TowingBossPro Blog — Impound & Storage

Two-Way Texting With Owners Looking for Their Towed Vehicle

Automated messages answer the questions everyone has. Two-way texting handles the ones only this owner has. Can my brother pick it up? Is my laptop still in the back seat? Do you take cards? Can I come at 6:15 if I am stuck in traffic?

In Texting Impound Customers About Pickup we set up the messages that go out on their own. This article is about the conversation that follows.

Why Owners Prefer Texting

Most people would rather text than call, and that goes double for someone who is frustrated. Texting lets them ask without getting into an argument on the phone. It lets your staff answer when they have a free minute instead of putting a dispatch call on hold.

TowingBossPro includes two-way texting, so owners can reply to your messages and your office can answer from the same system, with the conversation kept on the customer's record.

Texting also helps with owners who cannot easily talk on the phone: people at work, people who do not speak much English and use a translation app, and people who are simply too angry to have a calm conversation yet. A written answer gives them something to read twice before they react.

What to Answer by Text

Plenty of questions are perfect for text:

• Lot hours and the address.
• What documents your policy requires for release.
• Whether someone else can pick up the vehicle, and what they would need.
• How to pay online before arriving.
• Whether they can retrieve personal property, if your policy and local rules allow it.

Short, accurate answers save everyone a trip and a phone call.

Keep a short set of standard answers your staff can adapt: lot hours, documents needed, pickup by someone else, paying online. Consistent wording means the owner hears the same thing no matter who answers, and your staff do not have to compose every reply from scratch.

What to Keep for the Window

Some things should not be settled over text. Disputes about whether the tow was justified, damage claims and anything involving a hold are better handled in person or through your formal process, where you can see documents and the vehicle record together.

If a text conversation starts to turn into an argument, a short, polite reply that tells them how to raise the issue at the lot or in writing is usually best. Do not let staff get dragged into a long back-and-forth.

Be Careful With Totals

Owners will ask "how much do I owe?" by text. Remember that storage days keep counting until the vehicle leaves. If you give a number, say it is the total as of today and that storage continues to add each day the vehicle stays. Better still, point them to the invoice in the customer app, which shows the current amount.

Fee rules vary by state and city, and some places cap what can be charged. Your staff should never quote a number by text that you could not defend at the window.

One Voice, On the Record

When texting goes through the software, every staff member sees the same conversation. The night person knows what the day person promised. The manager can read back exactly what was said if a complaint comes in. That consistency protects you, and it stops the "but the other guy told me" problem.

Set a few ground rules: no personal phones, polite and short replies, and nothing promised by text that is not company policy.

Personal phones are the real risk. A driver who gives an owner his own number to "make it easier" has just created a conversation the company cannot see, about a vehicle the company is responsible for. Keep every conversation in the system, and if a driver gets a text on their own phone, have them hand it to the office.

Response Time Is the Real Win

The fastest way to lower the temperature with an upset owner is to answer quickly. A reply within a few minutes tells them someone is paying attention. Assign who watches incoming texts during business hours, and make sure messages after hours get an answer first thing in the morning.

Two-way texting turns the most stressful part of impound work into something closer to customer service. See the whole storage flow on the Impound & Storage Software page. Next: letting owners pay online before they come to the lot.