24-Hour Emergency Towing

What counts as an emergency on the dispatch board

Not every call is an emergency, and the difference decides what moves first.

An emergency, to dispatch, is a vehicle that cannot stay where it is: a car in a live lane of I-94 after a crash, a stalled SUV on the US-23 shoulder at midnight, a dead van across a loading dock off Michigan Avenue in Canton, a sedan blocking a stranger's driveway. Those go to the front of the board.

A car that died in your own driveway at 11 pm and is not needed until noon is a tow, not an emergency. We will come that night if you want, or dispatch can set a morning pickup so you are not standing in the driveway at midnight. Your call.

Get yourself safe before you get us moving

Nothing we do matters if you are standing in a lane.

1. Injuries first. Anyone hurt, call 911 before anyone else. The tow can wait.
2. Hazards on, then pick where to stand. With a guardrail or concrete barrier, get out away from traffic and stand behind it, well ahead of the car. On a bare shoulder with traffic close, staying belted in is often safer.
3. Steer it if it rolls. If the car moves and nobody is hurt, get it to the shoulder or the next ramp. The State Street and Huron Street exits on I-94 give a truck room to work. A live lane at the US-23 interchange does not.
4. Be visible at night. Dome light on, phone flashlight in hand. The driver is looking for a person, not a car.
5. Respect winter. Bridge decks on M-14 and the Michigan Avenue bridge over the Huron River ice first. If you slid, the next driver can too. Stand farther back than feels necessary.

What dispatch asks at 3 a.m., and why

Each question picks the right truck for your vehicle, sets a price, or keeps you out of traffic.

• Is anyone hurt, and are police on scene? A truck rolls now, or waits for a release.
• Where exactly are you? Highway, direction, nearest exit or mile marker, which shoulder. Eastbound I-94 past US-23 and westbound past Michigan Avenue are one dot on a map and a full crossover apart for a tow truck.
• What is the vehicle? Year, make, model, drivetrain. AWD vehicles, EVs, lowered cars, and anything crash-damaged ride on a flatbed with all four wheels off the ground, carried rather than dragged. Say what you drive and it is loaded the right way the first time.
• Does it roll and steer? A locked wheel, a seized steering column, or a transmission stuck in park changes how the car is loaded and secured, and winching beyond the first 15 minutes is an add-on. You hear that now, not on the shoulder.
• Where is it going, and is it open? Body shops are closed at 3 a.m. Key drop, your driveway, or we hold it until they open.

Then dispatch reads you the price: hook-up, estimated loaded miles, every add-on that applies, and an honest ETA. You say yes, then the truck rolls. The call happens in English, Arabic, Spanish, German, or Romanian.

Accident scenes: after the release, not before

The officer on scene controls the vehicle until it is released. If police call their own truck to clear the road, that truck takes the car to its lot, and we can move it to your body shop from there. Once the officer releases the car to you, the tow is yours to choose.

While you wait, photograph the damage, exchange information, and take your registration, insurance card, and anything you need for the week. Tell dispatch about deployed airbags, leaking fluids, or a wheel folded under; each one changes how the car is loaded and secured, so the truck arrives ready for it.

Where the wreck goes is your decision: the body shop you trust, your driveway while the claim sorts out, or the yard your insurer names. We do not bill or accept insurance directly; you pay and get an itemized receipt with hook-up, loaded miles, and add-ons on separate lines to submit to your carrier.

Shoulders, holiday weekends, and cars that must move now

I-94 from Baker Road to Rawsonville Road, US-23 from Milan to Whitmore Lake, and M-14 across north Ann Arbor carry traffic at 2 a.m., with stretches too narrow for a truck to pull fully clear. Dispatch tells you which side it approaches from.

Holiday weekends load the board: the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, Fourth of July, U-M football Saturdays with State Street and M-14 jammed. Dispatch answers on all of them, holiday add-on quoted first.

Some calls are about consequence, not danger: a fire lane or the only exit from a downtown Ann Arbor structure. Same priority, same process.

Whether it is a compact sedan, a three-row SUV, or a work van, tell dispatch what it is and what is wrong. The truck that arrives is the one it needs, priced before it is sent.

When an emergency tow is the wrong call

A car that cranks slow and dies is usually a jump-start, and the same truck tows if the battery will not hold. A car nose-down in a ditch off Whittaker Road needs a winch-out first; dispatch prices both together. A car that only needs to reach a shop by Monday is light-duty towing at a daytime rate. Box trucks, work vans, and other commercial or oversized vehicles are commercial and oversized towing, quoted per job.

We tow cars, SUVs, pickups, and vans across Washtenaw County and the surrounding areas. We do not do junk or scrap removal, and we do not release vehicles from an impound lot or handle repossessions — dispatch says so upfront if a job is outside what we do. Call 734-985-0010 for a quote; the price is confirmed before a truck is sent. If it can wait until morning, send dispatch a note instead.