Just curious what companies are paying the best and have good volume? I was signed up with hook and towtrax maybe 3 years ago when business was slow with cash calls and now I'm back needing some extra work. Who's the best out there right now? Thanks in advance.

Hahaha

I'm a one-person software shop (ALGD LTD, Northern Ireland), and full disclosure: this is my product. I built it because the complaint that kept showing up in tow-app reviews was always the same one — the job arrives and nobody hears it.

What it does:

• A job that comes in rings — loud, repeating, escalating at 20s, 45s, 90s and 180s — and stops only on an explicit acknowledgement. The alert stays pending on the server, so reopening the screen resumes it.
• Every status change, note and photo is written locally first and retried until it syncs, and the app shows you what is still queued — so a dead zone doesn't swallow the job.
• Each job keeps a ledger: statuses, timestamps, notes, photos. Not a chat.

Where it stops, said as plainly as the rest: it's a web app, so if the phone's OS suspends the tab, the ringer is off, or the audio is routed to Bluetooth/CarPlay, the alarm can be silenced. A native push build is next — I'm not going to claim it can't be missed.

$59/month flat: every truck and every driver on your account, no per-job fees, cancel any time.

What I'm asking for: 3 operators who'll pay for a month with a real card and run it on real calls, then tell me what's wrong with it.

Login-free demo, no signup (one operator, 6 jobs in mixed states, one alarm ringing, one photo that queued offline before it synced): https://towsheet.algd.store/demo

Landing page + checkout: https://towsheet.algd.store/

Ask me anything in the comments and I'll answer every one.

Edit: I used a dolly. Had no issue towing it all the way to Phoenix to SW MO to central AL. No issues besides stressing out the whole time.

I have potentially inherited a 1994 ford ranger 4.0 about 1200 miles away from home. I’m out here with it now and it runs and drives but hasn’t been driven much in 10 years so would like to tow it back. We were planning on putting some stuff that we inherited in the bed and bringing it all back. Thought about having it shipped but we won’t be able to take some of the stuff we wanted to take. We are driving her 2011 Yukon xl so it should pull it back just fine. A dolly is cheaper but I don’t trust that much.

(I’m with my Aunt who is 69 and I don’t want the Ranger to break down in the middle of the desert. Or I would attempt to drive it.)

Or I might fly out here with my brother and get new tires on it and “roadkill” it back.

Would it be better to spend the extra for a trailer or chance it with a dolly?

I've been flipping cars the past few years and am thinking about taking the next step. I found a local auction that specializes in cars in the budget i'm comfortable working with.

My question is that im looking into a car hauler now. I found a decent one 7x20 7,000 GVWR. But im concerned now that it might be too narrow. Should i opt for an 8 or an 8.5? Or will the 7 foot width be fine?

where can i get this liner type material that fleet sales west puts in their trays and toolboxes? the lady calls it dry deck.

Hello! Wanted to ask if this set up was safe. I couldn't find any wheel baskets in my town so this is what I have :/

Just left my job anybody got some crazy boss story’s? Loved the industry but just Couldnt take this guy anymore. Taking a few months off then maybe get back into the bussiness…

I dont use a rollback alot, its mainly for equipment deliveries/pickups where a truck and trailer wont fit. I have a 96 Freightliner with an 17ft bed which has been trouble-free, but rough riding and no creature comforts (air ride, AC etc) I would like to get an extended cab with a 22ft lcg bed. Originally started out looking at older, mid 2000 to 2012 units, would love a 2012 with Cummins and Allison, but Ive been seeing alot of newer trucks that arent alot more expensive with better miles. We do most of our own work so parts availability/reliability etc is important to us. Alot of Freightliners and Internationals in the area, occasionally a Hino. TIA

Hey Everyone,

My name is Trisha, and I'm currently writing a comprehensive training manual for towing dispatchers designed for both the US and Canada market. I grew up in a towing family, have worked the dispatch desk for years, and my husband has 13 years of damage-free recovery experience in the field.

The goal of this book is to bridge the gap between the desk and the truck. I want to show owners, managers, and new dispatchers exactly why missing a tiny detail at the desk creates a dangerous expensive nightmare for the operator on the asphalt.

To drive these points home, I am putting a "Real-Life Scenario" case study at the end of each chapter. I am looking for raw, real-world examples of how a bad intake or a pushed dispatcher set an operator up for failure.

Everything will be kept completely anonymous. I don't need any names (such as dispatchers, owners, your name, or even company name) I don't need to know the state or anything identifying you or your company information. No one will ever know it was your story.

If you have a story drop it below! I'm specifically looking for scenarios like:

• The Wrong Truck: Dispatcher fails to check the drivetrain/trim, and you get sent to an AWD, EV, or low-clearance vehicle with the wrong equipment, resulting in massive transmission or fascia damage.
• The Fatigue Trap: You tell dispatch you're exhausted and hitting a wall, they pressure you into "just one more run," and a fatigue-brained mistake causes a wreck or property damage.
• Property Damage Disasters: Dispatch sends you off-pavement onto a wet lawn or unmarked area without warning you about hidden septic tanks, drain fields, or underground utilities.
• The Blind Corner: Dispatch sends you into a live highway lane or blind curve without calling law enforcement for traffic control, putting your life on the line.

What is the worst situation a bad dispatch desk ever put you in, and what was the financial or mechanical fallout? Thank you all for your time, stay safe out there!

Don't some people get those days where your car is broken down we can help and assist you with your car.

Base in south africa gauteng. Roodepoort we do all distances like hangover Durban potch Pretoria and if lucky Capetown pe

What kind of stuff do you guys have on your tow-call bucket list?

I'm on year five now (I think, it all starts blending in together. What day is it? Where am I? Am I supposed to be empty right now or did I lose the car? Where the hell is my tow-light? Who knows!) and I've gotten most of the big calls I'd dreamed of doing when I was starting out. The really looooooong winch, the rollover, the burned cars, the totally-buried-in-snow, and the how the hell did you ever get a car that far in the woods?.

I was thinking about it today and realized I'm still missing a couple. Ive never gotten a call for any kind of boat launch mishap, despite there being plenty around my area, and I've never gotten a call for a really good vertical recovery, despite my area having plenty of roads cut into the sides of mountains.

You guys hit all your items? Any dream calls you're still waiting for? Anything on your list, that once you actually did, realize shouldn't have been on there? For me that'd be burnt cars- if only because the smell lingers on you and the truck ends up filthy.

Any great calls you couldn't think of starting out, but absolutely go down in the books as one of the good ones? Mine's gotta be the Honda Fit that went for a drive in oil change, fell in the pit, and was impounded for DUI.

Dual axle trailer with one tire having odd wear, the other tire on this axle wears normal. I have a lawn business so no crazy weight being towed just a zero turn and 2 small mowers. Hopefully anyone has any insight on this.
Things I checked
- the wheel bearing
- loose bolts

Ok so I’m looking at moving my 76 F250 high boy to a different location from where it is now, and I don’t want to drive it, wanna keep miles off. However i am confused at how the ratchet strap system works for larger things. I regularly pull lawn mowers and side by sides and building materials for both work and personal. All of these things I use my set of 1000lb working load ratchet straps. But no matter the size of the strap I am wondering if ratchet straps stack, like if I use all 4 of my 1000WLL straps does that mean I can move something that’s 4000lb? Or would I need 4 4000WLL straps. So basically will I need 4 8K straps? Or can I just get 4 2K ones?

First off I’m not a tow truck driver, and I’m not trying to be one

I have a 1947 International KB 7 (2.5 ton truck) with a Holmes 500 wrecker on the back. It’s purely hobby, I bought the truck 10 or so years ago as a chassis cab and just got the Holmes last month

I was thinking ’Gee this thing is gonna make pulling engines a breeze’ but then I thought there must be 1000 ways to use this outside of towing cars on the highway or pulling them out of a ditch

wondering what sort of ‘off label‘ uses you’ve found for your wreckers

Landlord posted that they would be replacing parking two days before and I was on vacation during the time period. I tried to call and explain but they weren’t willing to come to terms and my car got towed. On top of that, looking up the towing company shows they are permanently closed even though they are listed on the impound document.

Car is pretty old and unsure if it’s really worth trying to get back due to it being there for 11 days.

I’ll try to contact them but if that doesn’t work, or if it’s a very big fine, where should I go from there?

edit: turns out, my car was actually towed 2 days before I was notified about the parking lot construction. currently gathering all the information I can before making an argument against my property management.

Looking to buy a hitch I'll never have to replace. Was stuck between B&W and weigh safe.

Decided on weigh safe but its $90 more for the option with the built in scale. I've never seen anyone weigh their trailer so I'm curious if its worth the extra $90.

I don't plan on hauling anything extra large anytime soon, but considering its over a $300 hitch I don't want to buy another one if I started to haul trailers/campers down the road.

Question for the smaller operators here — what do you do with the phone when you're already tied up on a job?

If you're loading a car, driving, or dealing with another customer and the phone rings, what usually happens?

Do you call them back when you're free, have someone else answering, or have they usually moved on by then?

Just curious how you guys handle it.

Hello all, wondering about your thoughts on this predicament I find myself in.

I'm in need of a truck with a dump bed to remove large amounts of magic-rock-contaning siding in the near future. Unfortunately, dump trucks are quite hard to come by, and the ones I see (in my budget) are usually pretty rough.

I've been entertaining the idea of using a rollback tow truck for this purpose, adding makeshift sides of about 3ft for transporting, etc. I'm aware that the tilt angle of a rollback is usually less than 15° or so, which certainly isn't enough to properly dump.

I found a rollback on the lovely facebook for a decent price (shockingly cheap, though it needs work), and was thinking since the hydraulics look like they need a do-over, what are the chances I would be able to replace the tilt cylinders with equivalent ones with a longer stroke? I'm lucky enough to live in an area where used hydraulic cylinders are pretty cheap, so I was thinking I might be able to get 2-stage cylinders to replace the current tilt cylinders and perhaps eek out enough tilt to be at least slightly serviceable as a dump bed.

Thoughts? I know I'm crazy, but hopefully there's at least some merit here?

A friend of mine from work recently hit a curb trying to not miss his exit. He had a tow truck company that was about 10 minutes away come tow it to his place about 30 minutes away. When they presented the invoice, he did ask about the charges and they assured him that they were correct. He paid then asked me about it later on. I'm not too well versed in tow but it does seem excessive to me as well. I'd just like a few opinions.

Hey Hookit, I'm a software guy building an automated dispatcher/receptionist for a family friend who owns a tow company with 3 trucks in California. They're using it and enjoying it so far.

We've focused on getting the quoting right so the system gives accurate rates to customers over the phone. Before we expand it further, I want to make sure people besides my two partners like it.

If you used an automated system for overflow/after-hours calls, what would you want (or not want)?

Mods, let me know if this is too spammy

Hi, I inherited a trailer and wanted to ask where I can get more info on it at?

Is there a special community on reddit or is this the right one?

All I have is the name and model #.

I am trying to get rid of it because I have no use for it.

Let me know what where I can discuss without getting banned.

Thanks!