TowingBossPro Blog — Tow Dispatch

Choosing Tow Dispatch Software: Questions to Ask Before You Switch

Every tow dispatch software demo looks good. The screens are clean, the sample calls are tidy and nobody in the demo is on hold with a stranded customer while the heavy wrecker is stuck at a recovery. The real test is how the software handles your actual day.

Asking the right questions before you switch saves you from finding the gaps after you have moved your whole operation.

Start With Your Real Day

The training guide in Training a New Tow Dispatcher: The First Two Weeks walked through what a new dispatcher needs to learn. Use that same list to judge software. Write down a normal day and a bad day: how many calls, what kinds, how many trucks, how many shifts, which accounts. Then ask whether the software handles both. A system that works for a calm Tuesday but collapses during a storm is not a dispatch system.

Also list what you are using now, even if it is a whiteboard and a notepad, and what you want to stop doing.

It also helps to ask who will use it. If only the owner touches the software, a complicated system might be fine. If drivers, a part-time dispatcher and an office manager all need it, the system has to be easy enough for the least technical person on the team.

Questions About Intake and the Map

Can you see every unassigned call on a map, not just a list? Does every call carry a pickup and a drop-off address? Can you record year, make, model, color, plate and VIN? Can you categorize calls, such as light-duty, heavy-duty, roadside, recovery, impound and transports?

In TowingBossPro, the Waiting List shows incoming calls on a live map, and every call has a pickup, drop-off and vehicle details, with categories built in.

Questions About Assignment and the Board

Can you assign a call to a driver and a truck at the same time? Can you assign several calls at once? Is there a board by truck and day, with route order you can change and auto-routing for planned work? What happens to a call's notes and photos when you reassign it?

Be honest about what you need. If you rely on a specific outside dispatch feed or integration, ask about it directly. TowingBossPro, for example, does not connect to motor club dispatch systems or police rotation systems, so those calls are entered by your dispatcher.

Also ask how the system handles planned work alongside emergency calls. Transports, dealer runs and scheduled impounds should be easy to put on a specific truck and day without cluttering today's open calls.

Questions About Drivers and Customers

What does the driver see? Calls in order, pickup and drop-off with one-tap navigation, vehicle details, notes and photos? Can the driver send on-the-way and arrival texts with one tap? Can customers see the driver on a map while they wait, and can they view invoices and pay online? Is there two-way texting with replies saved to the customer record?

Have one of your drivers try the driver app during the trial. Their opinion matters more than anyone's in the office.

Questions About Accounts, Storage and Billing

Can commercial accounts keep their calls and invoices together? Does impound and storage track a storage start date and daily rate, and add storage days to the invoice? Does the system handle invoicing, card on file, auto-billing, online payments, sales tax and payment follow-ups? Can you import your existing customers by CSV?

These are the questions that decide whether dispatch and billing live in one place or two.

Ask how you get your data in. If you have a customer list or account list in a spreadsheet, CSV import lets you bring it over without retyping everything, and that is often the difference between a switch that takes a weekend and one that drags on for a month.

Questions About Price and Trial

How is it priced? Per user, per truck or a flat plan? Per-user pricing gets expensive as you add drivers. TowingBossPro is never billed per user: Start is $59 a month, Pro is $89 and Crew is $199 with unlimited users. Is there a free trial long enough to test real calls? TowingBossPro has a 14-day free trial with no credit card required.

Run your real calls through the trial. Ask your dispatcher and a driver what they think. Then decide. To see everything in one place, start with the tow dispatch software overview or go back to the beginning of this series.