How Much Does Flatbed Tow Truck Rental Cost?

Updated on September 6, 2026 | Written by Alec Pow
This article was researched using 9 sources. See our methodology and corrections policy.

Renting an actual flatbed tow truck, usually called a rollback or carrier, costs roughly $350 to $800+ per day in the limited U.S. specialty-rental market. A current dedicated wrecker-rental company publishes a rate of $495 per day for both rollback carriers and wreckers, with 250 miles included before an additional mileage charge.

That is very different from renting an ordinary Ford F-550 flatbed truck from a commercial truck-rental company. A standard flatbed has a fixed cargo bed and may tow a trailer, but it normally cannot tilt and slide to the ground to winch a disabled car onto the deck.

If you only need to move one car once, hiring a flatbed towing company is usually cheaper than renting the truck yourself. A current national flatbed-towing benchmark is about $95 plus $3.50 per mile. At that rate, a 30-mile tow costs approximately $200, compared with around $495 just to rent one current rollback before fuel, insurance, and other requirements.

Article Highlights

• An actual rollback tow-truck rental costs roughly $350-$800+ (at $30 per hour, earning that amount would take about 1.5 to 3.3 full-time workdays, before taxes) per day where truck-only rentals are available.
• One current specialty rental company charges $495 per day for a rollback carrier or wrecker.
• That rental includes 250 miles per day, then charges $0.50 per additional mile.
• A professional flatbed tow currently averages about $95 + $3.50 per mile as a national planning figure.
• A 30-mile professional flatbed tow works out to about $200.
• Ordinary F-550/F-650 flatbed rental trucks are easier to find but are not substitutes for hydraulic rollback tow trucks when a disabled vehicle must be loaded from ground level.
• Insurance, license class, GVWR, payload, cargo securement, and the weight of the vehicle being moved can determine whether a self-drive rental is practical at all.

How Much Does a Flatbed Tow Truck Rental Cost?

Option	2026 planning cost	What you are actually getting
Rollback tow truck rental	$350-$800+ (about 1.5 to 3.3 full-time workdays at $30 per hour) per day	Hydraulic carrier capable of loading a vehicle onto its bed
Current direct rollback rental example	$495/day	Wrecker Rentals carrier or wrecker
Rollback weekly rental	About 10% discount	One current provider, negotiated in advance
Rollback monthly rental	About 20% discount	One current provider, negotiated in advance
Professional flatbed towing	$95 + about $3.50/mile	Truck and professional operator
30-mile professional tow	About $200	Using the current national flatbed benchmark
50-mile professional tow	About $270	Using the same benchmark
Ordinary F-550 flatbed truck	Quote-based	Fixed cargo bed, not a hydraulic rollback

Wrecker Rentals currently publishes a $495 daily rental rate for both its wreckers and carriers. Its rate includes 250 miles per day, after which mileage is $0.50 per mile.

The same provider offers a 10% weekly discount and 20% monthly discount when negotiated before the rental. Out-of-state delivery and pickup is listed at $5 per mile, showing why transporting the rental truck itself can become an expensive part of the transaction.

What a Flatbed Tow Truck Is

When someone asks to rent a “flatbed tow truck,” they usually mean a rollback carrier. Its entire bed tilts and slides rearward until the loading edge reaches the ground. A winch can then pull a disabled, low-clearance, or non-running vehicle onto the deck.

Once loaded, the bed returns to its transport position. This is different from a fixed flatbed, stake-bed, or landscape truck used to move pallets, building materials, and equipment. Those trucks may have a liftgate or trailer hitch, but the bed itself does not normally roll back to load a disabled automobile. This distinction matters because many major truck-rental companies advertise “flatbed trucks,” yet very few consumer-facing rental fleets advertise actual tow-company-style rollback carriers.

A Normal Flatbed Truck

Enterprise currently rents a Ford F-550 flatbed with gooseneck capability. It is designed for cargo and trailer towing. Enterprise also warns that state or provincial law may require a particular driver’s-license class.

City Rent a Truck offers several current F-550 and F-650 flatbed configurations. Its 9-foot F-550, for instance, has a 16,500-pound GVWR, up to 17,500 pounds of conventional towing capacity, and up to 23,100 pounds with a gooseneck configuration.

Those figures do not mean you can put a 17,500-pound machine on the bed. Towing capacity, GVWR, payload, axle limits, hitch capacity, and trailer ratings are different measurements.

City Rent a Truck’s 16-foot F-550 illustrates the distinction. It has a 19,500-pound GVWR, a 2,500-pound liftgate, and up to 12,000 pounds of trailer towing capacity. The company describes it as a truck for pallets, materials, and jobsite equipment rather than a vehicle recovery carrier.

U-Haul is another common source of confusion. It rents tow dollies, auto transports, and vehicle trailers, but those products are trailers pulled by another vehicle rather than self-propelled rollback tow trucks.

Hiring the Tow

HomeGuide’s current flatbed towing cost data use approximately $95 (about 3.2 hours of work at $30 per hour) plus $3.50 per mile as a national benchmark.

A 10-mile flatbed tow comes to:

$95 + (10 × $3.50) = $130.

A 30-mile tow is:

$95 + (30 × $3.50) = $200.

A 50-mile tow is:

$95 + (50 × $3.50) = $270.

Compare the 30-mile example with the current $495 rollback rental. The truck-only rental costs $295 more before fuel or any insurance requirements. It is about 2.5 times the professional towing benchmark.

This is why renting a rollback rarely makes financial sense merely to move one disabled car from one location to another.

When Renting Starts to Win

The economics change when you need several independent moves in one day.

Suppose five vehicles each need a 10-mile flatbed tow. Using the $130 professional-tow example for each trip produces:

5 × $130 = $650.

A $495 rollback rental is $155 less before fuel and other rental expenses. If fuel and miscellaneous costs add a hypothetical $100, the rental becomes $595, still $55 below five separate $130 tows.

That does not automatically make self-rental the better choice. It assumes the renter is eligible to rent the truck, properly licensed where required, properly insured, familiar with loading and securement, and can complete the moves efficiently.

The number of trips required to reach the crossover also depends on tow distance. Three 30-mile professional tows at $200 each total $600, already above the $495 direct rental example before rental operating costs.

The Hidden Cost Is Eligibility

Specialty rollback rentals are often aimed at towing companies and commercial operators rather than ordinary retail customers.

Wrecker Rentals says its rental customers must maintain towing and on-hook insurance coverage. Those policies are common for established towing businesses but are not the same thing as ordinary personal auto insurance.

This means the advertised $495 truck rate may be irrelevant to a consumer who cannot satisfy the rental company’s insurance requirements.

Do not assume that buying a $20-$50 counter insurance option solves the issue. Specialty wrecker insurance can involve commercial auto liability, physical damage, on-hook coverage for vehicles being transported, and contractual insurance requirements set by the rental company.

Deposits, credit approval, fuel replacement, tolls, cleaning, damage, late-return charges, and transportation to or from the rental yard can also affect the actual cash needed.

Do You Need a CDL?

The answer depends on the rated weight of the truck and towing configuration, along with applicable federal and state rules.

FMCSA’s current commercial driver’s license classifications use 26,001 pounds as a key threshold.

Under the federal classifications, a Class B CDL generally applies to a single vehicle with a GVWR or gross vehicle weight of at least 26,001 pounds. A Class A CDL generally applies to a qualifying combination rated at least 26,001 pounds when the towed unit exceeds 10,000 pounds.

FMCSA also has specific guidance for tow-truck operators. A tow truck with a qualifying combination can require Class A, while a sufficiently heavy tow truck operating alone or with a smaller towed vehicle can require Class B.

Not every F-550 flatbed crosses those thresholds. City Rent a Truck, for instance, lists several of its F-550 flatbeds as not requiring a CDL under its standard configurations. The actual vehicle, loaded weight, trailer combination, commercial use, and state rules still need to be checked before driving.

Capacity Is More Than One Number

Do not choose a truck because an advertisement says it can “tow 20,000 pounds.”

A rollback carrier must have sufficient deck capacity for the vehicle sitting on the truck. A conventional flatbed towing a trailer must stay inside the truck’s GCWR, hitch limit, trailer GVWR, axle ratings, tire ratings, and other limits.

A construction machine weighing 20,000 pounds is especially different from a 4,000-pound passenger car. Larger excavators, bulldozers, and similar machinery may require a heavy equipment trailer or lowboy and an appropriately rated tractor rather than an ordinary rollback.

Federal interstate commercial-vehicle rules also distinguish light vehicles from heavy machinery. FMCSA’s cargo securement rules place automobiles, light trucks, and vans at or below 10,000 pounds in one category and machinery weighing 10,000 pounds or more in a separate heavy-equipment category.

For covered commercial transportation, the aggregate working load limit of the securement system generally must equal at least half the weight of the cargo. Heavy wheeled or tracked equipment weighing at least 10,000 pounds is subject to additional securement rules, including at least four tiedowns in the federal interstate CMV standard.

State and intrastate rules can add or modify requirements, so the rental company’s instructions and applicable transportation regulations matter more than a generic online tie-down formula.

Three Realistic Cost Scenarios

One disabled car, 10 miles: using the current national towing benchmark, professional flatbed transport costs about $130. Renting the $495 rollback would cost at least $365 more before fuel and other expenses. Hiring the tow wins easily.

One car, 50 miles: professional towing at $95 + $3.50 per mile works out to about $270. That is still $225 below the direct rollback-rental example before rental operating costs.

Five local vehicles: five separate 10-mile tows at $130 each total $650. The $495 rollback rental begins to look competitive if the renter already has the required insurance and qualifications and can keep additional operating costs below the $155 difference.

Worked high-mileage rental: Wrecker Rentals includes 250 miles daily. Driving 350 miles means 100 excess miles. At $0.50 per mile, the mileage charge is $50. Add the $495 truck rate and the subtotal becomes $545 before fuel and other contract charges.

When Renting Makes Sense

Makes sense if:

• You need several vehicle or equipment moves during the same rental period.
• You already operate a towing or transport business with the insurance the rental company requires.
• You have a qualified driver familiar with rollback operation and cargo securement.
• The load fits the actual deck capacity, axle ratings, GVWR, and other limits of the specific truck.

Hiring a tow makes more sense if:

• You only need one disabled car moved once.
• You do not already carry towing and on-hook insurance.
• You are uncertain about licensing, loading, winching, or securement requirements.
• The vehicle or machine is too heavy, too large, damaged, or difficult to load safely without specialized recovery equipment.

For less specialized vehicle-moving options, see our guides to tow dolly costs, the cost of a Scamp trailer, and how much it costs to tow a car.

What We Checked

• Checked an actual specialty wrecker-rental company and confirmed a current published rate of $495 per day.
• Confirmed the same rental includes 250 daily miles and charges $0.50 per excess mile.
• Verified that its rental customers must provide towing and on-hook insurance coverage.
• Cross-referenced current Enterprise and City Rent a Truck flatbeds and confirmed they are conventional cargo/towing trucks rather than hydraulic rollback carriers.
• Verified the federal 26,001-pound CDL threshold and separate Class A/Class B tow-truck guidance.
• Checked FMCSA cargo-securement rules for automobiles and equipment weighing 10,000 pounds or more.

Answers to Common Questions

How much does it cost to rent a flatbed tow truck?
An actual rollback tow-truck rental should be budgeted at roughly $350 to $800+ per day where available. One current specialty provider charges $495 per day.

Can I rent a flatbed tow truck from U-Haul?
U-Haul rents towing equipment such as tow dollies and auto-transport trailers, but it does not offer a normal consumer rental fleet of hydraulic rollback tow trucks.

Does Enterprise rent flatbed tow trucks?
Enterprise rents flatbed trucks, including F-550 gooseneck-capable models, but these are fixed cargo flatbeds rather than tow-company-style hydraulic rollback carriers.

Is it cheaper to rent a rollback or call a tow truck?
For one vehicle, calling a tow truck is usually cheaper. A current 30-mile flatbed towing benchmark is about $200, compared with a direct rollback rental example of $495 per day before fuel and insurance requirements.

How many tows make a rental worthwhile?
It depends on distance and operating costs. Using a $130 10-mile professional tow benchmark, five trips cost $650. A $495 rental can become competitive if insurance, fuel, and other costs do not erase the difference.

Do you need a CDL to drive a flatbed tow truck?
Not always. Federal CDL rules depend primarily on vehicle and combination weight ratings. A single vehicle at 26,001 pounds or more can trigger Class B requirements, while qualifying combinations with a towed unit above 10,000 pounds can require Class A. State requirements and the actual truck configuration also apply.

Can I rent a rollback to move a bulldozer or excavator?
Only if the specific machine fits the truck’s deck, payload, axle, GVWR, securement, and dimensional limits. Many large construction machines require a dedicated equipment trailer or lowboy rather than an ordinary rollback.