What is on-hook/in-tow coverage?

Fun fact: If you live in Texas or Virginia, this is what you’d think of as garagekeepers coverage.

We don’t have to tell you that you and your drivers spend a lot of time towing other people’s cars. If you think about it, that’s a big responsibility. Cars aren’t cheap, and your customers are trusting you to deliver their car safely to where it needs to go. That’s their car that’s hooked up to your truck, their means of getting to work, taking the kids to soccer practice, running errands, and taking road trips.

Since you’ve got so much responsibility on your shoulders, you need to make sure that your customers’ cars are protected. That’s where on-hook/in-tow comes into play. On-hook coverage can protect you from disasters that could happen to a customer’s car while it’s attached to your truck being transported to its destination.

Remember, the goal is to make sure that your driver, your truck, other drivers, and the client’s car are covered during the entire towing process. Basically, all the bases have to be covered, which means that you’ll have a lot of different coverages that work together to protect you. On-hook can take care of the side-of-the-road to the destination leg of the journey, at least where the client’s car is concerned.  


Here we go. So, one of your drivers picks up a car, hooks it up to the tow truck, and is on their way. But it started raining a little while before they set out with the client’s car in tow, so the roads are slick. The driver is experienced and confident behind the wheel, but the conditions worsen as they keep driving. They lose control of the tow truck and skid off the road. They slide into a tree. The driver is fine, but the client’s car...not so much. It’s pretty banged up from its ordeal, and the repairs are going to be expensive. Your on-hook/in-tow coverage could take care of it.

Am I required to have on-hook/in-tow insurance?

Depending on your state, you may be required to carry a certain amount of on-hook insurance. You have to check and see what the requirements your state has and make sure that you're fulfilling them.

A note about exclusions:

Now, on-hook/in-tow might protect the car itself, but sometimes these policies will have exclusions that you need to know about. For example, it might not cover the contents of the car. That could be bad if your client happened to have expensive things in the trunk that got destroyed in the accident. You’ll need to make sure to go over your coverage and policy carefully with your agent to make sure that you don’t end up facing a big loss that you’re not covered for. You need to make sure that you know exactly what your tow truck insurance does and does not cover. Bad surprises...not fun.

How much does on-hook/in-tow coverage cost?

There are a lot of different factors that contribute to the cost of on-hook/in-tow coverage. Some details about your business that an insurance company will look at are...

  • Claims/losses: If your business has a history of claims or losses, you could be seen as more of a risk. And that means you could have higher insurance rates.
  • Speeding tickets: Like claims, speeding tickets are seen as indicators of risk.
  • What you typically tow or transport: The price of on-hook or in-tow insurance depends on what type of vehicle - new, used, disabled, scrap - that you usually haul.
  • Your location/Radius of operation: Where you tow and how far you go can affect your rates.
  • How long you've been in business: A more established business with a good loss record may have lower insurance rates than a new venture.

Because every business is different, the only way to get an accurate idea of how much your on-hook insurance will cost is to get a quote. And we can help with that if you fill out our quote form or give us a call today. We’ll shop around and get multiple quotes for your tow truck insurance.

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