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Why us?
Operating for over 40 years in the Northern Areas of Adelaide, South Australia, International Towing Service have great customer service skills and excellent knowledge to get the job done safely, and on time.
What's with our name - International Towing?
We often get asked why we're called International Towing Service when we don't tow vehicles internationally. But our name isn't in the location of our towing services but rather in our past. We've loved every minute of our journey and it all started with a small crash repairer in the early 1970's in Salisbury, South Australia.
The late Anthony "Tony" Rocca, was running a crash repairer in Salisbury when he started amassing a small fleet of Tow-Trucks to help bring in the business. After a successful year, Tony needed to come up with a business name and, while working on a bumper bar, he looked around the workshop for inspiration. He started counting his employees and had two Italians, a Greek, a Maltese, two Indians and a chap from Malaysia. He thought to himself, “What an international group of people we have here.” So, he called the business International Crash Repairs and International Towing Service. But his first Tow Truck was a big red International truck, so that’s what he told people, that he’d named it after the tow-truck and alas, the name International Towing Service was born. At one point, the family-run business had over 12 trucks in three locations including Salisbury, Virginia and Smithfield in South Australia's northern suburbs of Adelaide.
Nowadays, based only at Virginia, and run by Tony's son Justin Rocca, our fleet of trucks consists of one International truck (retired), a couple of Hino tilt-tray trucks, an couple of Izuzu tilt-tray trucks, and our Ford 4x4 F350 Beach Rescue Recovery Vehicle.
The late Anthony "Tony" Rocca, was running a crash repairer in Salisbury when he started amassing a small fleet of Tow-Trucks to help bring in the business. After a successful year, Tony needed to come up with a business name and, while working on a bumper bar, he looked around the workshop for inspiration. He started counting his employees and had two Italians, a Greek, a Maltese, two Indians and a chap from Malaysia. He thought to himself, “What an international group of people we have here.” So, he called the business International Crash Repairs and International Towing Service. But his first Tow Truck was a big red International truck, so that’s what he told people, that he’d named it after the tow-truck and alas, the name International Towing Service was born. At one point, the family-run business had over 12 trucks in three locations including Salisbury, Virginia and Smithfield in South Australia's northern suburbs of Adelaide.
Nowadays, based only at Virginia, and run by Tony's son Justin Rocca, our fleet of trucks consists of one International truck (retired), a couple of Hino tilt-tray trucks, an couple of Izuzu tilt-tray trucks, and our Ford 4x4 F350 Beach Rescue Recovery Vehicle.
— how did we get here?
Company history
Pre-1970's
Jim Ryan, who lived in Virginia all his life, ran the Service Station and Towing business in the heart of Virginia at the crossroads. He inherited the business from his forefathers, who used to run a blacksmith on the site in the late 1800's.1976
Tony Rocca purchases the business and properies from Jim Ryan. This would be the base of operations for the new International Towing Service and International Crash Repairs.1979
Tony married and began having a family whilst continuing to expand the business.Early-1990's
Tony moves the entire business from Salisbury to concentrate on the growing business in Virginia, and to stay close to his family. His wife, Sylvia, continued running the Service Station, while he concentrated on the towing and crash repair business.2007
Justin Rocca comes of age, getting his licence, closely followed by his medium truck licence and tow truck licenses.2012
Justin Rocca takes on the day-to-day running of the business and begins to branch out into long-distance transport and specialist towing. In one of the worst bush fire seasons of the century, Justin was running the trucks continuosly to Port Lincoln, delivering much needed firefighting foam to the CFS (Country Fire Service).2018
Tony Rocca and his wife Sylvia retired to a new home away from the Service Station, but kept an interest in the business, now completely run by his son, Justin.2022
Tony Rocca lost his 3-year battle with cancer, and was laid to rest. His funeral was attended by over 450 people including many representatives from the founding families within the towing industry in South Australia. You can read more about Tony on our Tribute page.2024 and beyond!
Justin continues growing the business and remains one of the most experienced operators in the industy in South Australia.
