About Us

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In 2019 tow companies along I-81 started to learn about a new towing program (TRIP) that would be introduced by the state to require a mandatory response of equipment and personnel to commercial motor vehicle accidents on the  I-81 Corridor. After researching the program the towers found a good deal of unsafe practices and liabilities that the program would bring onto the towers. A meeting was set up consisting of towers from the corridor and a group called I-81 TRIP Operators was formed in February of 2020. With the forming of this group the implementation of the TRIP program was held off until changes were made that would better protect the towers performing the program. During this time it was realized the influence a group could have when it's members held together as one  was unstoppable. While waiting for the changes to the TRIP program the group started working to have the Virginia Insurance Commissioner enforce the fact that liability insurance was responsible for clean-up of a wrecked vehicle. Something that other groups had been trying to do for years. In 2021 though legislative measures the group changed wording in current law removing added liability to the tower during clean-up of an accident. That same year the group defeated a detrimental bill that was introduced by the Trucking Association. With the results the I81 TRIP Operators group had seen it was realized that the state needed a new association with new ideas and a new outlook for the towing industry, therefor in June of 2022 the Virginia Association of Profession Tow Operators was started.