Show up when someone's day has gone wrong. Ontario now licenses every tow driver and towing company.
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Pay, the path, pros and cons and the facts on one printable page. Counsellors: send it to a student from your own email in one click.
The median pay is about $55,000 a year. Across everyone in the job it runs from about $40,000 at the lower end to about $77,000 at the upper end. The source is listed under Sources at the end of this page.
Up to 1 year after high school, on the usual route.
$2,600 to $6,300 all in for tuition, fees, exams and kit. Living costs are not counted.
It depends where you work. You need a licence, certificate or registration in Ontario. Elsewhere there is none to hold, though many employers still ask for training or a certificate.
Moderate demand nationally, from government outlook data. Demand varies by region, so check your area.
Or read the whole thing here
What you earn and what it costs to get there.
Median
$55,000
Lower end
$40,000
Upper end
$77,000
Job Bank's national median for tow truck drivers is $26.42 an hour, about $55,000 a year at 40 hours a week. The low is $19.45 and the high is $37. Job Bank files tow truck drivers with transport truck drivers under one code, so these are figures for the whole group. Some towing jobs pay a commission on each call, so ask exactly how pay works before you take one.
$34 an hour
The median in Yukon, the highest in Canada
Among the provinces, British Columbia ($30.77) and Alberta ($30) are highest. Ontario's median is $26 and New Brunswick's is the lowest, at $23. Heavy recovery of trucks and buses pays more, but Job Bank does not measure it separately.
Roughly, all in
$2,600 to $6,300
Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel
The cost is licensing rather than schooling. The low end is a Class 3 or Class D truck licence at the cheaper end, an air brake course and test, the approved tow driver training Ontario requires, the 195 Ontario driver certificate and a criminal record check. The high end is the same list at full price. Light tow trucks can be driven on a regular licence (at least a G in Ontario), so if you only drive those you skip the licence upgrade and pay much less. Almost everyone drives the company's truck, and buying your own is a business decision that runs well into six figures and needs an operator certificate in Ontario.
Roughly $2,600 to $6,300 in total, much less if you only drive light tow trucks on a regular licence. Most drivers use the company's truck. A towing company in Ontario pays $575 a year for its operator certificate and must carry $2 million in liability insurance.
Benefits at larger operators
Job Bank reports that 79.5% of the truck drivers it groups tow drivers with get at least one non-wage benefit, such as a pension or health coverage.
Call-out and overtime pay
Nights, weekends and storms are when the work is.
A path to owning the business
Many towing companies are run by former drivers.
Winter is your busy season
Snow and ice mean more calls, not fewer.
The exact path from high school to qualified.
Short training, then years of learning the craft on real wrecks.
Get a full licence and a clean record
Before you start
Employers check your driving abstract closely, and their insurer sets the bar.
Upgrade your licence class, for bigger trucks
1 to 2 months
Light tow trucks can be driven on a regular licence. Heavier straight-body trucks need a Class 3 or Class D licence, and the long combinations used in heavy recovery need a Class 1 or Class A. Add an air brake endorsement if the truck has air brakes.
Get certified where it is required
Weeks
In Ontario you need a tow truck driver certificate: at least a G licence, a one-time approved training program and a recent criminal record check. Your company needs a tow operator certificate. Check the rules in your own province and city.
Get hired and learn on the truck
1 to 3 months
Job Bank says training on the job is normal for truck drivers, sometimes with a driver training course of up to 3 months. You ride with an experienced operator first.
Specialize
2 to 5 years
Move up to flatbed work, then heavy recovery, or into running a yard.
Auto shop
You are moving damaged vehicles without making the damage worse.
Physics
Angles, winches and weight transfer are the whole craft.
Math
Load limits, rates and invoicing.
English
Paperwork, rate sheets and upset customers.
Ontario brought towing and vehicle storage under provincial rules through the Towing and Storage Safety and Enforcement Act. Drivers need a tow truck driver certificate, which takes approved training and a criminal record check. Companies need a tow operator certificate, which takes a commercial vehicle registration, insurance and clean background checks. Certificate holders must publish their maximum rates and keep records, and a certificate can be suspended or cancelled. Ontario was the first province to certify tow truck drivers. Elsewhere there is no provincial certificate, but some cities, Montreal among them, issue their own permits.
Towing and recovery companies
The main employer, from single trucks to large fleets.
Roadside assistance providers
Contracted to auto clubs and car makers.
Municipal and police contracts
Clearing collisions and removing illegally parked vehicles.
Dealerships and repair shops
Moving vehicles between yards and shops.
In Quebec a tow truck can be driven on the ordinary class 5 car licence, and the island of Montreal adds a police-issued tow truck driver permit.
Finish Secondary V
Age 16 or 17
Not strictly needed. The public towing course at Charlesbourg asks for Secondary III or the equivalent.
Class 5 licence
Before you start
The SAAQ (Société de l'assurance automobile du Québec, the licensing body) says you need a class 5 licence, the regular car licence, to drive a tow truck.
Optional: towing AEP (Attestation of Vocational Studies)
About 18 weeks
360 hours in French at the Centre de formation en transport de Charlesbourg. You need 24 months on a class 5 licence. You finish with a class 3 licence.
Montreal: tow truck driver permit
Before you start
On the island of Montreal no one may drive a tow truck in service without this permit, apprentices included. The SPVM (Montreal police) towing inspection section issues and renews it.
The AEP (Attestation of Vocational Studies) in towing and roadside repair of light vehicles covers towing broken down and crashed vehicles, roadside recovery and basic repairs. Tuition is covered for Quebec students, apart from a $26 materials and safety fee. Graduates get a class 3 licence with the air brake (F) and manual transmission (M) endorsements. When checked in October 2026 no start date was set and the centre kept a waiting list.
Things you don't need, but that help.
Heavy recovery training
Rotators and heavy wreckers, the top of the trade.
Air brake endorsement
Required for the larger trucks.
Transportation of dangerous goods certificate
For recovering vehicles carrying hazardous loads.
Traffic control and scene safety training
Working live highway lanes is the most dangerous part of the job.
Mechanical skill
Getting a vehicle rolling again on scene can save the whole call.
A calm manner
The people you meet have just crashed their car.
Winter driving experience
Your busiest nights are the worst nights to be on the road.
Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.
Much of the work is on call. A dispatcher sends you to a breakdown, a collision or an illegally parked car. You assess the vehicle, set out cones and lights, winch or lift it onto the truck and take it to a shop, a yard or a driveway. Snowstorms and freezing rain are your busiest nights. Some shifts are quiet and some run 12 hours without a proper break, and a lot of the job happens on the shoulder of a highway with traffic passing a metre away.
The good
The hard parts
Things people don't tell you.
Under the Towing and Storage Safety and Enforcement Act, an Ontario tow truck driver must carry both their own driver certificate and their company's operator certificate whenever they are operating the truck.
Certified Ontario tow operators must submit their maximum rates to the province, which publishes them and can reject any it finds unreasonable. A rate change only takes effect 30 days later, and operators must accept more than one way to pay.
An Ontario towing company must carry $2 million in liability insurance, $100,000 for the customer's vehicle and $50,000 for its cargo before it can get its $575 a year operator certificate.
Every list is built from the same numbers shown above, so you can see where this career sits next to the others.
Road first, then the rest of the field. See every career in transport.
Last checked October 2026. Pay figures are typical full-time annual amounts in Canadian dollars, based on Government of Canada Job Bank wage data and published salary grids. They vary by province, employer and experience. Tuition is for domestic students. How every figure on this site is sourced and checked.
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