City · Ontario
Primary service areaTowing in Ottawa
Our primary service area. Towing, recovery, and roadside assistance across the City of Ottawa — the core, the suburbs, and the rural wards.
Ottawa is our home market, and it is a big one. Since amalgamation in 2001 the city has run from the downtown core, past the Greenbelt and the suburbs beyond it, out to farmland and villages — roughly four-fifths of its land is rural. Where in all of that you are stuck shapes the call as much as what went wrong.
The Queensway — Highway 417 — is the backbone of the city's road network. Through the core it is eight lanes wide with exits coming in quick succession, so traffic is constantly merging. At the Split in the east end, Highway 174 carries on toward Orléans while the 417 turns southeast toward Montreal, and in the west the 416 branches off south toward the 401. A breakdown on any of these is a safety problem before it is a mechanical one.
If you break down on one of them, the priority order is: hazards on, get the vehicle as far onto the shoulder as it will go, get out on the side away from traffic if it is safe to do so, and stand well behind the vehicle and off the roadway. If anyone is hurt, or the vehicle is stopped in a live lane, call 911 first. Then call us and tell the dispatcher which highway, which direction, and the last exit or overpass you passed — it changes how the call is handled.
Residential Ottawa produces a different set of problems, and many of them arrive with the snow. Between November 15 and April 1 the City can declare a winter weather parking ban when 7 cm or more of snow, or freezing rain, is forecast — and a car left on the street without a residential parking permit can be ticketed and towed. When crews come back to haul the snowbanks away, temporary No Parking signs go up and any car still on the street is towed, usually just to a nearby street that has already been cleared. Add the ridge a plow leaves across the end of a driveway, and a lot of winter trouble is a car that is stuck rather than broken: a winch-out, not a tow.
The downtown core, Centretown, and the ByWard Market add their own constraints: one-way streets, limited stopping, and underground garages with clearances a flat deck cannot enter, so a vehicle below ground usually has to be brought up to street level before it can be loaded. King Edward Avenue carries the interprovincial truck traffic between the Macdonald-Cartier Bridge and the Queensway, which makes it a poor place to sit and wait. Wherever you are downtown, give the dispatcher the nearest intersection and which side of the street you are on rather than a building name.
Then there is the weather. Nights below −20°C are a normal part of an Ottawa winter and the city averages more than two metres of snow a year, so a deep cold snap brings a wave of dead batteries and the first heavy snowfall puts vehicles into ditches and curbs right across the city. Freezing rain glazes bridge decks and ramps first and can turn side streets to sheet ice. In all of those conditions wait times stretch for every towing company in the city — if you are parked safely and have somewhere warm to be, waiting is often the right call.
What we know about Ottawa
The Queensway and the Split
Eight lanes through the core, exits close together, and the Split in the east end where Highway 174 and the 417 divide. Traffic is merging the whole way, so a stopped vehicle is exposed. Get out on the side away from traffic, stand well back and off the roadway, and give dispatch your direction and the last exit you passed.
Winter weather parking bans
From November 15 to April 1 the City can call a ban when 7 cm or more of snow, or freezing rain, is forecast. Vehicles on the street without a residential parking permit can be ticketed and towed, so check the City's winter parking alerts before you leave a car on the street.
Car gone after a snow removal?
During planned snowbank removal the City posts temporary No Parking signs and tows any vehicle left on the street — usually to a nearby street that has already been cleared. If your car vanished on a removal day, call 3-1-1 before assuming it was stolen.
Underground garages
Condo and office garages downtown, in Centretown, and around the ByWard Market have clearance heights a flat deck cannot enter. The vehicle generally has to come up to street level first — tell dispatch it is underground so the right approach is planned rather than discovered on arrival.
Spring high water on the Ottawa River
The river flooded in 2017 and again in 2019, when Constance Bay, the Britannia shoreline, and the low-lying streets east of Cumberland village were among the areas hit. Do not drive into standing water, and do not try to start a vehicle that has been sitting in it — have it towed.
Rural Ottawa
Roughly four-fifths of the city is rural, with villages from Carp and Constance Bay in the west to Navan and Vars in the east. Out there a civic number and road name — or a pin from Share My Location — finds you far faster than a description of the nearest farm.
Routes and corridors we cover
- Highway 417 (Queensway / Trans-Canada)
- Highway 416 (Veterans Memorial Highway)
- Highway 174 (Ottawa Road 174)
- Hunt Club Road
- Innes Road
- Baseline Road
- Bank Street
- Woodroffe Avenue
- St. Laurent Boulevard
- Carling Avenue
- King Edward Avenue
- Montréal Road
Communities we work in
Not an exhaustive list — examples of the communities this area covers.
- Downtown & Centretown
- ByWard Market & Lowertown
- Vanier & Overbrook
- The Glebe & Old Ottawa South
- Westboro & Hintonburg
- Alta Vista & Riverview Park
- Hunt Club & South Keys
- Nepean & Bells Corners
- Kanata & Stittsville
- Barrhaven & Riverside South
- Orléans & Blackburn Hamlet
- Manotick & Greely
- Carlsbad Springs & Vars
- Navan & Cumberland
- Carp & Constance Bay
Ottawa questions
- Do you cover all of Ottawa?
- Yes. Ottawa is our primary service area — the downtown core, the suburbs inside and beyond the Greenbelt, and the rural wards to the east, south, and west. Our yard is in the east end, just south of the 417 at Boundary Road, so for the far west and south of the city the dispatcher will give you a realistic estimate when you call.
- I broke down on the Queensway. What should I do?
- Get as far onto the shoulder as the vehicle will go, hazards on, and get out on the side away from traffic if it is safe. Stand well behind the vehicle and off the roadway — not beside it, and never between two vehicles. If anyone is hurt or you are stopped in a live lane, call 911 first. Then call +1 (613) 890-9008 with your direction of travel and the last exit or overpass you passed.
- My car disappeared after a snow removal. Was it towed?
- If temporary No Parking signs were up, it was most likely relocated by the City's snow-removal operation, usually to a nearby street that has already been cleared. Call 3-1-1 to find out where it went.
- My car is in an underground garage downtown. Can you get it?
- A flat deck cannot enter most downtown garages because of clearance height, so the vehicle usually needs to come up to street level. Tell dispatch it is underground when you call so the right approach is planned.
- Can you tow to or from Gatineau?
- Ask the dispatcher. Trips across the river into Quebec are quoted case by case, and you will be told before anything is booked whether we can take the job.