How to prepare your vehicle for a scheduled tow

Updated October 21, 2026

Four things: take your belongings out, sort out the keys, clear a path the truck can physically use, and make sure someone knows what happens at the other end. Everything else is a detail, but those four are what turn a scheduled tow into a non-event.

This is for a planned tow — a car going to a shop next Tuesday, a project car being moved, a junk vehicle being collected. If you are stranded right now, what to do when your vehicle breaks down is the more useful page.

1. Empty it properly

Go through it as though you are selling it, because from the moment it leaves, getting back into it is somebody else’s schedule rather than yours.

The obvious places, and the ones people forget:

• Glovebox and centre console — registration, insurance card, sunglasses
• Under the seats, and the seat-back pockets
• Trunk or bed, including under the trunk floor
• Garage door remote — easy to overlook if you will need it while the vehicle is away
• Toll tag or transponder on the windshield
• Phone chargers, dash cam, and the dash cam’s memory card
• Child seats, if you need them for another vehicle
• Prescription medication, spare glasses, house keys

If belongings are left in an impounded vehicle, the Oklahoma DPS FAQs explain personal-property retrieval and its exceptions. For a planned tow, collecting what you need beforehand can save a return trip.

2. Sort out the keys

Have the vehicle key available and tell us if it has no power. Steering-lock and transmission-release procedures vary by vehicle; the operator will need to follow its instructions.

Decide in advance:

• Are you handing the key over, or keeping it? If the vehicle is going to a shop, the shop needs a key. Work out whether it travels with the vehicle or you drop it off separately.
• Take your house key off the ring. Leave only the vehicle key.
• If the battery is dead, say so when you book. An automatic with no power often will not shift out of park, because the shift interlock needs electricity.
• If there is no key at all — lost, or a vehicle you inherited — tell us up front. We need to assess whether we can load it and what equipment is needed.

3. Clear a path the truck can use

A flatbed is a large vehicle that needs to get reasonably close, with room behind it to tilt the deck down to the ground. Walk the route from the street to the vehicle and look at it the way a driver would.

• Move the other cars. If the vehicle is blocked in, nothing else on this list matters.
• Check overhead. Low branches, a carport, a garage door opening — the deck needs vertical room.
• Think about the surface. Grass or soft ground after Oklahoma rain is a real consideration. Mention it when you book rather than letting the driver discover it.
• Narrow or steep driveway? Describe the slope and width before booking so we can assess access.
• Gates, codes and barriers — apartment complexes, storage yards, gated neighborhoods. Have the code ready.
• Unhook anything attached — trickle charger, cover, tarp, straps.

4. Tell us if anything changed

The quote was built on what you described. If something has shifted since, a quick call is all it takes:

• A tire has gone flat while it sat
• The battery has now died completely
• You have moved it, or it has been moved
• The destination changed
• It will not come out of park any more

These changes can affect loading, equipment and price. Tell us before dispatch so we can reassess the job. What affects the price of a tow explains why these particular details move a quote.

Paperwork worth having out

Ask what identification and authorization are needed when booking, especially if you are arranging a tow for someone else. Have the vehicle and destination details ready.

If you are selling the vehicle, confirm ownership documents and eligibility before arranging pickup. See selling a vehicle to TopNotch and call with your specific circumstances.

If you will not be there

Ask whether an unattended pickup can be arranged for your location. Confirm authorization, access, keys and payment beforehand.

• Tell us in advance that nobody will be on site.
• Agree exactly where the key will be, or arrange to hand it over beforehand.
• Give us a number you will actually answer — if something is not as described, the driver needs to reach you.
• Confirm the destination will accept the vehicle when it arrives. Confirm its drop-off hours and instructions.
• Settle how payment works before the day.

The night before, in short

• Belongings out, garage remote and toll tag included
• Key ready, house keys off the ring
• Other vehicles moved, path and overhead clear
• Gate code or access sorted
• Destination confirmed and expecting it
• Anything that changed since the quote, phoned in
• Your phone charged and off silent

Then you can more or less forget about it. What happens during a pickup and delivery covers the rest.