On the front lines of the big freeze

The calls kept coming into area car repair and towing shops during the subzero temperatures last week. Tires blowing up. Batteries dying. Door handles snapping off. Cars simply giving out.

“Everything starts failing,” Paul Krauska, owner of Eddie’s Service in Saukville, said. 

Krauska is two weeks out for appointments and his two lots are full of cars waiting for repairs — it’s even gotten to a point where customers have to park at neighboring Lam’s restaurant.

Cars with overdue repairs, tires not equipped for below-zero temperatures and cheap batteries started flooding in when the cold weather started, Krauska said.

“When there’s a cold snap, everybody says, ‘Quick, get it into the shop,’” he said.

The bitter cold came at a bad time for lots of his customers, Krauska said. If winter shopping didn’t deplete their funds, taxes did.

Some cars are sitting outside because the customer has to wait for the next paycheck to pay for the fix, he said.

The situation is tough for both his repair technicians and his service manager who answers the unending stream of calls for tows, drop-offs and appointments. 

“It’s strenuous. Kelly (the manager) has to take a lot of hard calls,” he said. “Technicians are under stress because the work orders are piling up on their desks.”

Krauska said it can also be difficult for customers who might have to wait weeks for a repair.

“You try to do your best,” he said. “Trying to tell people what to expect when you drop your car off versus an appointment.”

Randy Simmons, owner of Pitbull Towing in the Town of Port Washington, said cold snaps are dangerous and unprofitable. 

“I could make a ton of money but I don’t,” he said. 

Pitbull charges the same towing fee during all weather conditions, Simmons said, even though the cold damages his trucks.

“Whenever it’s that cold nothing wants to work. It’s like a human being, you don’t want to work when it’s that cold,” he said. The hydraulics on the trucks get “slow and whiny” and the engines run poorly.

Add in the dangers of working outside in the cold often in the middle of the night, and responding to calls is even less appealing, Simmons said.

“By the time you get back into the truck you can’t feel anything,” he said.

Simmons does most of Pitbull’s tows himself. He said he has to be ready 24/7 for tows, especially during extreme weather, when his truck serves as a kind of emergency response vehicle.

“We had an elderly gentleman on Tuesday at 10 at night and his car broke down — it just shut off. He had no heat, no nothing,” he said.

Simmons said his truck left immediately to the stranded driver and was able to get to him before it became an emergency, adding Pitbull often beats first responders to crashes.

Cold snaps are exhausting, Simmons said.

“You have to get out of your nice heated bed to go out in 20 below zero and play around,” he said. “Sometimes I look at my phone and just want to ignore it, but I know there’s someone out there who needs help.

“If you get up at 3 a.m. in this weather, would you want to move fast?” 

If the decision was solely about finances and his comfort, Simmons said he would shut down during the cold.

“If it weren’t for the people that were stranded and need help, I just would’ve shut down. It isn’t about the money at that time,” he said. “Believe me, I would rather not charge you anything and not come out at all.

“For the $70 I’ll get going to fix your car it’s not worth it.”

Simmons said some towing companies charge double or don’t even take calls in  extreme cold.

“Everyone thinks it’s about money,” he said. “I don’t know about other towing companies, but I would rather not take calls and not take the money. But when you have a person stuck, you have to be out there.”

Blizzards are far better for business, Simmons said.

“I would rather have a blizzard in 20 degrees than below zero any day of the week,” he said. “Snow storms are different than the cold. The cold is what takes our trucks out.”

Krauska said many cars get wiped out during the cold because of cheap batteries failing.

The shop would not be so busy during cold snaps if more customers put some money into their car before it quits, he said.

“People try to conserve money, which I understand, but if a car requires synthetic oil, there’s a reason it takes synthetic,” he said.

Krauska said a major delay for car repairs now is sourcing parts — rebounding effects from pandemic supply chain issues.

It’s weird stuff, he said, like having a tough time getting a new tensioner for an engine belt repair.

Finding employees is also a challenge, Krauska said.

He said he often takes apprentices and currently has one through a program with Chrysler. However, he said, not many apprentices stick with the program long-term.