Many, yes. Some encounters have just been purely business. But I’ve had a few catastrophic breakdowns during cross country travel, where a generous and helpful tow truck driver and his local connections really made terrible situations bearable.

My one experience was good. Randomly picked one place to call, they straight up told me it was gonna be a while until they could get to me, and to call this other company to see if they could help faster.

The place they recommended rerouted a couple of their drivers while I was on the phone to get to me faster, they were there in 30 minutes, did a good job, and the whole experience was very pleasant.

Definitely have both places in my contact list if I ever need another tow.

Any time I’ve had to call one, it’s been great.

Once when I was like 9, I was with my mom hauling horses down the coast and her old Ford shat it’s transmission out for the third time. The commercial tow truck driver(s) was a husband and wife team that were really fun when riding with them. I left my prized stuffed rabbit in their truck and they went out of their way to get our address and express mail it back to me.

The one time I “randomly” encountered one (you know why), he was an absolute fucking shithead.

It all depends on what they’re trying to get out of you. The ones that make their bank off of cruising around town for parking “violations” are straight up illegal scammers that need a good punching. The ones doing recovery and roadside are saints.