A heavy-wrecker driver told me how much he makes....

@JamieDavisTowing in 3…2…1

 

Most wrecker drivers , large and small, usually get paid a percentage .

 

Wrecker that picked up my company truck told me he on 12 hour shift Monday to Friday. Did not say whether lucrative or not, i dont ask. He did say there is a guaranteed weekly $1000 wage

 

1100 is not a lot of money these days pocket change

 

When I did it, I was paid on percentage. When I wasn't in the heavy, I was in the light or medium doing mostly insurance or auto club calls (they don't even pay minimum wage on percentage). As THE heavy operator for the company (only one heavy and only two CDLs present, the other CDL was the company's owner), the others would get jealous when they would see a heavy ticket, as I could make as much in one night as they did on-call 6 days a week... but most weeks found me slaving away on the light calls making a pittance. The only light calls that paid well were police or private party impounds. Those rates were set by the state, and I could snatch an illegally parked car form a certain office complex and have it back in our yard in under 30 minutes, and my cut would be about $30 for those 30 minutes. A couple times found two illegally parked cars there, so I'd make $60 in 40 minutes If it was a rollover crash, the minimum winch fee plus response, plus cleanup, plus any special equipment could find me with $100 for an hour's work.

I guess if I averaged everything out, it was about $1100/week, but when a good heavy call came in, I could make $900 that night and another $600 for the rest of the week. Or if a week found me with 3 heavy calls, I could bring home $1800 without any revenue from the light calls. A heavy crash, however, could find me with $2k in my pocket for one night's work. The problem is those calls are sporadic in nature.

In short, while it was fun, I'll never do that again as it was entirely too dangerous for the pay.

 

I dug through my old photos to find a pic of me working the heavy. That rig was heavier than reported, and required the assistance of my boom and a chain in order to get the under-reach over the safety catch. The rear bags never rose up fully, as seen, and there was very little weight on the steers so I could either accelerate or steer, but not at the same time. This pic was taken next to the Love's in Lordsburg, NM, on Thanksgiving eve, and I drug the whole setup to far east El Paso (after affixing my oversized load signs).

Of course I got stopped for inspection at the port of entry at 4 am on Thanksgiving, but that always happened on my way back from El Paso. I was already unloaded.

This rig was a bear to drive when loaded, as it was a plain FLD that was stretched and an old bed from Canada was affixed along with a PTO. It only had an M11 and a 10-speed, so this load moved at about 45 mph top speed all the way back. No jake, so I had to bring it down to 20 before hitting the grade coming into Las Cruces, and I also took it through Anthony Gap, where I made the climb at about 4 mph.

 

Around 2016 I had a wrecker pickup a trailer a daycab dropped in a yard I was the spotter in. He told me he clears $4k and is on call 24/7/365 and is a company driver. Could be he was lying, who knows.

 

The Heavy Wrecker company that does our local towing, the owner picked me up broke down and offered me job on the way to shop. Said the job paid 30% of the tow bill, but it was 24/7 job unless you were on Vacation or on your one weekend a month off. Told him thanks, but " No Thanks".