Straight answers

Three stacked tricks. One: the daily rate starts the minute your car crosses the gate, so 26 hours bills as two days. Two: the yard is only “open” a few weekday hours, so days accumulate while you can't retrieve the car — and an after-hours gate fee is the toll to escape. Three: side fees pile on — access fees to reach your own belongings, admin fees, equipment fees. Only about half of U.S. states cap any of these numbers. Our version is printed on the rates page: $28 a day flat, the first 12 hours free, the yard releases cars 24/7, and there is no gate, access, or paperwork fee at any hour.

They vary by state, which is exactly the problem — but the basics to know: many states cap nonconsensual tow and storage rates (Ohio's are set through the PUCO); most require an itemized invoice; several guarantee card payment, access to your personal belongings, and a “drop fee” cap if you catch the truck before it leaves. If a yard refuses a receipt, demands cash, or blocks you from your medication or wallet, photograph everything and file with the PUCO or your state attorney general. And read the invoice line by line — you're allowed to ask what every line is.

Yes — that's the house rule the company is named for. Dispatch quotes from the published card while you're on the phone, the driver confirms the same number on arrival, and the hook doesn't touch your car until you've agreed to it. If the job on the ground differs from the job you described, you hear the new number first and can decline at no charge.

One flat $45 on the call between 8 pm and 6 am, on Sundays, and on major holidays. It's an adder, not a multiplier — it doesn't scale with distance or job size, and Saturday daytime costs the same as Tuesday. Dispatch states it in the same breath as the quote.

Because an EV's drive wheels are permanently connected to its motor. Towed with those wheels rolling, the motor spins as a generator and pushes current back into a system that's powered down — which can cook the motor controller and, in bad cases, damage the battery pack. Repair bills run four to five figures, and every EV maker's manual requires all four wheels off the ground. So we route EVs (and AWDs, for the same reason) to a flatbed automatically, at the same flatbed rate as anything else. No EV surcharge.

A wheel-lift cradles two wheels and tows the car on the other two; a flatbed carries the whole car on a deck. The flatbed costs more because it's a bigger truck doing a longer load — not because it's an upsell. For a 2WD car on inflated tires, the wheel-lift is equally safe and we'll say so. For EVs, AWD/4WD, lowered cars, and anything with a damaged wheel, the flatbed isn't optional and we'll say that too.

The miles your car is actually on our truck — pickup to drop-off, off the odometer, shown to you on the receipt. Some outfits bill “en-route” or “port-to-port” miles: the truck's drive from wherever it was, both directions. That's how a 4-mile tow becomes a 26-mile invoice. Inside our zones, the drive to you costs nothing.

Done right, no — and “done right” is specific: soft straps through the wheels instead of chains on the frame, the correct truck for the drivetrain, and approach boards for anything low. Your driver photographs the car's condition before touching it and shares the photos to your phone. If we ever cause damage, our on-hook insurance pays — that coverage is listed on the about page.

Yes — it happens constantly with breakdowns left overnight. We'll confirm ownership (photo of your ID plus the registration or insurance card matching the plate), take payment by phone, and send you the before-and-after photos and the receipt. What we won't do is tow a car on nothing but a stranger's say-so.

No. Fairhook doesn't hold private-property patrol contracts — the arrangement where a tow company monitors a lot and gets paid per car it hauls away, sometimes tipped off by paid spotters. That incentive structure is where most predatory towing lives, and we want no part of it. If your car vanished from a private lot, it's at another company's yard: call the police non-emergency line with your plate number and they'll tell you which one.

You and one passenger ride in the truck cab, belted — never in the towed car; that's illegal in Ohio and genuinely dangerous. Car seats move into the cab. Well-behaved dogs ride too; our trucks carry a spare leash clip. If your crew outnumbers the cab seats, dispatch will say so upfront and help you plan the second ride.

Often, by reimbursement: most policies with roadside coverage and most club memberships accept our itemized receipt — it lists hook-up, loaded miles, and any adder as separate lines because that's what adjusters need. We'll also email the receipt and the condition photos directly to your insurer on request. What we can't do is bill a membership club directly; we're independent, which is exactly why our prices are on this website.