Take A Lyft With Your Tow.

[TowNews]

 Free Rides For The Roadside:

 

Lyft and Uber. Uber and Lyft. They're neck-and-neck in their overall competition and each has rolled out initiatives to seem like the more community-friendly ride-hail business model. In the last week, their opportunity-for-all narratives were challenged by the public's reaction to their shared argument against making their contractor drivers regular employees. The onus falls on the state of California to tweak the benefits conferred on the self-employed and not on their own payroll budgets, the chief executives of the dueling firms reasoned in a June 12  San Francisco Chronicle opinion editorial. Now a new partnership for free emergency rides might help the pink one win -- or at least temporarily distract from -- another unflattering news cycle.

 

Medford, Massachusetts-based Agero's software-enabled driver assistance manages white-labeled roadside service for big car brands such as Toyota, Ford, Subaru and Volkswagen, and for major insurers Progressive and USAA. Through its new partner Lyft, its clients' auto warranty or insurance policy holders who order a tow will get a complimentary ride from their disablement site to a destination of their choosing. It doesn't have to be a designated home or office address, or a particular repair facility. And the trip need not be booked in the Lyft app; Agero can book it as a "concierge service." For those wanting to use the standard Lyft app, a digital voucher delivered via text message provides a code to pay the fare.

 

Before this partnership, drivers were responsible for their own transportation from the event scene. In some cases, tow truck drivers might offer a ride to the relevant dealer or repair shop, but it was at their own discretion.

 

So how much is Lyft really giving away? Potentially a lot, but likely very little. While Agero, without disclosing a full client roster, claims to serve about two-thirds of U.S. cars on the road, many of those are relatively new cars from major automotive manufacturers. That is, the cars are unlikely to break down. The rate of usage among insurance clients depends on accident frequency.

 

Lyft won't necessarily get more registered app users out of this deal because of the option to order the free ride through Agero. It might get a little help in public perception when its riders tell their friends and neighbors of their terrible accident or breakdown and the unexpected free ride, or the company might get new clientele when the tech-unfriendly try Lyft (via the Agero concierge) for the first time. But the advantage likely goes to Agero.

 

The partnership will certainly boost Agero's perceived value, if outcomes from early tests hold. Extensive in-market piloting produced an increase in Net Promoter Score, a metric to assess customer satisfaction and to predict business growth. Testers measured a score uptick among all consumers offered alternative transportation, even if they didn't use it.

 

Past Lyft initiatives to lend a helping hand include enticing individual car owners to try a greener commute with free multimodal transportation vouchers in 35 U.S. cities plus Toronto last September, creating a platform for the entrepreneurs among its drivers to find investors and mentors with a Shark Tank-esque pitch slam last October, and solving food deserts with $2.50 flat-fare shared rides to grocery stores in a Washington D.C. pilot last December. That pilot expands to other major U.S. cities and two Canadian cities this year.

 

A press release for this initiative previewed more "integrations within Agero’s suite of omnichannel service request options" starting next quarter. A spokesperson was not available to clarify if that will include roadside service for Lyft drivers' vehicles or any other kind of fleet assistance as part of Lyft Driver Services.

 

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