TowingBossPro Blog — Invoicing & Payments

Structuring Your Tow Prices So Invoices Are Easy to Build

Every tow company has prices. Not every tow company has a pricing structure. The difference shows up on invoices: inconsistent amounts, confusing lines and office staff who have to ask the owner what to charge.

A clear structure makes invoices fast to build and easy to defend. This article is about structure, not rates; what you charge depends on your market and, in many places, local regulation.

Separate the Pieces of a Call

Photos from Vehicle Photos and Notes That Back Up Every Tow Invoice support the charges, but the charges need a clear structure to begin with. Break a call into the parts that vary independently: a base charge, distance, time, equipment, storage and extras.

When each part is its own service, the office builds an invoice by picking the services that apply and entering quantities. No mental math, no improvising descriptions.

It also makes your invoices look consistent from one customer to the next, which matters when accounts compare them.

Think about how dispatch will quote the job over the phone. If the structure is easy to explain in one breath, such as a base charge, miles and any time involved, it's probably easy to invoice too.

Base Charges by Category

Start with a base charge for each type of call. TowingBossPro's categories give you a natural starting point: Light-Duty Tows, Heavy-Duty Tows, Roadside, Accident & Recovery, Impound & Storage and Transports.

Within a category, you may have variations, such as a different base for after-hours calls, or for different vehicle classes. Set those up as separate services rather than editing the price on each invoice.

Roadside services like jump starts, lockouts, tire changes and fuel delivery each get their own service and price.

Name each service in plain language a customer would understand. "After-hours light-duty tow" says more than an internal code, and the customer reads the same name on the invoice that dispatch used on the phone.

Distance and Time

Mileage is usually priced per mile, sometimes with a set number of miles included in the base. Decide whether you bill loaded miles, enroute miles or both, and write it down.

Time-based charges, such as winching, recovery labor and waiting time, are usually priced per hour or per portion of an hour. Decide how you round and write that down too.

Every rule you write down is a dispute you won't have to argue later.

Minimum charges belong in the structure too. If a short tow or a quick recovery has a minimum, show it as a stated minimum rather than inflating the miles or the time to reach it. Customers accept a minimum; they don't accept padded numbers.

Storage and Extras

Storage is a daily rate applied from the storage start date. In TowingBossPro, storage days are added to the invoice automatically, so you only need the start date and the rate on the call.

Extras such as dollies, special equipment, cleanup materials, gate fees and after-hours surcharges each get their own service. When they're on the list, the office remembers to bill them.

Keep the list reasonable. A dozen well-named extras beat fifty obscure ones that nobody remembers to use.

When fuel prices or disposal costs swing, resist the urge to adjust prices invoice by invoice. Change the service price itself, on purpose, and note the date you changed it. That keeps your history readable when you compare months later.

Account Pricing

Many accounts negotiate their own prices: a flat rate for local tows, a set transport price, a discounted base charge. Record the account's pricing on the account so every call is billed correctly.

Review account pricing at least once a year. Costs change, and agreements made years ago may no longer make sense.

Remember that many areas regulate tow pricing, especially for police-directed, private-property and storage work. Your structure has to fit within those rules.

Note on the account whether its agreed prices include things like mileage within a zone or after-hours calls. Ambiguity about what a flat rate covers is the most common source of account disputes.

Test Your Structure on Real Calls

Take a handful of recent calls, from a simple roadside call to a complicated recovery, and build invoices from your new structure. If any of them is hard to build or looks confusing, adjust the structure before rolling it out.

Once it works, train dispatch and the office on it. When dispatch quotes from the same structure the office invoices from, customers hear the same story twice. See how services, categories and invoices come together on the towing invoicing software page for TowingBossPro.