🛣️ Highway Vehicle Towing Service 2012 New Regulations (Implemented since 2013)
The National Freeway Bureau has re-selected towing contractors and implemented new vehicle towing service regulations starting from the 102nd year of the Republic (2013). Road users should pay special attention to the following important changes.
☎️ Service and Reporting Regulations (Important Changes)
| Item | Old vs. New Regulation | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Unified Contact Hotline | All contact phone numbers are unified as the 1968 hotline for service. | Unified dispatching to ensure service efficiency and quality. |
| Reporting Information | When receiving towing services, please call the 1968 customer service hotline to report the “tow truck plate number” and the “shuttle vehicle plate number” (or taxi number). | Conducive to subsequent tracking, management, and maintenance of road users’ rights and interests. |
🚗 Personnel Transfer Regulations (Major Change)
In response to traffic regulations and for driving safety, drivers and passengers of the towed vehicle must not ride in the towed vehicle or tow truck. They must wait at the scene to transfer to a shuttle vehicle.
1. Transfer Method and Process
- Self-arrangement: Road users need to notify relatives or friends for pick-up or contact a taxi for service.
- Reporting: Whether it is relatives and friends or a taxi, they must call 1968 to report to the traffic control center of the National Freeway Bureau.
- Assistance: If there is no contact channel, you can call 1968 to ask the traffic control center to provide the telephone number of a taxi company.
- Safety: When waiting for the transfer, road users should get out of the car and wait outside the guardrail or in a safe place.
- Taxi: When road users take a taxi, please also call 1968 to report the taxi plate number to protect their own rights and interests.
- Legal Protection: Vehicles executing pick-up tasks (relative/friend cars, taxis) are allowed to temporarily stop on the shoulders of expressways and highways.
2. New Fee: Waiting Fee
A new “Waiting Fee” of NT$150 per hour (free within 30 minutes) has been added.
- Content: The fee for the tow truck waiting at the scene while the occupants of the towed vehicle transfer to a shuttle vehicle.
Small Reminder: This regulation means you need to arrange the transfer as soon as possible, otherwise the longer the waiting time, in addition to the fare, there will be an additional burden of waiting fee.
📋 Precautions for Towing Service (Protecting Your Own Rights)
- Service Objects: Limited to large and small passenger and freight vehicles, excluding vehicle inspection, repair, refueling, watering, and other services.
- 認明標識 Identify Labels: Recognize the unified markings of specially contracted tow trucks, including:
- The vehicle body is uniformly painted yellow.
- Sprayed with the words “Specially Contracted Tow Truck of the National Freeway Bureau,” id number, company name, license plate number, 1968 publicity sticker, and “Owner Attention” plate.
- The front windshield is pasted with a “Highway Towing Vehicle Identification Card.”
- Contract Confirmation: Before towing, please request to read the “Three-part Contract for Highway Vehicle Towing Service,” read the charging standards in detail, and sign for confirmation before agreeing to tow.
- Requesting Documents: After towing, please request the three-part form and request a unified invoice from the towing company.
- Complaint Channel: If there is overcharging or poor service, please provide relevant proof materials to report to the engineering office of the jurisdiction on the three-part form or call 1968 to complain.
Message from the National Freeway Bureau: Please strengthen the maintenance and upkeep of your vehicle at ordinary times, and check the vehicle condition in detail before driving on the highway to ensure driving safety.