To unlock the Tow Truck Service, the player must purchase either of the Towtruck options for the Salvage Yard. From there, players may start a mission by climbing into the Towtruck in the Salvage Yard and selecting the option from the menu.
The player will be tasked to retrieve a designated broken down or "abandoned" car and simply bring it back to the Salvage Yard to be salvaged for parts. The player may encounter the hostile owner of the vehicle or obtain a Wanted Level on the way back, which must be evaded before delivering the vehicle.
The time taken for a vehicle to be salvaged after delivery depends on whether or not the player has purchased the Staff upgrade for the Salvage Yard; without this upgrade, each vehicle will take 96 minutes to be salvaged, or two in-game days. However, the Staff upgrade will cut that time in half down to 48 minutes, or a single in-game day. The player does not have to be playing GTA Online for the salvage to progress, and will be paid as soon as they log on next.
Two vehicles can be salvaged at the same time, and while the mission originally didn't have a cooldown, a two-minute cooldown was added between towing missions following the Bottom Dollar Bounties update.