Tow trucks available now · Townsville & NQ
Broken down, crashed or bogged? Call a recommended 24/7 tow truck in Townsville direct — accident, breakdown, tilt tray, heavy and 4WD recovery across every suburb from the CBD to the Northern Beaches.
Or find towing in your suburb:
Not an emergency? Compare every Townsville tow truck service or see who we recommend and why.
Tap a number — both lines answer 24/7. No forms, no middleman, no call centre.
Suburb, nearest cross street, make and model, and whether it rolls and steers. Ask for the quote up front.
Around 30 minutes for most of metro Townsville. Towed to your mechanic, home or the insurer’s yard.
Recommended Towing Companies in Townsville
We've vetted Townsville's tow companies on response time, insurance, fleet quality and customer feedback. These two stand out — for very different reasons.
Recommended
Round-the-clock tilt tray, accident, breakdown, 4WD, heavy, machinery and boat-trailer transport across Townsville and the wider NQ region. Insurance-approved, fully licensed, and built around fast response — they advertise a 30-minute average response time across Townsville and back it up with a strong review profile.
Recommended
A Townsville-based operator running heavy recovery rigs and tilt-tray trucks across North Queensland. ABC Towing is the team we point people to when the job is bigger than a passenger car — prime movers, heavy machinery and large-vehicle recoveries handled by crews who know the gear and know the region.
Some recommendations on this site may be sponsored or affiliate placements. We only recommend operators we have personally vetted against our published comparison criteria. See how we compare.
Townsville's towing market covers far more than the broken-down sedan. Pick the service closest to your situation and we'll show you exactly what's involved — and which of our recommended operators handles it.
Round-the-clock callouts, anywhere in Townsville.
See detailsInsurance-approved, scene clean-up, secure storage.
See detailsEngine trouble, won't-start, flat-battery rescues.
See detailsDamage-free transport for sedans, utes, 4WDs and prestige cars.
See detailsLong, low and stable for awkward loads.
See detailsTrucks, prime movers and large vehicles.
See detailsBogged on the beach, stuck in soft sand, off-track recoveries.
See detailsStrapped, supported and safely transported.
See detailsLow-profile, alloy-friendly, hand-loaded.
See detailsPlant, scissor lifts, generators, mini-excavators.
See detailsTinnies, runabouts and trailers between ramps and storage.
See detailsTownsville to Cairns, Mackay, Brisbane and beyond.
See detailsService area
Same recommended 24/7 operators, every postcode from 4810 to 4819. Pick your suburb for local towing advice.
The local guide
Townsville is a big, spread-out city. A breakdown in the CBD, a bingle on Ross River Road in Aitkenvale, a flat battery in a Kirwan driveway and a bogged 4WD at Bushland Beach are four very different jobs — and they don't all need the same truck. This site exists so that when you need a tow truck in Townsville, you can call the right operator first time instead of ringing around.
We compare the towing companies working across Townsville, Thuringowa, the Northern Beaches and Magnetic Island on response time, insurance, fleet and reputation, and recommend the two we trust most. Both answer around the clock, both run tilt trays, and both will tow to the mechanic, smash repairer or home address you choose.
A standard suburban tow in Townsville typically costs around $150–$300. After-hours, heavy, off-road and long-distance jobs are quoted on the call. If the tow is part of an insurance claim, the insurer usually pays the operator directly — confirm before the truck is dispatched and keep the claim number handy.
Our top recommended operator advertises around a 30-minute average across metro Townsville. Afternoon peak on Charters Towers Road and the Ring Road, wet-season flooding and outer areas such as Rollingstone, Alligator Creek or the Hervey Range acreage add time. Giving the exact suburb and nearest cross street when you call is the single biggest thing you can do to speed it up.
Every suburb has its own quirks — shopping-centre carparks in Aitkenvale and Hyde Park, defence traffic around Garbutt and Douglas, acreage driveways in Alice River, the vehicle barge for Magnetic Island. Our Townsville suburb guides cover what to expect and what to tell the operator, whether you're after a tow truck in Kirwan, Aitkenvale, the CBD, Douglas or Deeragun.
Anyone with a tow truck and a phone number can call themselves a towing company. We don't recommend an operator until they've passed every check below.
Properly insured, properly licensed — and willing to show the paperwork.
Tilt trays for damage-free moves, heavy rigs for the bigger jobs, recovery gear that suits North Queensland conditions.
A tow company is only useful if it actually turns up. We track average response times across Townsville suburbs.
Volume, consistency and how they handle the difficult jobs — not just the easy ones.
15 May 2026
Broken down in Townsville? A plain-English run-through of every way cars, utes, trucks, 4WDs, bikes and boat trailers fail in NQ — and how to get a tow truck Townsville locals trust.
Read more →12 May 2026
A local-knowledge guide to Townsville's most accident-prone roads, intersections and seasons — Ring Road merges, Bruce Highway approaches, Charters Towers Road, Hervey Range and the wet-season bingle zones — and what to do if you end up needing a tow.
Read more →13 May 2026
Discover Townsville's top 10 mechanics and why a reliable towing service in Townsville is the unsung hero behind every repair. Local 2026 guide.
Read more →Both recommended operators answer 24/7 and take direct bookings — tap to call the one that fits your job.
