Practice area
Towing companies and vehicle storage facilities
Towing is one of the few trades in which the recurring revenue and the real estate sit within the same business. Texas licenses the two separately and publishes both lists, which makes it possible to identify, from the outside, which operators own the combination.
What a buyer is paying for
Not revenue. In this trade specifically, price is driven by the share of work that recurs without being sold again.
Contracted rotation and motor club work
A place on a rotation list or a motor club contract is revenue that arrives without being sold again each month. It is valued very differently from casual calls, and most owners present the two as a single figure.
The storage facility
A licensed VSF turns a towing business into a business with real estate and daily-accruing storage revenue. Where the yard is owned rather than leased, it is often the largest single asset in the transaction and is priced separately.
Fleet age and compliance record
Truck condition, and a clean record with the regulator, determine how much of the price survives diligence.
The market, measured
Texas licenses tow companies and vehicle storage facilities under two separate programs, and publishes both. Matching one list against the other identifies the operators who hold both, roughly a thousand statewide. That is a materially different business from a two-truck operation, and it is invisible unless the two files are joined.
Almost every licensed operator in this trade can be contacted directly, which is unusual and is part of the reason we cover it.
Measured July 2026
Figures drift as the market changes. We re-measure quarterly rather than quoting a figure once and repeating it.
Who this practice serves
- An independent operator, not a national consolidator or a franchise location.
- Contracted work rather than casual calls alone: police rotation, motor club, or private property impound.
- In particular, operators running their own vehicle storage facility alongside the fleet.
If you have already received an approach, bring the offer to us before signing anything. A letter of intent usually carries an exclusivity clause, and once it is executed the seller’s leverage is largely gone.