How To Make Money In The Towing Business
There are three basic ways to make money in the towing business:
- You can work for someone else as an employee, selling your hours to them which they will in turn sell at a higher rate to the end user.
- You can sell directly to the end user yourself and cut out the employer.
- You can become the employer and purchase time from employees selling their services to the end user.
What way you choose depends on where you are in life. If you have no knowledge of the business, and no money to invest in equipment and training then working for someone else is probably your best bet. But don’t be discouraged this is the best place to learn the industry. Most everyone in the towing business either worked for someone else or grew up in the business. The great thing about the towing business is that, to be successful, employers must properly train their employees. This means that besides on-the-job training you’ll be exposed to structured, professionally developed programs aimed at increasing knowledge and expertise.
But you will be required to put in long hours and the work isn’t easy. You’ll have to start at the bottom and be called out at all hours of the night but if you’re eager to learn, and you better be if you’re going to take this any further, then opportunities for advancement will appear.
Compensation as an employee ranges from straight commission to a salaried plus commission position depending on the company and the amount of business. Some motivated operators in large markets make upwards of $80,000 per year but they really go after it being available 24/7.
If you’re coming at this business from the outside don’t worry about not knowing anything most employers would prefer someone who’s trainable rather than a know-it-all whose dad used to own a tow truck. Most towing companies, especially the larger ones, are always looking to either increase their workforce or fill a vacancy so if you really want to be a tow truck driver don’t wait until there’s an ad in the paper. Take the initiative and contact the hiring manager and if you have any driving experience, and look respectable they might give you a shot.
There are a few things you can do to kill your chances at being hired. If you’ve ever seen the 1987 movie “Adventures in Babysitting” with Elizabeth Shue there’s a couple of scenes with a tow truck driver. He’s a crazy looking guy with bad teeth, a long beard and a hook for a hand. He’s dressed in a dirty jump suit and keeps a shiny 45 revolver in the glove box of his truck which he uses to shoot at a guy caught with his wife. This is not the image that tow company owners want for their businesses. This and other more recent depictions of tow truck drivers like “Lizard Lick Towing” are not reality they are a fiction fabricated by Hollywood types who must grab our attention with outrageousness in order to sell advertising. So if you really want to be a tow truck driver put these negative images out of your head.
A few do’s and don’ts when applying for a towing job.
Do dress nicely- I know when you’re out there crawling in the mud looking for a place to hook onto a car you’re going to get dirty but don’t be that way when you’re job hunting. They’re probably going to let you go home and get changed before you start anyway. The term “nicely” is subjective so a little on that. Where a clean button down shirt or polo, really any shirt that doesn’t have your favorite NASCAR driver’s face or an advertisement for alcohol plastered on it, and tuck it in. Jeans or slacks without dirt or holes that are pulled up so that you can tuck your shirt in Boots or shoes that cover your entire foot- Sandals or flip-flops tell me you’re not serious.
Don’t bring your phone in with you. If you start off a relationship with your potential employer by asking him to wait while you take a call or texting in the middle of an interview you will not get hired.
Don’t have more holes in your head than what you were born with. What I mean to say is if you have piercings take them out, let them close up and get on with your life. Look back on that time and those decisions as your misspent wild rebellious days but please don’t come in expecting to get hired unless they’re gone. I know this may sound insensitive but you’ve got to understand that the towing business is a service based business with customers that employees must deal with on a face to face basis. And if an employer has a choice, he will choose to have his customers interact with someone without excessive piercings…
How To Make Money In The Towing Business
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