Two ways to move a car that can’t drive
Almost every junk car leaves on one of two kinds of truck.
A flatbed (also called a rollback) has a long deck that tilts down to the ground. The car is pulled up onto the deck by a cable and then carried with all four wheels off the road.
A wheel-lift truck has a metal yoke that slides under one pair of wheels, front or rear, and lifts that end. The car is towed with the other two wheels rolling on the road.
The older “hook and chain” style, which lifts a car by its frame or bumper, is still around but is rarely the right choice for a modern junk car.
The short comparison
| Flatbed | Wheel-lift | |
|---|---|---|
| Wheels on the road while towing | None | Two |
| Car with locked wheels or seized brakes | Handles it once loaded | Hard if the rolling end is locked |
| Flat or missing tires | Handles it | Only if the lifted end has them |
| All-wheel drive or 4x4 | Usually preferred | Many manuals advise against |
| Tight alley or narrow lot | Needs room to tilt the deck | Fits tighter spaces |
| Low or crushed front end | Can winch from the other end | Needs a usable end to lift |
Neither is “better” in general. The right one depends on the car and where it sits.
What decides it for a junk car
Junk cars tend to have exactly the problems that make wheel-lift towing harder:
- Wheels that don’t turn. A rusted parking brake, a seized transmission or a crash-bent axle can lock a wheel. If the locked wheels would be the ones rolling on the road, a wheel-lift won’t work well.
- Missing or flat tires. A car on its hubs can’t roll on that end at all.
- All-wheel or four-wheel drive. Many owner’s manuals say these should travel with all four wheels off the ground.
- A crushed end. If the front is caved in, there may be nothing sound to lift on that end.
On the other hand, a wheel-lift can be the only thing that fits. Where a garage opens onto an alley, the alley may simply be too narrow to tilt a long deck. Blue Island, for example, requires alley parkers to leave 12 feet clear, which tells you how narrow some of those alleys are. See Blue Island.
What to tell us so the right tow happens
You don’t need to know towing to get this right. You need to answer five questions honestly:
- Does the car roll, and do all four wheels turn?
- Are any tires flat or missing?
- Is it front-wheel, rear-wheel, all-wheel or four-wheel drive? (The owner’s manual or a quick search of the model tells you.)
- Which end, if either, is damaged?
- How much room is there around it: street, wide driveway, narrow alley, garage?
With those answers, the pickup can be planned so nothing is forced at the curb. If the car won’t go into neutral or the steering is locked, read moving a car that won’t roll first.
Duplex blocks and parked-in cars
In South Deering’s Jeffery Manor, where duplexes share street frontage, a junk car can end up parked nose-to-tail between two others at the curb. That’s a case where the position matters as much as the car: the truck needs to reach one end. If you can, move the cars in front or behind before the truck comes, or tell us they’ll be there.
Does the tow type change the price?
Not with us. Towing is free whichever way the car is loaded, and nothing is deducted from the offer for it. If another buyer quotes you a lower number “because it needs a flatbed,” ask whether that’s a towing charge in disguise. Our guide to whether junk car removal is really free covers what to ask.
Bigger vehicles bring their own questions about weight, dual wheels and drive type; see truck, van and SUV removal. For the rest of pickup day, read what happens when a junk car is picked up.