Tow trucks in Woodbridge, NJ: the questions, with the answers the dispatcher gives on the phone

It depends on the car. All-wheel drive, electric, plug-in hybrid, lowered, luxury or damaged cars get the flatbed, which we also call a rollback. A front-wheel-drive car that rolls and steers, going a short distance inside the township, gets the wheel-lift. Tell the dispatcher the make, model and year and she decides before she quotes.

A flat $149 booking fee for dispatch and hook-up, $129 if you book online, plus a per-mile rate to the garage or driveway you choose, quoted on the call before the truck leaves. The rollback and the wheel-lift carry the same booking fee. The prices page has every line.

Not here. The booking fee is $149 by phone or $129 online whichever truck comes, because the truck is chosen for the car and not for the receipt. Only vans, box trucks and heavier vehicles that need the medium or heavy wrecker are quoted separately.

No, and we will not do it. With two wheels turning on the road and the other two lifted, an AWD transfer case runs without lubrication and can be ruined inside a few miles. Subarus, Audi Quattros, BMW xDrives, 4MATIC Mercedes, AWD Toyotas and Hondas and every 4x4 pickup ride the flatbed from Woodbridge, no exceptions.

Yes, on the flatbed only, with the car in transport mode where the maker provides one and straps through the wheels rather than the frame. Never a wheel-lift, never with any wheel rolling. That covers Tesla, Rivian, Ioniq, Bolt, Leaf, Mach-E, ID.4 and the plug-in hybrids too.

Yes. The driver reduces the deck angle, sets wood blocks or ramps under the approach and winches slowly so the nose never touches the deck edge. Say it is lowered when you call so the truck arrives with the blocks on board. Lowered cars never ride the wheel-lift.

Our yard is in Linden, about twelve minutes from Woodbridge proper by Routes 1 & 9 and closer to Avenel and Port Reading. A truck is often already in the township. The dispatcher quotes a real arrival window from where the nearest suitable truck actually is, not from the yard.

Not when the front wheels are the ones lifted, because the rear wheels on a front-wheel-drive car are not connected to the transmission. The driver confirms the drivetrain, puts the car in neutral or park as the maker specifies and releases the parking brake. If there is any doubt, the rollback comes instead.

Yes, on the flatbed with a front-wheel chock and soft straps over the bars and the frame, never a sling and never a wheel-lift. Sport bikes, cruisers, scooters and touring bikes, from a Route 35 shoulder or a garage in Colonia, at the same booking fee plus mileage.

The open lots, yes, either truck. The covered levels have low ceilings, so the rollback waits at the exit and the driver brings the car out on a wheel-lift or dollies and loads it outside. Tell dispatch which entrance and which level and that is built into the quote.

Probably not. Most Metropark calls are a battery that sat all day or all week, and a jump start is one flat price with no mileage. If the battery will not hold, the tow is added at the flat rate right there with no second callout, and the car comes out of the garage to the rollback at the exit.

On the New Jersey Turnpike and the Garden State Parkway the shoulder itself is served by the Turnpike Authority's authorized garages; book with us anyway, and once the authorized truck has the car off the highway we take it from the exit or the garage's lot to the shop or driveway you choose, at the same flat quoted price. That applies from Exit 127 to Exit 131 and to the Turnpike at Exit 11. Routes 1 & 9, Route 35, Route 440, Route 27 and every township street are a direct dispatch.

Call us before the rotation truck arrives and you keep control of where the car goes. The rollback winches it onto the deck on whatever wheels it has, the driver photographs every panel for your adjuster, and it is delivered to the body shop you name. No storage yard, no release fee, no second tow.

Yes. Sprinters, box trucks and landscaping rigs ride the medium-duty wrecker with an underlift; tractors and full-size buses ride the heavy truck. Tell the dispatcher the model or the weight and she books the right one. Fleets get an account with one invoice a month.

No. The booking fee and the mileage rate are the same at every hour of every day, holidays included. Nights are staffed, so there is nobody to call in and nothing to charge for.

Yes. One or two passengers ride in the cab at no charge, which matters when the car is going to a shop in Edison or Rahway and you have no other way home. If there are more of you, say so and the dispatcher will help plan it.

A rollback needs room to tilt its deck, so on a short or sloped driveway the driver often loads from the street with the winch instead. He phones ahead so a second car can be moved and looks at the slope before he decides. Either way you hear about any winch work before it happens.

No. Anyone can call and pay the quoted price. If a plan or a policy covers towing, pay us, keep the itemized receipt and file it; at 2 a.m. that is usually much quicker than waiting for the plan to find a contractor with the right truck.

A local tow: the $149 booking fee ($129 online) plus a few miles, quoted on the call. Carteret, Clark, Sayreville, Linden and the rest of Middlesex and Union County are the same formula. A run to the shore or across a state line is quoted with tolls on one flatbed for one price.

He checks the badge and the underside to confirm the drivetrain, looks at the ground clearance and the deck angle, sets the transmission and the parking brake as the maker specifies, photographs every panel, and puts the straps through the wheels rather than around suspension parts. Then the winch takes up slack slowly and the car goes on straight.

Visa, Mastercard, Amex, Discover, Apple Pay, Google Pay and cash, on the spot at any hour, all at the same price. Fleet accounts run on net terms with a monthly invoice.

Yes. Flatbed and wheel-lift drivers, owner-operators with their own rollbacks or wreckers, and roadside providers. Openings, pay and how to apply are on the driver jobs page.