TowingBossPro Blog — Driver App & Routes

Transport Calls: Running Scheduled Vehicle Moves From the Driver App

Transports are the calm calls. Nobody is stranded, nothing is on fire, and the customer often booked days ahead. A dealer needs three cars moved to a sister store, a shop is sending a finished car back to its owner, a collector wants a car taken to a show. The work is predictable, which makes it ideal for filling the gaps between emergency calls, as long as it is organized.

After the impound drops in Dropping at the Impound Lot: Driver App Habits That Keep Storage Records Clean, this article covers the most scheduled work a tow company does.

Transports Have Their Own Category

Transports is one of the call categories in TowingBossPro. That lets the dispatcher see at a glance which calls on the board are scheduled moves and which are urgent tows. A transport with a pickup window of 9 to noon can move around a breakdown call; a breakdown cannot wait for a transport.

That distinction matters to drivers too. A driver who sees a list of transports knows the day is predictable and can plan breaks and fuel stops. A driver on the roadside truck knows the list will change all day.

On the Scheduled list, transports sit by truck and by day like any other call, in route order.

Pickup and Drop-Off Both Matter

On a transport, the drop-off is as important as the pickup. The dealer at the other end is expecting a specific car at a specific time, and often a specific person needs to sign for it. Put the drop-off contact and any delivery instructions in the notes.

Both addresses open in navigation with one tap from the driver app. For a driver doing several transports in a day, that is a lot of addresses not typed into a phone.

Long transports out of town are where navigation earns its keep. A driver heading to a dealer two counties over, to a lot they have never seen, should not be relying on a road name written in the notes. The drop-off address opens in navigation, and the notes cover the last hundred yards: which entrance, which building, who to ask for.

Multiple Vehicles, Multiple Calls

When a dealer sends three cars, enter each as its own call with its own vehicle details. That way each vehicle has its own photos, its own complete tap, and its own line on the invoice. A single call with "3 cars" in the notes makes it impossible to tell which car got delivered and which is still sitting on the lot.

For commercial accounts like dealers, all those calls sit under the account along with its invoices.

When the dealer calls to ask about the third car, the office can see exactly which of the three is done and which is still on the road.

Identify the Right Vehicle

Dealer lots and auction rows are where wrong-vehicle mistakes happen most. The driver should match the VIN or plate on the call to the vehicle before loading. Year, make, model and color get you to the right row; VIN confirms it.

If the dealer gave the wrong stock number or VIN, call the office before loading, not after delivery.

Photos Protect Both Ends

Transported vehicles are often new or high value, and the receiving end inspects them closely. Photos at pickup show the condition when the vehicle left. Photos at delivery show it arrived the same way.

Take them every time, even for routine runs. The one time you skip them is the time the receiving dealer finds a scratch.

If the receiving end signs for the vehicle or points out an issue, note it on the call before leaving. A transport that ends with a clean handoff and a note is one nobody has to revisit.

Fitting Transports Around the Day

The trick with transports is to schedule them so they do not get bumped. Assign them to a truck that is not first in line for emergency calls, or schedule them early before the day's breakdowns pile up. Auto-routing can order the stops sensibly once they are assigned.

When a transport does get bumped, the office should tell the customer right away and give a new time. Dealers can live with a delay if they hear about it early.

Transports are steady revenue. For more on how the driver app handles every call type, see the Tow Truck Driver App page.