Best Rollback for start up / General tow truck thread

Looking to start a towing company where I would be the operator as well, town of about 10,000 people we currently have 3 small towing services that are established the average cost of a tow is around $40 locally, looking for any advice about the towing business in general as well as a recommendation for a good starter rollback 10-13k is probably all I will be able to afford starting out, thanks

Other urls found in this thread:

vancouver.craigslist.ca/rds/cto/5924681008.html
twitter.com/NSFWRedditImage

Why necessarily a rollback and not a traditional tow truck?

vancouver.craigslist.ca/rds/cto/5924681008.html
If you really want a flat deck get something like this

Because I believe it would be more versatile, and easier to use in most situations.

lol im not sure if you were trying to be funny or not, but that would be very unacceptable

How so? It's cheap, does the job and is on propane so you won't spend loads on diesel or gas. If you want to buy something like your pic you'll have to cough up 20k

10,000$รท40$=250 tows before you pay for your truck, minus overhead costs and any kind of profits. If you have a truck you could just buy a lowboy trailer with a winch.

Well my competition has actual flatbed tow trucks, most of them are early 2000 models I couldn't very well expect someone to call me to haul there twenty thousand dollar vehicle on a wedge bed or a trailer when there are people with the proper equipment willing to do the same job...plus either of those options would be awkward as fuck to navigate and position in the middle of the highway during a wreck trying to get the road open quickly as possible

$40 is just in general like within a 10 mile radius, you have to account for storage fees on some of those jobs as well as longer trips and some insurance jobs which may be billed a little more, also im going to offer road side assistance like fuel delivery, lock outs, spare tire changes, jump starts that should help offset cost somewhat

Hmm, recoveries though bring in good $$ and roll backs are about the worst thing you can get for recoveries. Wheel lifts, especially the auto ones are good for recoveries, as well as can tow just about anything that isn't lowered.

How are rollback bad for recoveries? they have a winch the same as a traditional truck with a boom, yeah it may take an extra 2 minutes to rig a snatch block in some cases but it should still get the job done...plus it on of the wheels is torn off no problem just drag it on the bed, no wrestling dollies and shit

There's only 3 flatbed manufacturers who will rate their flatbeds for recovery. NRC, Reka and Dualtec. Everyone else says no, and for good reasons. Miller beds just destroy themselves if they get used for recovery work too often, and Jerr-dan is just... Jerr-dan. Accidents with wheels being ripped off aren't hard to deal with anyway, just chain sling it and go, and you'll probably do less damage to the vehicle that way then dragging it around on the ground.

You just need to know how to do wheel offs with a flat bed. It pretty easy to do without fucking up the car

as a person with a really low expensive fast car

i would never call a tow service that wouldnt be able to accomidate my ride height, do literally all the work themself while i stand over them watching (on the side of the road) and never expect a tip

That's the exact type of service I intend to provide and I would never expect a tip for a service you are already paying for

Hey, just my luck.

I lost my job about 2 months ago and I've interviewed for a local body shop with their own towing fleet.
They pretty much offered me the job.

>How would you recommend a job as a towing operator?
>Would you recommend extra certifications like CPR and First Aid?
>The shifts for this company are 12 hour shifts, 6AM to 6PM for day shift and 6PM to 6AM for the night shift. Is that a pretty standard shift length?
>The pay scale is a base $420 a week or 25% of the call as commission. Is that a fair pay scale?

Thanks for your wisdom.
>pic unrelated

12 hour shifts are pretty standard for running a tow truck. Doing only 8 there's hardly enough time to run many calls.

Thanks I figured it seemed normal for an "on call" job.
My biggest concern is that it's a fair pay scale. Especially because they said this is their slow period till spring and summer.

keeping this bumped for answers

bump

>5 days times 12h for 60h work weeks
>$420 per week
>$7/h
Doesn't seem fair to me. I wouldn't take anything below $20/h to be honest.

I would assume its 3 12hr shifts per week

Oh. That makes more sense both in terms of work hours/week and hourly wage. Still not a great pay though.

You forgot to jnclude commission on each tow he runs. The Bae pay is kinda skeet but if you run calls you make money

The OP said $420 OR commission... I assumed that wasn't a typo.

It ends up being about 5 work days a week. 4 on, 2 off and then cycles.

The pay this company offered me was $420 a week if you don't make over $420 in commission.

Say you make $440 in commission, you take $440 then. He said winter time is a bit slow but in the summer when it's 110+ you can rack up $1500/week

so 48 hours a week for $420?

If you make zero calls, yes. I don't particularly want the job, but I figure it's a good transferrable skill and I've been unemployed since November.

It's this or working at a tire shop as a tire/lube tech.

no by all means go for it I would, m OP by the way I would love to get some more experience, but the local companies are run by the owners

Yet this driver broke an axle out of the trans.

Nope sorry bud that's how it was when I picked it up. Wheel Mia ripped all that shit out b4 I loaded it

So the towing place called offering the job. I would start tomorrow.
It's a tough call, but I have to do it. It's a lot of liability and long hours for what could be shitty pay. Here's hoping it goes well.

That's about the industry standard. You make a base wage that you have to earn back in calls before commission kicks in.