There are generally 2 types of towing services that you will come across – consensual and non consensual. The first type called private property towing, is non consensual towing services where a private property owner hires a company to remove vehicles that are unlicensed or a nuisance. Much different than the service we offer along with several others – consensual towing service, where you pay to have your vehicle towed to a shop or to your home.

Towing companies near Minneapolis helping stranded motorists, transporting vehicles from dealers or other businesses earn their money the hard way. We run ads on Facebook and Google to be seen by stranded motorists hoping to tow your vehicle or provide roadside assistance in an emergency. Costs range from $80-$150 for hooking the vehicle up and mileage times $3-$7 for the distance that the vehicle is loaded on the tow truck in Minneapolis. Towing is a seasonal business and in extreme weather you might have to pay extra to get pulled out of a ditch or towed to a mechanic. Towing companies in the Minneapolis – Saint Paul area charge an average of $100 for the hook up and $5 per loaded mile during summer and in winter it can be more than double. Some tow truck operators will nickel and dime every additional part of the service and add things like “Clean Up” charges or if they come out to a locked car with a dead battery they will charge you for both jump starting and unlocking the vehicle. If your using a company close to you but your vehicle is going out of the service radius they set you might also pay “dead head” miles. This is the mileage cost of having to drive far from a service area only to have to come back without another car to tow. So the extra distance on the way back might cost $1-$3 per dead head mile. The time or day of the week is also a factor. This is commonly practiced in the towing business because 5:00 pm on a Friday afternoon have a much higher demand than 1:00 pm in the afternoon. We can only tow so many vehicles in a given time or might have to run skeleton crews at night or not at all to save money and keep our business running smoothly.

When you call around to tow companies in Minneapolis find out if they will add charges for additional services, and use common sense if your towing a vehicle to a shop it might not need to be there at an exact time and the time of day matters too. Call during non rush hour traffic, in the middle of the day or let them know your not in a rush and they can tow your vehicle whenever they are available.

IMPOUNDED VEHICLES IN MINNEAPOLIS:

Towing practices like private property towing are limited to rules and regulations that the city of Minneapolis regulates. This business model is justified during winter storms or snow emergencies, abandoned, illegally parked, and also for problematic private parking lots. Some properties have predatory policies, many times these companies start with good intentions but in the end operate on the thin red line of morality producing cash for the city and turning a profit for themselves. (Impounded private property vehicles are sold when the owner is unresponsive or unable to pay the fees, then after the towing company covers its costs of daily storage and towing the city of Minneapolis gets to keep the remainder in the case where the owner doesn’t respond to a certified letter) Minneapolis and Saint Paul both have laws favoring towing companies and property owners and most likely it wont change because of the winters here..