There are two methods of pick-up. There's the traditional method where they put the steel bed down at a slanted level and pull the vehicle up onto the truck. And there's the crane operation where they arrive to pick-up an illegally parked car and basically hoist the car up and onto the back.
I sat one day years ago in Frankfurt and watched them load an illegally parked car onto the vehicle and some irate lady came along yelling at the guy. He didn't waste a minute....simply handing her a business card and indicating where the car would be stored until she paid the illegal parking fee.
In Wiesbaden, I'd take a guess that at least twenty cars a day get picked up for illegally parking somewhere.
On weekends, they make a fair amount just by sitting by the phone at night and answering for a pick-up related to an accident. I'd take a guess that thirty-percent of their weekly income comes from these off-hour pick-ups. A German wrecker guy....can't be picky about his hours or the income levels. He might clear four thousand Euro in one week, and one thousand Euro the next week. Business goes up and down.
So if you are new around Germany and see this truck with a crane-like device on it.....it's a wrecker. And hopefully....it's not there for your illegally parked car.
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