College campuses
Towing near CCAD for art students, faculty and visiting families
Late studio nights, cars full of canvases and a campus squeezed into a few downtown blocks. When the car quits, we come to Cleveland Avenue.
- Open 24/7, 365 days
- Flatbed-only fleet
- Price quoted before dispatch
- Licensed & insured
The Columbus College of Art & Design has been teaching in Columbus since 1879, and today its buildings cluster on a handful of downtown acres along Cleveland Avenue, right beside the Columbus Museum of Art. Art school hours are not office hours. Students leave the studio at two in the morning, load sculptures and framed work into hatchbacks, and park wherever there's room. Auto Lyft USA offers towing near CCAD for the moments when those cars don't cooperate.
A dead battery after a long critique, keys locked in a car full of supplies, a tire that went flat on a downtown pothole: we handle these with a flat-rate roadside visit. When the car needs a mechanic, it rides on one of our flatbeds to your shop, or to an independent garage we know that will diagnose it and give you a figure. When a student is heading home for good, it can ride much farther.
We're based on Harrisburg Pike on the southwest side, close enough to downtown that a call from Cleveland Avenue is a routine run. The dispatcher quotes the price before the truck rolls, whatever hour you call.
What goes wrong for art students' cars
CCAD students are hard on cars in specific ways. Cars get packed to the roof for a show and driven with the hatch tied down. They sit for days during a big project because the student sleeps in the studio. Dome lights and phone chargers get left on overnight while someone unloads.
Most of that ends in a dead battery or a lockout, and a single roadside visit sorts it out. The less common cases, a car that overheated hauling a heavy load, or one that won't go into gear, call for a tow. Before the driver loads a car for a tow, take out anything fragile. The car rides on a flat deck and is strapped down firmly, but loose work inside can shift on the way.
- Dead after a late studio night: a jump start and a quick battery test.
- Keys inside with the portfolio: a lockout, opened without damage.
- Flat on the way to campus: a spare put on, lug nuts tightened properly.
- Won't run at all: a flatbed tow to your shop.
End of the year, and the car that has to go home
CCAD draws students from well outside central Ohio. At the end of the year, a car that's been limping along since winter can become the last item on the move-out list. Parents sometimes decide it's simpler to have it towed home than to have the student drive it on bad brakes or a slipping transmission.
We do that as a long-distance tow to anywhere in Ohio and the states next to it. The family can arrange it by phone; the student just needs to be at the car with the key at pickup. Clear out the cabin first. A car stuffed with a year of art supplies is fine to tow, but loose items shift, and we'd rather the student keep them with the rest of their things.
Finding the car downtown
CCAD sits in the Discovery District, which it shares with Columbus State. Several streets here look alike at night. When you call, say the street and the nearest cross street, which side of the street you're on, and and whether the car is at a meter, in an open lot or inside a structure. If you're near the Columbus Museum of Art or a named CCAD building, say so; it helps the driver find you faster.
If you're in a garage, give its name and level. Height matters with a car on the deck, so we need to know ahead of time whether the car can be brought down to street level or will need a different approach. Our parking garage towing page explains what we look at.
Rates, without the guesswork
Here's the short version of the rate card. Roadside visits are $75 flat plus $4 a mile from our yard. Tows are $125 to hook up, $7 per loaded mile, plus that same $4 en route. Between 10 PM and 6 AM, there's a $150 surcharge, which art students tend to run into. Weekends add $50. Ohio sales tax is added by county. There's nothing else on the bill unless the dispatcher tells you about it first.
Columbus College of Art & Design: what drivers ask
Is towing near CCAD available at two in the morning?
Yes. Our dispatch line is answered at all hours, all year. Tell us exactly where the car is on or near Cleveland Avenue and what it's doing, and you'll get a quote before the driver leaves. The overnight window, 10 PM to 6 AM, adds $150 to the normal rate. If you're alone and it's late, wait inside a building or a lit spot and come out when the driver calls.
My car's full of artwork. Can you still tow it?
Yes, though we'd strongly suggest taking out anything fragile, valuable or irreplaceable before we load it. The car goes on a flat deck and is strapped down, so it doesn't bounce the way it would behind a hook truck, but loose things inside can still shift with braking and turns. If you can't empty it, pack the work low and wedge it so it can't slide.
Can you just jump the car instead of towing it?
That's what we try first if the symptoms point to the battery: clicking, dim lights or nothing at all after the car sat. A jump is the $75 roadside rate plus mileage. If it starts, a test of the battery and alternator output tells you whether it's likely to happen again. If it won't start even with a good jump, then we talk about a tow.
I'm parked on a downtown meter and the car won't start. What do I do?
Call us right away and tell the dispatcher you're on a meter, so we can plan around it. Pay the meter if you can, because a dead car still collects a ticket. Put your hazards on if you're in a spot where traffic is close. Then give us the street, cross street and side of the road, and we'll send a driver with what the job needs.
Can my parents book a tow home from CCAD?
Yes. Your parent can phone or submit the online form with how to reach you, where the car is near campus, and the address back home. We'll quote the full trip, which is the $125 hook-up, $7 per mile on the flatbed and $4 per mile to reach downtown. Sales tax is added by the pickup county. You only need to meet the driver with the key.
Do you tow to a specific repair shop?
Yes, wherever you want it to go, as long as the shop will accept it. Call the shop first to make sure, especially at night when it's closed, because some shops have a key drop and some don't. If you don't have a mechanic in Columbus, ask about the independent shops we partner with; they diagnose first and call with a price before any work. We don't do the repair work ourselves.
My keys are locked in the car near the museum. How long does it take?
Most lockouts are quick once the driver is there. We won't quote a minute count blind, but the dispatcher can tell you how the trucks are positioned right now. The job uses an air wedge and long-reach tools, without breaking glass or damaging the door seal. It's a $75 flat roadside call plus mileage, and the driver will match your ID to the registration before handing back the keys.
Do you offer any student discount?
Our pricing is the same for everyone, which is how we keep it simple and published. The one discount we do offer is 10% off for veterans with ID. What helps students most is choosing a shop close to campus, which keeps the loaded miles down, and steering clear of weekend and late-night calls when the problem can wait. The dispatcher will always quote you the full price before we go.
Need a truck?
Call from Columbus College of Art & Design at any hour; you hear the full price first, then a flatbed heads your way.
Services here
Auto Lyft USA operates on its own; the Columbus College of Art & Design has no ties to us and has not endorsed us.
Where the trucks start
Calls from Columbus College of Art & Design are dispatched from Harrisburg Pike (US-62) on Columbus's southwest side, around the clock, 365 days a year.
1620 Harrisburg Pike
Columbus, OH 43223
Phone: (614) 633-8163
Email: lisa@autolyftusa.online
Directions to the yard