What Is It Like to Be a Tow Truck Driver?
April 04, 2020
By: Hannah Usey
What Is It Like to Be a Tow Truck Driver?
Not many people wonder what it's like to work as a tow truck driver on a day to day basis, however there are quite a few people who are considering a career in the towing industry, so we wanted to create this content piece to help answer any questions that they may have.
If you’re someone out there who’s interested in becoming a tow truck driver, you may already know that there's a few requirements that are in place before you can hop into a tow truck and take off down the street.
Here are the requirements to be a tow truck driver:
CDL (commercial driver's license)
High school diploma or equivalent
Proper Training (usually provided by the company)
As you can see, the barrier of entry is rather low when you compare it to other professions, however one of the things to consider is that many tow truck drivers are actually paid based on a commission structure. So that means that you’d be in charge of finding your own hauls in some cases.
Average Annual Salary and Commission Structure
The average annual salary of a tow truck driver in the USA is around $35.90 per hour, this amounts to the amount of $70,000 per year.
When starting out your average towing company will pay around $28,000 per year, this is considered the “entry level salary”. When looking at your more experienced drivers in the industry, you’ll find that the highest compensated to truck drivers make around $120,000 per year. So at the end of the day, you’ll get out what you put in, especially if the tow company you decide to work for offers a commission structure.
What Are the Risks Associated With Working as a Tow Truck Driver?
As you would imagine, being a truck driver of any sort, isn't necessarily the safest job one could ask for. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) shows statistics that suggest around 17 fatal accidents and 7 injuries occur, out of every 100,000 workers in the trucking industry as a whole.
These numbers would suggest that the number of fatalities in the towing industry by itself are rather minuscule, because only a fraction of drivers with a CDL actually drive tow trucks. Most people would agree that this information would translate to the following conclusion: Working as a tow truck driver in the USA is an overall safe career to pursue.
If you’re interested in applying for a position at a tow truck company in Las Cruces, New Mexico, feel free to contact us on our main website. If you’re not in the Las Cruces area, we would suggest looking at what key components a towing company should have on our blog, before you decide what towing company you would like to work for.