Labor Day weekend is one of the busiest stretches of the year on Triangle roads, and Cary sits right in the middle of it: beach traffic funneling onto US-64 and I-40 toward the coast, cookout runs up and down Kildaire Farm Road, and thousands of cars that haven’t been looked at since spring suddenly asked to do three hours on the interstate. Every year that combination puts a lot of people on the shoulder.
So here’s the short version: WTF Towing is running all weekend and all day Monday, September 7, same as any other day. Same trucks, same drivers, same number: (919) 230-4498. If your car makes you say WTF on a holiday, you call WTF Towing.
Yes, we’re open on Labor Day
We’re a 24-hour operation, and holidays don’t change that. Whether it’s a dead battery in a driveway in Preston at 7 a.m. Monday, a flat on NC-540 Sunday night, or a car in a ditch off Green Level Church Road after a storm, a WTF Towing truck rolls. You’ll get a real price and a real ETA when you call, not a “someone will be in touch.”
The five-minute pre-trip check that prevents most holiday breakdowns
The calls we get on holiday weekends follow a pattern, and most of them are preventable in the driveway before you leave:
- Battery. If your car has cranked slowly even once this summer, get it tested before a long drive. Heat kills batteries faster than cold does, and a battery that barely starts the car in a Cary parking lot at 90 degrees will not start it at a rest stop. We do jump starts all over Cary, but nobody wants to need one at a gas station in Smithfield.
- Tires. Check the pressure on all four and the spare, and look at the tread. Under-inflated tires on hot pavement at highway speed are how blowouts happen. If you don’t have a spare, know that before you leave, not after. (We handle tire changes and will tow you to a tire shop if there’s no spare to put on.)
- Coolant and oil. Stop-and-go beach traffic on a hot afternoon is the hardest thing you’ll ask of your engine all year. A quick look at the coolant reservoir and the oil level takes two minutes.
- Fuel. Fill up in Cary before you get on I-40. Gas stations get slammed on holiday weekends and prices climb the closer you get to the coast. Running dry on NC-55 with a car full of kids is a bad way to start a long weekend. (Yes, we deliver fuel if it happens anyway.)
- Keys. Put a spare key with someone who isn’t riding with you. Lockouts spike on holiday weekends because people are juggling coolers, kids, and bags in unfamiliar parking lots. We do car lockouts, but a spare key is faster and free.
Where Cary drivers get stuck on holiday weekends
A few spots come up over and over in our dispatch log around Labor Day:
- I-40 between Cary and the Wade Avenue split. Heavy eastbound traffic Friday and Saturday, heavy westbound Monday afternoon. If you break down here, get all the way onto the shoulder, put your hazards on, and stay in the vehicle with your seatbelt on. Do not stand behind the car.
- US-64 heading east toward the coast. Long stretches with limited exits. Overheating and tire failures are the usual calls.
- NC-540 (the Triangle Expressway). Fast, with narrow shoulders in places. Pull as far right as you can and call from inside the car.
- Shopping and cookout traffic in town. Crossroads Plaza, Fenton, Park West Village, and the grocery lots along Cary Parkway and Tryon Road fill up all weekend. Lockouts and dead batteries in parking lots are the number one holiday call.
If you do break down: what to do before we get there
- Get safe first. Off the road as far as you can, hazards on, seatbelts on if you’re staying in the car. On an interstate, stay in the vehicle. In a parking lot or on a neighborhood street, it’s fine to wait outside.
- Know where you are. A cross street, an exit number, a business name, or a dropped pin from your phone. “Somewhere on I-40” costs you time.
- Call (919) 230-4498. Tell us what the car is doing, what kind of vehicle it is, and where you want it to go. If you don’t know where to take it, we’ll tell you what your options are.
- Move over for the people who show up to help. North Carolina’s Move Over law covers tow trucks. When you see amber lights on the shoulder, slow down and change lanes if you can. Our drivers are working feet from traffic.
Electric cars, AWD, and lowered cars: ask for a flatbed
More Cary families are taking EVs to the beach every year. If yours needs a tow, it needs a flatbed, not a wheel-lift, and the same goes for most all-wheel-drive vehicles. We run two rollback carriers for exactly that reason, and we’ll ask what you’re driving when you call so the right truck comes the first time. If you’re heading out of the Triangle altogether, our long-distance towing covers the coast, the mountains, and out of state.
Have a good weekend
Most of you will never need us this weekend, and that’s the goal. Do the five-minute check, fill up in town, leave early, and keep your phone charged. If something goes wrong anyway, there’s a Cary tow truck on the clock the whole holiday.
WTF Towing · Cary, NC · (919) 230-4498 · Open 24 hours, every day, Labor Day included.
Need a tow now? Call (919) 230-4498 — WTF Towing is open 24/7. See our pages for Cary towing, and our towing and roadside services.
