More Tows More Considering Buy More Tow Trucks

[TowNews]

Source: Auto Connected Car News

February 1, 2022 by Bryan Jonston

 

HONK Technologies, the industry-leading digital roadside assistance and vehicle transport platform company, today released results from a nationwide survey of 582 towing and roadside providers. The survey indicates that tow providers are feeling the effects of motorists returning to the roadways as public health measures have loosened.

 

More than 1 in 5 (22%) report having to turn down work, and the additional volume is driving almost half (46%) to consider buying new trucks and hiring additional employees. These moves indicate that tow providers are paying attention to signs of economic recovery and looking to get ahead of the long-awaited return to pre-pandemic motorist driving patterns.

 

Starting in the summer of 2021, Americans returned to roads en masse, lockdown restrictions eased and schools and offices opened back up, causing driving miles and demand for roadside assistance to increase. While traditional motor clubs struggled to meet the demands of their clients as traffic returned to pre-pandemic levels, HONK Technologies has maintained key performance indicators, including high Net Promoter Scores (NPS) and low Estimated Time of Arrivals (ETAs) throughout the last year and a half.

 

46% of tow providers are hiring and intend to purchase additional trucks
Tow providers want to grow their businesses. The survey found that 46% of tow providers are currently hiring, and the same percentage are intending to purchase additional tow trucks in 2022 because of the higher demand for their services. In 2021, HONK aggressively increased tow provider recruitment and expanded its portfolio of services to include vehicle transport tows for automotive retailers, growing revenue over 50% from pre-pandemic levels and anticipating double-digit growth again in 2022.

 

73% of tow providers prioritize their jobs, and the No. 1 criteria is location
Tow providers want towing and roadside jobs that are closer to their available operators and trucks. Prioritizing jobs based on location enables providers to accommodate more customers per day and improve truck efficiencies, reducing overhead costs. Insurers are now opting to work with roadside assistance program providers who utilize location-based dispatching over traditional territory-based to take advantage of higher tow provider performance and 55% shorter wait times for their customers.

 

“These findings show that tow providers are responding to the return of demand for roadside assistance so they can accommodate the additional volume,” said Matt Bijur, Chief Operating Officer at HONK. “And beyond hiring additional staff and purchasing new trucks, efficiency is a big part of scaling up. Tow providers prefer to take the closest jobs because that creates quicker ETAs, happier customers, more jobs per truck per day, and lower overhead costs.”

 

Resource Link

[Stubborn66]

 

After reading that, it didn't make sense to me what the purpose of that survey was.

One paragraph says, "More than 1 in 5 (22%) report having to turn down work, and the additional volume is driving almost half (46%) to consider buying new trucks and hiring additional employees."

Then, reading on, it says " The survey found that 46% of tow providers are currently hiring, and the same percentage are intending to purchase additional tow trucks in 2022 because of the higher demand for their services."

 

I went to Honk's website and looked under "press" and found the original new release that was sent to "prnewswire.com".   

Here is the last paragraph to that press release that was not in Mr. Jonston's "post"

About HONK Technologies
HONK, a flexible on-demand mobility platform, helps top insurers, fleets, automotive OEMs, and retailers deliver modern, digital roadside customer experiences and meet scalable same-day vehicle transport demands. HONK's digital-first, modular approach is designed to optimize roadside assistance programs, auto claims processing, accident scene management, fleet maintenance management, vehicle logistics and transport, so businesses can increase efficiencies through advanced digital tools, customizable integrations, and HONK's high-performing service provider network to build brand-defining retention and loyalty engines.

 

Now, it makes a little more sense, it was Honk promoting itself.  Honk is big on pushing their app that tracks your truck and blows a horn through your cell phone when a job becomes available in your area.  The problem, as I see it, is the rate is so low you can't make money on it.

 

I still would like to know if they surveyed any towing company, or only those within their network? 

I would bet most companies are looking for employees to replace those lost during the last year and a half, not because their companies have grown.  Again, companies need to replace equipment, not necessarily because of growth, and any company wants to prioritize their jobs based on location. 

 

 

 

 

[mooresbp]

Honk pays us very well, full rate with direct deposit the next business day! Just not a big volume here

[Stubborn66]

I also do work for Honk, and I even had their APP for a while.  When I was on the APP and a job popped up, the rates were ridicules. I had gone into their system and set my rates and my radius.  When the work came through on the APP, it was nowhere near the rates I had set.  I deleted the APP from my phone, now they call me now and then.  I quote the job at my rates, sometimes I get it sometimes I don't.

 

I will say, Honk is the fastest paying company out of all of them.  Maybe, if you're in a large city, and running trucks all day, the APP may make sense.  Based on the rates I saw when using the APP, I don't see how.

 

I still think there is something fishy and self-serving about that survey

[ESC]

I used the Honk App for a while too... when we could set the rates on our own, we set them high enough to deal with the "typical road club bs".  They paid the same day with a card, and things were great.  I used to get $95 minimum.  Then after a while I got an email that they were changing things and you could either accept or decline their set price which was always way too low.  What I realized was that when Honk was new, they used us all to build a reputation.  They allowed us to get paid high rates in exchange for excellent service.  But what they were doing is using those service statistics for find new clients.   Showing off how they had a fast service rate and high rate of happy customers, etc.  They started to get busier and pickup bigger clients, then boom they cut the price down.  The one thing that set them apart from other clubs, and they pulled it from us.  When they pulled the plug on setting our own rates, I stopped working for them.   I now have them blocked on my cell along with allstate and agero, so they dont wake me up when the phone calls are forwarded to my cell.  However on occasion they call during normal hours and I give them a high rate with a card up front.