Winch-out and snowbank recovery in Portland, Maine

A normal Portland winter brings 68.7 inches of snow, going by the National Weather Service's 1991-2020 normals for Portland International Jetport. January brings the most, 18.6 inches, and the deepest cold: its normal daily low is 15.6°F and its normal high only 32.4°F.

Normal yearly snowfall

68.7 in

December

14.6 in

January

18.6 in

February

16.6 in

March

13.6 in

That snow piles up in banks along the curb and in plow ridges across driveways, and the slush in the ruts freezes overnight when the day's high barely clears freezing. It is where winch-outs come from: a car that slid nose-first into a snowbank, wheels spinning on packed ice on a side street, a car the plow buried at the curb, or a driveway too slick to climb.

Cold is hard on batteries too. By AAA Northway's figures, a battery at zero degrees has lost roughly 60 percent of its power, while the engine takes twice the normal current to crank, so a car that sat stuck in the cold may also need a jump start. We can do both on the same visit.

Yes. A tow truck can get a car out of a ditch, off a soft shoulder or back up a slick driveway, as long as it can park on solid ground within reach of the car and pull from a safe angle.

Ditches are the harder cases. The car may be tilted, resting on its frame or sitting in water, and it can slide sideways as it comes up the bank. The driver may pull in stages, change the angle partway, or lift one end before pulling. A car that has rolled over, or is hung up on something heavy, is a recovery rather than a simple winch-out, and we quote it as one.

On the highway

If the car slid off the Maine Turnpike or I-295, or any part of it is still in a lane of traffic, call 911 before anything else. The Turnpike's Rule 3-B leaves it to the driver to get a disabled vehicle removed promptly, and its Rule 3-D allows the Turnpike Authority to remove one that is hazardous or in the way of work such as plowing, with the owner paying. State law also lets police have a car removed, at the registered owner's expense, when it gets in the way of snow removal or the normal movement of traffic (29-A section 2069).

In a driveway, a yard or a lot

Driveways that slope toward the street, lawns softened by a thaw and unplowed corners of parking lots all catch cars. These are often the simplest pulls. Tell us whether there is room for the truck to line up with the car, and whether anything is in the way, such as a fence, a mailbox or another car.

When the car comes out damaged. After the pull, the driver looks the car over with you before you drive off, and if any of these show up, a tow is the safer choice:

• The steering wheel is off center, or the car drifts hard left or right.
• A wheel is bent, a tire has come off its rim, or a tire is losing air.
• Fluid is dripping, or a warning light came on during the slide.
• Something is scraping, hanging down or knocking.
• The car came to rest on its underside, on a rock, a stump or a curb.

A car with wheel or steering damage should not roll on its own wheels, so it goes on a flatbed, which carries all four off the road; the same is true for AWD cars and EVs that need moving. Our page on flatbed towing explains the loading. Either way, the price comes before anything is loaded, and what a tow costs explains what goes into it.

Before you call, have these handy

• The location: an address or nearest corner, the driveway, or the highway, direction and closest exit.
• How it is stuck: snowbank, ditch, mud or ice, how far off the pavement, and whether it is tilted.
• The car: its make, model and year, and if it has all-wheel drive or is electric.
• The key: someone has to steer and brake while the car comes out.