Perusing a Towing Career

ghogie91

Hi all,

I have been working thesame job for years and want to change things up in my life.

I have always wanted to work towing broken down vechicles. I would like to do this as the daily grind and possibly have my own tow truck on the road in the future, I am fairly clueless atm and want to get the ball rolling.

What sort of licences does one need, I understand different vechicles are different weights, when looking at the licence types there are different towing weights, would I be right in saying i would need a category CE for General towing of broken down cars/vans?

Would flat beds versus rear towing vechicles be able to be operated on the same licence? And one last question, if I went for a rigid or artic licence would they just incorporate lower licence classes regarding towing different weighs?

Thanks,
Gary

ironclaw

Without trying to put any negative light on a dream job, I'd be looking at the horse before the cart so to speak. Is there a market in your locality for such a venture? Can you make it work? I'm presuming your desire is to do this full time so you need to look at the cash flows and viability like any business. A good few mechanics of mine do this as a side line, often crash or break down recovery on the behalf of insurance companies. Its a flat call out fee that you pretty much have to accept or you won't be asked again (Allegedly) and can happen at any time, day or night. Given most of the country is covered by this sort of arrangement, you are unlikely to get a call from a random person looking for recovery, you'll probably be looking at the same sort of arrangement, which will need to conform to the insurance companies standards. Some major contracts are futher held by larger corporations (e.g. Kelly's provide for the Gardai and M50 in Dublin)

Unless you work in the industry, I'd probably wander down and talk to a few people about it. I've no hand in it, but from the outside looking in I'd say its fairly well saturated.

vandriver

I've only been towed once recently,but had a good chat with the man.He avoids the insurance companies as they pay feck all and take months to pay you.
He advertises on adverts and social media,and is CHEAP! compared to other quotes I got (Ranelagh to Ballymount) for €60 compared to over €100 from the next cheapest.
Whilst I was in his truck,he got 3 more bookings for that morning,and he quoted €60 for all of them.
So by all means start with an insurance contract,just to get you started,but build up your own business as quick as you can because nothing beats doing a job and getting the cash there and then.

Edit:Get your tax/vat sorted out straight away and keep your books in order.

mickdw

Move to the states or Canada. Plenty work there for the winter.

vandriver

mickdw wrote: »

Move to the states or Canada. Plenty work there for the winter.

Working for Jamie on the Coquihalla Highway?

ghogie91

Thanks for the replies guys

Yeah I have read a good few threads about the saturation of the market alright but who knows.

Anyone know what licenses are needed for this work? Also what about general insurance cover?

Del2005

ghogie91 wrote: »

Thanks for the replies guys

Yeah I have read a good few threads about the saturation of the market alright but who knows.

Anyone know what licenses are needed for this work? Also what about general insurance cover?

You'll need CE if you plan on doing any towing and C if you want to only use a flat bed, which will limit you're work as I often see flat beds towing.

Insurance is going to be expensive and only way to know is contact a few brokers

R.O.R

https://www.jobs.ie/ApplyForJob.aspx?Id=1516736&jst=fbce804e9b40432e9649c628f8a5c362&utm_source=jobalerts&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Job%2BAlerts&cid=jajob&jacid=Job_Alert_493663-03-2016

Advert for a towing job. Says E+C licence.

I don't think you'll ever get rich off it, but if you are prepared to work hard and you enjoy the job, you can probably make a living.