on its deathbed or let it live out its last days on a walker?

I bring this up because I’ve seen people go through financial headaches, having this idea in their heads that they have to have a nice car. They go into anxiety-inducing debt to get a car that still fulfils the same function as the old clunker they sold. I don’t see the point if you can ignore what others think. A friend of mine lives in a really nice neighborhood where everyone drives electric vehicles but he knows he doesn’t have to sign a long lease for a car that runs a little better if he can just put up with what he has. He ignores what people think, because it does the job for him, even though his car runs really rough and seriously needs a paint job

With this way of thinking always remember though that, like the horse you used all your life on the farm, your beater car will have to go one day. It’ll be obvious when the time comes, but until then enjoy all the money your saving and all the stress your avoiding by being grateful for the shitty car you have!

Thank you for stopping by Endurozone. We’re your blog all about cars and motorcycles!

The Joys of Being on the Road

If you found and enjoy the Endurozone blog then there’s a good chance you also enjoy being on the road. If your in the office or waiting in a long line with your phone, consider this poetic description of being on the road a temporary escape from the mundane nature that life as a hardworking man or woman sometimes offers.

Close your eyes or keep them open, it’s up to you. Either way, whatever your present environment is right now, just pretend your not there. Just, for a moment, pretend your at the handlebars of your favorite motorcycle, or behind the wheel of your favorite car, driving.

Riding.

Cruising.

Just enjoying the joys of the road. You’re on a twisty road you’ve never been on before, that curls around the bends of the shore. To your left you can see and smell the salty ocean, the seagulls, the wind in your hair. To your right your see the luscious forest, the crows cawing and deer loping. Straight ahead, the road goes on forever, or just long enough for you to be fully sated and ready to get back to work. Behind you, all your worries have gone, and you wonder, because life is so beautiful, what could’ve possibly had you down in the first place.

Maybe you’ve only been driving for fifteen minutes, maybe for three hours. But already you feel as if you’ve just been on a month-long holiday vacation. And that’s the power of being behind the wheel, your testimony for why life is worth living. To drive.

If you enjoyed this exercise, check out our other posts.

Be Careful On The Roads This Winter!

This post is sponsored by Scarborough Towing And Tow Truck Services, more on that later.

With climate change in full swing, there’s no telling how extreme the winter of 2021 will be. Now, in Fall, is the time to prepare for the worst, with a smile on your face, of course. Because the people who don’t prepare might wish they had listened to Edd Stark when he said “Winter is coming.”

What my family has done to prepare is partly covered in the following:

  1. Filled the trunk of our car with emergency survival equipment, including a BBQ with propane and an inflatable boat.
  2. Switched out our seasonal tires for brand new winter tires.
  3. Changed all the fluid in our vehicle (with a focus on anti-freeze).
  4. Got a spare tire as well as a spare car battery for under the back seat.
  5. Made a close connection with our local towing company and law enforcement, with their phone numbers in our dashboard glovebox.

Now, you may or may not be doing a lot of driving this winter. Even if you’re not, it’s best to have your vehicle prepared for the worst, with extra gasoline and tire patch kits, because you never know how bad the snow storms will get. You might get a call from a loved one who needs help, whom the local law enforcement is unable to reach in a timely manner due to backed up traffic on the highways. You might get storm warnings and wish to vacate to a hotel in the city rather than burn up all your firewood in the boonies. With all this considered, everything could be fine. You might get one inch of snow, but it’s still best to be prepared.

So far we’ve discussed preparing for winter with your vehicle. This is a lot different than actually building safe winter driving habits, however. Before we discuss what we believe to be the foundational points of safe winter driving, we’d like to give a shot out to our sponsors:

This post of winter driving safety was brought to you by our local tow truck service company.

Scarborough Towing And Tow Truck Services

Specializing in 24 HR towing and emergency roadside assistance in Scarborough, Toronto, Ontario and surrounding areas, trust the kind folds at Scarborough Towing And Tow Truck Services.

Their contact info:

(647) 250-0087

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The Foundations of Safe Winter Driving

We here at Endurozone don’t claim to be experts in winter driving, but after discussing this with friends and family, as well as our local tow truck drivers, we’ve agreed that there are 3 key principles to remember when driving in winter conditions. Here they are:

  1. Drive much slower than you typically would. This is important especially in stormy weather when vision is obstructed. By driving slower than normal you minimize the risk of slipping on black ice or losing control of your vehicle on tight turns.
  2. Be more alert than usual. It’s best to always be alert when driving, of course, but it makes sense to say that in winter conditions extra alertness is required compared to summer driving conditions. When winds are blowing, trees could be falling, people could be hidden behind falling snow, and by paying more attention to where you’re vehicle is going and what is in front of you, you lessen the risks of putting your car in a situation you would other wise fail to avoid–in this case, the ditch, if you’re lucky.
  3. Keep extra space between your vehicle and others. Of course, you can’t control how close the person behind you is. If they’re too close for comfort however, you can be aware of this and make sure to show them your brake lights when you feel like there might be a chance you have to slow down up ahead. However, you have full control of how close you’re driving to the vehicle in front of you! In summer conditions this might be fairly close and no one will complain. But in winter, or even stormy weather any time of year, you reduce the chances of collisions when your increase the distance between vehicles on the road.

There are many more tips to keep in mind when driving in extreme winter weather, but these are the 3 main, most simple ones that you can always have in your back pocket whenever you step behind the steering wheel during stormy winter weather.

One last time before we let you go, we want to wish everyone a great end to the Fall seasons and safe Winter! Because, after all, “Winter is coming.”

Thanks for tuning in. Contact us if you would like to sponsor a post with Endurozone.

Benefits of Electric Scooters in Canada

Thinking of getting a motorcycle but worried about safety and expenses? First of all, you’re in the right place because our blog is all about having fun with and learning about motorcycles. Today, however, we want to share the benefits of taking baby steps, which in this case for beginners would be getting an electric scooter instead of a motorcycle.

Personally, I would recommend electric scooters for beginners to practice with because although you’re legally able to drive them in the bicycle lane in Canada some of them also go up to 50 – 70 KM per hour which is faster than most bicycles and safe enough to drive on most urban and residential roads without being in the bicycle lane. Before I get too personal with my opnion though, let’s see what others are saying. Here are the 3 most common reasons why young beginners who want to drive motorcycles should start simply by getting an electric scooter instead. However, click here to learn what an electric scooter axially is if you’re uncertain. Now let’s begin:

3 Reasons Why You Might Want to Get an Electric Scooter Instead of a Motorcycle

  1. Students who don’t enjoy arriving to school all sweaty because they had to peddle on their bike for ten kilometers often prefer bikes with electric motors on them. Basically, getting a scooter is just one step above an electric peddle bike. Also, electric scooters have more storage space so you can carry your books in the trunk department instead of adding extra weight on your back.
  2. Cost-wise, it’s much cheaper to plug in your scooter to an electric socket when you get home at night rather than spend $50 a week on gas, especially if you have shared accommodations and don’t have to pay for the entire electricity bill at your home. Also, many places have stations where you can charge your electric vehicles while parked these days.
  3. Because, in Canada at least, you’re able to ride your electric scooter in the bicycle lane if you wish, that also means that electric scooters are potentially much safer than motorcycles. You may not be able to take your electric scooter on the highway going 120 KM per hour, but then again if it suites your purposes then there’s no reason to do such a thing to risk your safety anyways.

These three reasons are just to get started, to aid you in making your final decision. If I could say one more thing it’s that you don’t even need a driver’s license to drive an electric scooter in Canada although they can go 70 KM per hour. This means that for young people especially who are still training how to ride correctly, a temporary electric scooter to get you through the first few years of adult life could provide the practice you need to become a competent rider.

Whatever you decide, us here at Endurozone wish you safety out there on the roads!

What Feels Good VS What’s Good (Why Men Drive)

Driving a car ever since m’ grand daddy slapped me has been the utmost metaphor for life. Life in general that is. Can’t blame me when I’m living in a box. Except for the guy who invented the box, of course. But then again we’re all driving cars and we all live in boxes. Are we really all just doing what feels good to us, or is there a better reason why we like to speed at 230 miles per hour down the freeway?

While continuing to use driving as the utmost metaphor for life in general, I would like to say that I have concrete evidence proving cars and driving in general is good for life in general and stereotypical men don’t just love cars because they feel good.

My evidence starts with my own first-hand experience seeing how owning a car has turned a lazy teenager into an efficient pizza delivery driver. No cap. That lazy teenager was my own son, and I’m as stereotypical as they get. My son is thinking about starting his own pizza shop now. But a year ago he was playing video games all day. Look at what a single vehicle did, even though I paid for it!

And it feels good too. I think, actually, now that I reckon, that’s all the evidence I need.

Getting ready for the long-haul

We like to look at our lives metaphorically as the process of towing a motorcycle. It all started we bought our fist motorcycle as teenagers and it all broke down from there. Next thing you know we got several motorcycles before a collection has begun. The, when it finally comes to time to all in the tow truck because we’ve gone too far, we’re only halfway there, and must settle as being old men with teenagers still inside of us.

Now you may not understand the metaphorical significance of this, but that’s fine, because over the long-haul we’ll be explaining this a lot more in further detail.

So we thank you for joining us and beckon you to stay in your motorcycle seats as we take you on a bumpy ride.

Too bad motorcycles don’t have seat belts…