• TTSA Training and Education

Frequently Asked Questions

Testing

Here are the steps to receiving your license.

What type of license do you need? ( See also TDLR licenses)

There are 3 types of TDLR towing licenses.

  1. Consent Tow (CT)
  2. Private Property (PP)
  3. Incident Management (IM)

Consent Tow licenses can be applied for directly at TDLR website at: https://www.license.state.tx.us

You do not have to take a Certification Test for a consent tow license. You will have to take Continuing Education AFTER you receive your license. This is explained more in the section on training.

Private Property & Incident Management licenses must have Certification Testing done before TDLR will finish processing your license application.

Here are the TTSA testing procedures.

  • Apply online for the Certification Test at: www.ttsa.org There is a button on our front page that says “Testing for TDLR Certification”. The test is $100 for nonmembers or $75 for TTSA members.
  • Once we receive your application and payment we will send you a study guide. We can email or mail you a hard copy of the study guide.
  • We will mail the test to a local library. We have 100’s of libraries that do this for us. However, if you are in an area that we do not have a proctor set up we may have to send you another library if your local library does not proctor exams. Most libraries provide this service for free but there are some that require a small fee for this service. We will let you know before sending out the exam.
  • We will give you the information of the contact person of the library that we mail the test to. You will need to make an appointment with that librarian to take the test. Every library has different hours and they may also require proctoring be done on certain days.
  • Once you have taken the exam they will send the test back to us to be graded. There are 100 questions on the test and you must make at least an 80 out of 100 to pass.
  • If you have passed your exam we will notify you immediately and will submit that information to TDLR. If you have not done so, you will need to apply for your license with TDLR.

Note: Just taking the exam will not get you your license. You will need to apply for your license with TDLR at: www.license.state.tx.us

We encourage you to study before taking the test! Even if you have been in the business before there may be IM or TDLR questions that you are not familiar with. Do not take this exam lightly. If you do happen to fail the test you may take a retest. You will need to follow the same steps as your first test, beginning with applying for the Certification Test. There is a button on the application that says retest. A retest is $45.

You will need to call our office at 866-924-2088 so that we can set up a third test.

Continuing Education

STOP THERE! If you DO NOT have your license yet you do not need you CE course. CE courses are for AFTER you get your license so that you can renew for the new year. Do not confuse getting Certified with Continuing Education Courses. Refer to FAQ on Testing to get your license.

If you have a CT or PP license you will need to take a 4-hour course each year to renew your license. This may be done in a classroom or online. If you have a IM license, your first year you will need to take an 8 hour classroom course. This will be 4 hours classroom and 4 hours hands on. Once you have renewed your license for the first year, you are only required to take 4 hours either classroom or online each year thereafter to renew your license.

You will NOT get your license just because you finished your course. You will still need to apply for your renewal with TDLR after you take the course.

Classes are listed on our website at www.ttsa.org under Continuing Education or you can take the 4-hour online course by clicking on the computer logo on the front page.

TDLR Licensing

There are three types of towing licenses that TDLR issue. TDLR Definitions)

A. Consent Tow (CT) – Any tow of a motor vehicle in which the tow truck is summoned by the owner or operator of the vehicle or by a person who has possession, custody, or control of the vehicle. The term does not include an incident management tow or a private property tow.

B. Private Property (PP) – Any tow of a vehicle authorized by a parking facility owner without the consent of the owner or operator of the vehicle

C. Incident Management (IM) – Any tow of a vehicle in which the tow truck is summoned because of a traffic accident or to an incident.

  • Consent Tow License (CT)- You can tow a consent tow only.
  • Private Property License (PP)- You can tow a consent or private property tow only.
  • Incident Management License (IM)- You can tow consent, private property or incident management tows.

NO! The driver and the license must match or exceed qualifications.

All trucks are licensed through TDLR as CT, PP, or IM tow trucks

  • Consent tow operators can only tow with CT trucks
  • Private Property operators can tow with CT or PP trucks
  • Incident Management Drivers can tow with CT, PP or IM trucks.