The recent floods in Chennai created a huge demand for an unusual item — the recovery van — to transport vehicles that were submerged and could not be started for repairs. Van owners capitalised the situation by charging five to six times more than the usual rate. A similar trend was witnessed even in 2015, when the city was battered with heavy rain and floods.

Recovery vans or tow vehicles are normally parked on the road side, and people hardly take note of them. However, they were the stars on the road after the floods. People were looking for one to take their vehicles to service centre for repairs, and were even willing to shell out a huge premium.

The rain in Chennai on December 3 and 4, and the subsequent floods, left the city paralysed for over a week. A week after the water receded, vans could be seen towing all types of vehicles.

Chennai has nearly 200 recovery vans that are not enough to meet the huge demand of over 5,000 vehicles that were stranded at worst-affected places such as Velachery and Sholinganallur. Some of the auto majors even brought recovery vans from neighbouring districts to help their customers, said sources.

The service centres on a normal day will offer to take and deliver the vehicle for servicing. However, after the floods, they declined to provide this and asked customers to make their own arrangements

Ramesh, a resident of Velachery, which was the worst affected by the recent floods, faced such a situation. “The service centre where I usually give the vehicle for repairs said they too busy, and asked me to bring the vehicle to their place. However, the vehicle did not start. I was desperately looking for a recovery vehicle, but it was not available in the market. After a few days, my service centre owner himself came and started the vehicle,” he added.

exorbitant prices

Ramesh’s neighbour, Venkatesh, whose car was completely submerged, had to wait for over 15 days to get a recovery van and paid nearly ₹10,000 to get his vehicle to the service centre in Guindy. Usually, it would cost less than ₹1,500.

A recovery van owner agreed that some of the owners did make quick money by charging exorbitant prices as the demand was huge. It always happens when there is a supply and demand crisis, and this was not just for the recovery van segment, but also for other sectors, including the truck industry, he added.

“I did 5-10 trips a day for nearly a week,” said the recovery vehicle owner, who towed vehicles from Velachery and Sholinganallur to the service centres in Guindy and Ambattur.

Satya, who owns a Benz and lives in Alwarpet, was lucky to get a recovery van just before the demand picked up. However, he had to pay nearly ₹5,000 to take the vehicle to Ambattur. The price was more than double the usual cost, he said.

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