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Towing Abandoned Vehicles (Tow Zones, Middle of the Road)

This is a lot of text. Good luck brave soldier.

I haven't done the towing job so I'm not sure how it works, but actually towing abandoned cars people leave on the sidewalk, or middle of the road would be cool, incentivizing having a clean city.

The number of smashed up spawn cars I see as I drive takes me out of it. As far as I've seen, tow trucks are only used by businesses who want a car moved. I've been here a week, so I apologize for any naivety, but in my first week I've seen so many vans ditched into the side of a building, or sitting on the freeway. I haven't noticed any being handled, so I assume it's not really anyone's job. If that's the case, here's an idea:

Allow tow truck drivers to see an abandoned vehicle in a tow zone, and hook up.

Guidelines:
Tow Zones
- Sidewalk Downtown
- Middle of the Street
(That alone would keep the role occupied)

NPC Cars:
Taken to the impound lot for an hour or when the lot needs a space for a player owned vehicle, then they disappear. (either they poof out of the parking spot, or you trigger an npc to enter that specific car, and drive out after a random amount of time 10-20min (some fun code to write).

Player Cars:
It can be found at the impound lot. Maybe owner gets a call, "Hey, looks like we have your vehicle here." (Or they'll figure it out by calling the tow truck place).

Moderation:
We can require a photo to be taken maybe ("Put the car in frame and press E") but there's definitely a better method of ensuring only realistic tows occur. Maybe actual moderation, haven't thought that through much.

Payment:
It's about $100 cash to get your car off the hook IRL. Being able to pay a tow truck driver $200 or so in game to get him to drop the hook would be fun. Maybe it's $500 at the impound lot if you don't happen to notice it getting towed.

Fun:
I can picture how much fun truck drivers would have with this, swoopin' in all stealthy, and actually interacting with people. I haven't seen a single tow truck hook up a car, and it would be really enjoyable to watch a guy running out of a store who parked in the middle of the road chase down a tow truck on foot.

This could increase taxi use:
New players will join, steal a car (if we're being honest), inevitably park it somewhere awful their first day, and come back a few minutes later to a tow truck hooking up to it. Could be some hilarious interactions. Now they're calling a taxi, a friend, etc..

If police get a complaint that a truck driver improperly towed their car, that can easily be submitted and that person loses the ability to tow for 15 days, idk.

TLDR (Gist): Tow trucks tow abandoned vehicles in towable areas. Is good.

TLDR (Perks): Increases immersion, makes new players come into the server more cautiously, cleans up the city, reduces lag, gives tow trucks more to do, increases interactions. Is good.

Potential Reactions:
- Owner chooses to sit in the car while the hook is on, truck driver has to call the police.

I just see this simple change offering a lot of positivity and really no drawbacks. Whips some immersion into the server while increasing enjoyment maybe? I find myself leaving cars somewhere I shouldn't, and feel guilty to an extent because I know it's going to sit there for 5 hours.

I have a feeling you're all way better at thinking this stuff through. Just wanted to flesh it out completely to make the decision easier.

If this is already how the towing systems works in game, I'm so sorry for wasting your time lol.

2 comments

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Comments2

  • xxraphaelcxx

    •

    Mar 5, 2024

    From what I noticed trying to RP as a freelance tow driver is that nobody calls you. I've set multiple job listing on the app (yellow pages equivalent), but getting people to actually call you is another story. What I've been doing lately is hang out around the car repair shops and asking to tow for them (only landed 1 job, so not even that is reliable really..). People tend to call them up first before even considering a freelance towing person. Pretty sad when you get paid more by the automatic paychecks then you do as freelance tow driver, specially if you're buying repair kits!

    A new improved system would be nice, or at least match of what a trucker/deliver driver can make an hour (maybe a little less since you can engage in extra activities)

  • geckox_

    •

    Mar 2, 2024

    AFAIK - Echo already has a freelance towing system in place. Its not exactly how you have detailed here however, anyone is able to get themselves a tow truck, scoop vehicles, and tow the car for cash. Its not great money IIRC but, its something.

    As someone who plays a cop character I make every effort to stop and call tows for cars. I try to pay ~500-750 per interaction.