24-Hour Towing in Valley Stream and Across Nassau County

This is most of our day. A sedan that will not start in a driveway in Lynbrook, an SUV with a blown transmission on a side street in Hempstead, a pickup that lost a wheel bearing in a parking lot in Freeport. These ride on a flatbed or a wheel-lift depending on the drivetrain and the damage. Details are on the light duty towing page.

Plumbers, electricians, delivery vans, and landscaper trucks with a full load in the back. These are heavier than they look, and the load has to stay put during the tow. We tow them loaded, strapped, and to the shop or yard you name, which matters when the van is also your inventory for the day.

The heavy wreckers handle straight trucks, school and coach buses, dump trucks, and tractor trailers, loaded or empty. Tell us the gross weight and what is in the trailer when you call so the right wrecker leaves the yard. The heavy duty towing page covers how a heavy tow is set up and what the driver needs from you.

Bikes go on the flatbed, upright, with soft straps on the bars and frame and chocks on the wheels. Nothing gets dragged, and nothing touches the tank or the fairings. The motorcycle towing page explains the setup for sport bikes, cruisers, and touring bikes.

Contractors and landscapers call us to move equipment between job sites or to a repair shop. Skid steers, small excavators, compressors, forklifts, and scissor lifts ride on a flatbed with chains and binders. See equipment hauling for what we move and what we need to know about the piece.

On a street, give the nearest cross street or a house number you can see. In a parking lot, give the business name and which side of the building you are on. In a garage, give the level and the clearance if there is a sign, because a flatbed does not fit under every garage entrance and we may send the wheel-lift instead. If your phone shows your location, read us the address it gives. The more exact the spot, the less time the driver spends circling.

Year, make, and model is enough. From that we know whether it is all-wheel-drive, whether it is electric, roughly how much it weighs, and whether it is low enough to need the long ramps. If the car is damaged, say where: a flat on the left front, a crushed rear quarter, a wheel that is not pointing the right way. That tells the driver what to bring and how to load it.

Your mechanic, a dealership, your driveway, a tire shop, or our collision shop in Valley Stream. Have the name and address ready. If the destination is closed when the truck gets there, we can leave the car in their lot with the keys handled the way they prefer, or bring it to our yard until they open. Tell us which you want before the truck rolls.

Stay with the car if it is somewhere safe. Keep the hazards on. Keep your phone on and the ringer up, because the driver may call for a detail. Have the keys, your license, and the registration or insurance card within reach. If the car is on the road and traffic is close, get out on the side away from traffic and stand well back. More on that in the safety section below.

The driver confirms your name and the destination, looks the car over, and notes any damage that is already there before he touches it. Then he positions the truck, sets the ramps or the lift, winches or drives the car on, and straps it at the wheels. If you want a walk-around photo for your own records, take one. He will not mind. Whether you can ride along depends on the truck, the number of people, and the situation, so ask.

The driver unloads where the destination wants the car and hands over the keys the way you agreed. If the car is coming to our shop after an accident, the vehicle release and pickup process is handled by the office during shop hours, and the about page and contact page have the hours and directions.

Check for injuries and call 911 if anyone is hurt. If the cars can move and it is safe, get them out of the travel lane. Exchange license, registration, and insurance information with the other driver. Photograph both cars, the plates, the damage, the road, and anything on the ground. Get the police report number before the officers leave. Then call 516-362-5350 and tell us it was an accident, where you are, and that you want the car brought to Macarthur. The accident recovery page has the full checklist.

If a tow truck arrives that you did not call, you are not obligated to use it. Tell the officer on scene that your own tow company is on the way. The exception is when the vehicle is blocking traffic and police need the road cleared immediately; in that case the officer may call a truck, and the car goes to that company's yard. If that happens, call us anyway. We can pick the car up from their lot and bring it to our shop, and the sooner that happens the smaller the storage bill from the other yard.

A car that went into a ditch, over a curb, onto a lawn, or into a snowbank is recovered with the truck's winch before it is loaded. The driver looks at how the car is sitting, picks a recovery point that will not tear anything off, and pulls it out slowly. Once it is on firm ground, he checks underneath for leaking fluids and damage before it goes on the deck. That check is part of the job, not an extra.

A car towed by Macarthur after an accident goes to our collision shop at 170 East Lincoln Avenue unless you tell us otherwise. There it waits for your insurer's inspection in the same place it will be repaired. No separate storage lot, no second tow to get it to a shop, and no surprise bill from a yard you have never been to. If you would rather the car go somewhere else, your dealer or your own mechanic, it goes there instead.

Under New York law you choose the repair shop, not your insurance company. Tell your adjuster the car is at Macarthur Auto Body and Towing in Valley Stream. We write the estimate, photograph the hidden damage after teardown, submit any supplement, and bill the insurer directly. The insurance claim repair page walks through deductibles, rentals, and total-loss disputes.

An EV's motors turn with the wheels whether the car is on or off, and towing one on two wheels can overheat the motor or generate current the system is not expecting. Every EV we tow rides on the flatbed, in tow mode if the car has one, with the parking brake released. If the battery is fully depleted, the car may not shift into neutral; the driver uses the manufacturer's procedure or skates to get it onto the deck. We also deliver a dead EV to a charger or to your home outlet rather than guessing at a roadside charge. The EV and AWD section on the homepage has more on specific brands.

Subaru, Audi quattro, most SUVs, many pickups, and a growing number of sedans. Towing with two wheels on the ground can damage the center differential or transfer case, and the owner's manual for nearly every one says flatbed only. Tell us the make and model and the flatbed comes.

A flatbed deck has an approach angle, and a car with a low nose will scrape going up it. The driver uses the long ramps, adds boards under the ramps to flatten the angle, or winches the car on slowly from a lower position. If the car has a tow hook that threads into the bumper, bring it or tell us where it is in the trunk kit.

No hooking to bumpers or suspension arms. Soft straps go over the tires, not the painted or chromed parts, and the driver asks before touching anything that looks original. If the car has no working brakes or a frozen transmission, the winch does the work and the car is never pushed.

Upright on the deck, front wheel in a chock, soft straps over the triple tree or frame and the rear subframe, compressed just enough to hold the bike without bottoming the suspension. Nothing touches the tank, the fairings, or the bars. The motorcycle towing page has what to tell us about the bike.