Road America's secondary towing program from 2012

[TowZone]

From April 2012 by SBtowingrecovery:

THE ROAD AMERICA PROGRAM

Our Secondary Towing service is designed as a partnership with the insurance client in which we will secure the release of the vehicle and arrange for its pick-up and transport to the location designated by the client.  We will work with your current DRP locations to ensure that the vehicle is delivered safely and promptly. This process is administered by a dedicated Secondary Towing team in one of our Response Centers and is executed by our professional, licensed, insured and contracted Service Provider Network at our negotiated rate.  Speed and accuracy are money in your pocket.

BENEFITS FOR THE INSURANCE SECTOR

• SAVINGS:  minimized storage fees, payout fees, transport cost, rental reimbursement, administrative expenses – PLUS quick payment and release of the vehicle
• DEDICATION:  a single-purpose team to secure the release of the vehicle while working with the insured
• GUARANTEE:  delivery of the vehicle within a four hour window after it has been released
• SPEED:  reduced cycle time, which means the insured has their vehicle back faster – increasing customer satisfaction
• COST CONTROL:  due to the consistent use of Road America’s network of contracted towing specialists
• RELIABILITY:  towing provided by a contracted, performance-rated and insured network of trained professionals nationwide
  • ACCURACY:  seamless service and administration with accurate, timely reporting
  • TRANSPARENCY:  e-mails and real-time system updates allow the insurance client to monitor the process from start to finish
  • RED FLAGS:  our Assistance Coordinators watch to be sure your local charges are within a reasonable and customary range for the area.

 

thtdon said:

I have a stupid question.  Is this another one of those deals, where the tower shells out hundreds of dollars to bail out a car, and receives absolutely no handling fee for tying up the money?
 

SBTowingRecovery said:

This looked more like a press release, trying to drum up more insurance business

 

bigberthastowing said:

Credit card for the services up front, go ahead and pay out BUT then collect from the body shop on delivery.

 

In Memory NationalAutow said:

They called me a couple of months ago on this. Bottom line, we could never meet on rates.

 

CHARLIE AMANN said:

we do them they pay the charges so far so good.

 

Barrystowing said:

I just cancelled with them- I wont be a part of a strategy that uses Towers to systematically tear apart the industry I work to develop. These MC's need to think twice before sending out newsletters like this one. As an industry we all need to find ways to be more profitable with less work, not more work with less profit. Why is it that the tow companies I see running all day long through town are driving worn out, bald tire trucks with no uniformed drivers?
Although noble, a large survivor fund donation to promote a MC's name is not great when it's made off the backs of everyday towers slugging it out in the trenches for wholesale rates.

Sorry for the rant if you can't relate, just my 2 cents- love it or leave it.

 

quigma1 said:

Well said Barrystowing. Once again.... we do not do motor clubs.... On the secondary moves for insurance companies, we have to laugh at that.. some of them take days to move the car... some of their so called "contracted towers" are coming in from outside of the local region to move a car 1 mile down or up the road, when the body shops that called about the vehices would just rather have us bring it directly to them.. thats ok motor clubs, we will take the extra couple days in storage... One contracted tower from the big city, found out how far he had to travel to move the vehicle, did not show up for the vehicle at all. cha-ching....pay me 4 more days.. thank you. I now have several claims adjusters that are going around the system and having us move the cars to the shops, they say its a stupid and costly system....they see it all the time with that motor club that just changed it's name...

 

Dodgetowguy134 said:

we havent seen that email from ramc yet...

 

thtdon said:

Just remember what the first line of that email said.  It is a partnership between Road America and the insurance companies.  They didn't say anything about partnering up with you.  You are an indentured servant.  You are like the guy standing at a street corner, holding a sign that says "I will work for food".

 

SBtowingrecovery said:

The last line of the email was the one that REALLY got me! I don't know if anyone noticed it or not so here is the last line again: RED FLAGS: our Assistance Coordinators watch to be sure your local charges are within a reasonable and customary range for the area

What are they going to be the price police????
What gives them the right to do that!! And advertise as such!

 

Barrystowing said:

Are you mad enough to do something about it?

 

Fletchertow said:

Stop working for these idiots and your blood pressure will go down and your business will start to expand. Let the salvage haulers get "rich" of $30 tows. Once I washed my hands of all the MC B.S. I actually enjoyed running my business.

Acquaintance of mine has been running for 4 years for MC's only. He cant figure out why he can never get ahead. Runs a 95 sling trucks and runs his butt of seven days a week. He is scared to death to spend a day with his family because the MC's will stop giving him "volume". The MC's have this guy right where they want him and its a shame.

I start to feel bad for the guy then I realize its no fault of anybody but his own. YOU have to run your business to make it as profitable as possible not just hand it over to MC's who care two shades less about you.

 

thtdon said:

I'm wondering which prices they are referring to, the price to be paid by them at the impound, or YOUR price.  As far as what is paid to the impound by them, they have no control of that.  They may not like paying gate fees, and other misc. fees.  They might not like paying the fee for crash wrap to be applied to a wrecked car.  And they might not like it that most towing companies require the car owner to show up in person, and sign a release, either.  But tough sh*t.  That's the way it is.  And it's going to get worse, as the insurance companies invent more ways to cheat us out of our money. 
 

PATH said:

I still don't understand all the hate towards MC's. Well, I UNDERSTAND, I guess. I just dont understand why people continue to rant over it. I give all the motorclubs my retail rate. They always ask why they dont get a discount, I point out that they DO have higher volume, some times, but they dont pay as quickly as my local shop accounts. They can either pay my rate or we wont run for them, their choice. I have about 3 that call us regularly. I dont get mad bc other shops dont use us, and I dont berate or belittle them. I understand what a lot of you guys are referring to when you say they are destroying our industry but its not the MC's fault that some schmuck with a truck wants to buy himself a job. Its a supply and demand eonomy, if we, as an industry, would hold our services in higher regard and each other to higher standards, we wouldnt have time to haggle with MCs. Just my 2 cents.

 

thtdon said:

I don't hate the motor clubs.  I like working for them.  I just wish that they would be a little more responsive to current events, and the economy in general.  But they're not.  They are definitely not on our side, that's for sure.  That email at the top of this thread from Road America, when they said that they are partnering up with the insurance companies, proves that. 

One issue that I have with Allstate is that they won't pay me anything extra for the use of dollies.  They want the use of dollies to be all-inclusive to the base price.  Consequently, no dollies for them.  CC only wants to pay $20 extra to use them.  Too little compensation.  So no dollies for them either.  I would really like to get at least $35 to use the dollies, in addition to the basic tow fee & mileage.  So the dollies are still sitting in the shed, still broken after I wrecked them, and they can rot there for all I care.  Dollies are a tool, and they are supposed to be a money maker.  They're not, though.  Any piece of equipment that I buy, I expect to make money with, or I don't want it. 

Another issue that will not go away, maybe ever- is the rising cost of fuel.  I haven't tried to get a raise from anyone lately.  But I have multiple times in the past, to no avail.  No raises and no fuel surcharges.  They always say, just tighten your belt, and tough it out.  I currently charge the customer $4 a loaded mile for over-mileage.  Some people complain, and say that $4 a mile is too much  When the cost of diesel fuel hits $5 a gallon, I will raise over-mileage to $5 a loaded mile.  As our overhead keeps going up, something has to give.  We have to keep finding new ways to create revenue, and make more money, just like your city or town does.  Every year, when I renew my licenses from the fire department, they have invented a couple of new ones, at $50 a shot.  There seems like there is no end to it.  But they do it because they need more money to operate.  And so do we, if for no other reason than to pay the fire department fees, LOL! 

Here in the Boston area, we have the MBTA, which consists of commuter rail, buses, subways, and trolleys.  The T is deep in the hole.  And it always will be.  The state kept talking about raising license and registration fees, and even the gas tax to try to balance the T's books.  In the end, they cut service, and raised the fares.  At least the people who are using the service are paying the higher fees, and not me.  I have never ridden the T.  The same goes for this issue.  Why should we just maintain status-quo with what we receive from the motor clubs for compensation, while we raise the rates of other clients to cover our needs.

Another thing that the motor clubs are doing that ticks me off is they are using kids driving cars doing road service.  I have been told that they are changing flats, doing lockouts, delivering gas, and performing jump starts, for a flat fee of $16 a call.  There is no way that they have liability insurance, if they are only charging $16.  Yet they make us have it (not that I wouldn't)  What the motor clubs take away from us and give to the flip-flop guys may help their bottom line.  But it is killing ours.  It's okay for the motor clubs to trim their costs of overhead, but not us.

 

Jef said:

Kids in car during road service? I do not change tires with children (infants excluded) in the car, not worth the risk in a worst case scenario. I also discourage kids in the cab if it can be avoided for the same reason.

Triple letter stoped paying for skids/dollies, so they stay in the tool box. Cars stuck, here's my damage waiver or I'll see if another facility wants to work for free. All the trucks stay properly equipped for cash customers or ppi.

Insurance companies and auto clubs are a business like anything else, so they save money wherever they can, I do not blame them in the least, but it's not going to be when it hurts my income, I'm sure theres an illegal down the road who will beat my rates.

 

thtdon said:
Jef, I think that you missed my point about kids in cars.  I wasn't referring to kids sitting in the car during road service.  I'm talking about high school dropout kids performing road calls with their personal cars, competing with us legit operators.

 

PATH said:

We've seen a few pop-a-locks, and a few jackrabbit service guys around here. I dont worry about them. I tow. I dont run a garage, or a body shop or a road service organization. If they wanna run that stuff, great, less BS I have to send the little wrecker out on and risk missing a $$ call. I HAVE talked to those guys though and warned them that if they are working as contractors they are responsible for their own income taxes, both sides of it.
Ive talked with the reps for the MCs we tow for and some of the ones we are signed up for that never call and have told them point blank that they call us in the middle of the night when its pouring rain, etc etc, bc their 30$ wont do the job so why should I take the hard calls and let him keep the easy ones? At least 2 of them agreed and have sent us some more volume and are happy with our service.
The 20$ dolly thing aggravates me all the time. No one gets dollys unless they go for the 50$ dolly fee. Thats what we charge LE contracts and thats what it COSTS. Pay it or get someone else. A lot of the MCs wont cover them anyway so the cx is out of pocket for them.
The Raise thing is aggravating too. Everytime fuel goes up 50 cents or more and you call they always give you THEIR sob story. Like I care. They dont care about my bottom line and I dont care about theirs. I dont think it should be any other way, you just have to understand that this is the way business is run. Like a lot of the posts on here have demonstrated, the idea of one unified system from wreck to repair sounds great, but in reality most ins companies and body shops would rather deal with us directly bc its easier, quicker and usually cheaper. If they were REALLY worried about storage prices and tow fees, they wouldnt take so long to send an adjuster, and would have us towing them to THEIR body shop partners IMMEDIATELY. Around here its usually 3 days to see an adjuster, 75% go to salvage 3 days or so after that and the other 25% go to the body shop the cx wants.
Just remember, any city you have ever been in the two biggest buildings will be an insurance company's and a bank's.

 

flyby said:

Reading this post I find it interesting you recived an e mail from RA we only get faxes we requested e mails claiming the fax died with disco! But they insist they only fax dispatch sheets. I don't keep a fax in my truck and close the office on weekends but I do carry an I pad and could run with e mails on the road just like all you with smart phones.

Please every time anyone contacts them ask for e mail dispatches much quicker cleaner and no going back to office on weekends.
Bruce

 

rdonchann said:

for a little of nothing you can set up a fax number that forwards to email. Problem solved

 

flyby said:

I understand that we could set up a stand alone line for faxes again like the days when we had dial up for the Internet but we now use the phone line as a voice line since we recive only junk faxes like all that money from Nigeria that is stuck at customs. What I mean other than RA faxes.

Sorry couldn't resist poking fun at the idea of a stand alone line we left that idea right after the demise of my leisure suits, and disco and almost miss them as much.

Point being this is 2013 not 1975 fax was great then today not so good, we are expected to have endless loops and new equipment so what can't they update there program as well I hate buying ink for the fax and only turn it on when required. If we all start asking for e mails they should provide then. I think the problem is then we have almost instant feedback to them for details and they want the power.
Bruce

 

George Geissinger said:

The only thing I do like with a fax is it is NOW when they do send it. I have had E-mail floating around for the better part of an hour till I get it. Server problems I guess.

 

isparky44 said:

Back on the subject of the flip flop guys I got a couple pics Saturday, of one who must be scrapping, as a side line. What an image he presents, bed is full of junk, truck is parked diagonally in a spot at the local grocery store, has a Skull sticker on the back of his tail gate, and "B@Y3R Road Sevices" magnets proudly displayed on his doors. The truck does not even have a single "paper boy" warning light on it, so I doubt law enforcement lets him work the highways. That says a lot about the quality of their providers. If some one wants to post them on here I would be happy to E-mail them, Im not sure what would need to be blurred out/edited, and not too good with the photo bucket thing.

 

Bluestripe said:

Get an account with efax, or myfax.com for about $10 per month you're all set.  They fax to a fax # issued by the electronic fax provider, and faxes are delivered to your email as PDF's.  Problem solved.  Honestly I'm going to ditch my dedicated fax line and replace with one of these also.  This way everything is electronic, so we can store everything.  We also can eliminate a lot of unnecessary printing, so toner usage would drop thus resulting in operating costs reduction.  Best of all, no more tied up fax line while it receives junk faxes about the "Free 7 day cruise I just won."

Chris Flynn, WM 091008
Boardman Towing & Recovery

 

rdonchann said:

That was I was referring to. Unity fax is $5.00 a month when you pay a year at a time.

Flyby, good luck demanding that they do it and it happen. They can't seem to make their system pay the bills much less send e-mail. Disco WILL be back before YOU cause them to do anything. I was showing you an option so you could use the ipad.