07/03/2026
⛔️HOW DO 911 WRECKER CALLS REALLY WORK? ⛔️
One of the biggest misconceptions we hear at Bubba’s Towing & Recovery is:
“The police pay you to come clean up wrecks they call you out to.”
That’s simply not how it works.
We wanted to take a moment to help educate the public on how police call-outs and 911 towing actually work.
When there’s an accident, law enforcement’s first priority is protecting lives and securing the scene. Once that’s done, if the vehicle owner doesn’t have a preferred towing company or isn’t able to choose one, the officer will contact a towing company from the local rotation list.
Being on that rotation list does not mean we receive a salary or government funding. It simply means we’re available to respond when called.
From that point on, the towing company is responsible for handling the recovery. Depending on the crash, that can involve:
🚧 Recovering heavily damaged vehicles
🚛 Operating specialized wreckers and recovery equipment
🧹 Cleaning debris from the roadway
🛢️ Handling fluids and environmental cleanup when needed
🚦 Working in dangerous traffic conditions to reopen the road as quickly and safely as possible
All of that equipment, manpower, fuel, labor, and time is provided by the towing company—not the government.
So who pays?
In most cases, payment is the responsibility of the vehicle owner, their insurance company, or the company that owns the vehicle involved. Unfortunately, not every vehicle is insured, and not every bill gets paid. Sometimes recovery companies spend thousands of dollars responding to a major crash with no guarantee they’ll ever recover those costs.
Our job isn’t just towing vehicles. It’s helping law enforcement clear roadways, assisting people during some of the worst moments of their lives, and getting traffic moving safely again for everyone else.
The next time you see a crash scene being cleared, remember that a local towing and recovery company has answered the call—often in the middle of the night, in bad weather, or in dangerous conditions—and they’re doing it with no guarantee of payment.
We’re proud to serve our community, and we hope this helps everyone better understand how the 911 towing process works.
Thank you for trusting Bubba’s Towing & Recovery when you need us most. 🇺🇸🚛
