Sorry to hear of your bad luck. At least it was not an object that got kicked up by your car to go through the windshield and kill the driver of the car travelling behind you. A muffler laying in the road did just that here in Cincinnati a number of years ago.

The last time I required a tow the company used a truck that lowered a platform with indentations for the REAR wheels. They slid it under the car/wheels and then lifted the rear off of the ground. The steering locked in a straight forward position (don't know what they would do if it hadn't). This prevented any worry over the transmission being damage and from what I've read automatics can suffer damage as the distance of the tow increases. I believe that is due to internal movement (producing heat) via the driveshaft and lack of cooling from no fluid exchange to the radiator.

I would guess that would be a good option if it is available with the rollback transport as second choice. Crawling under the car and disconnecting the driveshaft would be my last choice- especially with the weather factored in.

Randy