Tow truck and towing insurance in Spokane
Three separate coverages most operators think are one: liability for the truck, on-hook for the vehicle behind it, and garagekeepers for the one sitting in your lot.
On-hook and garagekeepers are not the same thing
On-hook covers the vehicle while it is attached to your truck and moving. Garagekeepers covers vehicles in your care once they are parked at your facility. A single customer car can move between the two in one job, and an operator carrying only one of them has a gap that shows up at exactly the wrong moment. Both have their own limits, and both need setting against the real value of what you tow — a $50,000 on-hook limit is thin if you recover newer trucks.
Winter recovery is the severity driver
Spokane towing peaks in the same weather that makes roadside work most dangerous. Recovery on I-90, Sunset Hill or the passes in freezing conditions puts your operator in live traffic, and a struck-by claim is both a workers’ compensation loss and a liability claim at the same time. Carriers price for it. Documented roadside procedures, high-visibility requirements and arrow-board use are things underwriters actually ask about.
Wrongful tow
Private-property impounds generate complaints, and complaints become claims. Washington regulates private impound towing closely, and a tow found to be improper can bring a conversion claim that general liability may not respond to in the way you expect. Clean signage, photographic documentation before hooking, and an impound log are the defence.
Biggest exposures for towing & recovery
- Damage to a customer vehicle while it is hooked and in transit
- Damage or theft at your impound lot
- Roadside collisions during recovery on I-90 in winter
- Wrongful-tow and conversion claims from vehicle owners
Pre-filled for your trade. Two minutes.
Coverage
What towing & recovery usually carry
Commercial Auto
Coverage for the vehicles your business owns, leases, rents or asks employees to drive.
Read moreGeneral Liability
The baseline policy.
Read moreWorkers' Compensation
Required in Washington for nearly every employer.
Read moreCommercial Umbrella
Extra liability limits that sit above your general liability, auto and employer liability policies.
Read moreQuestions
Towing & Recovery insurance FAQs
It covers damage to a customer’s vehicle while it is attached to your tow truck and being transported. It is separate from your auto liability, which covers damage you do to other people, and separate from garagekeepers, which covers vehicles stored at your lot.
Yes. Vehicles sitting in your lot are in your care, custody and control, which general liability excludes. Garagekeepers is what responds to theft, vandalism, fire or collision damage to customer vehicles while you are holding them.
Operators work in live traffic, in bad weather, with other people’s vehicles attached to theirs. Frequency and severity are both high, and the vehicles being towed keep getting more expensive to repair. Clean loss history and documented roadside procedure are the main levers you control.
Other trades
We write these too
General Contractors
Registration, a bond, liability and workers’ comp — general contractors carry more moving parts than any trade we write, and the most contract-driven requirements.
Read moreRoofers
The hardest trade in construction to insure, and the one where carrier appetite narrows fastest.
Read moreElectricians
Low claim frequency, high claim severity.
Read morePlumbers
Every job you touch carries water, and water finds its way into places that cost far more to repair than the work you were paid for.
Read moreStart with your trade. We will take it from there.
Tell us what the business does and we will pre-select the coverage it normally needs, then compare carriers for you. About two minutes, no obligation.
Prefer to talk it through? Call (509) 944-0847.