How many towing calls does a two-truck company need?
Build a towing call mix, calculate two-truck break-even, and test dispatch density, truck hours, safety boundaries and cash collection.
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A two-truck towing company should plan from completed, collected calls rather than phone leads, dispatch offers or truck movements. In the StartFigures case, a weighted $350 retained call and 70% contribution margin leave $245 per completion. With $25,000 of monthly fixed costs, the continuous operating threshold is about 3.93 calls per dispatch day across the company. The practical threshold is four; the Year-three plan uses five.
The case covers staged light-duty consent towing and roadside assistance with a paid owner-manager and operator plus one employee operator. Police rotation, nonconsent impound, long-term storage, repossession, heavy recovery and hazardous-material scenes remain outside the base scope.
The call mix, rates, volume, 30% call-linked cost envelope and capacity examples below are authored assumptions. They are planning inputs, not local rates, contracts or promises of safe authority.
Define one completed call
A dispatch offer is not revenue. A call enters completed volume only when the business has valid authorization, the supported service is performed, the vehicle is delivered or roadside service is closed, the invoice is final and collection is recorded. Canceled dispatches, no-access events, unsupported vehicles, unpaid invoices and claims remain visible outside completed-call revenue.
The job record should separate dispatch source, service category, base amount, mileage, tolls, storage, after-hours or other accessorials, discount, tax, refund and true pass-through amounts. That separation matters because the paid workbook uses an E05 service engine: completed units × category mix × category price, plus separately modeled extra revenue per unit. A call cannot occupy two base categories merely because it includes mileage.
Build the $350 weighted call
The StartFigures case uses three mutually exclusive outcomes.
| Completed outcome | Mix | Retained sale | Weighted sale |
|---|---|---|---|
| Roadside assistance | 30% | $225 | $67.50 |
| Standard local light-duty tow | 50% | $325 | $162.50 |
| Higher-scope tow or retained accessorial outcome | 20% | $600 | $120.00 |
| Weighted retained call | 100% | — | $350.00 |
These values do not establish a tariff or local market rate. Replace them with current written prices, contracts and completed invoices. If mileage, toll, storage or another item is recorded as extra revenue, remove it from the base-category price so it is not counted twice.
Calculate operating break-even
The model assigns 30% of retained revenue to route fuel, tolls, card fees and other call-linked cost. At $350, that is $105, leaving $245 contribution per completed call.
Year-three payroll and overhead total $300,000, or $25,000 per month.
$25,000 ÷ $245 ÷ 6 ÷ 4.33 = 3.93 completed calls per dispatch day. Because calls are whole and uncertain, four is the simplified minimum day. The Year-three plan uses five.
At five completed calls, monthly retained revenue is 5 × $350 × 6 × 4.33 = $45,465. Contribution is $31,826, leaving about $6,826 monthly operating surplus before depreciation, financing, income tax, replacement capital and distributions.
The annual case uses 50 dispatch weeks and produces $525,000 of revenue, $367,500 of contribution and a $67,500 operating result. The monthly and annual views differ because the calculator uses 51.96 weeks.
Stress rate, margin and fixed cost
| Case | Assumptions | Break-even |
|---|---|---|
| Lower retained call | $175 retained call · 70% margin · $25,000 fixed/month | 7.86 calls/day |
| Base | $350 retained call · 70% margin · $25,000 fixed/month | 3.93 calls/day |
| Higher retained mix | $500 retained call · 70% margin · $25,000 fixed/month | 2.75 calls/day |
| More call-linked leakage | $350 retained call · 60% margin · $25,000 fixed/month | 4.58 calls/day |
| Higher fixed cost | $350 retained call · 70% margin · $30,000 fixed/month | 4.71 calls/day |
The lower-call case needs almost eight daily completions. That is a warning to measure retained invoice and contribution by channel. A busy motor-club route can still fail if discounts, deadhead miles, payment delay and rejected dispatches are hidden.
Reconcile calls to truck hours and miles
Five completed calls are not five identical units of capacity. Each job may consume dispatch, deadhead travel, scene protection, loading, securement, loaded travel, unloading, paperwork, refueling and reset time. An operator can be paid while the truck produces no completed revenue.
Use a truck-and-operator ledger with these timestamps and distances:
- dispatch accepted, en route, arrived, loaded, departed, delivered and clear;
- deadhead, loaded and total miles;
- truck, operator, service category and equipment used;
- authorization, invoice, accessorials, collection and claim status;
- cancellation, decline, unsafe-scene stop, breakdown and subcontract outcome.
The matching paid workbook uses service categories, units, operating days, seasonality, mix, prices and extra revenue. Keep the readable completed-call view, then reconcile it to truck and operator capacity in the model. Towing Company financial model.
Verify authority and safe-scene limits
Census defines NAICS 488410 as motor-vehicle towing, including local and long-distance towing, incidental storage and emergency road repair. That classification does not authorize a particular service. Census NAICS 488410.
The 2023 County Business Patterns file reports 10,566 employer establishments, 73,320 employees and about $3.787 billion of annual payroll for the industry. It excludes nonemployers and cannot tell you the number of competitors or paid calls in a territory. 2023 County Business Patterns.
FMCSA explains federal USDOT registration triggers and notes that states can impose intrastate requirements. Texas provides one state example with company, truck and operator licensing, insurance and annual renewal. Neither source decides another jurisdiction. FMCSA USDOT guidance and Texas tow-company licensing.
OSHA's driver and backover material supports dispatch screening, high-visibility controls, vehicle inspection, safe positioning and internal traffic procedures. It does not substitute for training on the specific truck, vehicle, securement system or scene. OSHA motor-vehicle safety and OSHA backover controls.
Pay both operators and preserve uptime
BLS reports a May 2025 mean annual wage of $48,770 and median hourly wage of $21.57 for light truck drivers. That broad occupation is context, not a towing-specific local offer. BLS May 2025 national estimates.
Year-three payroll is $180,000 for paid owner-manager and operator work, one employee operator and employer-cost allowances. Add local overtime, workers' compensation, unemployment insurance, benefits, training and on-call rules. IRS Publication 15 covers federal payroll-tax administration, not the full burden. IRS Publication 15.
Truck inspections, preventive maintenance, tires, hydraulics, winch, lighting and securement consume both cash and unavailable hours. Do not count a second rollback as capacity unless it is safe, insured and staffed.
Read the five-year case
| Year | Completed calls | Revenue | Operating result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 750 | $262,500 | -$36,250 |
| 2 | 1,050 | $367,500 | -$750 |
| 3 | 1,500 | $525,000 | $67,500 |
| 4 | 1,800 | $630,000 | $99,000 |
| 5 | 2,100 | $735,000 | $129,500 |
The next test is 40 paid consent-towing and roadside calls in a narrow territory. Record dispatch source, service category, authorization, response, miles, truck and operator time, retained sale, direct cost, claim status and collection. Release the second truck only after the evidence supports safe paid-call density and downtime coverage.
The Towing Company case contains the complete allocation and forecast. Its evidence register separates sources from assumptions, while the business plan and financial model explain authority, capacity and product adaptation.