Google Ads for towing companies: budgets, campaigns and a realistic cost per call
The campaign structure that works for emergency tow intent, the keywords that burn money, call-only ads, radius settings and a real cost per call.
Towing is close to a pure emergency purchase. The customer has a problem right now, they open their phone, and they call one of the first numbers they see. There is no research phase, no three quotes, no waiting for a callback. That makes Google Ads the highest-intent channel available to a tow yard, and it also makes it unusually easy to waste money on, because the same search that brings a $400 accident recovery brings a $0 call from somebody who wanted a friend to jump their car.
Set expectations first. In most US metros, a retail tow call from Google Ads runs $18 to $60. Dense cities, heavy duty terms and accident recovery terms push toward the top of that. Rural areas and small metros can sit under $20. If your average retail tow is around $165 and you close seven of ten calls, a $40 call cost is a comfortable business. A $120 call cost is not, and it usually means the account structure is wrong rather than the market being bad.
Run call-only, not clicks to a page
For emergency intent, the ad's job is to produce a ringing phone, not a website visit. Build the primary campaign as call ads. The headline is the phone number, the tap dials directly, and you skip the landing page entirely on the calls that matter most.
Keep a second, smaller search campaign pointing to your website for the less urgent lines, junk car removal, long distance transport, equipment hauling, where people actually read before dialing. Those need a real page, which the website guide covers.
Split budget roughly 80/20 in favor of call ads when you start.
Campaign structure that holds up
Three campaigns, not one:
1. Emergency tow (largest budget). Exact and phrase match only. Keywords like [tow truck near me], [towing service], "tow truck", "emergency towing", "car towed", "need a tow". These are your money terms and your most expensive clicks.
2. Roadside services. [jump start service], "car lockout service", "flat tire change service", "out of gas delivery", "winch out service". Cheaper clicks, lower tickets, and they fill the gaps between tows. Keep this in its own campaign so the cheap clicks do not eat the emergency budget.
3. Specialty and scheduled. Motorcycle towing, heavy duty towing, junk car removal, long distance vehicle transport, equipment hauling. Lower volume, much higher ticket, and much less competition. This is where a lot of yards find their best margin per dollar.
Separate campaigns because Google will otherwise spend your whole daily budget on whichever term is cheapest, which is never the emergency term.
The keywords that burn money
Add these as negatives on day one, and check the search terms report every week for the first month:
- free, cheap, discount, coupon (a caller looking for a free tow is not a customer)
- insurance, AAA, motor club, roadside assistance included, warranty (they are calling a club, not you)
- jobs, hiring, driver wanted, CDL, salary, career
- for sale, rental, lease, buy a tow truck, tow truck parts, wrecker for sale
- how to, DIY, tow strap, tow dolly, hitch, U-Haul
- impound lot, auction, police auction, seized vehicle (unless you run the impound and want those calls)
- shipping, car shipping, auto transport quote (unless you run long-distance transport)
Broad match without a negative list is the single most common way a towing account loses money. So is running broad match at all in your first 90 days. Start exact and phrase, prove the terms, then expand.
Radius and geography
Set the radius to the distance you will actually drive at 2 a.m. and no further. For most single-yard operators that is 12 to 20 miles from the lot. Every mile beyond that increases drive time, decreases close rate, and burns click budget on calls you will decline.
Use radius targeting from the yard, not city targeting, unless your city boundary happens to match your service reality. If you have highway coverage, add a second radius around the interchange you cover most, because breakdown volume clusters on highways rather than spreading evenly.
Set location targeting to "presence" only. The default in Google Ads includes people who show interest in your area, which for towing means somebody two states away researching a move. That setting alone has fixed accounts that looked hopeless.
Ad schedule: match the hours you answer
This is where towing differs from every other trade. Overnight tow searches convert at very high rates and cost less per click, because most advertisers turn off at 6 p.m. If you answer overnight, run 24/7 and bid up between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m.
If you do not answer overnight, turn the ads off overnight. Paying for a click that rings out is worse than not advertising, because you also collect the review. Across the industry 50.7% of towing companies claim 24-hour hours and a lot of them are paying for calls nobody picks up.
Whichever you choose, the ad schedule, your Google Business Profile hours and your actual dispatch have to say the same thing.
Tracking, or you are guessing
Turn on call reporting so a call over 60 seconds counts as a conversion. Turn on call recording. Then spend 20 minutes a week listening to five recorded calls.
That 20 minutes will tell you more than the dashboard ever will. You will hear the calls where the dispatcher quoted a price and lost it, the calls that were motor club members you cannot bill, the calls from outside the radius, and the calls where the phone rang eight times. That last category is usually the biggest, and no bid adjustment fixes it. The missed calls guide and the calculator put a dollar figure on it.
A realistic first 60 days
- Days 1 to 3: build three campaigns, exact and phrase only, negative list loaded, radius set from the yard, call reporting and recording on. Start at $40 to $60 a day total if you run one or two trucks.
- Days 4 to 14: check the search terms report every second day and add negatives. Expect to add 30 to 60 negatives in the first two weeks. Do not touch bids yet.
- Days 15 to 30: pause any keyword that has spent three times your target call cost with no conversion. Shift budget toward whichever campaign is producing the cheapest answered call.
- Days 31 to 60: raise budget on the winners by 20% at a time, never more, and add the day-part bid adjustments the call data supports.
Most accounts stabilize by week six. Anything judged before week three is noise.
Frequently asked
Should I run Performance Max? Not as your first campaign. PMax spreads spend across Display and YouTube inventory where nobody is stranded, and it hides the search terms you need to see. Prove call ads first, then test PMax with a small separate budget if you want.
What daily budget do I need? Enough to be visible during your peak hours, which for one truck is usually $40 to $60 a day. Below $25 a day the campaign shows up too rarely to learn anything or to be there when the call happens.
Do Local Services Ads work for towing? Google Guaranteed does not currently cover towing in most markets. Check availability for your area, and if it is not there, put the budget into call ads.
Google Ads management is one of the services in the free 14-day trial, your ad spend stays in your own account. Text or call (385) 832-6175, or read the FAQ first.