The short version
You're never charged for a completed job until it's complete. Cancelling is free until the truck leaves. Once the driver is on the way, cancelling costs the company's dispatch fee (shown before you confirm); once the driver is on scene, it costs the hook-up fee from your quote. After the vehicle is loaded you can't cancel from the app. Extras are only charged if you approve them. Disputes: email us within 30 days and we'll pull the job record.
1. When your card is charged
- Choosing a quote saves your card. Nothing is charged.
- When the company accepts, we place a hold for the quoted amount (price plus tax). A hold is not a charge; it reserves the amount on your card.
- When the job is complete, the hold is captured for the final amount: the quote, plus any extras you approved on scene. The receipt shows every line.
- If the final amount is higher than the hold because of approved extras, the difference is charged to the same card.
2. Cancelling
- Before a company accepts — cancel from the quotes page. No charge; nothing was held.
- After acceptance, before the driver leaves — cancel from the tracking page. The hold is released (your bank may take a few days to show it). No fee.
- While the driver is on the way — the company has committed a truck and a driver. Cancelling charges the company's dispatch fee, a flat amount each company sets (typically $35–$75). You see the exact amount before you confirm.
- After the driver arrives on scene — the company has done the work of getting there. Cancelling charges the hook-up fee shown on your quote (not the mileage or other lines).
- After the vehicle is loaded — the job can't be cancelled from the app. Contact the company; it will complete the job to the destination you agree on.
- Scheduled tows — the same rules apply from the moment a driver is dispatched for the slot.
Any cancellation fee is charged from the existing hold — the rest of the hold is released — with sales tax where it applies, and shows on your receipt. The company keeps the fee less Towhub's platform fee.
3. If the company cancels
If a company accepts and then can't do the job, the hold is released and you're returned to your quotes to pick another company. You are not charged.
4. Extras and price changes
Every quote shows the company's published add-on prices ("if conditions change on scene"). If the situation needs more than the quote covered — winching out of a ditch, dollies, a further destination — the company proposes the extra and its price; you get a text and approve or decline on your tracking page before it's added. Proposals that aren't on the published list are marked as such. Approved extras are charged with the job when it's complete and appear on your receipt. Declining an extra doesn't cancel the job unless the job can't be done without it, in which case Section 2 applies.
5. Refunds and disputes
- Open a dispute from the tracking page or receipt within 30 days of the job ("Report a problem"), or email support@towhub.co with the job number.
- The tow company has 48 hours to respond. We then review the job record — status times, driver locations, the crew's condition photos and yours, notes and both statements — and refund in full or part, or uphold the charge. You're texted the outcome. Refunds go to the original card and typically appear within 5–10 business days.
- Refunds are reversed from the company's payout, not absorbed by Towhub.
- Claims for damage to your vehicle are made against the tow company's insurance; we provide the job record to support the claim. See the Terms of Service.
6. Business (invoice) accounts
Businesses billed on invoice are charged on their monthly statement instead of a card hold. The same cancellation rules apply to what appears on the statement. See the Business Account Terms.