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InTowMan

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Everything posted by InTowMan

  1. I was at my mechanic's today and this was on his cork-board…I couldn’t resist…:)
  2. Im looking forward to the show…:). See ya there folks… Dennis@DENTED
  3. Hello Hollie, Id love to show you what we have and see if there is a good fit. You can reach me at dennis@denteddev.com or by phone at 866.706.2366…x101.
  4. We will be announcing big news and upcoming software plans for 2022 very soon.
  5. Im here, Im here…let the bells ring out and the banners fly. Feast your eyes on me. It’s to good to be true but Im here, Im here…:) Was that Genie or Foghorn? Wow, dating myself.
  6. Thank you for taking care of yourselves out there people. You are not just an essential service, but you're a first responder. You save local economies millions of dollars annually and we need innovation to protect you. Where can these be purchased and what is cost? I'd like to grab a few dozen as giveaways for some marketing surveys we are planning in the new year. As always, thank you for your input. Dennis@DENTED Nevermind I logged into the website and received the info...;)
  7. I was watching Dragon's Den and a couple for guys invented a motorcycle helmet with a brake light on the back. They inserted the sensors from a cell phone into LED lights in the helmet and when you even slowed down, the brake light on the hemet would engage at the same time as the brake light on the bike...it was impressive. Question for all you brave souls out there - Is there an application for this with workers on the side of the road? A light on your actual head to try and prevent what seems to be, a pandemic of lives lost? Would it make you more visible? Is it legal? Would a red and blue light on your head be allowed if they won't allow it on your trucks? Would something like this help? Or would it make driver's even more distracted? Thoughts? Dennis@DENTED
  8. Hello Fellow TowForce Friends, I hope this post finds everyone healthy and virus free. I must add, I'm looking forward to dropping this from my greeting as soon as possible! This is a quick note to introduce our newest technology for the towing industry, InTow Connect. As you all know, motor clubs are looking for towing providers who have adopted technology. They want to ensure providers can accept digital transactions, making their call distribution process easier and more efficient. Historically, towing providers would have to invest in towing management software to achieve this goal. These systems can carry large monthly fees or purchase prices that may not be justified by your call volumes. InTow Connect provides the same digital dispatch capability that towing management systems provide, for most major motor clubs, all in in one app, at a fraction of cost. Supported Motor Clubs: US Clubs: Allstate, Allied, Agero, AXA, GEICO, FleetNet, NSD, Road America, Tesla, Quest, USAC. Canada Clubs: Allstate, Allied, AXA, Sykes, Road Canada. We also provide a web-portal for non-motor club customers so they can also send you calls via digital dispatch. Like pre-paid cell phone minutes, InTow Connect sells prepaid call blocks. A block of 100 calls is $20.00 USD and each accepted call from a motor club reduces your call block by 1 call. When your call block is down to 20 calls, a new invoice is sent to replenish your block. Your call block never expires and you can purchase as many blocks as you deem necessary. Available on iPhone and Android, you can test drive InTow Connect with 5 free calls. For motor clubs you currently work for, ask them to send you a digital Provider ID. For motor clubs you want to work with, make them aware you now support their digital platform. Motor clubs are anxious to have you on their digital platform and will provide all necessary information to get you registered with InTow Connect.Find out more about InTow Connect Mobile by visiting www.intowconnect.com. Or email dennis@denteddev.com. By phone, call us 866.706.2366. Thank you for reading and reach out if you have questions. Dennis@DENTED
  9. I'm honored to be part of this great community..:) Anytime a roll call is done, count me in!
  10. Topic Originally Created on Tow411 in July of 2007: Fuel represents the highest business cost behind labour for organizations involved in transport, logistics, construction and other fuel-dependant services. Understandably, as fuel prices continue to rise, everyone wants to reduce their exposure to rising costs. In order to help businesses put a leash on fuel costs, we've compiled the top ten ways to reduce fuel consumption and therefore fuel costs. 1) Train and educate drivers - with proper training, your drivers can be your best way to improve your fleet fuel efficiency. Eco-driving and fuel-saving strategies make a huge difference to efficiency, economy and emissions. Hard acceleration, speeding and idling are the biggest causes of fuel waste. Initiate a training course for drivers, reward participation, reward efficiency and encourage seasoned drivers to participate in regular refresher courses. 2) Decrease idling - letting an engine idle more than 3 minutes causes expensive damage which harms efficiency, shortens engine life and increases maintenance costs. But it also quickly consumes fuel allocated to servicing a delivery route. Excessive idling can add 50% to fuel costs and shorten the life of engine oil by 75%. Initiate a campaign to reduce idling and reward participants. For long-haul rigs, mandate the use of engine idling alternatives such as shore power, generators, and inverters. 3) Start off slower - the first one off the line pays more for fuel - a lot more. Countless studies by universities, highway authorities and engine manufacturers prove it. Jackrabbit starts save less than 3 minutes over 60 minutes of driving but end up using 40% more fuel and increase toxic emissions by 400%! 4) Slow down - it's not just dangerous, speeding wastes fuel. Highway speeds over 100 km/h drastically impact fuel efficiency - cars travelling at 120 km/h instead of 100 km/h use 20% more fuel to cover the same distance. Trucks travelling at 120 km/h instead of 100 km/h use 50% more fuel - and that really adds up on the fuel bill. But they also emit 100% more carbon monoxide, 50% more hydrocarbons and 31% more nitrogen oxides - so if drivers aren't endangered enough by speeding, there are all the toxic emissions, too. 5) Lose weight - Carrying excess weight places unnecessary strain on your vehicle's engine and greatly affects its fuel efficiency. Removing as little as 100 pounds from your vehicle can significantly improve your gas mileage. 6) Use a Fuel Management system - fuel management systems are the most powerful way to lower fuel costs and increase fleet productivity. Systems range from basic onsite refuelling (which saves up to 20 minutes per day, per vehicle) to automated fuel tracking (which details every litre pumped into every vehicle by date, time, quantity and fuel type) to telematics which measures overall fuel efficiency, vehicle performance, tracks fuel waste due to idling, speeding etc., and identifies critical areas to improve efficiency and reduce fuel costs and emissions. The technology exists. Look into it. 7) Upgrade your fleet - Whenever possible, invest in modern fuel-efficient vehicles. Today's modern diesel engines are far more fuel efficient and perform better with current diesel fuels such as ultra low sulphur diesel and biodiesel. While the capital cost of new vehicles would seem only to raise overall costs, fleets which have upgraded to new diesel vehicles reported savings of thousands of dollars in maintenance, fuel and productivity per vehicle. 8> Tune-up vehicles regularly - Be sure to provide your vehicles with frequent tune-ups. A well-maintained vehicle performs better on the road, decreases maintenance costs and improves fuel efficiency. Pump it up - Proper tire inflation not only improves gas mileage (save as much as two weeks worth of fuel per year) but also yields several other benefits including improved vehicle and braking performance and increased tire life. 9) Implement advanced mobile asset management technology - Advanced mobile asset management technology can help you 'get your arms around' your fleet vehicles and extract valuable information on their performance including: total miles traveled, average speed and engine efficiency. This advanced technology can also help drivers and operators optimize routes with route planning and mapping software that can help eliminate thousands of unnecessary miles per week. Less time on the road ultimately translates into less wear-and-tear on vehicles, reduced fuel consumption, decreased expenditures and increased productivity. 10) Making your fleet operations more efficient saves fuel - and that means you save money. With the cost of fuel only headed upward, it is time to take a hard look at these ten tips for cutting your fuel costs. Source: Trucknews Dennis... Alan407 said: Or just raise your prices as fuel costs increase. InTowMan said: The best way to increase your profits is to do it in a way that is totally under your control. It should NOT depend on customers taking a price increase, or on vendors to reduce prices. In addition, every business wants to increase their profits and many people think that the best way to increase your profits is to increase your sales. But there is a small problem with that. If you do increase your sales you are going to increase the costs of running a business because of the increase in the amount of work that is now having to be done. So that leaves with you with one other option, you must lower your costs in order to increase your profit. Dennis... In Memory of BROTHERANDSONS who said: Numbers are numbers and dollars buy groceries. All 10 of the recommendations (well really 9, #10 was a commercial for the other 9) WILL help with fuel consumption. They are all basically common sense, and not really that new. Maintenance, careful driving, and obeying the speed limit has been solid advice for many many years (the 1st "fuel crunch" was in the 70's?) even if you follow every one of them, you still have to answer the rise in fuel prices with either a tightening of the belt in other areas, or a price increase/fuel surcharge.( Brown may shut off the truck at a lite, but they still charge a surcharge) The big picture isn't just what "We" do as an industry to conserve fuel, its how we structure our business to integrate the cost into our business plan. How many of us use our wrecker to go get groceries because we are on call?( 20 mins to respond to a rotation call ???) how many small companies single wrecker is the only form of transportation for the family? These are realities, Corporate interpretations of operations only affect a SMALL # of companies( 10 trucks or more)....most have to deal with it on a money in groceries out reality, local market pricing usually boils down to which one of your competitors is eating macaroni and cheese, and which ones are eating steak( IF everyone is on the same page as far as having good equipment, insurance, workers comp, and qualified drivers). Cost is important, prudent control is also important, PRICING of YOUR particular situation is the key. Wes Wilburn said: Gary Coe makes a great point about expenses and profit... Lets just say if you operate at a ten percent profit margin... if you find a way to save $100.00 through reasonable cutting of expenses, the profit is the same as running a $1000.00 tow call... except you do not have to run the call, face the risk while running the call, and then collect the $1000.00... Now the other side of this is there are people who are so concerned about cutting EVERY expense, they seem to have a problem making a profit... there are expenses that need to be paid... and many times the cheapest is NOT the best solution. Kurt Frazier said: good one there, as a mechanical stand point, the idling statement in #2 is way off. check you tech manules for ten years ago. idling was a nessary part of operation to bring you motor to temp befor aplying a strain. now its not. sounds like fda/ama and eggs. if your worried about fuel costs, add a fuel sur charge. increase your price to the customer. don't try to absorb.
  11. Hello Canadiantowman, This is Dennis Thurlow with DENTED Development the developers of the InTow software products. I'm not sure why you feel our customer service is bad...are you a customer of DENTED? If yes, what issues are you having? I'd be happy to get your issues resolved. Are you on a support contract with us? Let's talk offline so we can review / discuss how our support works. We support many Toronto customers and have been since 2005. We are also planning a booth at the Ontario Show in September. Feel free to drop by the booth. Send an email to dennis@denteddev.com and we'll arrange a time to discuss the issues. Thank you...:) Dennis@DENTED
  12. Hello fellow Canucks - I live in lovely London, ON, Canada - we have a population of about 350K and we even have our own Thames River (below with the skyline of downtown) just like the other London... A clean and beautiful city that I am proud to call home... Sorry for the commercial everyone, but I want you to know that: 1) InTow Manager Software integrates with QuickBooks; is GST and PST capable AND that we even know what those acronyms mean... 2) We integrate with CAA software - for many Canadian garages, you will know what I'm referring too.. 3) Using InTow Mobile smartphone technology, drivers can update call details, take vehicle pictures, scan and decode VIN barcodes, and much more. A completely integrated solution specifically for Canadian Towing Operations - we have many Canadian referrals so give us a call if interested... Give us a call at 866.706.2366 and we can do an online demonstration of the program. Thx, Dennis Thurlow DENTED Development Inc. (formally OnScene Solutions)
  13. Topic Originally Created on Tow411 in August of 2008: Bryan Biehl was eager to get his Pontiac Sunfire started, but he was also curious about Sparky, the quiet, small service truck that had arrived. The electric vehicle, just put into service by Schmidt's Towing, turned heads as its driver, Mike Esser, made his way from the company's Beld Street shop to narrow Washburn Place just off of East Gorham Street on the Near East Side. And because the vehicle is only about five feet wide and less than eight feet long, Esser had little trouble finding a place to park, something that's typically a challenge on the Isthmus. "It's almost more visible than a flatbed truck," said Biehl. "I noticed it right away." The $20,500 vehicle, which weighs about 1,200 pounds, is basically a souped-up golf cart, equipped with headlights, turn signals, a single windshield wiper and a heater. It can't pull a car out of a ditch or tow a dead car to the shop, but Schmidt's Towing, which last year had almost 90,000 calls, is using the vehicle to save on gas and do minor service work like tire changes and refills, and jumping dead batteries in Madison's Downtown area. The back storage area of the vehicle, manufactured by Columbia ParCar Corp. of Reedsburg, holds a jack, replacement batteries for vehicles that can't be jumped, a tool box, a self-contained jumper pack and an air tank. There are also tools to help get into a locked vehicle. "We looked at the hybrids, but for what this vehicle is doing, why not go all electrical and save on all gas?" said John Schmidt, co-owner of the towing company founded in 1937. "It can be charged at any 110 (-volt) outlet." Schmidt believes his company may be the first in the country to use an all-electric vehicle for service calls. Tow Times, a magazine for the towing industry, is scheduled to publish a story next month on the vehicle, Schmidt said. He ordered the vehicle in April after the City Council approved the use of such vehicles on city streets. The rear-wheel drive vehicle may see limited action during heavy snowfalls this winter, Schmidt said. Because the vehicle can go only about 25 mph, Schmidt said it doesn't make sense, due to travel times, to send it out to other parts of the city. But using the electric vehicle for Downtown service calls instead of using one of the company's 30 tow trucks - that on their best day get about 11 miles to the gallon - will help put a small dent into the company's $300,000 annual fuel bill. Schmidt believes the electric vehicle will pay for itself in about a year. He also sees a day when more businesses will invest in electric vehicles. "I think it's going to be a whole new ballgame in five years," Schmidt said. "You're going to start seeing more of this." Dennis Thurlow DENTED Development Inc. (formally OnScene Solutions) dennis@denteddev.com 866.706.2366 x101
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