Klaus & others,
Yep, that`s exactly what happened.... young inexperienced tow truck driver put the strap & winch cable on the rear sway bar & guess what!!!
It`s minus 30 here so I drove the car into town to my indie mechanic who put it in the shop to have a look. The drive to town was more than scary as the roads here are extremely icy & you can imagine the rest.
So I guess this guy will likely be a little short on his paycheck. Lesson learned for him & for my wife too. Don`t assume that someone knows what he`s doing!! The owner of the towing co. was quick to step up to the plate so no problem there... just the inconvenience of the XC in the shop for a day.
Thanks for your responses.
Rich

can you provide any more information about what was fixed. The rear suspension is pretty heavy (on my 1998 anyway) and if something were bent I don't think there would be any way to fix it other than to replace the parts - which would be pretty expensive and also you'd likely have to wait for the local dealer to get the parts in for you. I'd be very interested to hear what they found wrong and how they fixed it for you so quickly.

--
1998 V70 AWD->FWD Turbo 200k+

Too bad, but at least it's an easy fix.

Once had a tow truck driver lift our Suburban from the rear to tow it. As he was getting in his truck to leave, I reminded him it was 4WD and he forgot to shift it to neutral. He dismissed me and made it clear that shifting to neutral made no difference since the rear wheels were off the ground. He kind of chuckled at how dumb I was.

It didn't take him too long to realize the front tires were skidding along. The look on his face was priceless as he walked by me to shift it into neutral.