24 hour towing on the Perth Amboy waterfront: Harbortown, the marina and the bayfront after dark

On warm nights people park along the bayfront to walk, fish and watch the lights on Staten Island. Headlights left on and keys dropped in the sand are the usual trouble.

Say which end of Sadowski Parkway you are on and which lot, since the road runs a long way along the water.

Boaters come back late to cars that sat all day in the sun or the damp. The lots are dark, so the driver calls ahead and asks you to flash your lights.

A dead battery is a jump. A car with a trailer hitch problem or a flat on a boat trailer is described on the call, and the dispatcher sends the right truck.

A northeaster on a high tide can push water across the low stretches of the parkway and into nearby streets. Never restart a car that stalled in salt water; that is how a repairable engine becomes a total loss.

Call, say the car was in water, and it goes onto a rollback after the driver checks the depth.

The newer Harbortown homes sit near the Arthur Kill, and older blocks climb toward Kearny Avenue and Proprietary House. Driveways and garages here mean early-morning no-starts and cars that need a flatbed for AWD.

The driver calls before arrival so you can move a second car out of the way.