If anyone is injured, or the vehicle is in a live traffic lane or on a narrow freeway shoulder, call 911 first and get behind a barrier away from traffic. Once you are safe: towing, jump starts, flat tire changes, fuel delivery, winch-outs and recovery across the Wasatch Front.
More people are hurt standing beside a disabled vehicle than inside one. Barrier first, phone second.
Five kinds of call that cover most of what gets dispatched. If anyone is injured or the vehicle is in a live lane, stop reading and call 911.
Most tows are simple once two things are settled: which truck the vehicle needs, and where it is going. Decide the destination before the truck arrives, because a vehicle parked somewhere provisional usually gets moved twice.
Learn more →A flatbed carries the whole vehicle with nothing turning. On an all-wheel-drive car that is not a nicer option, it is the difference between a tow and a drivetrain repair.
Learn more →A good share of calls end with the vehicle driving away. Say what it is actually doing when you turn the key and you may not need a truck at all.
Learn more →A recovery is not a tow with a rope added. Pulling a vehicle from the wrong angle or the wrong point bends body panels and rips out mounting points that were never meant to take the load.
Learn more →After a crash, the order is fixed: 911, then safety, then the vehicle. If police ordered the tow, the vehicle is on a storage clock and the release is a paperwork problem.
Learn more →Three steps, and the first one is not about the vehicle.
Live lane, narrow shoulder or injuries means 911 first. Exit on the side away from traffic if it is safe to move, and wait behind a barrier or well off the road rather than in the vehicle or beside it.
Year, make, drivetrain, whether it rolls, steers and comes out of park, and the nearest mile marker, exit or cross street. Those details decide which truck is right.
Confirm directly with them what truck they are sending, where the vehicle is going and what the charge will be before it is hooked up.
A wheel lift picks up one axle and tows the vehicle with the other two wheels rolling on the pavement. That is fine for a lot of front-wheel-drive cars and it is quicker to hook. On an all-wheel-drive or four-wheel-drive vehicle it is a different story, because the front and rear axles are coupled through a transfer case or center differential. Roll one axle while the other is off the ground and you are driving parts of the drivetrain at road speed with no oil pump turning and nowhere for the difference in rotation to go. That is how a tow ends with a transfer case or a transmission that was fine before the truck arrived.
The same logic catches low-clearance cars, vehicles with the parking brake seized or the shifter stuck in park, anything with a wheel that will not roll, and anything already damaged enough that lifting one end loads it wrong. A flatbed puts the whole vehicle on the deck with nothing turning, which is why it is the default answer for AWD, for lowered cars, and for anything that came out of a collision.
So ask the question out loud before a truck is dispatched: are you sending a flatbed or a wheel lift, and where is the vehicle going. A dispatcher who is told the vehicle is all-wheel drive can send the right truck the first time. A dispatcher who is not told finds out in your driveway, and by then the choice is either a second dispatch or a tow you should not accept.
When a vehicle is towed at the direction of law enforcement in Utah — after a crash, an arrest, an abandoned-vehicle call, or a stop where nobody present could legally drive it away — the tow itself is the small part. What matters afterward is that the vehicle sits in a storage yard accruing a storage charge for every day it is there, and that it can generally only be released to someone who can prove they are entitled to it.
That means the recovery is a paperwork problem before it is a towing problem. You typically need to establish who has the vehicle, which usually starts with the agency that ordered the tow rather than with the yard. You need proof of ownership or a title or registration in your name, photo identification, and in many cases a release from the agency before the yard will hand anything over. Yards keep office hours that are narrower than their gate hours, and a day spent finding out which yard has the car is a day of storage you still pay for.
The practical advice is unglamorous: find out today which agency ordered the tow and which yard holds the vehicle, ask that yard exactly what documents they require and when their release window is, and go with all of it in hand the first time. If personal property is inside, ask separately how to retrieve it, since that is often handled differently from releasing the vehicle. If the vehicle is not drivable when it is released, arrange the tow out before you arrive so it does not sit another night.
Salt Lake, Utah, Davis and Weber counties.
Call 911. That is not a formality — Utah Highway Patrol can close a lane or park behind you, and nobody else can. Turn on your hazards, get everyone out on the side away from traffic if it is safe to move, and wait behind a guardrail or well up the embankment rather than in the vehicle or beside it. Once you are behind something solid, then arrange the tow. If anyone is injured, 911 is the only call that matters.
If the vehicle is all-wheel drive or four-wheel drive, it should be a flatbed. A wheel lift leaves two wheels rolling, and on a coupled drivetrain that turns parts of the transfer case and transmission with no oil circulating. The same goes for lowered cars, anything with a wheel that will not turn or a shifter stuck in park, and anything that has been in a collision. Say the drivetrain when you call, and ask which truck they are sending before it is dispatched.
That comes from the operator, not from us, and it depends on the truck, the distance, the time, and whether any winching or recovery is involved. We will not quote a number we cannot stand behind. What we will tell you is to get the price and how it is structured from the operator directly before the vehicle is hooked up, along with confirmation of where it is being taken. Both answered up front is what a straight operator sounds like.
Start with the agency that ordered the tow, since they can tell you which storage yard holds it. Then ask that yard exactly what they require for release — usually proof of ownership such as a title or registration in your name, photo identification, and often a release from the agency — and what hours they actually release vehicles, which are frequently narrower than their gate hours. Storage accrues daily, so the first day is the one worth spending on this. Ask separately about retrieving personal property, since that is often handled differently.
If the keys are sitting inside a locked vehicle, that is a roadside lockout and it is part of the same call as a jump start or a flat tire. Tell us where the vehicle is and whether anyone or any animal is shut inside, because that changes the urgency completely and may be a 911 call instead. Anything involving cutting a key, programming a fob, rekeying a lock or replacing one is locksmith work rather than towing, and that belongs at locksmith801.com.
Get behind a barrier and away from traffic. Then send the vehicle, the drivetrain and the location, and we will match you with an operator.
Get Matched With a Tow OperatorLocation, drivetrain and whether it rolls. That is most of what a dispatcher needs.