How Long Should I Wait For A Tow Truck?

No one wants to be in the dreaded situation of being stuck at the roadside in a broken down or damaged vehicle.
Whether you’ve been in an accident, or your car has encountered a random fault that means you can’t drive further, there are many situations where you may need to call a tow truck to safely carry your vehicle either to your home or to a garage for repairs.
If this happens to you, you may be wondering how long you can expect to be stuck and when the tow truck will arrive. In this blog, we will run down how long you should wait for a tow truck and what you could do while you wait.

The time you should wait for a tow truck depends massively on the situation and factors associated with you needing one. If you’ve been in a serious accident or cannot move your car to a safe place, you should consider calling emergency services like the police or ambulance service if appropriate before calling a breakdown rescue.

The potential risks associated with this type of situation mean that extra precautions need to be taken and it may take longer for the tow truck operator to arrive. Also, consider what time of day this has happened. If you were driving home after work during rush hour, the traffic is going to be significantly denser and it will be more difficult for the tow truck to reach you.

Plus, they are more likely to have potential pick-ups to do elsewhere, meaning you might not be the first customer they have to get to. Also, if you have broken down out of business hours, particularly late at night, it may take them a while to reach you due to the unexpected nature of emergency call outs.

But of course, these factors depend on the company you contact. If they are a big company with lots of tow trucks and a dedicated out-of-hours fleet, they may be able to get to you within a reasonable time frame no matter the time of day.

It also depends on where the company is based and your location. If you are stuck in a remote area, take this into account and be reasonable with your expectations. If you are close to their headquarters, you can assume they will be relatively fast in getting to you.

If you are unsure, look up their address and compare it to where you are now on a map on your phone if you can, using this as a guide for how long you have to wait. Bear in mind, though, that tow trucks are large and can’t reach the same speeds as a regular car.

As a very loose guideline, you will probably be waiting for around an hour; anything less than this would be fast. It’s normal to be waiting for longer than an hour, but you shouldn’t be left for three hours or more especially if you are at risk.

Contact the tow truck company again if you think your waiting time is unreasonable, but remember all of the factors listed above that can affect this.

What Can I Do While I Wait?

As we have already mentioned, you could look up the company you have contacted and check where they are based to give you a rough idea of how long you will be waiting. Move the car to the safest possible place if you can and put your hazard lights on or place reflective triangles near your car to reduce the risk you pose to other drivers while you wait.

Consider contacting your family or friends to make them aware of the situation, so that they don’t worry if you are severely delayed in getting home.

Gather all of your personal belongings out of the car before it gets towed, especially valuable items. You don’t know when you will get the car back and the last thing you need is to leave important belongings inside.

Trade and General Towing provide safe towing for an array of situations and we can guarantee we will be with anyone in the Newcastle area as fast as we can for emergency towing.
We are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and can reach you wherever you may be.
Call us today on (02) 4960 2475 if you need help and we will be more than happy to assist you.