TowingBossPro Blog — Towing Software

A Customer App That Shows the Tow Truck Coming

For years, the customer's experience of a tow was a phone call, a wait, a truck and a bill. Everything in between was a black box. Now most people expect to watch their food delivery and their ride-share on a map. A tow is far more stressful than either, and the same expectation applies.

In On-the-Way and Arrival Texts for Stranded Drivers, we covered the two texts that matter on almost every call. This article looks at the customer app that goes with them.

What the Customer Actually Wants

A stranded driver wants three things: to know someone is coming, to know when, and to know what it will cost. Afterward, they want an easy way to pay and a record of what happened. Repeat customers — the person who calls you every time their old truck quits, or the small business that uses you a few times a month — want all of that without having to call the office.

The TowingBossPro customer app is built around those needs: a live map of the driver on the way, invoices, online payment, card on file and a choice of the alerts they want.

The Live Map on the Way

Once the driver taps on-the-way, the customer can see the driver approaching on a live map. That single view does more to calm a stranded customer than any number of phone calls. They can see the truck turn onto their road. They know when to get out of the car. They stop wondering whether you forgot them.

It also cuts down on the "is he lost?" calls. If the truck is clearly getting closer, the customer waits. If they see the driver going the wrong way, they can text you before he gets too far.

Invoices and Paying Online

After the tow, the invoice is available in the customer app. Customers can pay online instead of handing over cash on the shoulder, reading a card number over the phone or mailing a check. For the office, that means fewer card numbers written on scraps of paper and fewer invoices that sit unpaid because the customer meant to call.

Customers who use you more than once can keep a card on file. The next time they need a tow or a jump start, payment is one less thing to sort out.

It also takes cash handling off your drivers. A driver collecting payment on a dark shoulder is a driver standing outside the truck longer than he needs to, handling money he then has to account for. When the customer can pay the invoice from their phone, the driver can hook, load and go.

Letting Customers Choose Their Alerts

Not every customer wants every message. Some want a text for everything; some only want to know when the truck is close. The customer app lets customers choose their alerts, which keeps your messages welcome instead of annoying. It also helps with businesses that have more than one person who needs to know — a shop manager and an owner, for example.

Respecting those choices matters more than it seems. A customer who gets messages they didn't want starts ignoring all of them, including the one that says the truck is outside. A customer who picked their own alerts reads every one.

Where It Helps Accounts Too

The app is not just for one-time callers. Smaller commercial customers — a used car lot, a small repair shop, a property manager who calls a few times a month — benefit from seeing their invoices in one place and paying online. Fewer statement requests and fewer "did we pay that?" calls are a quiet win for your office.

Larger accounts still have their calls and invoices kept under the account in TowingBossPro, so you can reconcile a month of work in one view.

For body shops and dealers that receive vehicles you tow for other people, the alerts can be useful too. A shop that knows a car is on its way can clear a spot and have someone ready to take the keys, which keeps your driver from waiting at the door.

Making It Part of Every Call

The customer app pays off when customers actually use it. Mention it at intake, make sure the on-the-way text goes out on every call, and have drivers remind customers that the invoice and payment are in the app. After a few weeks, it becomes the normal way customers interact with you between calls.

A tow will never be a pleasant experience. But a customer who could watch the truck coming, got clear texts and paid in a minute is far more likely to call you next time — and to tell a friend. See how the customer side ties into the rest of the system on the towing software overview.