Roadway Towing & Recovery in
Escondido (CA)

What clients say about Roadway Towing & Recovery in Escondido (CA)

• C Noriega

  The woman that works dispatch was a totally rude and unprofessional. They denied me access to my personal belongings. Horrible company and even worse service. Wouldn't even let me talk or get a price to get my car out. Not sure how a company like this stays in business. Found this online: You can file a complaint and take legal action against a tow yard for denying you access to your vehicle in California, as this can be a violation of your rights under California Vehicle Code sections, particularly Section 22658 and 22651.07. You should start by contacting local law enforcement to report the issue and gather information. You can then file a regulatory complaint with the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) or the state Attorney General's Office, and you may also be able to sue the tow company in small claims court.

  Oct 03, 2025
• Chris M

  Terrel and Robyn went above and beyond with towing my car this morning. During such a stressful time, their personable and caring nature put me at ease. Thank you very much

  Sep 23, 2025
• Ashley Lozano

  Haha expect anything from this business to be over priced. My husband had a motorcycle accident on the i-15sb (SR-78) near the mission exit. We got charged for 2 hours light duty tow at CHP rate even tho it doesn't take 2 hours to load and tow a wrecked bike, so in essence you can guess they towed the other guys car as well. We got charged 3 days at 100 bucks even tho it was 2 days and not a full 3 day, I might have well waited to pick it up at closing since they do that. For everything in total we paid 990. You're gonna need a license and registration even if it's stuck in your wrecked vehicle. The black man upfront was super helpful and he was the only person to use the forklift and put the bike up on the trailer we had. We didn't get charged for the forklift. We had called the night before and the man said they weren't gonna help us, but they did.

  Mar 01, 2025
• joseph arreola

  Absolutely horrendous customer service. I was trying to get questions answered so I can pay my bill and another rep got on the phone and started cussing me out and yelling at me for no reason! I was in shock that a company could allow someone like him to work for them and be the face and voice of their company. Now I can see why the reviews are low. I would give negative reviews if I could! ***STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY!!**

  Feb 12, 2025
• Allen James

  I had an unexpected breakdown in Escondido. I searched for towing service near me and i found Roadway Towing & Recovery and called them for help. From the moment they reached out, their customer service was outstanding. The tow truck arrived quickly, and the driver was not only professional but also made me feel at ease during a stressful situation. I’m so grateful for their reliable, affordable service and wouldn’t hesitate to call them again if needed!

  Dec 24, 2024
• Michelle Guyette

  This company is awful. The employees are rude and lack actual knowledge of law, and in order to feel better about themselves they get defensive and start in with what can only be seen as, as slander. Do not expect to gain access to your vehicle to take pictures either. DO NOT have your vehicle towed here if you need any access to it. DONT DO IT!! I have also filed a complaint with the BBB, so others should follow so we can get this company to act with respect towards their customers.

  Nov 14, 2024
• Mindyindy indy

  Two stars because they did eventually show up. But only after three hours of waiting. I can tolerate a lot, but they had zero communication. Do not recommend.

  Nov 02, 2024
• Troy Hong

  Super shady place. The guy wouldn't give us an invoice before we paid with cash. He said he doesnt need to give us one and then started ranting about how me and my friend are the problem with society lol. As typical with a tow yard, they're all scams. If you're towed by CHP's provider, the storage rate now goes up to $115/day on June 1st. For what it's worth, they claim max credit card payment is $500 and charge 4% transaction fee. I don't know if no card above $500 is legal as they're essentially a government service serving the public. Good luck getting your vehicle. They're real scum here even if you aren't arguing and have all your ducks in order.

  May 29, 2024
• Brian Corizzo

  I’d give this place zero stars if I could. I think we all would. My daughter was in a terrible accident an they have a contract with CHP. unfortunately when you get into an accident and ride in an ambulance, they call these greedy people. Went there to get her belongings out of the car and was quoted $1400 to get the car out. It was 4:45 on Friday, I mean some people actually work. I asked if I could pay that and recover the car on Monday. NOPE! They’d demand more and aren’t open on weekends. Then you see all their brand new shiny vehicles lined up and can’t help but now know how. I only believe they’ll get theirs one day. Profit over people is a horrible business model. It’ll happen Frank.

  Mar 08, 2024
• Tania Gustafson

  USE SOMEONE ELSE!!! I called them in mid Oct to get a quote to load shipping containers on a flat bed truck. I was quoted $750 for 3 hours of service. I was comparing them to Bob's CraNE, who were a 4 hour min @ a total of $1075. I went to Roadway, They were 4 hours late, took over an hour to set up, and charged me $2518 for the service. I had asked this morning about the fee of $750 an hour which Edwin quoted this morning, I said that was to be for the 3 hour total. He said I didn't remember properly, stating it was $750 per hour plus travel time. These guys also demanded my CC card ahead of time, which now explains why. Once they have payment, I can't really dispute charges. We were in a bad place as the transport was waiting, and we were stuck with this bait-and-switch company. BUYER BEWARE!!!

  Nov 21, 2023
• Missy Cruz

  I called for roadside assistance. My car wouldn't start and I needed a jump. They sent Roadway Towing. When the driver arrived he tried several times to jump my battery but it wouldn't start. He said I needed a new battery. He said he would sell me one for $300 with a 24 month warranty. I told him I wasn't paying $300 for a battery. Then he brought the price down to $250. I still refused. I knew I could get a battery for less. He thought he could cheat me and over charge me because I'm a woman and probably don't know anything about cars. I googled the battery he was trying to sell me it was an Interstate battery. It was $185. Just to show you guys how much he was trying to rip me off! He continued to bring the price down until he got to $190. I agreed to purchase the battery for that price. When he gave me the receipt, the warranty said 18 months. Not the 24 months he promised. When I brought that to his attention, he grew quiet and said nothing. Fast forward 7 months later. My car wouldn't start! The battery was only 7 months old and should still be good. I called Roadway, my battery was still under warranty. They came out and jumped me. The driver told me he could give me another battery because I was under warranty. He said it would cost $120! I asked why I would have to pay that. He said it was for installation! I told him I wasn't paying that. I shouldn't have to pay anything, my warranty is still good! I can install my own battery, it's not that hard! I continued to need jumps every couple days and it was clear to me, the battery I purchased was defective. A new battery should last several years, not a few months. I wound up going to Walmart for another battery. It was $139 with a 24 month warranty and they installed it for free. $150 total with tax and everything. Long story short: DONT BUY A BATTERY FROM ROADWAY TOWING. They sell defective batteries!

  Nov 11, 2023
• Pam Skibicki

  From time we called for a tow, we were told 30 minute wait. After 45 minutes we called back and were told again driver was 30 minutes out. Again xalled and were told driver was ten minutes out but took him another 30. The driver was nice, quick, and knowlwdgeable but it took about 3 1/2 hours and multiple missed eta's before a truck finally arrived. Fair pricing.

  Sep 10, 2023
• Null Field

  They told me i could leave my keys on my tire unattended, how unacceptable. After missing the 2 hour eta, gave me an eta of another 2 hours, called my insurance and reassigned to a better company. Avoid this company, they take jobs they can't fulfill. I guarantee all these 5 star reviews posted the same month, replied by owner are all fake.

  Jan 26, 2023
• Chaille McMaster

  I think this is the first bad review I’ve ever left! We called to get our car towed and the guy came and said he was 100% confident that a new battery would fix our problem (though a battery test was never given). Our mechanic was waiting for the tow so we said what if this doesn’t fix it (we had just tested our battery 2 weeks prior and it was fine so we were skeptical) and the tow guy reassured, reassured. We paid almost $300 to get the new battery installed for the car to still not work. I called the company hoping to get our old battery back and reimbursed or at least a partial refund and it was some of the poorest customer service I’ve ever received. She was defensive, rude, and dishonest about the events that took place. I understand mistakes happen but I would never work with this company again due to the dishonesty and poor handling of this situation. If you have another option, can’t recommend enough for you to look elsewhere. For some reason it won’t let me reply to your comment! This is a real review, under the name Trudy Jensen (it was my Mom handling it while we were gone, can find us on billing)

  Nov 09, 2022
• Sean Cunneen

  Zero stars. 5 1/2 hours from contact to tow. Dispatch surly and unhelpful. Dispatch hung up on me even. Dispatch threatened to cancel job. Dispatch blamed insurance company for selecting them! Never ever use this company!! Worst customer experience I've had in years.

  Oct 14, 2022
• Luz Ferro

  This review is in no way directed to the tow truck drivers who do their job well every day! But if I could give that impound yard less than 1 star, I would. My daughter's car was stolen and when found, it was towed and impounded at this dumpster of a place in Escondido. Apparently, at this place their standard procedure for any question is "I don't know" They communicate NOTHING of what you need to do to get your car out of that place and treated us as if we were the thieves ourselves. I was tight on time for work, and it took literally 3 hours for us to be able to find out whether the car was drivable or not. It was completely gutted inside, and they had gone to the car 3 times looking for papers, yet they refused to tell us the car was not drivable, "They don't know!" The steering wheel, ignition, dash wires everything inside was destroyed and you didn't even need to get in the car to see that. I could've called the tow truck an hour earlier and made it to work, but "they don't know." When I demanded an answer as to why we were not being helped and given information the woman got rude causing my daughter to have a meltdown after all the stress and anxiety she had already been through. I am well aware that in the situation they received a copy of a CHP180 form, so yes, they knew! I have presented a complaint with the Sheriff's department to not use this dumpster of a place anymore since "they don't know!" and they most certainly DON'T CARE!

  Oct 10, 2022
• Nicole Ludwig

  Ford roadside sent this company, the driver damaged my center console and I had to pay nearly $1,000 in damages they caused. We tried to get in touch with Roadway and once they figured out we were trying to get our money for the damages they refused to speak with us. I ended up having to sue them and I won the court case, but still have not gotten my money since July, such an unprofessional and disrespectful company. Nobody could believe how this company was handling the situation. If you do something wrong own up to your mistakes it’s the right thing to do. I hope these people learn how to treat humans with respect.

  Sep 17, 2022
• Cecilia Fernandez

  I got into an accident and my insurance connected me with roadway. The driver got to me fairly quickly and he went above and beyond to help me figure things out. Even went as far as to buy me a snack to try and make me feel better. When I had to go to the facility in person to retrieve my belongings from my car, I realized my battery was dead and could not get into my trunk where I still had a lot of my belongings. I panicked thinking I was going to lose things that were special to me and the women in the office offered to jump the battery for me. I was astonished with the amazing service from everyone I worked with here at roadway Escondido. I can’t thank you all enough for all you did for me. but THANK YOU SO MUCH. I will never forget this experience.

  Aug 17, 2022
• Ongel K

  Thank you Roadway towing for sending me Seth. Seth was great, friendly and very professional. I knew my car was in good hands.

  Jul 22, 2022
• Yasmine Ramirez

  This service was provided for me through my insurance. I was in no rush, service eta for my insurance said 2 hours, however I decided to call and they let me know it was going to be 3 which it was, and was no issue. Once he arrived it took no longer than 10 minutes to get my car up and running. He was very polite and I had a good experience.

  May 15, 2022
• Scott Semer

  Horrible service hands down. I never write reviews but this one needs to be known. My motorcycle was leaking gas and my insurance towed it (covered by insurance) but this place is a scam. They took two hours instead of their one hour and then once towed they charged me an additional 130 because they said they needed two toe people to unload it while i was at the hospital. My insurance was doing their best to deal with these thieves. These people are looking for anyway to get money from you. This doesn't even account to the phone call i recieved from them saying that the bike is theirs and they will do what they want with it when they rudely hung up on me when I was asking where it was. I called my mechanic and he said he helped unload it and that the additional tow truck was a lie. VERY BAD SERVICE!

  May 04, 2022
• Kathryn Blankenship

  They were provided to me through Progressive Insurance unfortunately, so I had no choice in the matter of choosing who would help me jumpstart my car battery, but they didn’t disappoint with all of the cliques about terrible tow truck companies. Got lied to 3x by the woman in their office who answered the phone regarding the arrival time and when finally granted the location tracking an hour later, saw the driver who told them he was on his way, was parked at his house for another 30 minutes at a completely different city then what I had been told. Unprofessional and likely to to a reoccurring issue due to the multiple 2 star ratings. Really tiring that it seems to be every time something comes up in dealing with this industry the lack of care or concern for the customer is almost not surprising anymore. Driver helped in no way possible and his solution was calling another tow truck company to tow it.

  Apr 26, 2022
• Melissa Smith

  EDIT TO RESPOND TO THE BUSINESS: You did offer a partial refund which I mentioned in the review to which YOU NEVER REFUNDED. And at no time did I suggest you come to Arizona, I asked if you had a service department in Arizona I could go too and in fact you suggested I go back to California to have this worked on. I have uploaded some of the tons of emails I have sent that have gone unanswered by your company. Additionally most of these positive reviews are not real - most of these people are leaving the same exact review WORD FOR WORD. There could not be a worse company with even worse customer service. We were out of town for a soccer tournament and our battery died. Our insurance road side sent roadway towing. They were over an hr past there already ridiculously long service window and put a hybrid battery in my Armada. This was only discovered 2 months later when I was having battery issues again. I reached out to roadway for resolution and got the run around. I was promised a partial refund and that never happened. I reach out to their customer service email and have been ignored for months. I opened a complaint with progressive as well and I hope they never use them again!

  Apr 18, 2022
• johnny lam

  This provider first quoted an hour. After over an hour I called 3 times. They were extremely rude, kept telling me another 20 minutes , driver was on his way and threatened to cancel my call . They talked at me in a very rude monologue . When the driver showed up ( 4 hours later ) I might add , he stated that they had just given him the call 15 minutes prior. He stated that he is not responsible for the office holding on to their calls for hours and kyung about the ETA or any rudeness on their part . I strongly advise making sure to never get tangled up with such an outfit . Possibly the worst you will find in your life unless you are in Chicago, Detroit or Minneapolis . Maybe the Bronx in New York City . Worst ordeal I ever experienced .

  Dec 16, 2021
• Kenzie Leigh

  it took over 2 hours to get to my place. When I called after 1 hour not only did your very rude receptionist lie to me, she also lied to the insurance company. She claimed her guy was "stuck in traffic" (there was absolutely no traffic whatsoever anywhere in vista at that time). when the tow truck finally arrived 2 hours after calling - he told me had only been dispatched 10 mins earlier. I have given my insurance company strict instructions that they are never to send your company to me again. Fire the super rude liar who answers your phones - she is killing your company.

  Nov 03, 2021
• Victor Lee

  This is the epitome of adding fuel to fire. Every time you call to check their ETA, they add another hour to your wait time! You know that isn’t what you want to hear when your car has an issue severe enough to be towed. They said they’ll be here at 2 pm and now it’s estimated to be past 5 before they arrive. And if you don’t call to see they don’t bother to reach out to your first. The operator has no clue what’s going on, like a lost puppy. I hope they get training because I’m positive a large number of people calling are more knowledgeable than the staff they have. Lady on the phone said it was call volume, but that should only be referred to the time on hold on the phone, not the inaccurate wait time for the actual service itself. That is simply bad expectation management. How bad is your internal operations to know that your trucks can’t come in an hour, let alone 4, but not relay that info to the client? Garbage...

  Jul 01, 2021
• Tameshia Harris

  My insurance company used Agero and they referred me to this company. Roadway towing was very unprofessional.  I waited at least 6 hours to get my car towed 18 miles.  Every time I called to get an update, they would say someone would be there in 35, 45, or 1 hour.  The employees didn't have any idea when someone would be available.  In the meantime, I was stuck at the same location waiting.  On top of that, they delivered my car to the wrong location.  I called back to let them know they made a mistake. Next, I asked them to transport my car to the right location which was about 10 miles away, they said I would have to go through my insurance again. In other words, they wanted me to pay again for their services although they towed my car to the wrong location.  I would never recommend this company to anyone.  They have a lack of customer service skills and they do not value customer satisfaction. They need to either close permanently or hire competent employees. My rating is a 0.

  Feb 18, 2021
• Priyank Paliwal

  If I can give -5 stars, I would give without a doubt. So, whatever negative review people gave in comments below are all true. If your insurance company pick this company, just ask them to find another service provider. Initially they told me it will take only 45 minutes, then they kept on adding 1 hour every time I called. It's been 4 .5 hours and I am still waiting for my car to be towed. Service staff is rude and keep on lying about estimate wait time. Google reviews for this company are either 5 star or 1 star, looks like most of 5 stars came from employees of this company just to improve the rating.

  Jan 11, 2021
• Tory Chapman

  I had a vehicle towed here by CHP after an accident. Getting in to get personal items out of the vehicle was a little bit of a pain. Bring your license and a copy of insurance or registration and you’ll be good. Also watch out for the tweakers, they can be quite a show. When I was there one of the tweakers was threatening the employees and spitting at them. I was nearly hit by a fat phlegm filled lugie. I was impressed with how management handled them. Wish I had it on video. Fun place to people watch.

  Dec 17, 2020
• Joshua Woodruff

  My brothers car broke down and their ETA pick up time has been pushed back twice. When I called she said ten minutes and hung up the phone on me. I called back and said someone hung up on me she got all bratty and bitter and said I hung up on her. Very poor customer service. Shouldn't get attitude when I did nothing wrong So an update, my insurance company called them not sure who they were calling but it was them. Guy that picked up my car had a really, really sour attitude and literally gave me attitude for no reason. This place needs to be overhauled. Not to mention it got pushed back twice waiting for them

  Jul 06, 2020