Western Chester County Chamber of Commerce is proud to provide special recognition to the ChescoWest small business community each February by presenting the Western Chester County Small Business of the Year Award at the annual Member Extravaganza hosted at Coatesville Country Club. This award recognizes one exceptional small business owner for his or her tireless work and embodiment of the spirit of enterprise in western Chester County. The Chamber is ecstatic to present the 2025 award to Fling’s Towing.
Fling’s Towing, owned by Daryl Fling has a comprehensive fleet of top-tier trucks and equipment, ensuring the safe and damage-free towing of vehicle or equipment. Fling’s offers their services 24/7, 365 days a year, accommodating both emergency and pre-scheduled needs.
The spark for this business ignited in the 1970’s when Donald Fling ran an auto shop at 8th Avenue in Coatesville. His son Daryl would hang out at the shop as a young kid, absorbing the work ethic from his father. The family then moved to a shop in Thorndale. Daryl would head to the shop after school and work the second half of the day in the 9-bay service station. His father soon partnered with a business to operate a used car lot which sparked the new demand for a tow truck to meet the volume of vehicles moving in and out. Daryl took the lead on the towing service part of the operation and before long he purchased that part of the company from his dad’s partner in 1985. He started off with himself and two trucks, Daryl says, “Over the years we got busier, so I’d borrow my sister to help load a car, my brother, my mom and step father would help out too.” Before long the business grew to what it is today, 22 trucks and 20 employees.
But just like the very beginning, Fling’s Towing sticks to their roots of being a family business. “As we grew and brought on more employees we kept that same family style feel.” Today Daryl works alongside his brother Brian, his wife Tonya, and his son Daniel who serves as the Operations Manager. His nephew Tim tells the Fling’s story through marketing and his nephew Brian Jr. works part-time in the shop too. “It has always been a blessing to have my family here with me.”
Daryl manages his team with care. He makes sure all his employees are properly trained to tackle the jobs in front of them. “Safety is a big thing for us. We’re out recovering cars in all types of situations and weather incidents.” Fling’s employees learn about traffic incident management, awareness of their surroundings on the roadway and training on how to rig vehicles properly especially in crash situations.
Daryl attributes staying in front of industry changes as an important rule of thumb for all business owners. Implementing new processes and systems helped Fling’s streamline their efficiency and stay in front of their evolving industry.
He expresses that in the towing industry, many challenges arise, you never know what you’re going to get involved in until you get there. Daryl says the biggest reward is being able to help people. “They hate to call me, but sure do love it when I show up.”
“There’s good days and stressful days when something happens, or lots of things happen; you might be backed up, a truck might’ve broken down, someone calls in sick, you have those types of days and you just work through them.”
Daryl references his focus on keeping a strong faith in challenging situations, “we respond to car crashes and incidences that are emotional moments for those individuals. It’s our role to offer comfort, respect and stability in a sensitive time. “
For the past 40 years Daryl has had his phone ready in his pocket, any time of the night he’d be there to answer the call. He says thanks to his business growth and strong staff he is able to spend more time at home but says the long hours have always been a part of growing and maintaining the business.
“I still love to be out on the road. I also enjoy the dispatch aspect of towing, it’s rewarding to me to coordinate and guide our drivers where they need to go and help them to navigate through the jobs at hand.
Daryl says partnerships are also a crucial piece in building your business. “Small jobs done well open doors to bigger jobs. We’re fortunate to have partnerships with dealerships and local auto shops, as well as businesses with large truck fleets that need serviced.” The Fling’s consistent delivery of excellent service solidifies those partnerships. The team also serve as first responders, maintaining strong working relationship with our emergency service departments to keep our roadways clear and safe.
Another avenue the business attributes as a driving force in growth is their marketing and communication efforts in the past few years. Daryl’s philosophy is that, everything is about people. Telling the Fling story and taking time to pause, listen and be a part of other’s stories is the seed to maintaining community connections with our neighbors, resulting in growing together.
Fling’s Towing trucks are often a familiar sight when driving around town, their yellow and green color logo is a bold sight on our roadways. The business not only dedicates themselves to their customers, but also to their community. With their assortment of top-of-the-line equipment, such as flatbeds, wreckers, forklifts, and more, they have provided immeasurable support to the ChescoWest community. The team has lent a helping hand to local nonprofits, participated in a variety of community events like Caln days and national night out, and love to bring their fleet out for Touch a Trucks events for kids.
About Fling’s:
Fling’s Towing has a comprehensive fleet of top-tier trucks and equipment, ensuring the safe and damage-free towing of your vehicle or equipment. Fully Licenses and insured, Fling’s offers their services 24/7, 365 days a year, accommodating both emergency and pre-scheduled needs.