Trying to determine if a contract would result in jobs

[TowZone]

10 Jul 2011 21:37

annettemcd said:

We are the only towing service in our area, a stretch of 150 miles along a major highway in rural Alaska, but we are very low volume because of a sparse population. We have never had a request to do a job for NSD. I am trying to decide if a contract might result in some jobs. At this point, I do not think that there are any jobs to be had with or without a contract. I would think that if there were any jobs from NSD in this area, either they or a customer would have found us and then NSD would have called us to see if we would take the job.

We have been contacted by NSD about signing a contract, but they do not seem to be able to say whether they have had any jobs in this area.

What kind of jobs are dispatched by NSD? Who uses them for dispatching? Do they have low limits? I ask the last question because a tow or even a service call of 50-150 miles with the motor club willing to pay up to $50 or $100 ends up being a hassle to figure out and often end up going nowhere.

 

twinbulls said:

NSD is one of our BEST paying clubs, just low volume and easy to bill out and get paid...

I would call and get in there system and see what happens...

 

OKTOW said:

NSD will sign you up at whatever rates that you specify. All they ask is that you give them as good a deal as you are giving your other motor clubs. Their computer chooses providers for their dispatchers, and a part of the algorithm is cost. The rest is average ETA and call acceptance. This is from one of their VPs who came to town for a conference and met us for lunch. He came back to our facility, logged into the internet with his laptop, and showed us how a typical call is handled from start to finish.

If you are the only game in the area, signing on with them couldn't hurt. Just give them your normal rates.

Edited to add...their customer base is far better than Asurion, and somewhat comparable to AAA.

Owner/General Manager, Oklahoma Towing & Recovery, Oklahoma City OK

www.oktow.com

 

annettemcd said:

Patrick just called me and I am going to work on the contract over the weekend. I still do not know about volume. Patrick did look and find that they have had some jobs in our area done by Fairbanks service providers and other potential customers have been told to obtain service on their own.

As far as comparison to the volume from other clubs. Asurion calls us a couple of times per year. Even Cross Country and Geico are less than 80 calls per year each.

 

George Geissinger said:

I see several posts here about them being good to grate to work for. I did a job the other day off of  a phone call. I got a call about signing up and was sent a contract. Not bad if I was still getting fuel. for $.75 a gal and a new truck was $15,000. Most of there offers were about half of what works and things like $2 extra for a bike over car !!!!!!!!!!!