# Tipping a tow truck driver - Please read OP for specifics
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-a-tow-truck-driver-please-read-op-for-specifics/816240
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [June 17, 2018, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-a-tow-truck-driver-please-read-op-for-specifics/816240 "2018-06-17T01:23:59Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2018, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-a-tow-truck-driver-please-read-op-for-specifics/816240/1 "2018-06-17T01:23:59Z")
This happened to me today. My question is whether you would tip the driver, and if so, how much.
Key details:
[ul]
[li]We were driving when our vehicle died on the road. Totally. Clearly something electrical.[/li][li]We were about 20 miles from home, on the shoulder of a two-lane road.[/li][li]Called AAA for a tow. The truck arrived almost an hour later. The driver did call when he was 10 minutes away to update us.[/li][li]Driver got right to work loading the vehicle on his flatbed. He told us to wait in his cab where it was cool (it was about 90 degrees out).[/li][li]He drove us 20 miles to a shop within walking distance of our home. He was very friendly and engaging conversationally.[/li][li]After unloading the vehicle in the lot of the (closed) repair shop, he notice the driver’s window was down. He offered to jump start the battery to give me enough juice to roll it up, which he did.[/li][li]He then drove us to our nearby home.[/li][/ul]
Would you have tipped him? How much?
I’ll keep quiet on whether I did until I get some feedback. No motive for this poll other than curiosity.
mmm
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### Author:  [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2018, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-a-tow-truck-driver-please-read-op-for-specifics/816240/2 "2018-06-17T01:29:46Z")
I would have tipped him $10 and felt guilty the rest of the day because it couldn’t be more.
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### Author:  [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2018, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-a-tow-truck-driver-please-read-op-for-specifics/816240/3 "2018-06-17T01:50:23Z")
I would have tipped him $20 for going above and beyond what he was obligated to do. Tow-truck drivers in this part of the world aren’t quite so nice
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2018, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-a-tow-truck-driver-please-read-op-for-specifics/816240/4 "2018-06-17T01:55:30Z")
I’d usually tip a tow truck driver ten dollars. But I’d probably have given this guy fifteen because he seems to have put some extra effort in.
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### Author:  [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2018, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-a-tow-truck-driver-please-read-op-for-specifics/816240/5 "2018-06-17T02:03:16Z")
Yes, he seemed very helpful. At least $20.
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### Author:  [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2018, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-a-tow-truck-driver-please-read-op-for-specifics/816240/6 "2018-06-17T02:09:36Z")
I generally don’t tip unless it’s a service where the income depends on tips (restaurant servers, barbers).
He didn’t do anything he wasn’t obligated to do. He was doing exactly what AAA pays him to do.
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### Author:  [@lingyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lingyi)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2018, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-a-tow-truck-driver-please-read-op-for-specifics/816240/7 "2018-06-17T02:10:36Z")
I recently had to have my car towed, thankfully covered by my car warranty and I tipped the driver $10 for a short 3 mile trip to the dealership. If the trip was longer or he had to deal with adverse conditions (e.g. rain, mud, tight space), I would have tipped him $20.
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### Author:  [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2018, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-a-tow-truck-driver-please-read-op-for-specifics/816240/8 "2018-06-17T03:57:01Z")
I would have given him $20. It seems like he really did go the extra mile for you, no pun in ten did.
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### Author:  [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2018, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-a-tow-truck-driver-please-read-op-for-specifics/816240/9 "2018-06-17T05:46:37Z")
Have you seen the bill yet?
Or is your insurance company paying?
I wouldn’t tip a damn thing. Tow trucks make a shit-ton of money.
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### Author:  [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2018, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-a-tow-truck-driver-please-read-op-for-specifics/816240/10 "2018-06-17T10:48:51Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#):
>
> He didn’t do anything he wasn’t obligated to do…
I totally disagree with this.
Anyway, I gave him a 20.
mmm
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### Author:  [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2018, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-a-tow-truck-driver-please-read-op-for-specifics/816240/11 "2018-06-17T10:57:11Z")
This exemplifies what I hate about tipping. I have no problem with tipping my waitperson. Hell, I’ll tip $10 on a $20 check at Denny’s if the waitress is doing a decent job, because there’s a lot of work to be done on that $20 check.
No, what I hate about tipping is the surprise situations. What - you’re supposed to tip your freakin’ _tow truck driver_? Who knew? And what are the rules? What’s a good/medium/poor tip, and how the hell would I know?
And yeah, I can learn the rules for one more situation, and that’ll hold things until the next surprise tipping situation comes along, and gotta go through the same shit all over again.
Seriously, fuck this shit.
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### Author:  [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2018, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-a-tow-truck-driver-please-read-op-for-specifics/816240/12 "2018-06-17T12:07:35Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#):
>
> He didn’t do anything he wasn’t obligated to do. He was doing exactly what AAA pays him to do.
I don’t believe this to be accurate, and I’ve been a AAA member my entire adult life. I’m not aware of any AAA obligation to deliver a customer to their house separate from dropping off their vehicle.
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### Author:  [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2018, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-a-tow-truck-driver-please-read-op-for-specifics/816240/13 "2018-06-17T12:13:16Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#):
>
> This exemplifies what I hate about tipping. I have no problem with tipping my waitperson. Hell, I’ll tip $10 on a $20 check at Denny’s if the waitress is doing a decent job, because there’s a lot of work to be done on that $20 check.
>
> No, what I hate about tipping is the surprise situations. What - you’re supposed to tip your freakin’ _tow truck driver_? Who knew? And what are the rules? What’s a good/medium/poor tip, and how the hell would I know?
>
> And yeah, I can learn the rules for one more situation, and that’ll hold things until the next surprise tipping situation comes along, and gotta go through the same shit all over again.
>
> Seriously, fuck this shit.
I get this, and I feel the same way. I actually Googled “tipping the tow truck driver” as we were being driven to the repair shop.
My bottom line is that he did his best to make our experience less miserable. Did he do that in hopes of expecting a tip? Maybe.
But he did it, and it worked. I chose to not question his motive. I’m happy I gave him the twenty.
mmm
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### Author:  [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2018, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-a-tow-truck-driver-please-read-op-for-specifics/816240/14 "2018-06-17T12:35:27Z")
The ride home and the jump to close the window were things he did not have to do. I’d give him $20.
The last time I had a AAA tow I had no cash on me, but a cooler full of beer. When I got out I offered him one, figuring he could enjoy it after he got back to the garage. Nope, he thanked me profusely, opened the bottle (with an opener he had on his dash) and chugged it!
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### Author:  [@ioioio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ioioio)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2018, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-a-tow-truck-driver-please-read-op-for-specifics/816240/15 "2018-06-17T12:40:31Z")
> [@Asimovian](#):
>
> . . . I’m not aware of any AAA obligation to deliver a customer to their house separate from dropping off their vehicle.
I plan on using Lyft to get home after a tow to the shop – so I get to tip the Lyft driver instead.
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### Author:  [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2018, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-a-tow-truck-driver-please-read-op-for-specifics/816240/16 "2018-06-17T14:28:43Z")
I wouldn’t tip him anything. First off, when I do small favors for people, nobody tips me. Second, tipping, as a practice in general, is stupid and needs to die a quick death. If I can help kill the practice, one tow truck driver at a time, I will.
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### Author:  [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2018, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-a-tow-truck-driver-please-read-op-for-specifics/816240/17 "2018-06-17T21:34:21Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#):
>
> I wouldn’t tip him anything. First off, when I do small favors for people, nobody tips me…
That’s quite a perspective on doing favors you got there.
mmm
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### Author:  [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2018, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-a-tow-truck-driver-please-read-op-for-specifics/816240/18 "2018-06-17T22:00:50Z")
$20 sounds like a good tip. I put “over $20” because I used to know a tow driver who refused to take AAA calls - getting paid was always a hassle for him.
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### Author:  [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2018, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-a-tow-truck-driver-please-read-op-for-specifics/816240/19 "2018-06-18T00:13:56Z")
> [@Sicks\_Ate](#):
>
> Have you seen the bill yet?
>
> Or is your insurance company paying?
>
> I wouldn’t tip a damn thing. Tow trucks make a shit-ton of money.
I would not tip him in the hand
I would not tip his income band
I would not tip him in his truck
i really would not give a fuck
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### Author:  [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2018, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tipping-a-tow-truck-driver-please-read-op-for-specifics/816240/20 "2018-06-18T02:20:36Z")
> [@Sicks\_Ate](#):
>
> Have you seen the bill yet?
>
> Or is your insurance company paying?
>
> I wouldn’t tip a damn thing. Tow trucks make a shit-ton of money.
He has a AAA membership so there wouldn’t be a bill for the tow, “X” amount of tows per year within “X” distances are covered depending on the level of paid membership dues (“Gold” versus “Premium”, etc).
Do tow truck drivers really make that much money? A quick google shows the average salary for them nationally is in the $25-40k range…not what I would call a “shit ton of money” for sure. Obviously busier drivers in more urban areas likely make more than rural ones, but cost of living so YMMV?
OP: this may be a stupid question, but when the driver jumped your car to close the window, did anyone think of trying to start it? I am sure you probably did, but I was just curious.
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