Light-Duty Towing

The right truck for your vehicle

Light-duty means passenger cars, crossovers, SUVs, minivans, full-size pickups, and cargo vans: the vehicles that make up most of what's on I-94 and Washtenaw Avenue on any given day. Dispatch decides how your vehicle gets loaded based on three questions: what do you drive, is it damaged, and where is it sitting? The answers determine which truck comes out and how the car is secured on it.

• All-wheel-drive, four-wheel-drive, and electric. Most Subarus, many Audis and BMWs, most Jeeps, and every EV. These are carried with all four wheels off the ground so no axle or motor turns under tow. On a flatbed the whole vehicle rides on the deck, fully off the pavement.
• Low, lowered, and classic cars. A front lip, air suspension, or a long overhang changes the loading angle. Tell dispatch roughly how much ground clearance you have and the driver arrives ready for it rather than finding out at the curb.
• Damaged or immobile. Body damage, a flat that can't be changed, a wheel that won't turn, a transmission stuck in park. These are lifted and secured rather than rolled, and dispatch will ask which corner is hurt so the driver knows how to approach.
• Two-wheel-drive in a tight spot. A parking structure, a narrow apartment drive, a short move across town. Dispatch asks about clearance and access first so the truck that shows up can actually reach the car.

If you tell dispatch "2019 Subaru Outback, dead in the driveway," it will be carried, not dragged, without you having to ask.

Where we tow light-duty vehicles

Most of our light-duty calls fall into a few patterns:

• Breakdowns on the highway. The I-94 corridor between Chelsea and Rawsonville Road, US-23 between Milan and Whitmore Lake, and M-14 through Ann Arbor. Get well onto the shoulder, hazards on, and stay in the vehicle if traffic is close.
• Won't-start in the driveway or lot. Usually a battery or starter. If a jump-start doesn't hold, the same truck tows.
• Shop transfers. A car that isn't safe to drive from your home to your mechanic, or between two shops.
• Dealership and warranty runs. Many Washtenaw County drivers need a vehicle delivered to a specific dealer for warranty work; we'll take it wherever the service department tells you to bring it.
• Post-repair or post-purchase moves. A project car, a non-running purchase from a private seller, or a vehicle coming home from long-term storage.

Anything running or not running, on or off pavement, as long as it's yours or you're authorized to move it. We do not remove junk or scrap vehicles, and we do not release vehicles from an impound lot or handle repossessions.

How a light-duty tow is priced

Light-duty towing is priced as a hook-up fee plus loaded miles. The hook-up covers the truck coming out and loading the vehicle; loaded miles are the distance from pickup to drop-off with your car on the truck. Add-ons apply for holidays, winching beyond the first 15 minutes, anything sitting off the pavement, and vehicles that need extra equipment to load safely. Call dispatch at 734-985-0010 for a quote. The price is confirmed on the call, before a truck is sent — not after.

We do not bill insurance directly. If you're claiming the tow, you pay us and submit the itemized receipt to your insurer. The receipt lists the hook-up, the loaded miles, and any add-ons as separate lines, so there is nothing to reconstruct later.

Before the truck arrives

A few things make the load faster and safer:

1. Send a precise location. A cross street, a highway exit number, or a dropped pin. "Near the Costco" is fine in Ann Arbor; on US-23, we need the nearest exit.
2. Have the key ready (or tell us where it is). We can load a locked, keyless car, but it takes longer.
3. Take your personal items and anything you'll need for the next few days. Once the vehicle is at the shop, it's the shop's lot.
4. Know where it's going. Shop name and street is enough. If you don't have a shop yet, tell dispatch; we'll tow it home and you can decide later.
5. Note anything unusual. A stuck parking brake, a car in park with a dead battery, aftermarket suspension, a roof rack. None of these are problems; all of them are easier to plan for than to discover.

Light-duty vs. everything else

If you're moving a work van with a full rack, a box truck, a car hauler, or anything larger than a full-size pickup or cargo van, see commercial & oversized towing. Motorcycles have their own tie-down setup and their own page. A vehicle in a ditch or stuck in snow usually needs a winch-out before it becomes a tow; dispatch will price both together.