Tow truck financing

A tow truck is a chassis with a carrier bed or a wrecker body on it, and the price runs from a light-duty rollback a one-truck operator starts with to a rotator that costs more than a house. iFinancial Group finances all of them, new or used, chassis and body on one approval, on a one-page application. No tax returns and no audited financial statements to apply, no minimum and up to $1,000,000.

Who you're dealing with

iFinancial Group has funded equipment since 1997, roughly $600 million of it, in all 50 states. We're a direct lender, not a broker, so the file is underwritten in house and not shopped around. Our customers have ranged from independent manufacturers to global technology companies. We've barely advertised in almost three decades. The business came from repeat customers, referrals, and vendors sending us their customers.

What you're financing

Rollback carriers, a 19 to 22 foot flatbed that tilts and slides on a Class 5 or 6 chassis, are the most common first truck and typically list new from about $100,000 to $170,000. Light-duty wreckers with a wheel lift on a Class 5 or 6 chassis run roughly $90,000 to $150,000. Medium-duty wreckers run $150,000 to $250,000. Heavy-duty wreckers and rotators, the 25 to 75 ton trucks that recover tractor-trailers, run $350,000 to $900,000 and up.

Those are market ranges. The chassis, the bed or boom maker, the winch capacity and the option list move the number.

What goes on the same approval

The chassis and the carrier bed or wrecker body are two invoices and one truck, financed on one approval. The wheel lift on a rollback, the light bar, the winches, the dollies, the tool and chain boxes and the lettering all belong to the equipment package.

Freight from the body builder, setup and operator training are soft costs and can ride on the same deal, on many deals up to 30% of the total.

Who buys them and how the payment gets covered

Towing and recovery companies, body shops and dealerships that tow their own work, roadside assistance contractors on motor club rotation, and repossession agents. A rollback on a police rotation list and a motor club contract works every day, and the revenue is per call.

A lot of towing companies start with one truck and the owner driving it. It starts with the one-page application, and a newer business will typically need a little more up front, usually the rotation or motor club agreement the truck is bought to serve.

New or used

Used rollbacks four to eight years old typically trade from about $50,000 to $110,000, and used wreckers from $40,000 to $90,000 for light duty up to $200,000 and more for heavy. The used market is active because towing companies trade up as the business grows. Dealer, auction and private party sales are all financeable.

On a used carrier, the bed, the slide cylinders, the winch and the subframe get inspected as closely as the chassis. On the financing side it's the bill of sale, the title and proof of what was paid.

What slows a tow truck deal down

New carriers and wreckers are built to order and the body builder's lead time runs weeks to months. An approval here holds up to 60 days, and we can often pay the builder at order so the deposit is part of the financing. How much is prefunded at order depends on the builder's terms and the file.

Heavy wreckers and rotators above $1,000,000 are structured differently from a single rollback, usually as a master lease when a company is building a heavy fleet. Below that line it's the same one page.

How it works with iFinancial Group

It's the same one-page application whether the equipment is small or the deal runs to $1,000,000: no tax returns and no audited financial statements to apply, no minimum and up to $1,000,000. Decisions typically come back within 24 hours, and an approval holds up to 60 days. New and used equipment, terms up to 84 months, and soft costs up to 30% so freight, setup and training can go in the same deal. Payment structures beyond level payments are there when the equipment earns unevenly. We've been doing this since 1997, in all 50 states.

Other vocational trucks: vacuum excavator, vacuum truck, bin cleaning truck, dump truck, bucket truck, street sweeper, water truck, roll-off truck, box truck, service truck, refuse truck, concrete mixer truck. Or start with vocational truck financing.