24 Hour Car Recovery
A stranded car doesn't check the clock, so neither do we. Car recovery from £70, dispatched at 3pm or 3am with no reduced overnight service. Night jobs (23:00-07:00) carry a transparent 1.5x rate - we'll explain exactly why below, no small print.
One standard of service, day or night
"24 hour" gets used loosely in this industry. For TowManVan it means dispatch works exactly the same at 3am as it does at 3pm: the same coverage in the app, the same DBS-checked drivers on the road, and the same 20-40 minute average arrival window in covered cities. There is no separate "emergency out-of-hours" desk with a longer wait and a vaguer price - it's the same booking flow, around the clock.
There's also no membership to hold, no joining fee and no annual cost sitting in the background whether you use it or not. You open the app, enter where you are and where the vehicle needs to go, see a fixed price, and confirm. That's true whether it's a Tuesday lunchtime or a Sunday at 2am. See full car recovery coverage across the UK for the areas this applies to.
24 hour recovery prices, day and night
| Vehicle | Day rate (07:00-23:00) | Night rate (23:00-07:00) |
|---|---|---|
| Car, under 1300kg | £70 | £105 |
| Car, 1300-1600kg | £75 | £112.50 |
| Car, over 1600kg | £85 | £127.50 |
| Van or minibus | £120 | £180 |
The first 3 miles are included in every price above; mileage beyond that increases with distance and is shown before you confirm. If the vehicle won't roll (wheel damage, won't go into neutral, or the handbrake won't release), skates are used to move it for a flat £65, covering 2 or 4 skates as needed. Jobs into or through a congestion charge zone add £25. There is no weekend surcharge on recovery - only the night rate changes the price.
Why the night rate exists, and why we tell you upfront
Most drivers who work recovery jobs are online during the day. Overnight, that pool shrinks a lot - people sleep, and being available for a 2am callout is a genuinely different ask than a 2pm one. The 1.5x uplift is what makes it worthwhile for a driver to answer the app at that hour rather than leave it ringing. Without it, night cover would either not exist or the wait would stretch well past the 20-40 minute average.
We'd rather be straightforward about that than hide it in a complicated fee structure. The night rate is a flat 1.5x multiplier on the standard fare, shown as a single figure in the app before you confirm - not a base price plus a mystery "out-of-hours callout fee" added after the fact. And even with the uplift, a night recovery with TowManVan is still roughly half what a non-member typically pays for a night-time callout through a traditional breakdown club.
The price is locked in the app before the truck is dispatched. There's no bidding, no haggling over the phone once a driver arrives, and no surprise mileage charge added at the end - whatever you agreed to at 2am is what you pay at 2am.
How it works, at 2am or 2pm
Staying safe while you wait at night
The advice differs depending on where you've broken down, and getting it right matters more than any sales pitch. If you're on a motorway, being hit from behind is the real danger, not the weather or the wait.
| Situation | What to do |
|---|---|
| Motorway hard shoulder | Pull as far left as possible and put hazard lights on. Exit via the left-hand doors if it's safe to do so and get behind the barrier, well away from the carriageway. Don't stand next to the vehicle or attempt a repair. Call 999 immediately if you can't get off the carriageway, or if you're stopped in a live lane. |
| Ordinary road at night | Pull onto a verge, layby or side street if you can, hazard lights on. If you don't need to get out, staying inside with the doors locked is usually the safer option. If you do step out, wear hi-vis and stand on the side away from traffic. |
| Either situation | Share your exact location through the app the moment you book, so the driver finds you without a back-and-forth phone call. Keep your phone charged and note the recovery vehicle's make and colour before it arrives. |
Every driver on the platform is DBS-checked and carries motor trade or hire-and-reward insurance plus public liability cover, verified before they can take jobs - so the person turning up at 2am has been vetted the same way as one at 2pm. If you're ever in immediate danger, in a live traffic lane, or unable to get clear of the carriageway, call 999 first and book recovery after.
Always covered: the 10 biggest UK cities
These cities have the deepest overnight driver coverage, so arrival times stay closest to the 20-40 minute average even at 3am. Each has its own dedicated page with local pricing.
What "24 hour" should actually mean
| What you get | TowManVan | Reduced overnight service |
|---|---|---|
| Same average arrival window day and night | ||
| Fixed price shown before dispatch | ||
| No annual membership required | ||
| Dispatch on Christmas Day and bank holidays | ||
| Night surcharge shown as one clear multiplier |
24 hour car recovery FAQs
Stranded right now, day or night?
Fixed price shown before dispatch. DBS-checked drivers, insured, available every hour of every day.
Get an instant priceTom Hargreaves - Head of Recovery Standards
Tom spent 12 years patrolling UK motorways with the AA before joining TowManVan. He signs off every price, coverage claim and safety step on this page. Questions? Email tom@towmanvan.co.uk. All figures reviewed August 2026.
Last updated August 2026. Prices verified August 2026 by Tom Hargreaves.