Calling an emergency tow truck in Thousand Oaks at 2 a.m.: what happens next
Thousand Oaks Tow Truck picks up at 2 a.m., and the call goes the same way it would at noon: where are you, what are you driving, what happened, and a truck leaves. Everything else we do is under towing in Thousand Oaks; this page is for the calls that cannot wait for daylight.
Location comes first. On the 101 that is your direction and the last exit you passed; on the 23, the Moorpark Freeway or the stretch it shares with the 101; on a city street, the nearest cross street. Get that right and the truck arrives on your side of the freeway the first time.
Four questions, in order
- Location - freeway, direction and last exit, or street and cross street.
- Vehicle - year, make and model; all-wheel drive or not; electric or not.
- Problem - will not start, crashed, flat, two wheels off the pavement.
- Destination - your driveway, your mechanic, a body shop, the dealership.
Those four answers pick the truck, set the total and fix the arrival window, all before you hang up. We do not promise a number of minutes we cannot control; the driver phones as the truck gets near. If anyone is hurt, 911 comes before us.
The price of an emergency tow in Thousand Oaks, and what moves it
The total is quoted on the call - one number, midnight or noon - and the truck rolls once you agree to it. The cost page takes what moves the price of an emergency tow line by line; in short:
- Miles - truck to you to the destination; down the grade to Oxnard is more than Moorpark Road to Newbury Park.
- Loading time - a car that rolls up the bed is quicker than one that needs dollies or a winch first.
- What you drive - a front-wheel-drive compact rides the wheel-lift; all-wheel drive, an electric car or anything low needs the flatbed.
- Recovery - a winch pull off a soft shoulder or out of a ditch is a separate line.
- Where it goes - a night-box drop at a closed shop and a run home with a second tow tomorrow are quoted differently.
Where the law sets numbers
California sets no statewide cap on a tow you call for yourself, and no minimum. The law sets numbers only for tows you did not order: a tow the CHP directs to clear the freeway is billed at rates approved by the CHP Area - here, the Moorpark Area - which are not published, and a private-property tow under CVC 22658 is excessive if it exceeds the local law-enforcement rotation rate. A tow you request is neither; the price is the quote you agreed to.
Wheel-lift or flatbed: what happens at the scene of a Thousand Oaks tow
Loading is where the care goes. A wheel-lift raises the car by two wheels and tows it on the other two; a flatbed tilts its bed to the pavement, winches the vehicle up and carries it with all four wheels off the ground. Our trucks are light-duty; anything beyond a light-duty tow rating, we say so on the phone.
Which truck comes
A front-wheel-drive sedan goes on the wheel-lift. All-wheel and four-wheel drive vehicles ride the flatbed: Subaru's owner's manual says never to tow its AWD models with one axle on the ground because of the center differential, and Nissan's bulletin says a tow dolly will damage the drivetrain of its AWD automatics. Electric cars too: Tesla's Model 3 manual recommends a flatbed and says the tires must never be where they can spin. Low cars, motorcycles and crash damage to a wheel or the frame need a flatbed for a vehicle that cannot roll, never a wheel-lift.
How the car is tied down
The car rides the flatbed on its tires: one wheel strap over each, ratcheted to the deck, so nothing on the body takes the load. Where a wheel strap will not fit, soft straps go to a rated tie-down point or J-hooks into the frame slots, never a control arm or a sway bar. Before that the transmission goes to neutral, the parking brake comes off and the steering unlocks, so bring the key; no power and stuck in park means dollies under the locked wheels.
Keys, belongings and the destination
Get wallet, phone and medication out before the car goes up the bed; once it is strapped down, the doors stay shut. Tell the driver where it goes - driveway, mechanic, body shop - and the key goes with it. An impound is different: ordered by the police or a property owner, to a yard that bills by the day. A car that is simply gone from a street or a lot is a call to the Thousand Oaks Police non-emergency line, (805) 494-8200, the number for both police-ordered and private-property tows.
When a tow is not the call
Not every 2 a.m. call ends in a tow. AAA calls heat the number one cause of battery failure, and Thousand Oaks has recorded 119°F; a car that clicks but will not crank is usually the battery, and a flat with a usable spare is a tire change - either one is a jump start or tire change instead of a tow. Stuck but not broken is a recovery, not a tow: pulling a car off the shoulder or out of a ditch is a winch line and a recovery strap, and it costs less.
Staying safe on US 101 and the Conejo Grade until the tow truck arrives
Get as far onto the shoulder as the car will go and turn the hazards on. Leave by the door away from traffic and stand well back from the lane, behind the guardrail if there is one; the traffic beside you is doing freeway speed. Anyone hurt, or the car stopped in a live lane: 911 first, then us.
On the shoulder with the hazards on, you are a routine tow. Half in a lane, you are a CHP call first, and if the CHP orders the car cleared, the truck that comes may not be ours. California's Move Over law, CVC 21809, tells drivers approaching a stopped tow truck with amber lights flashing to move over a lane or slow down.
The Conejo Grade
Past Wendy Drive, exit 47C, the 101 crosses the Conejo Grade - a 7 percent grade with its summit at 841 feet and the CHP truck scales at the top - with no exit until Camarillo Springs Road at exit 50. Say whether you are headed down toward Camarillo or up toward Newbury Park, and roughly where. Our truck has to enter on your side, and there is no turnaround in between.
The Freeway Service Patrol
Weekdays 6:30 to 9:30 a.m. and 2 to 6 p.m., the Ventura County Freeway Service Patrol covers the 10.5 miles of the 101 from the county line to Camarillo Springs Road: a jump, a flat change, a gallon of gas or a free tow to a CHP-approved drop spot; dial 511. Nights, weekends and holidays, on the 23 or a surface street, for a motorcycle, or to get the car to your shop or driveway, FSP does not come; that is us.
After a crash
When you are unhurt and the car is off the roadway, the destination is yours to pick. When the CHP or the Thousand Oaks Police order it cleared, the car goes to the yard of the company they call. That yard owes you an itemized invoice under CVC 22651.07 and your personal property at no charge during normal business hours, and a police tow in the city also carries an administrative release fee set by the City, on top of the tow yard's charges.
24-hour towing in Thousand Oaks, the Conejo Valley and the towns around it
Thousand Oaks Tow Truck works the whole city - Newbury Park and Dos Vientos on the west side, Rancho Conejo, Westlake and North Ranch on the east, Lang Ranch, Wildwood and Lynn Ranch - and the towns around it: Westlake Village about three miles out, Agoura Hills five, Oak Park about ten, Simi Valley ten and Moorpark eleven up the 23, Camarillo thirteen over the grade, Calabasas thirteen, Woodland Hills fifteen, Malibu eighteen down Kanan Road.
Cars get stranded overnight in two kinds of place here. Trailhead lots - Wildwood Regional Park at the west end of Avenida de los Arboles, open 7 a.m. to dusk, and the Los Robles trailhead at the south end of Moorpark Road - where a car sits in the sun all day. And the canyon roads: Kanan Road's 19 miles to the coast through three tunnels, and Westlake Boulevard as it becomes Decker Canyon. Name the lot or the last tunnel.
Farther out - past Camarillo to Oxnard and Ventura, or into the San Fernando Valley - the job is a long-distance transport, priced by the mile. When fire closes the 101, as the Hill Fire did in November 2018 with traffic sent over the 23, we go the way the CHP allows and the quote follows the route.
Frequently asked
Does Thousand Oaks Tow Truck tow at night, on weekends and on holidays?
Thousand Oaks Tow Truck runs around the clock, and a call at 3 a.m. on a holiday is handled like a call on a Tuesday afternoon. The Freeway Service Patrol on the 101 only runs weekday commute hours, so a night, weekend or holiday breakdown on the grade is a private tow. Know your exit or cross street; we give the arrival window on the call.
What should I do while I wait for a tow on US 101 and the Conejo Grade?
Get the car as far onto the shoulder as it will go, put the hazards on, get out on the side away from traffic, and wait behind the guardrail rather than behind the car. Tell us your direction and the last exit you passed - Moorpark Road is 44, Lynn Road 45, Ventu Park Road 46, Wendy Drive 47C - because past Wendy Drive there is no exit until Camarillo Springs Road at 50, and our truck has to enter the grade on your side.
After a crash, who decides where my car is towed?
You do, as long as you are able to decide and the car is not blocking the road: Thousand Oaks Tow Truck delivers it to whichever body shop, dealership or driveway you name. If the CHP or the Thousand Oaks Police order the tow to clear the roadway, the car goes to the yard of the company that agency calls, and you collect it there. Either way, get your wallet, phone and medication out before the car is loaded.
What is the minimum cost for a tow?
California sets no statewide minimum or maximum for a tow you call for yourself; Thousand Oaks Tow Truck quotes one total on the call and the truck leaves once you agree. The law sets numbers only for tows you did not order: a tow ordered by the CHP is billed at rates approved by that CHP Area, portal to portal with no mileage charge, and a private-property tow may not exceed the local law-enforcement rate.
What moves our number is distance, the truck the vehicle needs, and how long the loading or the recovery takes.
Can you stop a car from being towed in California?
On private property, yes: under CVC 22658 the tow company must release the car immediately and unconditionally on request while it is still on the property, and if it was already hooked up the charge is no more than half the regular tow charge. A police or CHP tow is not stopped at the curb, but you can request a post-storage hearing within 10 days, and if the agency cannot show reasonable grounds it pays the tow and storage.
A tow booked with Thousand Oaks Tow Truck is yours to cancel; if a neighbor's jump pack worked first, just call.