On-Hook Towing Insurance

What does on-hook towing insurance cover?

On-hook coverage helps pay for covered damage during the towing or transport described in your policy. Check which vehicles, services, and causes of damage are included before you choose a quote.

Ask when coverage begins and ends, including how the policy handles loading, unloading, and temporary custody. Progressive’s on-hook coverage guide explains how its customer-vehicle protection works.

How on-hook differs from other towing coverage

• Commercial auto liability helps cover injuries and property damage you cause to others in an accident involving your insured truck.
• Physical damage helps protect your own tow truck, including covered collision and other selected losses.
• On-hook coverage addresses the customer’s vehicle during covered towing or transport.
• Garagekeepers or storage coverage addresses customer vehicles kept at an insured yard or service location.

One collision could damage your rollback, the customer’s car it carries, and another driver’s vehicle. Each loss may involve a different part of your insurance.

If you finance your truck, your lender may require physical damage coverage. Review protection for customer vehicles separately when arranging the policy.

Do flatbed and rollback operators need on-hook coverage?

Yes. You still need to consider damage to the customer’s vehicle when it rides on a flatbed. Tell us which vehicles you transport, how you load and secure them, and what equipment you use.

Include multi-car loads, motorcycles, luxury vehicles, heavy equipment, repossessions, and damaged auction vehicles in your application. The insurer may need more information before approving those services.

How much on-hook insurance should you carry?

Consider the most valuable vehicle you may tow and how many you could carry at once. Compare those values with the limits required by your state and customers.

Ask whether the limit applies to each vehicle, the entire load, or one incident. Check how the deductible applies if several customer vehicles are damaged at the same time.

Illinois’s registration requirements include $25,000 of on-hook coverage, subject to a specific exception for towing only the company’s own vehicles. Illinois tow truck registration guidance.

Texas requires at least $50,000 in cargo or cargo-on-hook coverage for private-property and incident-management tow permits. Its consent-towing permit rule does not set that minimum. Texas TDLR permit requirements.

A roadside network or auction customer may require higher limits. Choose coverage that accounts for both your contracts and the value of the vehicles you handle.

What happens when the vehicle stays at your yard?

A customer’s vehicle may need to stay at your lot overnight if the repair shop is closed. Check what happens to coverage when the tow ends and storage begins.

Include every storage location and the length of time vehicles may stay. Garagekeepers legal liability generally covers eligible damage for which your business is legally responsible. Direct-coverage options respond under different terms, so review the basis of coverage as well as the limit.

Coverage names can vary by state and insurer. Progressive calls on-hook protection garagekeepers legal liability in Texas and Virginia, and uses storage-location terminology for vehicles kept at a facility. Its storage coverage guide explains the distinction.

Questions to ask when comparing on-hook quotes

• Are my vehicles and towing services eligible?
• How does coverage apply during loading and unloading?
• What limit applies when I carry several vehicles?
• How are deductibles calculated?
• Which exclusions affect my recovery, repossession or specialty work?
• What coverage applies while a vehicle waits for delivery or remains in storage?