Tow dispatch

When you can start

You must be a civilian at any level, not wanted, and not on another job. Any tow yard hands out a truck, free: the Tow Truck at rank 1, the Large Tow Truck at rank 2, the Flatbed at rank 3. The two newer tow truck models also work the radio and hook cars, though the yard only hands out the three above.

You’re on duty when you’re the driver of a tow truck from a yard, as a civilian with nothing else on: only the driver hears the radio, and a truck that didn’t come from a yard isn’t seen by dispatch. If you ask for a call and can’t have one, you’re told why: you’re not a civilian, you’re on another job, in jail, being arrested or in the middle of a robbery, you’re wanted, or you’re not in a tow truck.

How to start

1. Walk onto the marker at a tow yard: Rogers Salvage & Scrap in La Puerta, Red’s Auto Parts in Strawberry, or Red’s Auto Garage in Murrieta Heights, Sandy Shores and Paleto Bay.
2. Get behind the wheel. Tonya, the dispatcher, puts you on duty.
3. Calls come in every so often, with at most two open at once. The card shows the street, the car, the distance and the fee; press Y within 25 seconds to take it, and the first driver to press it gets it. An untaken call lapses after a while. If the radio’s quiet, Y asks for a call, but not too often, and not while a card is already up. You’re not sent a second card while the first is showing.
4. When you’re done, hand the truck back from the menu at any yard.

If every yard spot is taken when you sign on, the truck is put on a clear road nearby, with a waypoint and a blip.

Between calls: after a delivery dispatch gives you a 30-second break; after a failed or cancelled call, 20 seconds.

A call, start to finish

1. Find the car. It carries a cone until it’s on your truck. Everyone at the scene has a blip: green for onlookers and a stranded driver, blue for an officer, yellow for the owner, red for a crew or a gang. The car is always one a hook can take: never a bike, boat, aircraft, train, trailer or tow truck.
2. Hook it. A hook truck: reverse up to the car and press Left Shift. A flatbed: X lowers the ramp, then Left Shift winches the car up. The winch takes the nearest car behind the ramp, but the call’s own car always wins. The winch and unload buttons only show with the ramp down and the truck still, and you’re told when nothing is in reach. A car on its roof is stood up before it’s hooked.
3. Bring it in to the right place: the LSPD Auto Impound for illegally parked cars, police seizures and gang cars; the nearest yard for abandoned, crashed, broken-down and insurance cars; another yard for an impound transfer; the crusher at Rogers for a chop job.
4. Hand it over. The drop-off ring shows from a distance. A hook truck: stop inside the ring with the car on. A flatbed: stop in the ring, lower the ramp and unload (the car coming off near the marker counts), then pull on past the marker to finish.

A delivered car is locked and empty, left where you put it (in a bay at the impound) and fades away 30 seconds later. A real police seizure stays impounded for its owner.

The clock: you get time for the length of the run (out to the car and on to the drop-off), plus more for the harder kinds of call: a crash gives you less than a gang vehicle or a chop order. If things go wrong: a truck on its roof gives you 45 seconds, and Y next to it rights it for 10% of the fee (at least $150). A car that came off the truck gives you 60 seconds to hook it again, and a roof outranks that: righting the truck starts the 60 seconds. A red bar counts it down, and the cone goes back over the car while it’s off. Whatever way a call ends, its car is only taken away once nobody’s sitting in it.

A call fails if time runs out, you die, your truck or the car is destroyed, the owner drives off with it, or you type /tow cancel. It pays nothing, and there’s a 20-second wait.

What you find at the scene

• Abandoned: filthy, with one flat tyre.
• Crashed: a wreck with the glass out, and one or two onlookers filming or watching.
• Illegally parked: the owner comes out shouting, then runs for the car. You only lose the job if they get away in it. Hook it first and they lose and are put out; some of them then come at you.
• Highway breakdown: the driver rides in your cab and, alive at the yard, tips $200 to $800.
• Police seizure: an officer and a cruiser are on scene. Sometimes it’s a real player’s car seized by an officer: see A live seizure below.
• Impound transfer: a car from the impound’s history, waiting in a bay at the lot, to take to a yard away from it.
• Gang vehicle: a few of the crew stand nearby. If one of them sees it go, they all come. Shooting one of them counts as being seen.
• Insurance recovery: half the time a crew is stripping the car, and they turn on you when it goes on the hook.
• Chop order: sometimes the owner is there, and shouts before going for the car.

A live seizure: when an officer’s arrest impounds a suspect’s car and a rank 3 driver on duty is nearby, the car waits at the kerb for a couple of minutes as a call. The officer is told a tow has been called and who’s on the way. With no taker, the impound lot sends its own truck as before.

Pay

The fee is the call’s base pay plus $0.24 a metre, out to the car and from the car to the drop-off. After dark (22:00 to 05:00 game time) the fee is 25% higher, and so is the XP.

Call	Rank	Base pay	Towing XP	Civilian XP
Abandoned vehicle	1	$1,400	25	55
Crashed vehicle	1	$1,700	35	65
Illegally parked	1	$1,500	30	60
Highway recovery	2	$2,000 + a $200 to $800 tip	40	80
Police seizure	3	$2,400	50	90
Impound transfer	3	$1,800	45	70
Gang vehicle	3	$3,200	55	110
Insurance recovery	4	$4,000	70	130
Chop order	5	The car’s worth, $6,800 to $10,000, by its condition	60	120

For example: an abandoned car 1 km out and 1 km back pays $1,880, or $2,350 at night.

Getting better at it

Every delivery builds your Towing skill, and its level is your tow rank (Skills & ranks in F10):

Rank	Towing level	Opens
1 Rookie	1	Abandoned, crashed and illegally parked cars; the Tow Truck
2 Recovery	3	Highway breakdowns and night calls; the Large Tow Truck
3 Contracted	6	Police seizures, impound transfers and gang cars; the Flatbed; calls further out
4 Insured	10	Insurance recoveries
5 Connected	15	The scrapyard’s offers and chop orders

A rookie gets no calls at night.

At rank 5, the scrapyard texts you an offer when a car goes on your hook: two to four times the fee, depending on the call. Press Y within 45 seconds and the car goes to the crusher instead. The offer is a few times the fee, most on an insurance car. It’s never offered on a breakdown (someone’s in the cab) or a live seizure (a player’s car). It’s a crime. The gate camera often catches your plate, more so on a car the impound was expecting (a police seizure or a transfer), for 2 wanted stars. If the camera misses, a passer-by may still phone it in. If the lot was expecting the car, the police are always told: the model, the plate, and that it was last seen entering the scrapyard. The car doesn’t visibly crush: it’s placed on the crusher and fades.

Delivering every kind of call at least once earns the Tow Mater achievement (see Achievements and leaderboards).

Tips

• Stay in the driver’s seat: getting out takes the card, and your Y, away.
• Night pays 25% more, but you need rank 2 before you get night calls.
• On a gang call, keep out of the crew’s sight.
• Hook a parked car before the owner reaches it.
• Drive gently with a car on: righting the truck costs 10% of the fee every time.
• You can’t hear the radio while you’re wanted.

Related: Trucking · The scrapyard · Police · Vehicles · What unlocks when · Achievements and leaderboards