Highway 17 does not have shoulders so much as edges. A car that drifts right on Laurel Curve, hydroplanes at Sugarloaf, or takes the Glenwood cutoff a little fast ends up in the brush below the road, on the dirt above it, or against the cable barrier, usually with no other vehicle involved and often with no damage worse than a scraped bumper. Getting it back onto the pavement safely, with traffic passing at sixty, is a winch job, and Santa Cruz Aptos Auto Towing has done it on this stretch since the 1970s. Call (831) 464-1155 from behind the barrier or well up the bank, say which direction you were heading and the nearest landmark, and stay out of the roadway until the truck is set up.
Winch out service Scotts Valley CA on Highway 17 is as much about traffic control as about the pull. The driver positions the truck to shield the car, lights on, and only then rigs the cable. Straps go to the frame or factory recovery points; the car is pulled in line, slowly, with you steering if it is safe for you to be inside and with the driver steering from outside if it is not. On the embankment sections the truck anchors at the top and the cable runs down; in the ditch sections the pull is from the road side.
Once the car is back on the pavement the driver checks the underside, the tires and the steering before you merge. If it drives, you drive it. If a wheel is bent, a line is torn or the car hit something hard on the way off, the same truck tows it to a shop or home. Winch out service Scotts Valley CA ends with the car on the pavement or on the truck, never left on the bank.
The stretch from Granite Creek Road to the county line produces most Highway 17 vehicle recovery calls: Laurel Curve and the Glenwood Drive cutoff on the southbound side, Sugarloaf and the Summit approach on the northbound. Rain makes the first hour of a storm the worst, when oil lifts off the pavement and cars slide wide. The embankment below the southbound lanes is steep and brushy; a car off the road Highway 17 drivers report there is often forty feet down and invisible from the pavement, so give the dispatcher the nearest sign or mile marker rather than a guess.
Say whether the car is above or below the road, how far, and whether anyone is hurt. CHP is usually already on the way to a Highway 17 run-off; the truck coordinates with them on where to stage.
Closer to town, the Granite Creek Road and Mount Hermon Road interchanges have grass medians, drainage swales and curbs that catch cars taking the ramps too fast or missing them in fog. A car hung on a curb with two wheels in the swale is a Scotts Valley winch out that takes minutes once the truck is positioned. The Scotts Valley Drive and Mount Hermon Road surface streets add parking-lot curbs at Skypark, the Kings Village center and the big lots along Mount Hermon, where a car driven over a wheel stop ends up with its frame on concrete and its drive wheels in the air.
Stuck in a ditch Scotts Valley residents call about on Bean Creek Road, Glenwood Drive and Lockhart Gulch is the rural version: narrow two-lane roads with culverts at the edge and no room for a flatbed to set up, which is why the service truck comes first. Winch out service Scotts Valley CA covers these roads as readily as the highway.
Glenwood Drive runs parallel to Highway 17 and takes the overflow when the highway backs up. It is narrow, unlit and wet under the trees, and the ditches are deep. Bean Creek Road and the roads off Lockhart Gulch are the same. Off-road recovery Scotts Valley drivers need on these roads is a quieter version of the highway job: the truck anchors on the pavement, the cable runs to the car, and the pull is slow.
If you went off on Glenwood after dark, say so clearly; dispatchers hear “Highway 17” by reflex and the truck should not be looking in the wrong place.
Get out of the car on the side away from traffic and get behind the cable barrier or well up the bank; do not stand on the shoulder. Hazards on if the car’s electrics still work. Do not try to drive the car back up the embankment; a car off the road Highway 17 drivers try to rescue themselves usually ends up farther down, because the first attempt usually digs the drive wheels in and the second slides the car farther down. Do not accept a pull from a passing pickup; a rope on a bumper beside live traffic is how a Scotts Valley winch out becomes two recoveries and a bent frame. If CHP arrives first, tell them a truck is already dispatched and from which company.
Santa Cruz Aptos Auto Towing works Highway 17 from the Santa Cruz side, which puts a truck at Granite Creek or Laurel Curve in minutes rather than the half hour a dispatcher over the hill needs. The drivers know where the embankment will hold a truck and where it will not, which pullouts are safe to stage in, and how to work with CHP on a closed lane. Highway 17 vehicle recovery is a winch, a plan and a truck between you and traffic, and the phone that sends it is answered 24 hours a day. Winch out service Scotts Valley CA is the same call in a January storm as on a dry summer night. Stuck in a ditch Scotts Valley or hung on a curb at Skypark, the call is the same.
Usually, yes. The truck anchors at the top and runs cable down to the car. Tell the dispatcher which direction you were heading, the nearest sign or mile marker, and how far down the car is.
If anyone is hurt or the car is in a lane, call 911 first. Then call us. CHP is often already en route to a Highway 17 run-off, and the truck coordinates with them on where to stage.
If the driver’s check of the tires, underside and steering is clean, yes. If a wheel is bent or a line is torn, the same truck tows it.
Yes. The car is lifted and pulled clear without dragging the frame across the concrete. Say which lot and whether the car is front or rear wheel drive; off-road recovery Scotts Valley lots need is a lift and a short pull.
Yes. Those are narrow roads with deep ditches, so the service truck comes rather than a flatbed. Say the road name clearly so the truck does not look on the highway.
Get behind the barrier, then call Santa Cruz Aptos Auto Towing at (831) 464-1155 with your direction of travel and the nearest landmark. A truck with a winch, straps and warning lights will set up between you and traffic and bring the car back.
