Guides
The operations manual for a towing company, in short
A towing company manual earns its keep when it settles the calls a dispatcher makes at 2 a.m., not when it lists every task the business performs.
What to take away
- A manual exists to settle recurring disputeswho takes the next rotation call, who authorizes a winch-out beyond the quoted hook fee, who releases a vehicle when the registered owner is not the person paying.
- Write the rule as a decision, not a value. "Second truck dispatched when the casualty is loaded and blocking a lane" beats "ensure adequate resources."
- Every procedure names one owner and one record. A rule with no record cannot be audited, and a rule with two owners is not a rule.
- Price the manual's exceptions before you publish it. Storage, winch-out, cleanup and after-hours rates are where disputes start, not the base hook fee.
- Review the manual monthly against your dispatch log, not against your intentions.
Start with the six calls that go wrong
A towing manual is not a description of the business. It is a list of decisions that have already gone badly at least once.
Pull the last ninety days of dispatch records. Mark every job where someone called the owner to ask what to do. Those calls are the manual's table of contents.
Most small fleets find the same recurring arguments. They include:
Recurring Dispatch Arguments
- Rotation eligibility
- Winch-out pricing
- Storage release
- Subcontracted overflow
- Damage claims
- Who pays when motor club short-pays
Six calls that go wrong
- Who takes the next rotation call when two trucks are free at the same minute.
- Who authorizes a winch-out past the quoted hook fee, and up to what ceiling.
- Who releases a vehicle when the registered owner is not the person paying.
- Whether standby time is billed, and from which minute it starts.
- Who pays for cleanup of spilled fluid or roadside debris.
- Whether the storage clock starts on the tow date or the notice date.
Rotation lists are a contract you did not write
Police rotation lists are administered by the issuing agency, and the published rules govern eligibility, response time, equipment minimums and removal. Read the agency's current written policy rather than the version another operator told you about.
Rotation List: Permit vs. Permanent
Treat as permit
- Response time
- Staffing decision
- Removal
- Administrative, appealable
- Logging
- Keep own log
- Renewal
- By performance
Treat as permanent
- Response time
- Dispatch decision
- Removal
- Permanent loss
- Logging
- No log needed
- Renewal
- Automatic
Two operational consequences follow. First, response-time compliance is a staffing decision, not a dispatch decision: if the rotation requires arrival inside a stated window, the truck has to be free before the call comes.
Second, removal from a list is usually administrative and appealable on the agency's terms, so keep your own log of every dispatched rotation call with times.
Do not treat list placement as permanent. Treat it as a permit you renew by performance.
Price the exceptions, not the hook
The hook fee is rarely disputed.
Disputes cluster in the add-ons:
- mileage beyond the included radius
- winch-out per foot or per hour
- standby time
- cleanup
- storage per day
Write each as a formula with named variables rather than a fixed number, because fuel, insurance and labor move:
Pricing Formulas for Add-Ons
- Hook feebase call-out + (loaded miles x per-mile rate)
- Winch-outrigging charge + (recovery time x hourly rate)
- Storagedaily rate x days held; clock start in writing
Worked example, with illustrative rates you replace with your own.
Winch-out equals pull distance in feet times the per-foot rate, plus winch time in hours times the hourly rate.
At 80 feet and 1.5 hours, at $8 per foot and $95 per hour, that is $640 plus $142.50, which is $782.50.
After-hours surcharge: 20% typical, labor only, adds $28.50, so the job bills at $811.00.
Those two rates are examples, not quotes. Your labor, fuel and equipment costs set them.
Publish the variables and the surcharge percentage, never a flat total.
State where each rate is published and when it was last reviewed. Confirm any storage, lien or release requirement with your state motor vehicle authority and a licensed attorney before you print it on a customer form.
Dispatch and impound software
Software choices split by fleet size, not by ambition. A two-truck operation running a rotation list needs call logging and a payment record more than it needs routing. A ten-truck fleet with impound lots needs inventory, lien tracking and release paperwork in one system.
Dispatch Software by Fleet Size
Two-truck operation
- Primary need
- Call logging, payment record
- Routing
- Not needed
- Impound
- Not needed
- Pricing model
- Per truck, monthly
Ten-truck fleet with impound lots
- Primary need
- Inventory, lien tracking, release
- Routing
- Useful
- Impound
- Essential
- Pricing model
- Per truck, monthly
| Tool | What it does | Suits | Pricing model |
|---|---|---|---|
| TowBook | Dispatch, job tracking, impound inventory, invoicing | Small to mid fleets on rotation lists | Per truck, monthly subscription |
| Beacon Software | Dispatch, accounting, impound and lien workflow | Fleets running impound lots | Per truck, monthly subscription |
| Ranger SST | Dispatch, GPS, motor club integration | Mixed light and medium duty | Per truck, monthly subscription |
| Dispatch Anywhere | Dispatch, GPS tracking, motor club feeds | Multi-truck metro fleets | Per truck, monthly subscription |
| TRAXERO / TRAX | Dispatch, impound, payments, motor club integration | Larger fleets and municipal contracts | Quoted per fleet |
For a two-truck rotation fleet, the Suits column matters most: call logging and a payment record decide the choice, not routing.
Confirm current pricing with each vendor. Rates change, and the per-truck model means your cost tracks fleet size, not job volume.
The four numbers that signal trouble
Four measures catch most small-fleet problems before they become cash problems.
Four Trouble Signals
- Driver-hours per completed job rising
- Invoice age over 30 days
- Rotation call acceptance rate falling
- Revenue per truck per week vs. cost narrowing
Four numbers that signal trouble
- Rotation response-time compliancethe share of rotation calls where the truck arrives inside the agency's window. Target 95% or higher typical; under 90% typical points at staffing, not at dispatch.
- Days to collect30 days or less typical across motor club and retail invoices. Past 45 days typical, your cash is funding someone else's job.
- Revenue per truck per weekcompare against your own 13-week average. A drop of 10% typical or more is a signal.
- Downtime days per truck per monthunder two days typical. Four days typical or more means you insure and park a truck you cannot dispatch.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes occupational employment and wage estimates by state and metro area at Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics Tables. Use them as one input when you set driver pay, then check against what your local market actually pays.
Records, taxes and the paper trail
The IRS states that a business may choose any recordkeeping system that clearly shows income and expenses and supports the entries on the return, and that supporting documents for purchases, sales, payroll and assets should be kept. See What kind of records should I keep? for the current list.
For a towing operation that means: a numbered ticket per job, the signed release or authorization, the payment record, and the storage clock. Contract drivers paid on 1099-NEC need their own records, and the worker classification question belongs with a licensed accountant, not with the manual.
Safety and cargo securement
Cargo securement rules for interstate operation are set by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, including general performance duties and provisions for roll-on, roll-off and hook-lift containers. Applicability depends on the vehicle and operation, so check Cargo Securement Rules against your own fleet rather than assuming it applies or does not.
OSHA's safety management guidance recommends a proactive program that finds and fixes hazards before an injury or inspection exposes them. The starting point is Safety Management.
This article does not cover how to rig a recovery, handle a scene, or work safely around a casualty. Those are certified towing and recovery training matters, and the relevant state or provincial safety authority sets the requirements. Refer drivers to that training, not to a written procedure.
A worked example: the after-hours winch-out
A driver takes a call at 11:40 p.m. for a vehicle off the shoulder in soft ground. The quoted hook fee does not cover the winch-out.
The manual should answer four questions in advance:
After-hours winch-out
- Who authorizes the winch-out before it starts, and what is the authorization ceiling?
- What rate applies after the stated hour, and where is it published?
- What does the driver record on scene, and what does the customer sign?
- If the customer refuses the charge, who decides whether the vehicle is released?
If any of those four has no written answer, the manual has a gap, and the gap will be filled by whoever is on the phone at midnight.
Sample manual page
Use this wording, filled in with your own rates.
Rule 14, winch-out authorization. Trigger: the vehicle is off the roadway and the recovery is more than one straight pull. Owner: shift lead on duty. Ceiling: the published first-hour winch-out rate. Above that ceiling, the shift lead calls the owner before the winch runs. Record: ticket number, time of authorization, name of the approver, customer signature on the add-on line. Review: first Monday of the month, against the dispatch log.
Common questions
Does a small fleet need a written manual at all?
Yes, but a short one. Two or three pages covering rotation eligibility, pricing formulas, release rules and the escalation path will settle more disputes than a fifty-page document nobody reads during a shift.
Who should own the manual?
The owner sponsors it. One operations lead maintains it and holds the authority to make exceptions visible. Technical and regulated questions go to qualified leadership, and licensing, tax and contract questions go to a licensed attorney or accountant in your jurisdiction.
How often should it be reviewed?
Monthly while it is new, then on a stable schedule. Review it against the dispatch log, not against memory. Reopen it whenever services, equipment, staffing, vendors, ownership or local regulation change.
What should a new owner avoid?
Do not copy another operator's prices, software stack or staffing ratios without knowing their customer mix and contract terms. Do not buy a second truck before the first one's weekly revenue covers its own cost. And do not print a storage or lien rule without confirming it with your state motor vehicle authority.
