If you price off gut feel or by copying the shop down the road, one of two things is happening. You are leaving money on the table, or you are quoting too high and losing calls you never even hear about. Neither shows up on a report. Both quietly cap what your trucks earn.
Pricing a tow is not complicated once you see the parts. Almost every job is a base fee plus a distance charge, then a short list of add-ons that decide whether the ticket makes money. This guide breaks down the model, gives you honest 2026 benchmarks to check yourself against, and walks a simple method for setting numbers that cover your real cost per hour.
How towing pricing is built (the two-part model)
Strip away the labels and nearly every light-duty tow is priced the same way: a hookup fee plus a per-mile rate. The split exists because a tow has two different costs baked into it. Getting the truck to the vehicle and loading it is fixed effort no matter the distance. Driving it somewhere is variable. One fee covers each.
The hookup (hook-and-go) fee
The hookup fee, sometimes called the base or hook-and-go rate, covers dispatch, drive-out, and getting the vehicle safely onto the truck. It usually includes a set number of free miles, often the first 5 to 10. This is the floor of the ticket, and it is where you recover the cost of simply rolling a truck.
The per-mile rate and free-mile radius
Past the included miles, you meter a per-mile rate for every loaded mile. Some shops also charge for the deadhead, the empty miles driving out to the vehicle, especially on rural calls. Decide your free-mile radius on purpose. Too generous and long local tows lose money. Too stingy and you scare off the short hauls that fill your day.
What towing rates look like right now (2026 ranges)
These are benchmarks to sanity-check your own numbers, not quotes to copy. Rates vary hard by market: low-cost rural areas sit at the bottom, coastal metros at the top. In 2026, a standard local light-duty tow runs about $110 to $325 all-in.
| Rate component | What it covers | 2026 range |
|---|---|---|
| Hookup / base fee | Dispatch, drive-out, load | $75–$125 |
| Per loaded mile | Distance past free miles | $3–$7 |
| Local tow (under 10 mi) | Typical all-in ticket | $110–$325 |
| After-hours / weekend | Nights, weekends, holidays | +$50–$150 |
| Winch-out / recovery | Off-road, stuck, rollover | $75–$250 / hr |
| Storage per day | Impound / VSF holding | $25–$85 / day* |
*Storage is often capped by state. Texas, for example, limits a vehicle storage facility to $22.85 a day for vehicles 25 feet or under, per TDLR. Long-distance tows flip the math: per-mile drops well under $1 once you are past a few hundred miles, because the fixed drive-out is spread across the whole trip.
The add-ons that make or break your margin
The base and mileage keep the lights on. The add-ons are where a shop is either profitable or quietly bleeding. Thin operators leave these off the ticket to seem competitive, then wonder why the busy months do not pay.
After-hours. A premium of $50 to $150, or 15 to 25 percent on nights and weekends and up to 50 percent on major holidays. Your driver is awake at 2 a.m.; the price should say so.
Winch-out and labor. Anything beyond a straight hook, a car in a ditch, a stuck rig, a rollover, bills hourly, commonly $75 to $250 an hour with a one-hour minimum. In some metros winching runs $150 to $300 an hour.
Flatbed premium. A flatbed tow runs 20 to 40 percent more than wheel-lift, often $20 to $60 extra on the same job. It is the right call for AWD, luxury, lowered, and damaged vehicles, and customers expect to pay for it. If you are still deciding which rig to run, see our guide to the types of tow trucks and which to buy first.
Storage and the deadhead are the two lines operators forget. If a car sits on your lot, the storage clock should be running from day one, within your state's cap. And if you drove 20 empty miles to reach a rural breakdown, that mileage is a real cost, not a courtesy. Put both on the ticket.
Light-duty vs heavy-duty pricing
Do not try to scale a light-duty rate card up to a bus or a loaded semi. Heavy-duty and recovery are a separate pricing world. They bill by the hour, by the ton, or with rotator and labor rates, and the numbers are an order of magnitude larger.
A local heavy tow often starts around $500. A complex recovery, a rolled tractor-trailer, a load that has to be transferred, a rotator on scene, can run $2,500 to $5,000 or more depending on time on scene, equipment, and loaded miles. If you are moving into heavy work, price it as its own service with its own rate sheet, and make sure your intake captures enough detail to quote it right.
Pricing by job source (and who sets the price)
Here is the part new operators miss: you do not always set your own price. The job source does. Knowing which bucket a call falls into tells you your margin before you even roll.
Motor clubs (AAA, Agero, and similar) set the rate. You take their number in exchange for steady volume. It is a floor of work, not a margin play. Police and municipal rotation is often capped by the city or county, so the ceiling is fixed. Private property and non-consent tows are where you set the price and keep the best margin, though the state caps you: Texas limits a light-duty private property tow to $272 and the drop fee to $135. The full state-by-state picture is in private property towing laws by state. Cash and roadside calls are fully your price, and usually your best-paying work, if you can get to the phone in time to book them.
How to actually set your numbers
Stop guessing. Set your rates off your own costs in five steps.
1. Know your cost per hour. Add up monthly fixed costs (truck payment, insurance, phone and software, storage lot) and variable costs (fuel, driver wages), then divide by the hours your truck actually works. That number is your floor. Take a one-truck shop with roughly $8,000 a month in costs over about 200 working hours: that is a $40-per-hour floor before a cent of profit. A 30-minute local tow costs you around $20 in time plus fuel, so a $95 hookup is margin, not markup.
2. Check local comps. Call three competitors as a customer. Learn the real market band in your ZIP, not the national average.
3. Set three tiers. A floor (motor-club and price-shoppers), a standard (cash local), and a premium (after-hours, flatbed, difficult access). Most tickets should land at standard or premium.
4. Price after-hours deliberately. Decide the night, weekend, and holiday premiums once, put them in your system, and quote them without flinching.
5. Review quarterly. Fuel, insurance, and wages move. If you have not raised rates in a year, you have taken a pay cut. We cover the cost side of the equation in the pricing model behind Towline's own pricing.
The pricing leak nobody puts on the invoice
You can price every job perfectly and still stay broke, because the most expensive job is the one you never quote. A call that rings out at 2 a.m. is a $150-plus ticket handed to the competitor who picked up. It never hits a report. It just is not there.
Pricing perfectly and then missing a third of your after-hours calls is the most common way new operators stay stuck. We ran that math in the real cost of a missed release call. Fixing it is not a rate change, it is answering the phone, which is exactly what an AI voice agent does: it picks up every call, quotes your rate, and books the job while you sleep. If you are also shopping dispatch tools, our Towbook alternatives guide covers where that phone layer fits.
FAQ
How much should I charge for a local tow?
For a standard local tow under about 10 miles, most operators land between $110 and $325 in 2026: a base hookup of roughly $75 to $125 plus $3 to $7 per mile. Coastal metros run higher, rural markets lower. Set your number off your own cost per hour and local comps, not a national average.
What is a fair per-mile towing rate?
About $3 to $7 per loaded mile for light-duty in 2026, with some metro shops charging up to $9. Many operators fold the first 5 to 10 miles into the hookup and meter per-mile after that. Long-distance hauls drop well below a dollar a mile.
How much more can I charge for after-hours or weekend tows?
Usually a $50 to $150 premium, or 15 to 25 percent on nights and weekends and up to about 50 percent on major holidays. It is legitimate, so price it deliberately instead of absorbing it.
Should flatbed tows cost more than wheel-lift?
Yes. Flatbed runs 20 to 40 percent more, often $20 to $60 extra on the same tow. It is safer for AWD, luxury, lowered, and damaged vehicles, and the equipment costs more to run, so the premium is expected.
How do I price a heavy-duty or recovery job?
Bill hourly, per ton, or with rotator and labor rates, not off a light-duty card. A local heavy tow often starts around $500, and a complex recovery can run $2,500 to $5,000 or more. Winching is usually $75 to $250 an hour with a one-hour minimum.
How do motor clubs like AAA and Agero affect what I can charge?
On motor-club calls you take the club's rate in exchange for volume. Police rotation is often municipally capped. Private property and cash calls are where you set your own price and keep the best margin, within state caps like Texas's $272 light-duty limit.
Key takeaways
- Nearly every light-duty tow is a two-part price: a hookup fee plus a per-mile rate with a free-mile radius.
- 2026 benchmarks: hookup $75–$125, per-mile $3–$7, local tow $110–$325. Adjust to your market.
- Add-ons decide margin: after-hours, winch-out, flatbed premium, storage, and the deadhead. Put them on the ticket.
- Heavy-duty is its own rate world. Motor clubs and rotation set the price; private property and cash calls are where you do.
- Set rates off your real cost per hour, then remember the most expensive job is the call you never answered.