Do You Tip The Tow-Truck Driver?
 

I never thought of it before. Here are my two stories:

Monday a driver was dispatched from Rochester (two hours away) to take my deer-wrecked RX-8 up to Vincent Mazda for repair. The guy brought an enormous flatbed truck and he was really nice. He took a fair amount of time to explain how he was securing the car and believe me it was 'belt and suspenders' secured. Before he left he showed me every chain and strap. Also of interest - he hit a deer with the tow-truck on the way to my house.

Wednesday the water pump in my wife's van started coming apart and when nice slippery anit-freeze got on the pulley wheel it threw the belt. Nice - no water pump, no alternator, no power steering. The shop I wanted to use was ~20 miles away so I called for a tow. I have a coworker who knows a guy for everything, so I called him first and said, 'who's your buddy for towing?' He says, 'call Crane's and ask for Drue. Drue's a driver so I don't know if he can get you a better price, but he'll be sure to take car of your car.'

Now, the typical rate for this tow is $129, but Drue gives me a bill for $70. He says, 'That's a great rate - when you called the office and asked for me they didn't know who you were, but they figured you knew somebody so they gave you this discounted rate."

Awesome, right? :mdrmed:

I tell my co-worker and he says, "Wow! I hope you tipped him something."

Oops, my bad, it never occurred to me :Eyecrazy:

Now, Drue turned out be a nice guy, about my age. He's expecting a kid so I'm going to see about passing on some of the hand-me-downs from our 2-year-old. I'm sure that'll be better than a $10 or $20 cash tip.

Now, back to the original question - have any of you ever tipped a tow-truck driver? In both of these cases I was sending the car off and not meeting it at the destination so I'd only be tipping for the loading, not the transport or unloading and that makes cash seem more like an extortion payment than a reward. I've had some real jerk drivers I considered hitting, but I never heard of anyone tipping.

The only time I've ever dealt with a tow truck operator was when I was working with the Parking & Transportation Dept. at the university I went to. I loved getting people towed off campus, but then I doubt any of those people tipped the driver either...

I have had to have a car towed before when it needed service, I have always tipped the tow truck driver. I figure he is helping you out and I am always grateful when they show up and help.

We are all tip happy in the U.S.. I don't think it i necessary to tip them. They are doing a job and get paid pretty well doing it. I'm sure you could tip if you wanted to, but it is in now way expected. Even with getting a discounted rate, your friend "tipped" him by giving free advertising, and I am sure you will use him again and pass his name on. I wouldn't worry about it much.

I think you're right - we are tip-happy. I wish my dealer would tip me with some free front splash-guards since I sent them $10,000 in business at their body-shop.

I think you're right about the advertising too. It can't hurt for the dispatcher and others at the towing service to know there are people asking for their man Drue by name.

I doubt that. I've never seen a tow truck driver with a full complement of teeth.

Around here at least, I have a few of friends who have been or currently are tow truck drivers. They don't get paid much more then minimum wage. Their real earnings are tips.

My rule on tow truck drivers.. if the guy isn't an ass, he gets a tip.. the tip is relavent to the amount of work he does and what the tow costs me. (The more the tow costs, the less the tip... i.e. the guys who do the Mazda Road Side assistance got a good tip from me..) :)

Also if a driver shows up and I need a flat bed, I'll tip the first driver (like $5) just for showing up and not being an ass about the fact I wanted a flatbed.. [not about to let either of my vehicles be towned w/ a wrecker].

So anyway, here in Minnesota tow truck drivers don't get paid very well.... tips are where they make their income.. and most of the jobs they have to do don't get them tips.. (like Repo's and towing cars for the local cops/highway patrol)

I agree that they are doing their jobs but so are waiters, bartenders, and caddy's.

It really comes down to HOW they perform their job duties...
They don't have to be super nice to you or your car, they don't have to take time to show you how they secured your vehicle, etc.

If they go above and beyond then I usually give them a few bucks.

Last time I gave 20$ for the truck driver because he did a good job to me.

Nice 7+ year bump. I knew something was up when i saw cool-blue-dad posting :lol:

I always give the same tip. Don't bet on the ponies!

I remember the only time i got my car towed is when my car just stopped at the freeway when i was still living in California. I did not tip the tow truck driver, i just gave him my AAA insurance card, maybe next time i will.

I think this goes hand in hand with delivery drivers. I used to always tip them but then my girlfriend pointed out they are already receiving a payment on the bill for their service. It took me a while and I actually had to have my girlfriend pay the driver for a while because I could not, not tip. I usually just go pick up now instead of delivery.

As for tow truck drivers, I only had to use a tow truck one time and he was a pita for the majority of the experience. Saying that I was exaggerating the reason and he wasn't responsible for any damages with the winch-ouch... but afterwards he wasn't so bad when he actually verified my story under the circumstances and what not.

I left a good report with AAA and I let his supervisor know I appreciated his help also. SO IDK, I guess it's your call.

The guy who resurected this SEVEN year old thread is obviously a spammer, look at his sig. This was his first post!

Oh, and for the record, I used to drive a tow truck so please always tip them, its a @+/t job!!

Not yet. He lists his location as Calif., yet he posts from Orlando, FL. The link in his sig is to a news article, not a commercial site.
Let's just say he's on my watch list.