The deck is not an upgrade, it is the only method
A wheel-lift picks up one end of a car and drags the other end down the road. On a standard sedan that is fine. On a lowered car, a classic with a long front overhang, or anything with an air dam, a splitter, or side skirts, it is how bumpers, undertrays, and exhausts get torn off, and the damage happens in the first hundred feet.
Wimberley Towing puts specialty vehicles on a flatbed. Every time, without exception, and without being asked. If a towing company offers you a hook for a car like this, that tells you something worth knowing about them.
What we treat as specialty
- Lowered and modified cars. Coilovers, splitters, side skirts. Ground clearance is the whole issue, and a standard approach angle will not clear.
- Classics and restorations. Often irreplaceable, and frequently not insured for the specific thing that goes wrong during a careless tow.
- Exotics and high value cars. Carbon aero, active suspension, and a repair bill that dwarfs the cost of the tow several times over.
- Show cars and collection moves. Not broken, just needing to arrive exactly as they left.
- Non-runners on a restoration. No brakes, no steering, sometimes no wheels at all.
- Electric vehicles. Most manufacturers require a flatbed. Towing an EV with the drive wheels down can damage the motor.
How it goes on the deck
Low clearance cars need a shallow approach angle, which means the deck comes down and, more often than not, the ramps come out. Soft straps go over the wheels rather than chains over control arms or subframes, because a chain on a suspension component is exactly how you bend one. If the car will not roll, it is winched slowly and straight rather than dragged sideways.
The driver checks clearance before committing, not after. That sounds obvious until you have watched somebody discover a splitter with the ramp.
Where these calls come from
The Hill Country drives bring a lot of good cars out this way, and some of them do not make it home under their own power. The Dripping Springs tasting trail is the other reliable source, where a nice car often spends the night in a lot and needs collecting the next day. See winery and brewery towing.
We cover the southwest side of Austin, including Oak Hill and the 290 and 71 corridor, plus the Hill Country roads around Wimberley and Dripping Springs.
Transport, not just breakdowns
Not every specialty move is an emergency. Cars go to and from shows, auctions, buyers, and restoration shops, and those moves are scheduled rather than urgent. Tell dispatch it is a transport rather than a breakdown when you call (512) 375-1215 and we will book it properly.
Bikes and everything else
Motorcycles have the same low clearance problem plus a balance problem, and they get their own straps and a chock. See motorcycle towing. Standard cars go on a deck too, which is flatbed towing, and the full range is under towing services.
Insurance, value, and what we need to know
If the car is genuinely high value, say so on the call. It changes nothing about how carefully we work, because a classic gets the same straps and the same care regardless of what it is worth, but it does change what we tell you about documentation and it means the driver knows what is arriving before he arrives.
Wimberley Towing is fully insured, and if your insurer or a transport broker needs paperwork before the car moves, ask dispatch and we will sort it out at the point of booking rather than in a driveway with a truck idling.
Storage and where it goes
Most specialty moves have a destination already. A shop, a dealer, a buyer, a storage unit, a show. Tell dispatch where it is going when you book, because moving a car twice costs you twice and it doubles the handling, which is the part you are actually trying to minimise.
What it costs
Non-police tows are quoted before the truck rolls. What moves the price is distance and whether the car rolls under its own weight. A non-runner takes longer to load and that is reflected honestly rather than discovered later. See towing rates, and call (512) 375-1215 to book.