Flatbed or wheel lift: which one your car actually needs

People often assume a tow truck is a tow truck. It is not, and the difference occasionally shows up as a repair bill. Here is the plain version of when each one is right.

Wheel lift

A wheel lift cradles one axle and leaves the other two wheels rolling on the road. It is quick, it is nimble, and it gets into places a bigger truck cannot, which matters in a city of narrow blocks and tight garages. For a front-wheel drive car with a healthy rear axle going a short distance, it is often the fastest way to get you moving.

Flatbed

A flatbed takes all four wheels off the ground and carries the whole vehicle on the deck. Nothing turns, nothing drags, nothing takes load. It is slower to load and it needs more room to work, and it is the right answer far more often than people expect.

When it has to be a flatbed

• All-wheel drive and four-wheel drive. Towing an AWD car with two wheels turning can damage the centre differential or transfer case. This is the single most expensive mistake in towing.
• Low clearance. Lowered cars, sports cars and anything with a deep front lip will take the bumper off on a wheel lift approach.
• Non-running, no keys, or locked steering. If it will not come out of park or the wheel will not turn, it goes on the deck.
• Classics and anything you care about. Original paint and old chrome do not want to be dragged through a Philadelphia pothole.
• Accident damage. Bent suspension does not roll straight, and a wheel that will not turn is a wheel that will not tow.
• Electric vehicles. Most manufacturers require all four wheels off the ground, because the motors generate current when the wheels spin.

What this means when you call

Tell the dispatcher the make, model and whether it is all-wheel drive, and say if the car is lowered or will not roll. That one sentence decides which truck leaves the yard, and it is the difference between one trip and two.