my dad had 5-6 trucks while growing up and when i started helping more from my junior year on it was ok cause school kept me from working to hard . after i graduated i had more 5am-5am days ,take a shower get two hours sleep and go again than i wanted. even saying that if there wasn't a step mother involved in the business i would probably be doing it today. As a few others have said its a 24hrs 7days a week job until you get big enough to have enough people to get some time off.
Ill say this also his lowboy made him way more money than any of the other trucks.

Heck Gomer...Come on in and join me in Randolph co. and dig up some Gold Nuggetts at 1900 bucks an ounce.... All we need is an excavator, dozer, rock truck and a sluice..... You got that dont you.....

Our ordinance in Selma is based on other city's and there are certain criteria that have to be met. I remember a big one was liability insurance. I also remember that if you wanted to get on our rotation list, which is really about the only feasible way to make it, then you had to have a Roll back wrecker as well as the regular type.

The hrs suck from what my buddies tell me. But if you got the time and energy I would do it. Nothing like being your own boss

Guy up the road from me has a wrecker service and he is always coming and going at all times of day. A small local guy here in town I know who also has a repair shop told me he does 10 a day average. Just a local tow is 60 from him. If he has to go out of town to get you he charges milage.

It's a predatory business, the lot fees are ridiculous. My son just had one towed by a company on rotation, less than ten miles and on the lot for 1 day...$230.00 Imagine if you weren't able to pick it up for a week. It takes a real cold hearted person to do this to people on a daily basis.

I’m in the business and completely agree that rotation tow prices are borderline criminal but I’ll also say reasonable ain’t as cheap as people think


They towed your sons truck 10 miles and stored it for a day

That probably $125k truck didn’t magically appear at location the tow started. It used $4 a gallon fuel to drive from somewhere to there
If you don’t own one you can’t begin to imagine what maintenance, fuel, insurance, workmans comp, 6 or more $300 tires and payroll. My liability insurance for 5 trucks with an average value of $200k is just over $40k a month

Storage fees are regulated by the state and if we didn’t charge them we’d need about 1000 acres to store peoples stuff

This. Just paid $5k for a delivery 519 miles away.

Now there's an idea...might be a good "supplemental retirement income" kind of deal one day.

You will need better tires if you want to pull people out.

There it is....what took y'all so long??

Well who is going to call a wrecker driver that gets stuck in mud puddles? You better have another wrecker service on speed dial to help you when you get stuck in Walmarts parking lot.

Next time you’re shipping at this rates, call me and I’ll save you some money. I’ll haul high, wide and heavy for that kinda money

I know a guy who opened a car repair business and got a tow truck to help bring in business. Ended up closing the auto repair and bought another tow truck. Makes big $ but it is kinda dangerous with all the crappy drivers today and he is on call 24 hr. a day.

A hand full as a puppy, but wonderful dogs. Very pretty!

Here the Rotation fees are regulated by the City. If you want to be on the call rotation then you agree to charge the fees specified. That way there is no predation and no one is undercutting anyone else.
But man the tow companies sure liked to complain on each other and as the Traffic Division Commander I was the one they complained to and I got to look into the complaints. We never took anyone off of the rotation list or took their tow permit. I can't recall a serious complaint that was ever substantiated. Usually when the company learned there was a complaint the problem ended.