Guides
The monthly numbers a towing company owner should watch for first-year owners
A first-year towing owner should track hook volume, quote-to-start time, and cash collected per truck, not a borrowed national average or gross revenue.
What to take away
- For a first-year towing company owner, track five core numbers monthly: hook volume, quote-to-start time, cash collected per truck, storage days billed, and accounts over 30 days.
- Add cost per mile and truck utilization as two supporting monthly checks.
- Quote-to-start time moves revenue fastest. A stalled quote is a job a competitor takes.
- Cash collected per truck, not revenue booked, tells you whether the month paid for itself.
- Police rotation lists and fleet contracts are two different businesses with two different margins. Track them apart.
- Reconcile against your own dispatch records and bank deposits, not a published average.
This article covers business operations only. It is not guidance on scene safety, recovery rigging, securement, hazardous materials, or impound and lien procedure. Those depend on the vehicle, the road, and the authority involved, so follow your state or provincial safety authority and certified towing and recovery training.
The five core numbers, plus cost per mile and utilization
Hook volume. Count every job where a truck left the yard and hooked something: police rotation calls, motor club dispatches, private calls, fleet accounts. Break the total into those four sources.
Cash Collected Per Truck
- Light-duty mid-size$6,000-$12,000
- Heavy-duty$15,000-$30,000
- Motor club hook$75-$125
- Heavy rotator hook$400-$800
First-Year Towing Benchmarks
- 35-60hooks per light truck monthly
- Under 30 minlight-duty quote-to-start
- $6k-$12kmonthly cash per light truck
- $15k-$30kmonthly cash per heavy truck
A single light-duty truck in a small market typically logs 35 to 60 hooks a month. A two-truck yard often runs 70 to 120. A month where the total holds steady but the private share falls is a different month than it looks.
Quote-to-start time. The minutes between the customer's first call and the truck rolling. Log it on the dispatch board, not from memory.
For light-duty calls, aim to average under 30 minutes. Medium-duty calls often run 30 to 45 minutes. Heavy recovery can take 60 to 90 minutes. This number decides whether the caller waits or dials the next company on the list.
Cash collected per truck. Total deposits divided by the number of trucks that ran that month.
A light-duty truck in a mid-size market typically collects $6,000 to $12,000 a month. Heavy-duty work can run $15,000 to $30,000.
A motor club hook often pays $75 to $125. A heavy-duty rotator hook can bill $400 to $800 before recovery time. Booked revenue flatters a month with slow-paying fleet accounts. Deposits do not.
Storage days billed. Count days a vehicle sits in the yard and days you actually invoiced.
A first-year yard should bill at least 90 percent of held days. Tight operations bill 95 percent.
Typical storage runs $35 to $75 a day for light-duty vehicles in most markets. Heavy-duty storage often runs $75 to $150 a day. The gap between days held and days invoiced is where impound revenue quietly leaks.
Accounts over 30 days. Every unpaid fleet invoice, motor club statement, and private job past thirty days, with the name and the amount. Keep the total under 10 percent of the month's billed revenue. Anything over 15 percent means customers are using your cash. Work this list on the first Monday of the month.
Cost per mile. Add fuel, maintenance, tires, insurance, and driver pay. A light-duty wrecker typically runs $0.70 to $1.20 per mile in 2026. A heavy-duty truck often runs $1.50 to $2.50 per mile. Compare that to your average billed rate per loaded mile. If the rate is below the cost, the job loses money on the road.
Truck utilization. Divide billable truck hours by available hours. A first-year light-duty truck often runs 30 to 50 percent utilization. Sixty percent is strong for a mix of rotation and private calls. Low utilization with high hook volume points to long drives or long waits.
Why your own monthly numbers beat a national average
A published average pools a two-truck operator in a small town with a fifty-truck fleet in a metro. Your fuel cost, your rotation-list standing, and your insurance class are not in that number.
Your own dispatch records are. Pull the month's job log, the deposit record, and the accounts receivable list. That gives you the only benchmark that describes your business.
The signal table
| Signal | Typical first-year range | What it tells a first-year owner | Blind spot |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hook volume by source | 35 to 60 hooks per light-duty truck per month | Whether rotation work or private work is carrying the month | Says nothing about what each job earned |
| Quote-to-start time | Under 30 minutes light-duty; 30 to 45 medium; 60 to 90 heavy | Where callers hang up before the truck moves | Ignores jobs never quoted |
| Cash collected per truck | $6,000 to $12,000 light-duty; $15,000 to $30,000 heavy | Whether the month covered its own costs | Hides a truck that ran cheap and often |
| Storage days billed against days held | Bill 90 percent or more of held days | Where impound revenue leaks | Silent if you never invoice the day |
| Accounts over 30 days | Under 10 percent of billed revenue | Which customers are financing themselves with your money | Misses disputes not yet raised |
| Cost per mile | $0.70 to $1.20 light-duty; $1.50 to $2.50 heavy | Whether the road rate covers the truck | Ignores overhead and idle time |
| Truck utilization | 30 to 50 percent typical; 60 percent strong | Whether trucks are earning or waiting | A busy truck can still run cheap jobs |
What a bad month looks like
Hook volume flat, quote-to-start time climbing, cash per truck down. That pattern usually means the phone is ringing while trucks sit. It shows up before the bank balance does.
Diagnosing a Bad Month
Volume flat, quote-to-start climbing, cash down?
Phone rings while trucks sit
Volume up, cash flat, 30-day accounts growing
The other pattern: volume up, cash per truck flat, accounts over 30 days growing. You are working harder to carry a customer's float.
Neither pattern is fixed by adding a truck. Check dispatch coverage and invoice follow-up first.
Where the numbers live
Most of this comes out of your dispatch and impound system. Field choices matter more than dashboard colors. Our towing company software and KPI guide covers what to look for before you buy.
For recordkeeping that survives an audit, the IRS explains what kind of records a business should keep. Keep job logs, invoices, and deposit records long enough to match them.
If your dispatch board runs on a laptop and a phone, the NIST small business quick-start guides and CISA guidance for small and midsize businesses cover basic account and device protection for a small office.
Common questions
How often should I review these numbers?
Monthly, on the same day each month, using the closed prior month. Weekly reviews of a two-truck operation mostly produce noise, because one big recovery job swings the total.
What if I only have one truck?
Track the same five numbers. Quote-to-start time and cash collected per truck matter more, not less, because one stalled job is a larger share of the month.
Should I compare my numbers to other towing companies?
Only if they run the same service mix, the same rotation-list standing, and the same equipment class in your area. Otherwise compare this month to your own last twelve.
What do I do when a number moves the wrong way?
Check the cause before changing the process. Falling hook volume usually traces to phone coverage or rotation standing. Rising quote-to-start time usually traces to truck availability, not to price.
