How many towing calls does a two-truck company need?

The two-truck case needs about 4.08 route-wide completed calls per dispatch day on its 50-week annual calendar; five whole daily completions exceed that threshold. A weighted $350 retained call at 70% contribution leaves $245 toward $300,000 of annual paid payroll and overhead. Four daily calls on that calendar lose $6,000. The separate monthly calculator smooths 4.33 weeks per month and shows 3.93 calls; its rounded four-call threshold is a different calendar. Completed, collected calls need dispatch, service, invoice and collection evidence rather than phone-lead counts.

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. For each category, total completed calls × its share of calls × retained category price gives the planned retained revenue. Add accessorials only when separately earned and outside that price. A call cannot occupy two base categories merely because it includes mileage; this planning structure does not verify a paid workbook's calculations.

Build the $350 weighted call

The StartFigures case uses three mutually exclusive outcomes.

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. Four is the rounded-up monthly-tool threshold. On the shorter 50-week annual calendar, the continuous threshold is 4.08 calls per day; a constant whole-call target is five. Four daily calls over 300 dispatch days leave a $6,000 annual operating loss at mature costs.

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

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 online planning outline separates service categories, units, operating days, seasonality, mix, prices and extra revenue. It does not verify the purchased workbook's contents or calculations. 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, March reference-week employment of 73,320 and about $3.787 billion of annual payroll in nominal 2023 dollars 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.

Match paid operator time to the annual decision

The $180,000 mature payroll illustration pays $75,000 owner/dispatch/operator wages, $65,000 employee-operator wages and a selected $40,000 employer-cost and relief allowance. Local wages, insurance, benefits, overtime, leave and relief terms must replace it; owner dispatch and administration are paid work.

Two 40-hour paid schedules over 50 weeks provide 4,000 annual operator hours. At an illustrative two all-in hours per completed call, 1,500 calls consume 3,000 hours, leaving 1,000 for dispatch, maintenance, administration and absence. If calls instead take three hours, they require 4,500 hours before those duties. The five-call plan then fails the paid-coverage test unless a separately priced remedy is available. Six to eight daily calls also require a new timed coverage test; the trucks alone do not establish capacity.

The annual operating threshold is $300,000 ÷ $245 contribution ÷ 300 dispatch days = 4.08 calls per day. At four calls, or at five calls with a reduced $280 retained sale and unchanged 70% contribution, the mature result is -$6,000 per year. These are sensitivities, not observed rates or call forecasts. Defer the second truck if actual mix, all-in time or contribution cannot support the annual cost and coverage base.

The $75,000 reserve exceeds the combined $36,250/$750 first-two-year operating losses on a simple comparison. It does not establish the timing of truck deposits, repairs, fuel, payroll, receivables, claims, financing or tax. A dated adverse-case cash schedule still has to show that committed funds cover the trough.

Read the five-year case

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.

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