DennisHONK

1 hour ago, Suloff's Towing said:

I’m about done with Honk. Farmers insurance had honk contact us to do a payout on a wrecked truck in our yard and tow it a body shop. Honk agreed to our rate and said after we tow it out to send them the invoice for the original tow fees. Farmers had already been given the fees and agreed to the added 4% credit card fees. That was even written in The description of the payout on the honk dispatch. Now honk is refusing to pay the cc fees. And it’s been 24 hours and they haven’t paid me anything. Not even the second tow fee. I should have refused to let the truck leave my yard till it was paid. I will never again deal with honk on a tow out. They get you to do the job first and then they play games with the payment. As bad as I hate agero I think honk is worse. Agero pays the payout including the cc fees every time with out batting an eye. I am also going to contact farmers insurance and tell them not to send honk to me again. 
 

I did see your support ticket in the queue yesterday. I know our teams have been slightly behind schedule coming off the holiday weekend. I'll look into this today and see of we can get this taken care of. Sounds like a misunderstanding on our part. 

Again, if any TowForce members run into HONK issues, my email is dmcgowan@honkforhelp.com and I'm always willing to see what I can do to help out! 

22 hours ago, DragNTow said:

This is the first time they have ever shorted us.

 

@DragNTow Send me an email with the reference number and I'd be happy to look into it for you. Accounting errors happen from time to time, so if that's the case, it'll be made right ASAP. DMcGowan@honkforhelp.com 

Hi All,

Looks like a lot of activity here in the past few days, apologies for not being able to respond sooner, but I want to address a few different concerns here.

First & foremost, photo requirements:
Many of our services now fall into what we call "logistics tows", and the majority of those services are unattended tows on both ends; no customer at pickup and no one to log in the vehicle at drop-off. In order to maintain accuracy and efficiency, we ask that photos be uploaded from the drop location so that we not only have the photo on file, but also the geolocation data. This helps us locate supposedly "lost" vehicles for clients and customers while reducing the back and forth phone calls between customer, client, our contact center, and your office and team. It may seem like "more work" up front to upload the photos to the portal, but I can guarantee anyone who has ever dealt with a motor club looking for a customer's car at a dealership or other repair shop days after it's been delivered would rather uploaded 2-3 photos compared with spending precious time on the phone going back and forth dozens of times. 

The fact of the matter is this; HONK doesn't have "traditional" motor club membership, and <10% of our job volume is what you would consider to be a "cash call", or retail customer work. The majority of our services come from insurance, fleet, & logistics companies, most of whom want some sort of digital record-keeping. That includes location data and mapping, much like Uber/Postmates/Amazon, and they want photo documentation of the vehicle before, during, and after the service. We're doing our best to develop software to make this as simple as possible for the tower, but make no mistake, this is the future of customer service in our industry. 

There are a few other concerns about our model in general, and I want to address those as well: 
There was a time when "direct to driver" was the only option for dispatching drivers on the app, but we learned that different businesses have different ways of operating. This model works best for small, owner-operator outfits, but it doesn't for larger companies with multiple drivers and dispatchers making decisions. So we built a dispatcher feature. Your drivers are still required to have the app on their phone (so the system can see their location and try to locate the closest driver!) but you can configure your account to where ONLY your dispatcher gets the job offer, and they will be able to tell us which driver is available to go to that service. Drivers won't know about the job until the dispatcher has accepted and sent the job to them.

In most of the country, providers still have the ability to keep their own rates on file (many saturated metro areas have had this ability removed), however we still use "Take It Now" pricing for our initial job offers. These rates are designed with efficiency in mind. Take this job that's only a few minutes away from your driver, complete the job, and move on. Providers in these areas have the ability to either "Take It Now" - take the job for the offered rates, or "Submit Availability" - tell us you're available for the service, but only at your rates on file. It's that simple! 

Just a quick reminder as well: Unlike traditional "clubs", HONK doesn't do contracts. The old way of doing things, where XYZ Motorclub says "this is your service area, you're responsible for every breakdown that happens here" doesn't work anymore. We have no interest in dispatching work that you're not available for. That's why we use location-based services to try and find the closest available provider to the call. Additionally, the system uses data, like how often providers show up on-time or close to on-time, and customer satisfaction to promote and prioritize good providers. 

Like it or not, app technology is the future of every customer service industry. Restaurants, repair shops, movers, delivery services, taxis, they're all being pushed into using apps and tech to communicate with customers and keep them updated on projects, deliveries, and timelines. And it's not the businesses or the tech companies driving this change anymore, it's the consumer. This is the experience people have come to expect from service industries in the modern world. 
 

@TowZone For the record, we're back live on Facebook next Wednesday 2/23 at 8:30 EST/7:30 CST! It's been a busy off-season for all of us back at the office. We've all been working hard to try and make the best experience possible for our towers, and acting on all the great feedback we get from our providers at tow shows, on our live shows, here on TowForce, and other internet forums. 

I'm always around to answer questions about how we work and how to make it work for your particular company. I'm just a message away for anyone any time.

@FenderBender If you want to shoot me a message with some info, I'd be happy to look into any old invoices and see what happened with it. Speed and accuracy of payment is something we strive to be the best at. 

It's that time of year again, @TowZone's annual Motor Club Ranking Report! 

While I know this should be an impartial vote, I don't like to lose!!

So in the spirit of transparency, if HONK isn't number one on your list, why isn't it and what can we do to get it there next year?

I've had the pleasure of spending a lot of time on the road this year hanging with Tom & Devon and I can confidently say that these two are much more than just sales people for a product. They truly believe in their mission and want to make it a safer place for all towers. 

Hey Michigan Towers! 

I know we just wrapped a long season of tow shows and events, but I was wondering if there were any towing-related happenings upcoming in The Wolverine State. HONK is expanding rapidly in the area, and we would love to attend any large gatherings of towers in the near future.

If you know of any upcoming events; holiday parades, SDMO events, association meetings, etc. please let me know! 

Thanks! 

@Eastsound roadside

Welcome to TowForce! Happy to answer any questions you have. Feel free to email directly DMcGowan@honkforhelp.com 

On 10/20/2021 at 8:13 AM, Devon Banks said:

Ron! Thank you! Would love to know about the places where we not only can get amazing food, but has a fun atmosphere so we can get loud and laugh... and bonus if they know how to make green tea shots 

NO GREEN TEA SHOTS!! 

I've been attending The Baltimore Tow Show for years as an attendee, and it's always been one of my favorites. I'll be attending as an exhibitor for the first time this year, capping off a long year of travel. This will be the eighth tow show for me this year. 

Hey Joe! I haven't been on the forums as much as I should be these days, but feel free to email me the reference numbers at dmcgowan@honkforhelp.com and I'll be happy to see what happened to your payments! This definitely sounds like an anomaly, since at last check, 97% of HONK's jobs are paid out within 24 hours of completion. 

The San Antonio TowXpo was in full swing today!

We were so excited to see our Partners and meet

with new tow professionals. Here are a few pics.

I'm pissed off. I'm tired of waking up to emails from Ron Parrish @TowZone about another fallen operator. I'm tired of seeing facebook posts asking to "light up the sky" for fallen tow ops. I'm tired of sending "thoughts and prayers". I'm tired of using the "care" emoji. 

So tonight, I'm using my platform, our bi-weekly HONK Live! Facebook show, to do something about it. Tonight, July 7th at 8:30PM ET/5:30PM PT we will be speaking LIVE with Tom Parbs @HAASAlert-TP of HAAS Alert and Jeffrey Godwin @FTI Groups of The International Towing & Recovery Hall of Fame and Museum to talk about how we can achieve the goals of No More Names On The Wall.

Join us tonight on Facebook and YouTube for our live, interactive show where we will be discussing this goal and how we can get there as an industry. 

https://www.facebook.com/honk4help

At the Wisconsin Tow Show.

Stop by our booth and say hello!

Thanks for joining us @TowZone! Looking forward to seeing some more TowForce members in two weeks! 

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Traffic may be going up, but fuel fill ups are down according to the latest research from HONK.

https://automotivemap.com/agero-honk-technologies-traffic-coronavirus-2646200359.html

Roads across the country haven't quite looked the same since "Stay-At-Home" orders were implemented back in March.

We're constantly analyzing traffic patterns and the impacts of COVID-19 have been no exception. The graphs here identify traffic data in California, Texas and Georgia along with some interesting comparisons to "Stay-At-Home" orders in these states. It may not be what you think...

Based on roadside assistance incident data for California, Texas, and Georgia: traffic trends began to fall before any stay-at-home orders were enacted and also began rising before any orders were lifted or loosened. This indicates that people are changing their travel patterns independently of state orders.

Read the full article now at AUTO Connected Car News.

In honor of Mother's Day, we are giving away Safety4her Inc. gear to a couple of women in the towing and roadside industry!

Do you have someone that you think would rock this gear with pride? Enter them to win. All you have to do is:
> Post a picture on HONK's Facebook page or Instagram (@honk4help) of a woman you appreciate

and use one of the following hashtags: #Safety4her #honk #Womenintowing

We will announce the winners this Mother's Day!

Hey guys. I am definitely still here! I've been a member of these boards since (i think) 2002. I'm not going anywhere!

Most of you have noticed by now that you're no longer receiving phone calls from HONK. That's because we've moved away from phone dispatch in all but about 10-15% of our total job volume across the country. That means that the majority of our calls are going to service providers who are using the HONK Partner app. That allows our customers to track their service providers while in route, eliminating the need for annoying "check in" calls, and is proven to increase overall customer satisfaction. 

I did want to call out a few inconsistencies I've seen in this thread. Firstly, the majority of HONK's customers and clients are NOT "people too lazy to search for a local tower". Yes, we do have a B2C (Business to consumer) app which allows the average person to request a tow service, but as most of you on these forums already know, the "cash call" customer is a dying breed in the industry. Most people have at least some roadside coverage from their insurance company, cell phone, credit card, heck, sometimes even through an employer. Those companies, insurance carriers, fleet services, etc., don't want to deal with day-to-day towing and roadside operations, maintaining phone numbers, rates, and everything associated with the industry, so they hire companies like HONK, and many others that have been around for a while, to "White-Label" their roadside assistance programs. This market is only growing, and this model of business isn't going anywhere.

I absolutely understand, both personally and professionally, the fear and animosity directed at "motor clubs". I hated dealing with them when I was on the provider side of the industry. HONK's Take It Now dispatch system was confusing to me too when it first rolled out. And I know we're nowhere near the "perfect world" scenario where people are moving from job to job quickly and efficiently, and all ETA's are less than 15 minutes, but we're working towards that goal every single day. We're consistently lowering ATAs across the country, with our average ATA landing somewhere around 20 minutes across the nation.

What HONK does that no other player in this venue does is allow you to decide what calls you want and what calls you don't! Don't want job offers when you're eating dinner? Log out of the app. Want to spend your Sunday watching football and not running calls? Feel free to decline any job offers. Running 300 miles with a special customer delivery and want to make a few extra bucks? Log into the app and run some service calls along the way!

I know HONK isn't for everybody. Our volume is frankly inconsistent in some areas of the country compared to others. If you've consistently got 10+ jobs holding on your queue, and you're running your trucks all over town for big accounts and priority police calls, then maybe you're not the right type of provider for HONK. But if you've got downtime between calls, if you run long hauls and frequently come back empty, or just generally want to make money when your operators and equipment are sitting, then give it a shot. 

https://www.kxlf.com/news/montana-and-regional-news/officials-warn-of-tow-truck-scam-in-montana

 

Montanans are being warned about a scam where call centers are posing as local tow truck companies. 

The Montana Highway Patrol recently learned of these suspected scam activities in Billings and Missoula. The scam works like this: Consumers using search engine terms such as “tow truck companies near me” find results that include sham businesses. In the Billings area, listings for “F & V Towing,” “Woods & Sons,” and “Fonnie’s Wrecker Service” appear, along with fake positive consumer reviews and photos that appear to be local brick and mortar locations for the companies. 

However, when people call the companies for service, they are connected to an out-of-state call center whose representatives demand the caller’s credit card information. Additionally, upon closer inspection of the business profiles, photos of empty buildings available for lease are used to create the impression of a local presence.

Fake tow company websites will tend to look generic, with stock photos and few specifics about the business. These sites are put up in a hurry, so text on their website may have spelling or punctuation errors. Their goal is to get you to call right away so they can get your payment information so everything will direct you to a contact.

“There are a few good ways Montanans can protect themselves from falling victim to this scam before they’re stranded on the side of the road, waiting for help,” Attorney General Tim Fox said in a news release. “First and foremost, never give out your credit card or other payment information until the time of service. Legitimate tow truck companies don’t charge until the tow is completed. Additionally, tow truck businesses doing business in our state must be inspected annually by the Montana Highway Patrol. They should have Letters of Appointment from the Highway Patrol and an inspection sticker in the tow truck’s window.” 

Fox added that consumers with questions about how to verify legitimate tow truck companies can call their regional MHP office , or the state Office of Consumer Protection at 800-481-6896 or 406-444-4500.

On 12/30/2019 at 4:18 AM, yoBdaBenO said:

Dennis, keep looking for ways that HONK can promote SDMO in 2020. The Roadways continue to be more & more dangerous. It seems like many drivers being struck are on a motor club call. I could be wrong cause I have not seen any number to validate that perception.

We're constantly looking for new ways to support Slow Down/Move Over initiatives. We're consistent donors to both the Survivor Fund and the Spirit Ride, and we got involved with California Tow Truck Association's Move Over Day event this year, and will continue to be involved with CTTA events in the future. This isn't just a business move. This is personal for me. My dad, to this day, still runs a flatbed on busy highways, and I will do everything in my power to make sure he, and every other operator, makes it home safe at night. We all need to do our part to make sure of that. 

This is my favorite time of the year. With all the preparation and planning leading up to the new year it’s also a great time to reflect on the past year and look back at accomplishments, talk about what your most proud of, summarize lessons learned, and look forward to 2020. Most importantly, it’s the perfect time to say THANK YOU to our Service Provider Partners! We appreciate all of your hard work and are wishing you and yours a joyous holiday season and a Happy New Year. 

2019 was a great year at HONK and we’re proud of our many accomplishments and efforts this year, it was quite hard to just pick ten for this blog post. So here goes: 

#10 – Partner Appreciation Events

This year we further invested in our Partner Network and organized a handful of Partner appreciation events. We visited Minneapolis, Portland, Seattle, Tacoma, and Atlanta. We shared lots of food, drinks, fun, HONK trainings, exchanged industry insights and encouraged networking among Partners and industry professionals. Tell us what cities you want us to visit next year and we’ll try our best to come visit!  

#9 – HONK Adds More Industry Expertise

This year we hired industry-specialist Dennis McGowan, a WreckMaster Certified Level 4/5 technician, with over 15 years of experience. His knowledge and experience as a second-generation tow operator, heavy recovery specialist, and diesel mechanic has proven to be beneficial to the HONK team as well as our Service Provider Partner Network. Dennis understands the real-life challenges tow truck professionals face on a daily basis, helping HONK make quicker and more informed operational decisions and identify new ways to make the lives of our Service Providers easier, which ultimately helps them grow their business.

#8 – HONK Partner App Enhancements

Last year our engineering team focused on changing how the HONK Partner App looked, making it easier to use and interact with. This year we did a lot of tinkering on the back end.  You’re probably asking yourself, what does that even mean? That’s when software developers write code and computational logic for the inner workings of the app and its connected systems making it work even better. We chose to take the time to make sure the HONK Partner app and all its features were the most accurate and efficient to provide you with the best possible user experience before, during and after a job.  

Here’s a quick summary: 

• Enhanced job information details so you know exactly where a customer is and what type of problem they are having before you accept the job.
• Improved ETA accuracy so customers are provided with real-time arrival estimates, which results in happier customers.
• Better tracking capabilities that allow more accurate locations of trucks and customers.
• We fixed Google Maps turn-by-turn directions so you no longer have to re-enter the location to get proper functionality.   
• We added the ability to request extra charges when additional services are required to complete a job, directly from the app or from the web using the job reference number.
• There have been a ton of other updates over the last 12 months. For more information on the improvements that have been made over the year, check out the HONK HOOK UP, which we sent to your inbox a few weeks ago.

Our focus in 2020 will include several major updates, better data, more data, driver reporting, even better tracking giving you the ability to win even more jobs closer to you. Stay tuned!

#7 – Industry-Leading NPS 

Did you know? HONK leads the towing and roadside industry in NPS (Net Promoter Score). This year we hit as high as 95 and are currently at 89, something to be very proud of. Our Partner network has set a new standard for customer satisfaction, retention and performance with ETAs/ATAs averaging 50% faster than the motor clubs. This is all THANKS TO YOU, your hard work, and your professionalism with customers! It shows and it’s much appreciated.  

#6 – Exhibiting at Eight Tow Shows

This year HONK hit all the major tow shows across the US, as of the last count, we exhibited at eight events, visited with over 3,500 tow professionals, gained valuable industry insights, gave away tons of HONK gear, and most of all had fun with our Partners. Not to mention our HONK photo booth which was a big hit in Atlantic City. Some of our Partners even used our photo booth pictures to create their Christmas cards – here’s an awesome pic!

#5 – HONK Account Overview Updates

In your HONK Partner Portal, we created an Account Overview page to provide you with a summary of your current account status and identify any potential account issues. For example, if your insurance is expired or if background checks have not been submitted for all drivers, you will see a “yellow” icon with instructions on what to do. If all icons are green, then your account is good to go and no further action is required. 

#4 – Instant Dispatch – Putting Customers First 

You put customers first, so HONK puts you first. HONK’s platform optimizes your experience as a HONK Partner by trying to dispatch the closest available truck on every single job. This not only results in quick ETAs and happier customers, but it also benefits you with shorter drive times, reduced operational costs as you spend less money on fuel and truck maintenance, since your traveling closer distances. It also gives you the freedom to receive more work over the course of a day.

#3 – Slow Down Move Over Campaigns 

A roadside breakdown and being stranded on the side of the highway is every driver’s nightmare, but when it does happen tow truck professionals bravely come to their rescue. Unfortunately, a tow truck professional’s job can quickly turn deadly when drivers don’t follow safety laws or drive while distracted. This year we vowed to help raise awareness for these important laws and educate motorists of the “Move Over” laws. We delivered several social media campaigns, passed out thousands of “Move Over – Slow Down” bumper stickers and participated in National Move Over Day on October 19 in Southern California in association with CTTA. We’ll continue these efforts in 2020 as well.

#2 – HONK Partner Spotlight

As our appreciation, this year we kicked off a quarterly HONK Partner Spotlight where we ‘shine the light’ on top-performing or new Service Providers and their businesses.  We’re sort of like Santa, we know who’s been naughty and nice – just kidding – we know everyone’s been nice. We love highlighting the real heroes by recognizing our Partners from across the country.   

heck out our last two Partner Spotlights: 

Red Horse Spotlight                                                          Swft Towing Spotlight

#1 – All HONK Partners – Our Roadside Heroes

Thank you for being a HONK Partner, we’re glad you’re here. At HONK, we believe our Service Provider Partners are our biggest asset and we value each of you for the work you do. You are the true Roadside Heroes turning car breakdowns into nothing more than a small bump in the road for customers. We’re honored our Partners turn to us for innovative and efficient ways to supplement their business with ease.

TOWING AND ROADSIDE INDUSTRY OUTLOOK IN 2020

The towing and roadside industry will continue to undergo a transformation toward digitally connected motorists who expect immediate, responsive roadside assistance services, available in just a few clicks directly from their smartphones and mobile apps that mirror the memorable, efficient and reliable digital customer experiences similar to their favorite brands – like Amazon, Zappos, Netflix, and Uber…..HONK has delivered a platform that is helping Service Provider Partners, like you, meet this demand – don’t worry we’ve got you covered! 

As a technology company first, HONK promises to continue to drive innovation for motorists and Service Providers alike through the introduction of new technologies and a fresh, new mindset geared towards the future.