Pricing

Pricing: how we set the published price band

Every figure quoted on cheap car tow resolves to a single source-of-truth pricing table. This page is the table and the methodology behind it.

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Editorial summary

Pricing: how we set the published price band

Last reviewed: 17 May 2026
Reviewer: cheap car tow editorial team
Reading time: ~6 minutes

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cheap car tow is a booking and price-publication service. The recovery itself is performed by an independent PAS 43 compliant operator dispatched at the published rate. See terms for the operator-panel arrangement.

Pricing

Pricing: how we set the published price band

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Why the published price is the entire brand promise

UK vehicle recovery has been a black box for as long as it has existed. Low headline prices, mileage uplifts, time-of-day surcharges, vehicle-class loadings and storage fees that nobody mentions until handover have made the customer experience worse than the work itself.

cheap car tow is built around one rule: every figure quoted on the site comes from a single table in lib/pricing.ts. Service hubs, vehicle pages, city pages and the inline tiles show the "From" figure, which is the lower bound of the band. The upper bound stays in the pricing data and schema so every number remains auditable without rendering confusing "from-to" ranges on the page.

The Consumer Rights Act 2015 and the Competition and Markets Authority pricing guidance both require pricing to be transparent and unambiguous. Our practice is simple: publish the source table, show the starting figure clearly, and confirm the final quote at booking.

insight

How a band is built

For each service, the band is defined per vehicle class. The lower end of the band is the urban, daytime, on-tarmac, no-access-constraint figure; the upper end allows for the realistic variation seen across the operator panel.

Variables that move the figure inside the band: distance from operator base to scene (for a free-attendance call), surface (kerb vs verge vs off-road), weather (rain or storm conditions slow lift), vehicle position (parallel parking on a steep camber takes longer to load), and equipment fit (locking wheel-nut key availability, electronic steering lock release).

Variables that do NOT move the figure: time of day, day of week, urban vs rural postcode at booking. Operators on the panel agree to attend on the same rate regardless of which side of the regional split they are based.

by the numbers

What the band includes

Attendance, the operator's working time at the scene, the lift or load onto the recovery vehicle, the loaded mileage within the published radius for the service, hi-vis and beacon-cover working procedure, the recovery sheet with photos as found and as loaded, and the VAT invoice at handover.

For longer-distance work the band covers the first fifty miles; each additional loaded mile is charged at the per-mile rate listed in the pricing table for the vehicle class. The per-mile rate is shown alongside the band so the full long-haul figure can be calculated before booking.

For trailer transport the band covers axle straps, jockey wheel support, and the load-security check before lift; trailer contents are not insured against incidental movement.

the moment

What the band does not include

Third-party charges. Council pound release fees are set by the council and collected by them, not us. Private compound overnight storage where the agreed destination was closed is charged by the operator at the published storage rate, not as part of the recovery band. Motorway statutory fees set under the National Highways recovery framework are paid to the dispatched operator at the statutory tariff.

Ferry surcharges for island legs (Isle of Wight, Northern Ireland) are itemised separately at the published sailing rate. Scrap-metal charges set by the receiving Authorised Treatment Facility are between the keeper and the ATF; we route the vehicle but do not set the ATF's tariff.

Locksmith key cutting where a brand-new transponder is paired sits outside the lockout-assistance band; the locksmith quotes the key cost separately and the customer can decline.

in the press

The full published table

Bands are listed below by service. The table is the single source of truth for every figure on the site; change a number here and every page that references it updates on the next build. Valid from 2026-05-17.

Surcharge slots: motorway = Motorway recovery is statutory at National Highways recovery framework (sometimes called the National Highways recovery framework or NRS) rates set by National Highways and police-instructed dispatchers; we do not set those rates.; after-hours = 0%; Saturday = 0%; Sunday = 0%; bank holiday = 0%. All explicit zero unless published otherwise.

The full matrices live on each service hub page. Browse by service to see the per-class band; browse by vehicle class to see all the services that support the class.

Key takeaway · 06

Caveats published with the table

Prices indicative; final quote confirmed at booking by the dispatched operator.
Distance over 10 miles billed per loaded mile from the recovery scene to the agreed destination.
No diagnosis fee charged if the operator decides on the roadside that a tow is unnecessary.
No after-hours or weekend surcharge unless explicitly published as zero in this table.
Motorway and police-instructed recoveries follow the National Highways recovery framework tariff and are not set by us.
Council recovery pound release fees are charged separately by the council and are outside our published rate.
EV recovery is flatbed-only; any roadside diagnosis is undertaken with high-voltage isolation per the operator's safe system of work.
Heavy goods vehicle recovery is dispatched only via the heavy-vehicle operator panel and quoted before attendance.

These caveats are printed on the recovery sheet at handover and read by the dispatcher at booking. They are the only conditions on the published rate; if a caveat is not on this list it has not been agreed and cannot be charged.

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Three sample bands to compare with elsewhere

Local tow for a car under 10 miles: indicative band From £55. Per-mile rate for distance beyond ten miles: see the regional band. This is the most-booked service on the panel.

Motorway recovery: indicative band From £175 for a car. The figure is shown for reference; the actual fee on a motorway recovery is set under the National Highways recovery framework (sometimes called NRS) by the police-instructed dispatcher and is not within our control.

EV recovery flatbed: indicative band From £75. Flatbed-only by default because regenerative braking and the permanent-magnet motor generate a back-EMF when the road wheels turn without battery power.

insight

How we use "From £X" pricing

Visible prices use the "From £X" form so the customer sees the starting figure without a confusing range. That figure is always pulled from lib/pricing.ts, not typed into individual components.

The full band remains in the data layer for schema, audits and dispatcher quoting. The dispatcher confirms the final figure before dispatch, so there is no surprise at the scene.

This practice aligns with the Consumer Rights Act 2015 transparency rules and with the Competition and Markets Authority guidance on bait-and-switch pricing. It is also simpler to communicate.

by the numbers

How the operator panel is paid

Operators on the panel are paid the published band, less the platform fee that funds the dispatch and price-publication service. The fee is the same across the panel; an urban operator and a rural operator on the same band receive the same payout.

The flat-fee arrangement removes the incentive for operators to upsell at the scene. There is no commission on a tow that turned out to be unnecessary; there is no kickback for a recovery to a particular compound or garage.

Operator admission to the panel requires PAS 43 compliance, LOLER and PUWER thorough-examination records, motor trade insurance, and acceptance of the published rate framework. The panel agreement template is published once human sign-off is complete.

the moment

How VAT is handled

All prices on the site are quoted inclusive of VAT at the prevailing UK rate. VAT invoices are issued for every paid recovery and emailed at handover. The VAT registration number is published on the contact page once issuance is complete.

For business customers the VAT invoice carries the operator's VAT number; for non-VAT-registered operators a simplified invoice is issued. HMRC's VAT guidance covers the invoice content rules.

Insurance-instructed recoveries are invoiced to the insurer directly; the driver does not pay at the scene and does not receive a VAT invoice for the recovery itself (the insurer's claim correspondence covers it instead).

in the press

How and when the table changes

The table is reviewed every six months. Bands are adjusted in line with operator-panel cost-base movements; the review is published with a dated note so customers can see the date of any change.

Bookings already placed and not yet completed are honoured at the band that applied when the booking was placed. A booking placed today at the today's band is not affected if the table changes tomorrow.

Where a new surcharge slot is introduced (for example a bank-holiday loading) it is added to the table with a future effective date and announced to the email list before the date takes effect.

Key takeaway · 12

Review and change history

First published 2026-05-17. The pricing page is reviewed every 12 months or sooner if the cited primary source changes. Material changes (new lawful basis, new escalation route, new scope) are added below with a date and a one-line reason. Editorial corrections (typo, broken link) are not logged here; the live page is the source of truth.

If anything in this pricing page reads as inaccurate, out of date, or unclear, email the editorial team at hello@cheapcartow.co.uk with the page URL and a description of the issue. The editorial team replies inside three business days; a material correction is published with a dated note in this section. External escalation routes (ICO, Trading Standards, Financial Ombudsman Service) apply where the relevant complaint is in scope for the regulator.

Primary sources cited on this page

Common questions

Frequently asked questions

Is the band on the page the price I pay?

The band is indicative; the dispatched operator confirms the final figure at booking. The band covers the work in scope; third-party charges (council pound, motorway statutory fee, after-hours storage) are charged separately and itemised on the recovery sheet.

Why do you publish a band rather than a single figure?

Recovery is variable work: a flat tyre on a verge is a five-minute swap; the same job on a steep camber takes longer. The band reflects the realistic envelope; the dispatcher quotes the figure inside the band that fits the scenario.

Do you charge a diagnosis fee?

No. If the operator decides on the roadside that a tow is the safer call rather than a roadside fix, the price reverts to the published tow band; no separate diagnosis fee is added.

Is there an after-hours surcharge?

Not unless explicitly published. The surcharge slots in the pricing table are listed as zero so a future change has to be added to the table before it can be charged.

Why is the motorway rate different?

Motorway and police-instructed recoveries follow the National Highways recovery framework tariff, which is set by National Highways and the police-instructed dispatchers, not by us. Our motorway recovery page explains the boundary.

Can I get a quote before booking?

Yes; the published band IS the pre-booking quote. The dispatcher reads the same band before the operator is sent.

Is VAT included?

All prices on the site are quoted inclusive of VAT at the prevailing UK rate. VAT invoices are issued for every paid recovery.

Seen the band? Book on it.

The figure on this page is the same one the dispatcher quotes before the operator is sent. It does not change between this page and the scene.

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