Alpha Towing

They were the company chosen by my insurance when I needed roadside assistance. I’ve had less than happy experiences with other companies in the past so I was a bit worried while I sat in the car looking at the reviews here. My insurance company told me it would be an hour and the driver arrived in an hour so far so good. After some discussion with the driver we decided to leave my car where it was for the night and he could not have been more pleasant about that. He gave me the overnight storage option, but did not pressure at all to do that vs. leaving the car where it was. The next morning I called my insurance to arrange a tow and they again picked Alpha and gave me a 90 minute estimate. After nearly and hour I got a call from the driver who told me he was in some heavy morning commute traffic and might be late. Great proactive customer service. In the end he arrived at right about the 90 minute mark so the original estimate was good. The driver was friendly and took care getting my car up on the truck. We delivered it to my mechanic where with the same care he put the car where requested. All in all a great experience (to the extent that getting a tow can be a great experience).

If I could give this place a zero I would, worst customer service ever. I simply called to ask about a rate and when the gentleman heard I was in a certain part of town he RUDELY yelled «na I’ll pass!»… I’m sorry, but under no circumstance should ANY local business treat POTENTIAL customers this way, if he couldn’t go out that was then just say you’re not available in that area. Simple!

Over promising on time and under-​delivering is how these guys do business.
I would suggest that others who have issues with Alpha contact their insurance company and complain. So long as Alpha secures corporate agreements, they will continue to provide bad and late service with impunity.
The way to stop them from doing this is to get their corporate clients to stop using them. This company doesn’t deserve to be in business.

Worst towing company ever.
–Waited 2 hours for them to arrive despite giving me an ETA of an hour.
–When i asked dispatcher ETA because they were over an hour late, she was extremely rude and told me she didn’t know, despite it being her job to give an ETA.
–Driver was also rude.
Overall I would never use this towing company again because they have extremely bad customer service and don’t arrive according to their ETA.

What a waste of time. These guys will jerk you around with «we are on our way and will be there in 20 minutes.» Two hours later and multiple calls, you can guess how this story ends.
Avoid Alpha Towing.

I would give them NO stars if possible. My husband is an Army officer. When the towing company showed up they were INCREDIBLY rude to me and my husband. It was unbelievable how poorly we were being treated. My husband asked the guy why he was being treated to badly and the guy said, «I don’t like soldiers.» We called the company to complain about his treatment of us and they could not have cared less. DON’T GIVE YOUR MONEY TO THIS COMPANY BECAUSE WHO KNOWS WHY YOU WILL BE DISCRIMINATED AGAINST.

I was helping a friend who had gotten into an accident on Castro St. Very little damage was done, but the cars came to rest with the wheel of one resting on top of the other. One of the parties insurance companies called Alpha towing. I think «Alpha Male» towing would be a more appropriate name. I tried to point out the the subtleties of the situation (that we should be careful separating the cars in order to not cause more damage. Their driver Kuldeep told me that he couldn’t explain how he was going to separate the cars, but that we should either just trust him or he would leave.
As it happens he was able (perhaps due to our suggestions) to separate the cars without additional damage, but Kuldeep’s attitude was hostile and unnecessary.

Terrible.
One star for a very friendly driver who showed up when he was supposed to, but that’s it.
The car I was in that needed to be towed not only showed up at the wrong mechanic location after 24 hours (I was told it would be delivered first thing the next morning as it was after-​hours), but when the car showed up, the mechanic was so confused, he asked for the car’s insurance and was given a different company. !!! The poor mechanic had to do his own research and figure it out on his own. Finally I was contacted and I was floored.
If your insurance suggests this company, I would be very straight forward w/​whomever picks you up on the side of the road so your car doesn’t go missing for some time.
Scary.

I got stuck on the freeway and I called my local guy he was about to tow my car and suddenly alpha guy came out and said they are the only one can tow cars from freeway (it didn’t make any sense to me) I apologized from my guy and had alpha guy to tow my car from 280 Cesar Chavez to south San Francisco. They wanted to charge me $ 175 for towning. WHAT?!^* I didn’t even call them they just came out of no where. The owner on the phone was telling me they normally charge $ 250 and he is already giving me a good price. Are you out of your mind. I told the owner I DID NOT call you guys at all. It was just a bad Monday morning for me. One star for the young Indian driver who was so kind and helpful.

Terrible, terrible, terrible.
My car got a flat and I needed a tow (no spare tire). I called AAA and they unfortunately called this unprofessional «company.» First, they told me they would arrive within one hour. Two hours later, I was still waiting. Every time I would call their dispatcher, she’d yell at me and tell me it’s not her fault. Then their driver called me to tell me he’d be there in 10 minutes. 40 minutes later, he still hadn’t shown up. I called AAA to complain and told them they should never use this company.
When the tow truck finally arrived, he made me do all of the work. I’ve used ASAP Towing and Ted & Al’s and neither of them behaved like this company.
If you have AAA, tell them not to use Alpha Towing unless you don’t mind waiting over two hours, being treated like crap by the rude dispatcher and having to do all of the work even though you’re footing the bill.

I was grounded with an empty coolant extension tank. Dave showed up little bit later than I needed. But I partly blame my insurance company for that. Since they scheduled the service. Pretty cool guy though. I’m giving them the high rating mainly for recommending a good service shop. J & L Automotive close to 12^th and Howard. I was all set to go to Advance Auto. And maybe they would have been good, I don’t know. But I’m very happy with J&L, right across from BMW SF. Figured out all the problems from an earlier repair.

I’ve had these guys twice through my insurance company.
Scenario 1:
A Monday at 8PM. Told tow would be one hour. Tow arrives 3 hours later, the driver calls me and asks me why I’ve called the dispatcher and says,“You’ve waited 3 hours? Do you want it to be more?“
Scenario 2:
A Tuesday in the morning. Tow arrives 2 hours after the call. Was again quoted an hour.
The second time the driver was cool but still, man. If it’s going to be hours, tell the customer, don’t let them wait by the vehicle.
I don’t know what’s going on here, but it takes forever for them to arrive and they will continually and maddeningly tell you it will be «another 20 minutes» for hours.

According to the man who was nice enough to tow my daughter and her friends from San Francisco to Vallejo, he was the owner. At first he told them 150 plus toll but I told my daughter she should not have to pay toll since that is a business expense. After he heard me yelling at my daughter for not calling me before hiring a tow service he decreased his price from 150 to 126 and waived the toll cost. When he arrived at our house he said he had a daughter too and would hate to see her stranded because some idiot decided to slash 3 tires for the heck of it. Great experience.

Called for a tow. was told 40 minutes. After 40, I called back and was told another 15. after another 25 minutes, I called again and was told 10 more minutes. 10 minutes later, still no truck and an entire saturday afternoon wasted. After 90 minutes, I finally called ted and al’s for a tow. They told me that it would be 20 and they were there under that time frame. I should have called them first.

–1 star !! SLOW as molasses; roadside assistance my A… ! He was 20 minutes later than the 50-​minute wait we were told to expect by the 800 roadside assist dispatcher. He blamed it on dispatchers shopping around for best deals. Then he almost damaged the front bumper as he rushed to get my car onto the flatbed that he seemed to think was worth his pricier $ 125 bill. He unloaded the car in a BUS ONLY ZONE… that’s illegal, dude ! on an incline in front of our mechanic’s garage and refused to assist in any way to get the car anywhere closer to the garage, leaving us to push the car uphill after his hasty departure. UNPROFESSIONAL plus tardiness. You call that SERVICE ?
Buyer beware; never let a tow truck take you to his own shop ! Tow it somewhere you trust.

Tow trucks drivers — you either love them (i.e. in situations when you need their help [like this one]) or hate them (like when they tow your car for parking during street cleaning.) Fortunately, this is one of those situations in which they are loved.
We needed our car towed to a car shop — because the shop never repaired the car correctly.
The driver was early and was nice enough to check out the car and informed us of other possible damages that could effect the car.
The car ride to the shop was an engaging, intelligent conversation which certainly helped the time pass.
If I ever need a tow again I will be sure to call Kuldeep at Alpha Towing!
Thanks for your help!

Alpha Towing Company is the only towing service I trust!
For a girly chick like me, it’s difficult to find comfort in the automotive industry. It’s really not easy to know who to trust when I’ve have no about anything to do with cars except to drive it. I have came across Alpha Towing years ago when previous used car died by the side of the freeway from overheating. I didn’t know where to turn to but Unilocal and that was how I had found them. I called them right away and it was really straightforward. One of the main thing that stuck to me was how they cared for my safety. The dispatcher asked a me was whether I was at a safe place, not just where I was. I’ve experienced with other towing companies before and none of them have even asked me anything like that… they didn’t care. Anyhow, I gave them an address to the exact location of where I was and just as I thought that was almost the end of the conversation, the dispatcher gave me the option of a regular tow truck or a flatbed! Whoa! I was almost shocked to hear that they let ME decide what kind of tow truck I wanted. It’s like unheard of! It was so considerate of them! But since my car was a beater, I let them decide to give me whatever was the most available. The dispatcher told me it would take about 45 mins and asked whether I needed to stay on the phone with them until the tow truck’s arrival. I kindly declined, but I was really a nice gesture given that it was like 11pm on a Saturday nite. I waited a bit and before I even knew it, the tow truck was here… IN LESS THAN 30 MINS!!! I really thought it was my lucky nite (even with the misfortune that my car died). The guy pulled up ahead of me and was really sympathetic. I told him directly that I didn’t know anything of what to do and he walked me through all the paperwork and advised me what to do with my insurance company afterwards. He was soooooo helpful. He hooked up my car in a matter of 10 – 15 mins max and dropped my car off at MY usual mechanic’s shop (It gave me a sense of relief that he didn’t try to sell me to another mechanic shop that I did not know). Since it was late and my shop was already closed, he dropped off the car on the street for me. They even offered me a ride home but I already had someone picking me up. The tow truck driver made sure I was alright before taking off. I gave him a good tip, of course. From that nite’s incident and on, I had relied on Alpha Towing to my aid whenever I had car breakdown trouble (I even have them on my cell phone! Lol).
I’ve experienced bad towing service and heard of many horror stories about ppl and their towing experiences, but I know for a fact that I will never have anything negative as long as I stuck with Alpha Towing! :)

My roadside assistance company called Alpha Towing to tow my broken down motorcycle. I was already miffed at the roadside assistance company because I wanted them to call a specific tow service that I had used previously (through the same roadside assistance program), but this time the company said they had to use whoever was next on their list of contractors. I was NOT HAPPY!!! I just knew they were going to show up with a huge flat-​bed truck and mess my bike up trying to strap it down on the bed of the truck designed for hauling cars and trucks. Fortunately for me, that’s not what happened at all!
Alpha gave a 45-​minute ETA, but showed up 10 minutes sooner. They were driving a regular style tow truck (which made me very worried about how he was going to safely tow my motorcycle without tearing the crap out of it!), but transformed the rear tow mechanism into one specifically designed to tow motorcycles. It was amazing! The driver knew what he was doing, and got the bike loaded quickly and safely, and secured the motorcycle without causing any damage.
The driver towed it to the motorcycle shop and off loaded it quickly and safely, then had me sign the paperwork and he left. I agree with one of the other reviewers who said, «Who likes tow truck drivers?» It’s never a pleasant experience when you have to use them, but I felt this driver did as good of a job of creating a professional/​positive experience as anyone could have. I would not hesitate to use them again in the future.

Stay away at all costs. Employees here are shady. My buddy got into an accident and allstate called alpha towing for us. We paid $ 75 for the service through allstate and the guy who came to tow the car said there would be additional costs. He essentially said «this is the deal between me and you. You’re desperate right now and you need service» obviously we were desperate given it was midnight.
I will report this company to BBB.

Wow, I came home from being towed with a smile on my face and figured I’d write a quick review. With three 1 stars before me I’m a little surprised. To be honest I was expecting a bad experienced — I mean who likes tow companies any way? And I was mad as hell at my car. But the tow experience was pretty darn good.
My insurance company (thumbs of Liberty Mutual — I only called to see if I did have road side service) and they offered to call around to fine a reasonably priced tow and called back to say they found Alpha for $ 65. They said Alpha promised 45 minutes, and they showed up in 35 to 40. They towed me exactly where I wanted to go without question or comment other than to say «Oh, I know which place you’re talking about». And then went a route I honestly didn’t think he’d know (through the Presidio into the arguello gate out of the lombard gate) which is how I always go from the Inner Richmond.
I happened to have the cash on me so I handed it over while talking to my guy at Richardon Automotive and he said «wait, I’ve got to give you a receipt» and ran to his truck, wrote it up, and gave it to me. Simple. What you’d expect. Done. My car sucks — don’t buy Volkswagon people. But Alpha Towing did their job well — all this on a Saturday night.