If you’ve ever had your car towed, you may have been asked by the expert towing technician if the car needed flatbed or dolly towing. You might have been – or still be – confused as to what exactly this means. Here’s a guide to the difference between flatbed and towing service, prepared by the towing experts at Chicago Towing.

Dolly Towing

This service, known as the hook method, involves a two-wheeled towing device attached to a tow-hitch and axle. This dolly trailer tows front wheel drive suspension cars, and hooks the front wheels up on the trailer, with the two back wheels of the car remaining on the ground. Dolly towing lifts the front wheels of your car off the street onto the truck itself. Dolly cars help save money over using a flatbed truck, while also keeping your car’s mileage the same. However dolly towing cannot work with the same amount of weight as a flatbed truck.

Make sure to  hook the towing dolly to the vehicle you want to tow before it’s loaded onto the dolly. If you’re driving a big vehicle, we highly encourage you to use a flatbed truck, as it’s much safer for the car. You can also check with your insurance company to see if it qualifies with the first few miles.

Flatbed Towing

This involves a flatbed tow truck fit with a ‘bed’ that’s hydraulically controlled, shifting on an incline to ground level, allowing for a car to be attached on top of it (either through the car’s own drive, or using a winch.) This towing is usually used to transport 4 wheel drive cars, as well as any heavy equipment including excavators, bulldozers, and dump trucks.

This is the safest transportation methods for vehicles as they don’t change the powertrain of the vehicle. The car doesn’t incur any wear as they often do with typical dolly’s, since all of its wheels are off of the road. This is an ideal towing method for all vintage and luxury cars – or anybody who wants to keep their car as safe as possible as it’s being towed. However, flatbed towing costs more money than dolly towing.