Totem Towing

We offer a variety of two trucks and towing services near the Greater Victoria, BC area. Our tow trucks can meet all of your towing needs!

TOTEM TOWING was founded in 1973 by Neil Clarke. Neil purchased one tow truck to service his three Service Stations in the Victoria area. Other garages in the area were also calling Totem to service their towing needs. After a year went by, the towing demands from his and other garages warranted the purchase of a second truck.
In 1976, the first expansion opportunity presented itself to Neil; the owner of Tolmie Towing was offered a job with the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia. Working for the Corporation and owning a towing company put the owner in a conflict of interest position, so he was faced with having to sell. With a motivated seller, Neil could not resist the opportunity to expand his towing business and purchased Tolmie Towing immediately.
For a time Neil ran his business as Tolmie-Totem Towing. The three T’s inspired the new company name of “Triple T Developments Ltd, dba Totem Towing”.
Besides running a number of Service Stations, in 1989 Neil’s company had grown to a fleet of twelve trucks. This was the year for another injection of trucks to the fleet. The owner of Autocraft Collision and Colwood Sooke Towing decided to sell off the towing portion of his business. Triple T Developments Ltd purchased the fleet of four tow trucks.
In 1990, Neil promoted Dan Bird to manage the towing divisions of his company. For the next several years, Triple T Developments Ltd would run two divisions; Totem Towing in Greater Victoria and Colwood Sooke Towing in the Western Communities, serving all the municipalities from Victoria to Sooke and the Malahat. 1990 was also the year the Totem Towing fleet took on a new paint scheme to give us a more distinct and recognizable brand.
With the upgrade of the Trans Canada Highway, linking Victoria and Colwood, the travel time between the communities was greatly reduced. By 1999, Totem Towing and Colwood Sooke Towing were so intertwined; the decision was made to merge the two divisions into one.
By the year 2000, Totem Towing had grown to a fleet of fifteen tow trucks and three service vehicles, one motorcycle trailer, and one tandem equipment trailer. Totem was the largest contractor for the British Columbia Automobile Association, serving the Greater Victoria area exclusively for 27 years.
In 2000, the owners Neil Clarke, Judy Clarke and Dan Bird employed a staff of thirty-two professional drivers and dispatchers, who responded to approximately 50, 000 customer calls annually. Our team is dedicated to servicing and towing customers in need, and have always had a policy of NOT doing private impounds.
We believe strongly in professionalism, teamwork, and doing the job right the first time. To remind us of this every day, we post our motto on all our tow trucks “Doing it Right!”