BJs Rescue and Recovery.

[speedkills]

Ran into a guy on the trails today, BJ, who just started up a business rescuing people on the trail called Mountain Road Rangers. I said, oh, so like Matt's Rescue and Recovery and he said "people keep bringing that guy up, who is he?" :lmao:

Nice to have one more local option. We tend to rescue each other but I thought I'd post in case people want to hand out his contact info if maybe you run into someone else stuck on the trail and aren't in the position to help at the time. He's only been doing this less than two months now but in chatting a bit he seems to be kicking it off strong, said he has already done over 100 rescues due to the snow storms and got the Nederland PD to call him in when others were busy.

Pricing seems more than fair, not sure how he'll make any money off it really but feels like he's mostly just trying to cover his gas and tires maybe. He said it's a fixed $100 to pull someone out no matter how much time it takes and that he is just starting to charge after doing the last month pro-bono to try and get his name out there.

https://mountainroadrangers.com/

[Max]

Nice.

Funny, I saw this Jeep on reddit recently: https://img1.wsimg.com/isteam/ip/4e5d0b16-f567-42d3-9a51-0c29b6bb06d1/20210324_151910.jpg

[speedkills]

That's what I saw him driving. Really friendly guy, I hope he is able to keep his business going. Colorado does seem like a great place for what he is offering. I feel like he's doing it right, instead of sitting around waiting for a call, he goes out on patrol, might as well enjoy some wheeling instead of just waiting around. That's a good day at work in my book.

[Java]

Interesting... this has come up over the years, a few guys have wanted to start that same business but the insurance was prohibitive, largely unavailable, and it's insane to operate without it. Too many variables for a regular policy. I was in the Boat and Jetski rental business in South Florida for a few years and I had to insure through Lloyds of London, noone in the US even offered an industry specific policy (I think ISJBA has one now). That's why most regular tow companies don't offer offroad towing, as I understand it, and I believe that is why Colorado 4x4 Rescue and Recovery is a 501 non-profit with no fees. I wonder how he's handling that?

[speedkills]

No idea. He told me he got stuck in the snow, high centered and did manage to get a tow but it was $600 which he felt was way too high and that is why he started his own thing. Also mentioned he wanted to go for faster because calling Colorado 4x4 Rescue and Recovery would be 6 hour wait or something like that and he is shooting to get to people in the front range in much less time which seems reasonable if you just need one guy with a winch, if you need two or more rigs to pull you out like I did last month I have no idea if he is prepared for that or if it's a one man operation.

[speedkills]

I wonder how Matt's Rescue and Recovery handles the insurance issue?

[open_circuit]

No idea. He told me he got stuck in the snow, high centered and did manage to get a tow but it was $600 which he felt was way too high and that is why he started his own thing. Also mentioned he wanted to go for faster because calling Colorado 4x4 Rescue and Recovery would be 6 hour wait or something like that and he is shooting to get to people in the front range in much less time which seems reasonable if you just need one guy with a winch, if you need two or more rigs to pull you out like I did last month I have no idea if he is prepared for that or if it's a one man operation.

We would have been better off with a team of mules or draft horses getting your rig out!

[Java]

Matt's is a big business aside from the offroad stuff so I'd guess he can afford more and better insurance, a good contract lawyer for a very detailed waiver, the answer to everything is usually money. I'd video each recovery too, just for my protection. I'd bet Utah's laws are different than Colorado, probably because of the large amount of dirt roads. I'm guessing. The liability issue with towing a vehicle offroad first came up (for me) with an abandoned Bronco on Barbor Fork that the Forest Service warned everyone against towing out. Apparently in Colorado you're liable for all kinds of stuff when you do that. FR eventually got permission and towed it out, but I remember there was a limitation about how far they could tow it. If I recall correctly it was to the side of the road, but not on road ie. in lanes of travel. Things change too, I have no idea what the current laws are and I'd be interested to see what his set up is. If he's legit I'm putting him in my phone, sounds like a pretty good deal to me. :thumb:

[RockyMtRebel]

he better have a friend or two with a decent camera to take some videos and make a name for himself! Then some day, when he makes enough to be a "legit" tow service he can get insurance and all that.

[Jim]

I'd video each recovery too, just for my protection.

In most (all?) of Matt's vids they do a walk-around of the "situation". My thinking is that they are documenting the vehicle for their protection.

[TDash]

In most (all?) of Matt's vids they do a walk-around of the "situation". My thinking is that they are documenting the vehicle for their protection.


just imagine all the footage we DON'T see that gets edited out

[newracer]

In most (all?) of Matt's vids they do a walk-around of the "situation". My thinking is that they are documenting the vehicle for their protection.

In one of there recent videos the vehicle had a broken tail light when they arrived, you can hear someone say "make sure to get that broken tail light on video."

[Java]

My wife was an adjuster specializing in auto claims for a major insurance company here in Denver before we started our business, I showed her this and she saw a couple of things: the vehicles have what look like personal plates, meaning they are registered to an individual not a company. Personal insurance doesn't cover commercial activities, so if he's using his own vehicle he's risking his personal assets including house, retirement accounts, savings, future earnings, etc. Taking passengers in your vehicle for commercial purposes requires additional riders, so if he's giving them a ride out that's more exposure and much riskier than towing alone. Apparently before Uber they routinely denied claims and dropped the customer when they found out a car was being used as a taxi, and still do if you're not part of Uber or Lyft or something like that. She said it's like towing a trailer, as soon as you hook up to it you're 100% liable for it and without proper insurance you're on your own. Add passengers and it's a big can of worms. He could have a successful tow, no issues, all good, and hear from Frank Azar the next morning about back injuries sustained during the ride out because the person he helped saw an opportunity. No good deed goes unpunished...