Do Tow Trucks Need Your Keys? [ Answered ]

No one wants to be left on the roadside, particularly if they are in an unknown area. And nobody likes to give their vehicle keys to unknown people.

However, this is not an uncommon experience while calling towing assistance. You will be asked for your vehicle keys temporarily. You may wonder if this is safe. Should you leave your car keys with the providers? Go through the entire article to know everything about it.

Do tow trucks need your keys?

Even though you can tow a vehicle with no keys, it can be tough for your tow truck motorist to commit. If you keep your car key secret, then your tow truck motorist can leave your vehicle in neutral and control the tires to make pulling effortless.

Can you tow a truck without keys?

Most individuals think it is impossible to tow a vehicle without keys. This is mainly a job for an expert. However, you can do it yourself. You’ll have to learn about the mechanics of vehicles and how they’re manufactured to do this. Here are the steps to tow a truck without keys.

Step 1

Check if your vehicle has rear or front-wheel drive. Then check your owner’s manual in case you have any doubts.

Step 2

Set self-loading dollies. Adjust the dollies under the back wheels if your vehicle has front wheels or rear wheel drive.

Step 3

In the next step, you need to connect a tow leash. Remember not to connect it to the axle or bumper. You will see a void in the frame close to each wheel to connect a tow strap pin.

Step 4

Don’t drive fast. The car driver towing the defective vehicle must start and stop the car carefully to prevent any breakdown of both automobiles.

Step 5

If you’re facing any issues using the self-loading dollies, the drive wheels can be disabled by detaching the connection and leaving the vehicle neutral.

Can a car be towed without being in neutral?

If there are insufficient self-loading dol-lies, you will probably be able to detach the connection on the vehicle you are considering towing. Committing this will successfully put your automobile in neutral, which can allow you to pull it with all the wheels.

The particular technique for detaching the automobile’s transmission differs from one label to the another and various models will retain their transmission buttons in various areas.

Since this procedure requires you to go under the car, keeping your car still is crucial even after putting it in neutral.

The car will need to be kept from rolling by positioning wheel blocks behind or in front of the wheels to protect the vehicle while you are under it. A torch is also needed to check which switch is used to neutralize the vehicle.

In the next process, switch on the torch and slide it under the vehicle. Most connection levers are placed close to the engine. This is why close to the engine cove is typically the first spot to check based on the drive format of the car.

Then, find a cable with a button attached to the transmission. Then you probably detach the button by dragging backward on the button.

Once you detach this cable, your vehicle should be unrestricted to roll. Finally, you can attach the automobile to the tow car and then take out the wheel blocks before starting the car.

Conclusion

So, this is everything you should learn about how to tow your car without a key. Now you are familiar with various procedures. These techniques have their respective needs, such as without or with the keys.