2026 > Call-Outs > April
One record per ticket: 'TKT-2026-0418 | I-80 light-duty | Westgate' holding the hook fee + per-mile lines, total run miles, fuel cost, and the attached signed ticket and scene photos.
For towing & roadside operators
Per-tow call-out records: fee schedule, mileage, and fuel in one ticket
A tow is billed off a fee schedule — a flat hook (base) fee to hook up the vehicle, plus a per-mile rate for the loaded miles to the drop point. But the run also costs you something: the miles your truck actually rolled and the fuel it burned. Cash Workspace gives you one record per dispatch ticket where the charge you billed and the cost you incurred sit together, so a $185 light-duty call-out doesn't quietly hide a 60-mile round trip and a tank's worth of diesel. Create a record for each call-out, type in the fee-schedule line items and the mileage and fuel, attach the signed ticket and the on-scene photos, and file it in a fiscal-year folder. It's free, and it's built to keep records — not to sync your bank, read your tickets automatically, or process payments.
The problem
Why a stack of dispatch tickets isn't a record
Most operators end the week with a clipboard of carbon-copy tickets, a fuel card statement, and a vague sense that some runs paid better than others. The fee schedule is on the ticket; the cost of the run is nowhere near it. When the charge and the cost live in different places, you can't tell a profitable hook from a long deadhead that ate the margin — and your accountant gets a pile of paper to decode at year-end.
- The billed amount (hook fee + per-mile) is on the ticket, but the truck's actual miles and fuel cost for that run are never recorded against it.
- Loaded miles you charge for and total miles you drove — including the deadhead to the scene — get conflated, so the per-mile line never reconciles to reality.
- On-scene photos, the police/PD call number, and the signed authorization live on a phone or in a glovebox, separate from the ticket.
- A fuel card statement shows a week of diesel in one lump, never tied back to the individual call-outs that burned it.
- At tax time the operator hands the accountant a shoebox of tickets with no per-run cost attached to any of them.
The workflow
Turning one dispatch ticket into one record
The unit here is the single call-out. Each dispatch ticket becomes one record that carries both halves of the run: what you billed off the fee schedule, and what the run cost you in miles and fuel. Here's the practical loop after a tow clears.
- 1
Open a record per dispatch ticket
When a call-out closes, create a record named for the ticket — for example 'TKT-2026-0418 | I-80 light-duty | Westgate Auto'. One ticket, one record. Repos, private-property tows, and PD-ordered tows all use the same shape so nothing is special-cased.
- 2
Enter the fee-schedule charge as line items
Type in the billed lines exactly as your rate sheet reads: hook/base fee (e.g. $95 light-duty), loaded miles x per-mile rate (e.g. 18 loaded mi x $4.50 = $81), plus any after-hours, winching, or storage-start line if it applies to this run. The record's total is what you billed.
- 3
Record the run's mileage and fuel cost
Log the truck's actual miles for the run — deadhead to scene plus loaded miles back — and the fuel cost you assign to it. Keep loaded miles (what you charged) and total run miles (what you drove) as separate fields so the gap is visible, not buried.
- 4
Attach the ticket, photos, and authorization
Attach the signed dispatch ticket, the on-scene damage photos, and the release/authorization (or PD call number) to the same record. You upload these yourself — the workspace files what you attach; it does not read or extract anything from them.
- 5
File it in the fiscal-year folder and export when asked
Drop the record into a fiscal-year folder (e.g. 2026 > Call-Outs > April). When your accountant wants the quarter, export the records so each run's charge and cost travel together. This is organizational, not a tax or accounting calculation.
Record structure
Fields to capture on a call-out record
These are the per-ticket fields that keep the fee-schedule charge and the run cost reconcilable. Type them in yourself; Cash Workspace stores what you enter and does not pull or auto-fill any of it.
- Ticket number
- Your dispatch ticket / call-out ID, e.g. TKT-2026-0418 — the record's anchor and name.
- Call-out date & time
- When the run was dispatched, e.g. 2026-04-18 02:40 — flags the after-hours line if your fee schedule has one.
- Class of tow
- Light / medium / heavy-duty, or repo / private-property / PD-ordered — drives which fee-schedule rate applies.
- Hook (base) fee
- The flat hook-up charge from your rate sheet, e.g. $95 light-duty — the fixed half of the billed amount.
- Loaded miles & per-mile rate
- Billable towed distance and your rate, e.g. 18 mi x $4.50 = $81 — the variable half of the charge.
- Total run miles
- Actual truck miles incl. deadhead to scene, e.g. 47 mi — kept separate from loaded miles so the gap is plain.
- Fuel cost for the run
- Diesel/gas you assign to this call-out, e.g. $22.40 — the cost line that sits against the charge.
- Drop location & customer
- Where the vehicle went and who's billed, e.g. Westgate Auto Body / Geico claim — links the run to a client record.
- Payer & status
- Motor club, insurer, cash, or account — and whether this ticket is unpaid, paid, or written off.
- Notes
- Winching, second-truck assist, gate fee, or a wait time you didn't bill — context for the accountant later.
Example setup
An example folder and record layout
A simple fiscal-year structure that keeps every call-out filed by month and every ticket reconcilable on its own. Adjust names to match your dispatch numbering.
2026 > Call-Outs > April > Heavy-Duty
Separates the higher-rate runs, e.g. 'TKT-2026-0431 | overturned box truck | $420 hook + 12 mi' with winch-out notes and the PD call number attached.
2026 > Motor-Club & Insurer Runs
Records for account-billed call-outs (e.g. AAA, Geico) where the fee schedule is the club's contracted rate — kept visible so contracted-rate runs are easy to pull and confirm as paid.
2026 > Fee Schedule & Rate Sheet
Your current rate sheet attached as a reference document — hook fees by class and per-mile rates — so every ticket record is entered against the same source figures.
2026 > Unpaid Call-Outs
Working list of tickets still owed (motor-club reimbursements, account customers), each record marked unpaid until you mark it paid — purely status tracking, no reminders sent.
Common mistakes
Common mistakes this page helps you avoid
- Recording only the billed total and never the run's actual miles or fuel — so you can't tell a profitable hook from a long deadhead.
- Putting loaded miles and total truck miles in the same field, which makes the per-mile charge impossible to reconcile against what you drove.
- Leaving scene photos and the signed authorization on a phone instead of attaching them to the ticket's record.
- Treating the weekly fuel card statement as the cost record instead of assigning fuel down to individual call-outs.
- Stretching this record to cover seasonal-contract billing or generic monthly mileage logs — those belong in their own records, not on a per-tow ticket.
How it helps
How Cash Workspace helps
Charge and cost in one record
Each dispatch ticket becomes a single record carrying the fee-schedule lines (hook + per-mile) and the run's mileage and fuel cost together, so a call-out's economics are visible at a glance.
Attach the proof to the ticket
Upload the signed ticket, on-scene damage photos, and the release authorization to the same record. You attach them; the workspace files them — it does not read or extract their contents.
Fiscal-year folders by month
File call-outs into year-and-month folders so a quarter or a class of tow is easy to find and pull when your accountant asks.
Accountant-ready export
Export the records so each run's billed charge and incurred cost travel together as organized records — not a shoebox of loose tickets.
Related
Related records and workflows
Snow removal route & fuel records
The seasonal-contract cousin: per-storm route stops, salt, and fuel tracked against a fixed flat-rate fee — use it when billing is a season contract, not a per-call fee schedule.
Monthly mileage log close routine
For the separate month-end mileage log your truck keeps — confirm each business trip and lock the month. Distinct from the per-tow miles you bill on a ticket.
Invoice line-item detail notes
How to document what each line on a billed invoice covers — handy for explaining winching or after-hours lines that show up on a tow invoice.
Unpaid invoice tracker
Track call-outs still owed by motor clubs, insurers, or account customers — a status list of who hasn't paid, with no reminders sent on your behalf.
Business expense categories
How fuel, tolls, and other run costs sort into product-defined categories so your call-out costs land in consistent buckets.
Accountant-ready export
Export your call-out records so each ticket's charge and cost reach your accountant as organized records.
Finance workflows hub
Browse the full set of record-keeping workflows if you also run invoicing, vendor, or month-end routines alongside your tow tickets.
FAQ
Questions towing operators ask
- Does Cash Workspace calculate my tow charge from the fee schedule automatically?
- No. You enter the hook fee and the loaded-miles x per-mile line yourself, reading from your own rate sheet. The workspace stores and organizes those figures into a record — it does not calculate the charge, read your ticket, or apply any rate automatically.
- Can it pull my fuel cost from my fuel card?
- No. Cash Workspace does not sync with your bank or fuel card. You type the fuel cost you assign to each run, and you can attach the fuel receipt or card statement to the record as supporting proof.
- Why keep loaded miles and total run miles as separate fields?
- Loaded miles are what you bill on the per-mile line; total run miles include the deadhead out to the scene. Keeping them apart is what lets you see whether a charge actually covered the distance the truck rolled — the whole point of this record.
- What if the tow is billed to a motor club at a contracted rate?
- Enter the club's contracted hook and per-mile figures as the line items and file the record in your motor-club folder. The structure is the same; only the rate source changes. Mark it unpaid until the reimbursement clears — the workspace tracks status but sends no reminders.
- Is this tax or accounting advice for my towing business?
- No. This is organizational guidance for keeping per-call-out records. It is not tax, accounting, or bookkeeping advice, and Cash Workspace is not certified accounting software. For how to treat mileage or fuel on your return, talk to your accountant.
What this page does and doesn't do
Cash Workspace organizes your tow dispatch tickets into records and folders — you type in the fee-schedule charge, the mileage, and the fuel cost, and you attach the ticket and photos yourself. It does not sync with your bank or fuel card, does not read or auto-extract anything from your tickets, does not calculate your rates, and does not send payment reminders. This is organizational guidance, not tax, accounting, or bookkeeping advice, and the workspace is not certified accounting software. For how mileage and fuel should be treated on your return, consult your accountant.
Start a free call-out record workspace
Set up a fiscal-year folder, create your first dispatch-ticket record, and put the hook fee, the per-mile line, the run's miles, and the fuel cost in one place. Cash Workspace is free to use. Questions? Reach HELPERG LLC at info@helperg.com.