# Towing Fees



## Flash (Jan 25, 2010)

What are typical towing fees? Daughter had a wreck, not local, (she's fine thank the LORD). The car was in the grass between interstate and exit ramp. They broke it down to $$ for tow and $$ to wrench it up since they couldn't get the truck close. Car was taken to their business 15 miles away.

 Just wondering if they took her cause she wasn't local and young??


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## Mackey (Jan 25, 2010)

Well in my towing day in Carrollton/ Carroll Co. it went like this...
Simple tow   $35.00
Wreck           $65.00 
Overturn      $95.00
and it goes on from there. If you do not pay on the spot they take it to their lot, where they charge $$ per day for storage. If you have insurance, this is a motivator for the ins company to move it to a repair facility PDQ. If you only have liability ins then you get the bill. If you are paying the bill you want to move it quick, BUT you will incur another towing bill. Don't know where the car is or where you live, but when they do tow it somewhere else be prepared,
it will cost between $2.00 and $5.00 a loaded mile.


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## Dead Eye Eddy (Jan 25, 2010)

When I had my wreck in 2004, it cost me $135 to get my wrecked car out of impound and $90 to get it towed home to my driveway.  If I had it to do over again, I'd have gotten my dad to take all my belongings out of it, gotten my BIL to pull the CD player (almost new), and signed the title over to the impound yard.  I didn't find out until later that that was an option, and they didn't make that known at the impound yard.


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## Ed in North Ga. (Jan 25, 2010)

Flash said:


> What are typical towing fees? Daughter had a wreck, not local, (she's fine thank the LORD). The car was in the grass between interstate and exit ramp. They broke it down to $$ for tow and $$ to wrench it up since they couldn't get the truck close. Car was taken to their business 15 miles away.
> 
> Just wondering if they took her cause she wasn't local and young??



personally, I`d think they`d have to pull cable anyway to yank it up on a flatbed- although Ive driven mine up till the rear tires spun...just easier and more fun.
 Though we live rural, everything Ive had towed has been 1 price- load/unload and travel to- quoted up front, but never have had tp call because of wreck (knocking on all available wood)


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## gtparts (Jan 25, 2010)

Had wife's Park Ave. pulled approx. 10 miles recently. Entire trip on well paved roads ran $80.00.

My guess on a simple flat load on a rollback, 15 miles, and a simple drop would run $75 to $110.


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## repoman34 (Jan 25, 2010)

All depends on where you are. If the police call the wrecker, or if you call the wrecker.
If the cops call for the tow, they usually have a rotation set up with all the major local towing companies. They all have to charge the amount that the particular jurisdiction sets them at, they all have to charge the same rates.
Ours isfor a city/county rotation call)
*$100 hook fee  
* If the vehicle had to be winched further than 6 feet, and extra  $12 fee per 6 feet of winching. 
* Specialty equipment fees (can) be added if the operator has to use snatch blocks or secondary lines, more than one wrecker for recovery, dollies, go-jacks, forklifts, etc
Once you're on the road, we're (allowed) to charge (up to) $6 per mile
Normal wreck that is a quick recovery (less than 20 minutes on scene) usually comes up to about $150.

These prices sometimes vary drastically between various cities and counties. It also varies as to whether YOU call the wrecker or not. When the customer themselves called, they would get our normal local flat rate which was $65 covers hook up and first 10 miles. Every mile after that is $2. We also didn't add recovery fees like listed above unless it was a crazy wreck and you were there forever.


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## hoochfisher (Jan 26, 2010)

a year ago my brother ran off the road and got his truck(2wd tacoma) stuck in some deep mud. no wreck, just ran off the road.  

the truck i had was broke down at the time so calling for a tow was the only choice we had. called everyone in town and just for them to put the hook on it and pull it varied between $80-125.


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## shaggybill (Jan 26, 2010)

Got my car towed out of a parking lot and to the lot 4 miles down the road last year. Cost me $125.


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## Flash (Jan 26, 2010)

repoman34 said:


> All depends on where you are. If the police call the wrecker, or if you call the wrecker.
> If the cops call for the tow, they usually have a rotation set up with all the major local towing companies. They all have to charge the amount that the particular jurisdiction sets them at, they all have to charge the same rates.
> Ours isfor a city/county rotation call)
> *$100 hook fee
> ...



 Didn't know the fees varied based on who called.  

The cops called the company, it occured in Greenville SC. They charged $230 for the tow and $100 winch fee.  Not sure how far they winched it.  

 Looks like they took advantage of her.


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## magnumrecovery (Jan 26, 2010)

Flash said:


> Didn't know the fees varied based on who called.
> 
> The cops called the company, it occured in Greenville SC. They charged $230 for the tow and $100 winch fee.  Not sure how far they winched it.
> 
> Looks like they took advantage of her.





$230 for a Tow fee seems pretty high.....


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## Rip Steele (Jan 26, 2010)

Rolled my pickup on the side of the road 9 years ago. I wanted to come home and get my other truck to get it, but dad wouldn't let me. It was appox. 3 miles down the road. They charged me $300 to roll it back on it's side and another $75 to tow it 3 miles.


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## aligator (Jan 26, 2010)

I know we all know about AAA.  I got Road Service thru my cell phone, about $2.00 a month. Towing, lock outs, gas.  The nice thing is it does not have to be your car.  Some times this works better then paying first and then collecting from your insurance.  Hope it is OK to post this on this thread


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## Flash (Jan 26, 2010)

I called the company today and asked them about their rates. They claimed the State Patrol sets them. The SP web site said companys must submit their rates and be reasonable to be included on "the list".    I sent an email to the SP asking for information on the rates. We'll see.


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## virgil (Jan 26, 2010)

if you had towing insurance with your auto insurance you can recoop some of your money back.


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## potenza (Jan 29, 2010)

Tow truck $35,000, insurance $5,000 per year, man driving truck $30,000 per year, license/yard/rent $5k per month. Yea towing a little expensive, wonder why


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## repoman34 (Feb 7, 2010)

If the cops called the tow truck, like I said, they all have to use the prices set forth and allowed by the agency or jurisdiction that calls them in.
I have seen tow bills come up to over $500 for an advanced recovery. In a fatality situation, the prices can get into the thousands, due to the fact that DOT regulations say that the tow operator isn't allowed to put one single extra scratch on the car during their recovery effort. The purpose of this rule is so that the accident investigators can make an accurate recreation of the accident.
As for if you call the tow truck with no accident, and you're just stuck and need to be winched out; we usually charge a flat $100 winch out fee, unless we get stuck in the process of trying to get you out, then that price starts to go up from there.
As for what potenza said: He's absolutely right. It costs a lot of money that most people don't realize to keep a tow-truck in operation.
Our cheapest tow truck cost $63,500. The payments are around $1,200 per month, Insurance for it is $600 per month and you have to hold million dollar coverage. The driver makes 30% of each tow (a good driver will average between 8 and 12 tows per day). Business license is about $120 per year, then you have to pay for your impound lot, and an office. Ours comes up to about $8,000 per month with a $400 a month power bill, and another $300 water bill, around $650 per month Nextel bill plus the landlines and internet. $400 each to outfit the wreckers with GPS tracking and navigation which costs another $100 per month per truck to keep updated and operational. I put anywhere from 250-500 miles per day on my truck, so the oil has to be changed about every two weeks, and costs around $150 each time. Truck gets 13 miles to the gallon, holds 40 gallons, uses about 1 full tank a day. Tires for it are about $250 a piece and have to be replaced about every 3 months. That's another $1,500 every 3 months. Winch cables, chains, straps, other equipment breaks on a pretty regular basis and all that gets expensive too. There are a lot more costs involved, but these are the basic ones and show you that it costs quite a bit to keep them going.
If you ever wonder why AAA tow services leave a bit to be desired.... AAA only pays the tow company $17 a call plus whatever mileage adds up to. The drivers aren't very fond of running these calls for that reason.


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## CUTT'EM 76 (Feb 7, 2010)

*towing*

If the wrecker companies tend to give less than great service to AAA customers,why do they deal w/ AAA call outs if they don't make enough?


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## repoman34 (Feb 7, 2010)

Most towing companies that run AAA towing also have their own repair shop of which is also AAA approved. If this is the case, taking on the tows is profitable, because you get to take the broken down vehicle to your shop, and make the money on the repairs for it.
Tow companies that don't have their own repair shop and run AAA usually start doing it because work has slowed down so much that they're basically just trying to keep their drivers busy.
In general, motor clubs never pay much for towing. On average most major motor clubs  pay roughly $35 per tow, plus mileage. Not very profitable at all, and you usually end up with a not so professional or reputable towing company that will be sent to your rescue for this reason. Most of your reputable towing companies who don't have their own repair shop generally refuse to run motor club calls. Sometimes it's better to pay the extra money to make sure you're getting someone that knows what they're doing, and isn't going to damage your car.


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## Fishin & Hunting (Feb 7, 2010)

My hunting partner had his car towed after flipping it in an accident.  It cost him $175 for the tow to the impound yard.


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## Twenty five ought six (Feb 8, 2010)

In my dealings with tow companies, I've discovered that there are substantial discounts for cash payments, especially if you don't insist on getting a receipt.  On the order of 50%



It's a great country.


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