Towing Issues: Starting a towing and recovery business, recovery business, business question

Question
QUESTION: My husband and I have been looking to start our own business. We have recently decided that a towing and recovery business would be ideal for us. My husband has had a lot of experience in the area, as he used to drive flatbed truck and has had several years of experience in hauling cars as well. We live in the country and plan to run the business out of our house, so we feel that our overhead will be fairly low in that we do not have to purchase and pay utilities and such for a commercial property.

I guess my question is two fold. Obviously there is risk in starting any business, but is there still a need for new towing and recovery businesses? And what all do we need to look into, and consider as far as getting a towing and recovery business set up (i.e. licensing, equipment, timing to get a business going)?

Thank you so much.

ANSWER: What state/city are you in?

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: We live in Central Michigan (St. Louis, MI).

Answer
If you choose to start a towing business you will have to consider the equipment (roughly 15-20K per truck for a used wrecker) and you will need a rollback and a wrecker. Insurance is costly and there is no guarantee you will get work as getting on a rotation list is difficult in some areas. If you decide to do repo work your insurance will cost three times as much and the legal issues are not to be taken lightly. I would recommend looking at how many towing services are in the area.