What does a tow driver do?
Tow driver responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real tow driver resumes:
- Conduct deliveries of medical equipment throughout Florida, collect payments, and ensure proper cleanliness of medical equipment
- Deliver customers to their destination/homes/doorsteps with luggage/baggage groceries
Tow driver skills and personality traits
We calculated that 28% of Tow Drivers are proficient in DOT, AAA, and Fuel Delivery. They’re also known for soft skills such as Hearing ability, Physical health, and Hand-eye coordination.
We break down the percentage of Tow Drivers that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- DOT, 28%
Conducted daily DOT pre-trip inspections according to a set checklist.
- AAA, 13%
MAINTAIN equipment and Various service calls handed down by AAA Headquarters Give quality customer service Responsible for maintaining and counting cash
- Fuel Delivery, 10%
Performed emergency road services including jump starts, fuel delivery, and towing.
- Tow Truck, 10%
Take calls, release of vehicles and proper work, operate light duty rollback and wheel lift tow trucks.
- Traffic Violations, 9%
Job duties/Qualifications -4 plus years driving commercially without any moving/traffic violations.
- Battery, 8%
Provided quality customer by transporting customers, vehicle lock-outs, battery jump starts, and tire changes.
Common skills that a tow driver uses to do their job include "dot," "aaa," and "fuel delivery." You can find details on the most important tow driver responsibilities below.
Hearing ability. The most essential soft skill for a tow driver to carry out their responsibilities is hearing ability. This skill is important for the role because "truck drivers need good hearing." Additionally, a tow driver resume shows how their duties depend on hearing ability: "provided clients with transportation to their medical appointments including therapy, dentistry, hearing and dialysis. "
Physical health. Another essential skill to perform tow driver duties is physical health. Tow drivers responsibilities require that "federal regulations do not allow people to become truck drivers if they have a medical condition, such as high blood pressure or epilepsy, which may interfere with their ability to operate a truck." Tow drivers also use physical health in their role according to a real resume snippet: "transport residents to schedule medical appointmentsin leisure activities to monitor the health care of residence"
Hand-eye coordination. This is an important skill for tow drivers to perform their duties. For an example of how tow driver responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "drivers of heavy trucks and tractor-trailers must be able to coordinate their legs, hands, and eyes simultaneously so that they will react appropriately to the situation around them and drive the vehicle safely." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a tow driver: "time management and customer location coordination key to ensuring many different deliveries occurred on time. ".
Visual ability. tow driver responsibilities often require "visual ability." The duties that rely on this skill are shown by the fact that "truck drivers must be able to pass vision tests." This resume example shows what tow drivers do with visual ability on a typical day: "transport of mobile center to locations, transport-vehicle maintenance, mobile center operation, customer service, & audio/visual equipment troubleshooting. "
The three companies that hire the most tow drivers are:
- Auto Club Speedway19 tow drivers jobs
- AAA Northern California, Nevada & Utah4 tow drivers jobs
- Aramark1 tow drivers jobs
Choose from 10+ customizable tow driver resume templates
Build a professional tow driver resume in minutes. Our AI resume writing assistant will guide you through every step of the process, and you can choose from 10+ resume templates to create your tow driver resume.
Compare different tow drivers
Tow driver vs. Professional truck driver
Professional truck drivers have skills in communication, organization, and navigation, as well as a motivated personality and a good sense of responsibility. Their services are absolutely essential, with the most basic task being driving commercial trucks for transportation of goods and materials to distribution centers. Truck drivers transport everything from automobiles to produce to machinery.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, tow driver responsibilities require skills like "dot," "aaa," "fuel delivery," and "tow truck." Meanwhile a typical professional truck driver has skills in areas such as "on-time delivery," "otr," "vehicle service," and "semi." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
Professional truck drivers earn the highest salaries when working in the transportation industry, with an average yearly salary of $56,975. On the other hand, tow drivers are paid more in the technology industry with an average salary of $42,307.The education levels that professional truck drivers earn slightly differ from tow drivers. In particular, professional truck drivers are 1.5% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a tow driver. Additionally, they're 0.5% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Tow driver vs. Maintenance truck driver
A commercial truck driver is primarily in charge of transporting and delivering cargo, ensuring efficiency and timeliness. Their responsibilities include driving for long durations, coordinating with logistics staff, handling documentation, and maintaining the safety of cargo. There are also instances where they must liaise with clients, unload and load cargo, and keep records of all transactions. Furthermore, as a commercial truck driver, it is essential to conduct regular maintenance checks on vehicles and adhere to the traffic laws and regulations for a safe and productive work environment.
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that tow driver responsibilities requires skills like "aaa," "fuel delivery," "tow truck," and "traffic violations." But a maintenance truck driver might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "plumbing," "routine maintenance," "preventive maintenance," and "dump truck."
Average education levels between the two professions vary. Maintenance truck drivers tend to reach similar levels of education than tow drivers. In fact, they're 0.0% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.5% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Tow driver vs. Commercial truck driver
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a tow driver is likely to be skilled in "dot," "aaa," "fuel delivery," and "tow truck," while a typical commercial truck driver is skilled in "good time management," "safety issues," "safety equipment," and "federal regulations."
Commercial truck drivers earn the highest salary when working in the transportation industry, where they receive an average salary of $59,816. Comparatively, tow drivers have the highest earning potential in the technology industry, with an average salary of $42,307.commercial truck drivers typically earn similar educational levels compared to tow drivers. Specifically, they're 2.1% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.2% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Tow driver vs. Truck driver/warehouse
Even though a few skill sets overlap between tow drivers and truck driver/warehouses, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a tow driver might have more use for skills like "aaa," "fuel delivery," "tow truck," and "battery." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of truck driver/warehouses require skills like "otr," "pallet jack," "delivery truck," and "tractor trailer. "
The finance industry tends to pay the highest salaries for truck driver/warehouses, with average annual pay of $35,339. Comparatively, the highest tow driver annual salary comes from the technology industry.The average resume of truck driver/warehouses showed that they earn similar levels of education compared to tow drivers. So much so that theyacirc;euro;trade;re 0.4% more likely to earn a Master's Degree and less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree by 0.0%.Types of tow driver
Updated January 8, 2025
