Why AWD and Electric Vehicles Cost More to Tow in Maine

August 26, 2026

Half the cars in a Portland parking lot in February are all-wheel drive, and a growing share are electric. Both change what a tow costs and which truck has to show up.

The surcharge is real and the City publishes it

Portland's parking ban fee list carries a line most people never read until it appears on their bill: there could be an additional $80 charge if special equipment is used to tow the vehicle, especially electric vehicles, all wheel drive vehicles, or if some other necessity exists.

That is a municipal fee on a ban tow, but the underlying reason applies to every tow, everywhere. The equipment genuinely is different, and so is the time it takes.

What a conventional hook does to an all-wheel-drive car

A wheel-lift wrecker cradles one axle and lifts it clear, leaving the other two wheels rolling on the road. On a front-wheel-drive car with the front end up, the rear wheels turn freely and nothing minds.

On an all-wheel-drive vehicle there is no free axle. Whichever end stays down is still connected through the center differential, transfer case or viscous coupling to the end that is in the air. Towing it that way spins driveline components with the engine off, and on many systems without the pump that lubricates them running. Owner's manuals are blunt about this, which is why the answer is a deck under all four wheels or dollies under the trailing pair.

The safe version is flatbed towing, where the whole car rides and nothing rotates.

Electric vehicles have a second problem

An electric motor turned by the road is a generator. Rolling an EV's driven wheels with the car shut down can push current where the system did not plan for it, and some models have no neutral that fully disconnects the drivetrain the way a gas car does. Manufacturers commonly require that the vehicle be transported with all four wheels off the ground.

There is a practical complication too. A dead 12-volt battery in an EV can leave the car unable to release its electronic parking brake or unlock its doors, so the operator may be winching a car that will not roll. That is slower, needs skates or dollies, and is exactly the situation the special equipment line exists for.

None of it is a reason to panic. It is a reason to say the words all-wheel drive or electric in the first thirty seconds of the call, so the right truck is the one that gets sent. Anyone arranging Portland, Maine towing can only dispatch correctly if they know what is sitting at the curb.

What to tell the dispatcher

• Drivetrain: front-wheel drive, rear-wheel drive, all-wheel drive or four-wheel drive.
• Powertrain: gas, diesel, hybrid or fully electric.
• Whether the car rolls and steers, or whether it is locked up.
• Ride height and any body kit, since a lowered car needs longer ramps or wood.
• Where it is. A tight garage, a snowbank, or a parking deck with a low ceiling all matter, because a flatbed will not fit everywhere.

The cost logic, plainly

A flatbed is a bigger truck, a longer load and unload, and often a second set of gear. It costs more to run and it costs more to hire. The alternative is a cheaper tow followed by a driveline repair that dwarfs the difference, which is not really an alternative.

Where it is genuinely optional, on a two-wheel-drive car that rolls freely and is not lowered, a conventional hook is perfectly appropriate and cheaper. The question worth asking is not whether it can be done cheaper but which truck is being sent, and why that one.

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