Honk, Evaluation...

[TowZone]

01-24-15: Barrystowing wrote,

After receiving a couple robot voiced requests for a tow (which I declined)  I decided to look into this new 3rd party roadside company. On their website they are proclaiming a 15-30 min eta, so right their I am credulous about anything else they have to say. Services start at $49 for the consumer, so unfolds their strategy. Cheap. Cheap. AAA has a runner up now. I will not be participating thank you. Here's an interesting read;

http://venturebeat.com/2014/12/12/aaa-c ... nce-rival/

 

Alan407 said:

Call HONK about getting a car towed last week,(ya like I would use them) and the low price I was told was $95.00 Hook up, and $5.00 a mile. All I needed to do is give them a C.C. or debit card for service. 

 

twinbulls said:

They are a need it NOW dispatch sorta like a cab..... We turned many down cause of the deamnding low eta and they want to track our trucks....
I really dont see this working .... maybe for a small company with not much todo...
who knows maybe I am wrong..

 

Carl4tow said:

they keep calling me for service's about 20 miles away how can I do a 15 minute eta just another joke of company and customers

 

Tom JR said:

The article makes it sound like it was invented by some milenial techie (generation Xcrament) upto his eyeballs in school loan debt. For $119 your buying piece of mind from a proven company. I dont want to use an app. I have no idea what an app is. I dont want my mom or daughter app-ing when they need help. I dont do aaa but I know the aaa people around here and they know me. Everything that goes wrong on 20/20 or forenzic files most always starts with someone who met someone over the internet and got in a car with them. Uber, honk, and air bnb just sounds like a bad idea. When your car breaks down its always best to call someone you trust. Thats the problem with America. there are too many middlemen.These honkeys need to go get a real job.

 

Their first problem is cold calling vendors with a recorded message wasting peoples time. Annoying the hell out of people you want to do business with is just getting off on the wrong foot.

 

Barrystowing said:

Agreed Tom. I'm sure the creator of Honk had this brilliant idea after he felt he was treated badly or aggrieved in some way regarding towing....viola! make an app, because ordering a tow is like ordering a pizza! $5.99 pie or a $40k suv. Same difference to them I guess.

 It all comes back to how much the towing industry lets them get away with. Stop the madness......you're giving the store away.

 

Carl4tow said:

so if they call me direct I can give them a cheaper rate and a faster eta because they arn't paying a middle man and there not waiting for you all to call around to find a tow company that wiill work for cheap.

 

Barrystowing said:

Thanks for joining in calitowgirl. I searched honks website and went through part of the vendor registration to see for myself. If Honk isnt a motorclub, why is there a place to put free miles on the rate agreement? Why is the contract skewed in favor of honk in the fine print? They retain the right to use my name and logo for advertising! No way! Using an app to let consumers "pick" their service provider based on price is bad. I built my business on providing great value, which is hard to convey with honks app. "Price is what you pay, value is what you get".

 

NationalAuto Said:

$15 lockouts?
I did those in 1978 with a spring loaded center punch.

Standardization? Hell yes we need it. The problem is low ball losers that get work because middlemen only look at price. If HONK pays ANYBODY $15 for a lockout, I promise you that HONK will not be thought of very highly. It takes a combination of equipment, training and skill to do what we do. If you think you can pick the best for a situation in a particular call by location, I can assure you that you have no clue.

There are professional towers, a lot of them on this board, that go to great pains to provide quality and service.
QUALITY, SERVICE, PRICE
Pick any 2

 

Occupant272 said:

Signed up (3676), it just says they'll review the application and get back to me. I put in rates that match those we charge for three of our motor clubs (and what we'll be charging to the others when rate review comes up in March). I'm just curious, is there a specific timeframe to roll out HONK in other cities, because it seems like Ohio isn't anywhere close to where they operate...

 

Mama Null said:

It always amazes me how there are so many people out there who "want to help" our industry who don't have a clue about our industry, they just know we charge too much.

 

Onsiteautoandtruckrepair said:

Every industry is the same. Repairs business is now overrun by corporate franchises with top dogs who don't know the difference between a drain plug and a seat belt.

 

WEBOSLH said:

Duh.....I may have missed something here. If a person needs help. And they call me, (I have advertising with phone ads, websites, google, etc), why would they call honk for a tow in my area? If honk calls me for a tow, a person broke down in my area would probably get my service anyway. It seems to me to be more expensive for the motorist to call honk, and still get the same local tower.

 

TowmanBlue said:

You  may not be aware of or be afraid of making the call for whatever reason but there is a system in place that is paid for by tax payers called 911. Seems like everyone is trying to get involved like Honk, Auto Return and anyone that tries to recreate the wheel. Being afraid to call 911 , I'll ask what more is an emergency than setting beside the interstate or major road with a break down and someone hits you while you google for a tow truck and sit there for an extended amount of time while you shop for a tow. The 911 system has a rotation system that has the closest tow truck in the area plus blue lights for added safety. 

 

Alan407 said:

 Calitowgirl, So HONK uses an automated call system to find a tower, so your company could be sending an uninsured, fly by night, registered sex offender to pick up some poor parents 17 year old daughter thinking HONK did back round checks on these company's HONK hired. WOW is this in the fine print of your phone app? 

 

Builder2 said:

Just like everyone else, pass the buck. Wait , they want to take MY buck before they pass the buck.
I agree if there is a high chance you will get the call any way no need to sign up.

 

NationalAutow said:

Honk has failed to answer at least 2 requests form the TRAA Motor Club Communications Committee that I am aware of to discuss their operation and their effect on the industry etc.

The TRAA is pretty much an open book however Honk is the new kid on the block. One would think that if they are everything they advertise, they would not shy away from the TRAA.

I am offering no opinions here. I am only stating facts that I am aware of. They may well be the cats meow of motor clubs but they just as easily could be that cats sand box.

 

Occupant272 said:

I've performed a few calls for them now, including tows. I like getting paid immediately when the call finishes, but as is typical during bad weather events they take a LONG time to answer the phone. I will also say that at one point I had a GOA situation and couldn't get through (the customer got their car started and drove to the repair shop before my 30 minute eta was up) and they called ME a week later to issue the payment for that GOA. That I also liked. I had forgotten about the call entirely by that point but they didn't just ignore it and not pay, and that impressed me that they followed through. I would like to see some upgrades in their phone system, especially for the automated "bid" calls because sometimes I need more information than a city name. Columbus is pretty big. A tow from "Independence Village" on the southeast side to "Columbus" could be a 2 mile tow (to 43232) or a 25 mile tow (to 43235), and if my drivers are on the west side and north side I won't know if it's worth sending them a half hour out of their way to do the call.

Alan Moore - Westerville, OH
TOAD Towing & Roadside Assistance

 

Chariottowing said:

I normally try to opt out of the company and hit the "3" or whatever it is to "never receive calls again" but then the next day the phone rings and guess what? It's HONK again asking for more tows. I keep opting out, but still get calls. So I started a new trend, I say that I will charge $1000 for the call with $10 a mile. Maybe one day I'll hit the jackpot!

 

Occupant272:

The automated system definitely needs work. It tells you where the customer is based on its "neighborhood". That means in order to be able to submit an eta, the dispatcher needs to know the name and location of every single apartment complex, development, subdivision, and "old" town names that don't exist anymore. Here is the current example.

Customer location: Wexford-Thornapple.



This is a neighborhood bordered by Interstate 70 to the north, Hilliard-Rome Rd to the east, a railroad track to the south, and Alton-Darby Creek Rd to the west. This customer could be in a parking lot, at a house, on one of the major roads, or on the interstate itself. If the customer is on the highway it may mean having to go all the way west to exit 85 and come back across to them if they are eastbound on the interstate. There are two cities and two zip codes in this area. A lot of information is missing here. Nobody calls this area Wexford-Thornapple. Maybe a realtor might use it as a way to make it sound better. It's just the west side of Columbus, outside 270, between Hilliard and Grove City. I bet if you called into 911 and said you were in Wexford-Thornapple they'd forward you to a British 999 operator thinking you were just south of Leeds.

Here's a better way to say it:

Customer location: Columbus, OH 43228 *OR* Galloway, OH 43119

This tells me more information. If it is 43228, it will be the north and east sides of this "Wexford-Thornapple" neighborhood, but may still be on I-70. If it is 43119 it will be on the south or west side of the area and DEFINITELY not on I-70.

It would also be advised to include whether or not the customer is located on a highway or not. Highway calls require additional equipment preparation or other considerations, including the emotional state of a driver who may or may not be recovering from the last time he almost got killed on a highway shoulder.

There is not enough time to decide whether or not to send a driver to a HONK call. Give at least 30 seconds before letting the automated robodialer hang up. I'd love to do calls for you guys outside of our normal area, but five seconds is ABSOLUTELY NOT enough time to decide how quickly I can get someone there. If you want accurate and reliable ETAs, a half minute delay while we calculate it is much better than us just putting in for 45 minutes and then taking an hour and a half to get there.

Alan Moore - Westerville, OH
TOAD Towing & Roadside Assistance

 

Builder2 said:

So for Wexford thorn apple, I would quote my rate based on the max miles across. Until they fix this issue I would rather be Long than come up short.

 

George Geissiner said:

Yester was my first experience with them. They called me for a ETA but no price on a call 30-35 mi from home BUT I was on 78 coming home and only about 5 or 6 mi away. I still gave them a longer ETA. Again they never asked price. About 5 min after I gave up on them and started toward home going as close to the pick-up without going out of my way they called back. They asked if I could do it for a flat rate because there was some budget problems with the customer. I agreed because I was still within 7 mi so I had almost no enroute mi. Before they put us on a 3 way call they asked I not discuss $$ with him. We spoke and all went well. They gave me a PO to call in for a CC# and signed off. I met with customer and did discuss how much he was paying. They were only making $20 on the call well under 10%. I couldn't complain about that. I couldn't do the call for what I did had I not been coming home from a long ride. As it ended all three of us were happy. ME - owner of dead S10 and HONK

 

Occupant272 said:

http://pando.com/2015/03/26/honk-raises ... -shackles/

They're trying to be the "Uber" of towing. More power to them. Uber isn't doing as well as some would like and in some areas has turned the cab industry upside down. Should be interesting to see how it unfolds. In the meantime I have my rates set with them for road service and I'll add tow rates when I get a truck.

Alan Moore - Westerville, OH
TOAD Towing & Roadside Assistance

 

RodVT said:

Interesting article. As I have said before, they will go away once they spend through their venture capital money, but it will take a little while longer now. All Towing is Local!

 

Dodgetowguy134 said:

From our experience with them and input we got from other local towers, they like to make a $20-$40 markup over whatever you charge them.

As for getting paid from them for your services, they are credit card only UPFRONT, none of the take a PO and get paid later nonsense, especially when you're NOT contracted with them

 

Barrystowing said:

Honk robot called for a lockout on a 92 Hummer H1. Later a real person called from Honk for a lockout of a freightliner, same location. I just laughed and hung up on them. I'm not that desperate. Their customer can call me direct. I have an app for that. Its called a phone.

 

kstowman said:

They called for a heavy winch out the other night 10:00 pm loaded cattle trailer mired wheel depth trailer belly dragging in the mud in standing water 7" deep in wheat field. We charged $500 for total job, they billed customer $800.

Jason Strickland
Strickland Road Service- South Haven, KS
Strickland Towing- Wellington, KS

 

 

[Ed Johnson]

Honk is not anything like Uber. Honk does not tell us how much it will pay us unlike Uber who tells the poor ignorant driver how much he will get. Honk (at least in my area) calls with very little information and wants me to bid on the job. I do not know the exact problem or whether the vehicle if front wheel drive, rear wheel drive, 4-wheel drive or all-wheel drive. They tell  us about where the vehicle is and want a price. Our price is always too much or the vehicle is too far away.

 

To save time, we just turn the job down. There are so many tow operators in our area that charge $35.00 or are willing to tow for a "club" for $25 to $30 that it is not worth our time bidding.

[Louwo]

So far been bidding full rate for honk and we would get about half or so of the bids awarded. After completion call up and direct deposit into account the next day. The time it takes to listen is about the same for a reguler call. Sometimes annoying but for full rate tows and services not to bad.

[Flip]

Been working with them since mid February with mixed results. Started off fine and was getting about 50% of the jobs I bid on unless it was a 4wd or AWD vehicle which I was awarded none of those tows. I was told I was not getting any of those jobs because I would want to charge them for Dollys since I drive a light duty wrecker. Fast forward to the last 3 weeks. I'm getting almost nothing but tows that require dollies and getting paid a dolly fee to boot. Only hitch is you have to submit a 10 second video to prove you used them. Annoying at best considering my only truck is a wrecker and I would have no other choice. I called in and spoke with a manager who told me they were trying to cut down on bogus extra equipment charges. I told her that non of my other clubs even questioned dolly fees as they understood my equipment. She went on to say that they were struggling to find decent dispatchers who could be trained to understand our business and equipment better. She also said that I was getting some of those 4wd and AWD calls as some of my competition in the area had stopped working with them. Almost all the calls I run are for Farmer's Insured. I can count on one hand how many of their customers have actually used the APP and are not Farmers clients. My favorite thing is how they keep telling us more jobs without the motor club hassle. Out of all the clubs I deal with they cause me the most hassle. I think the Uber idea is wearing off and they are trying to find their way in the motor club market as a very small fish in a big pond. I know...develop another APP?

[silverhawk]

Just did a 200+ mile tow for them for $880.  Quoted up front.  $880 hook up and no mileage charge.  Sent them invoice when done, as they said they would pay us with credit card.  Sent two emails since and they haven't responded.  Will keep the community advised on these POS's.  Been four days.

[Louwo]

Just did a 200+ mile tow for them for $880.  Quoted up front.  $880 hook up and no mileage charge.  Sent them invoice when done, as they said they would pay us with credit card.  Sent two emails since and they haven't responded.  Will keep the community advised on these POS's.  Been four days.

Somehow we are set up with them for direct deposit. After call complete call up the automated and next day funds have been transferred into the account. Strange enough they call our shop line and not the tow line. Never had a cc with them. Started about 6 months ago we were receiving calls from them.

[towmaster]

• They pay me above my going rate because that is how I quote it, Give me credit card over the phone and we do the job

[Johntowman]

We've had no problems with Honk. We never, ever bid the job on the robo-call unless we bid it super high--it's always missing pertinent information. If no one bids on the robo-call, a live body will call with all the information you need.  As soon as the job's done, you call the 800# and they send you a credit card. Easy peasy.

[Steve Dunbar]

The biggest trouble I had with Honk was never enough information.

[silverhawk]

On 6/22/2018 at 9:19 PM, silverhawk said:

Just did a 200+ mile tow for them for $880.  Quoted up front.  $880 hook up and no mileage charge.  Sent them invoice when done, as they said they would pay us with credit card.  Sent two emails since and they haven't responded.  Will keep the community advised on these POS's.  Been four days.

 

[silverhawk]

I thought I would do a Paul Harvey and give the rest of the story.

 

Honk followed through with what they promised.  We just didn't know it??

Our former dispatcher, was paid with a card authorization to her email account.  Problem was she is no longer with us and we didn't have her email password.  

 

We were contracted for the call on my email account after the remote bidding on the incoming call.  They called us and I had the info on the call sent to my email address.  Worked great.  The problem was Honk had an old email account that they sent the payment to.

 

When I emailed them we got no correspondence at all, even though they were corresponding?

 

IT man came and hacked our former employee's account and we retrieved the info for payment.

 

We have applied to be a provider for Honk.  So far, so good.

[Louwo]

The biggest trouble I had with Honk was never enough information.

Do motor clubs ever give enough information? Just had a call from another club this morning they never told me the door got slammed into the garage pillar. No biggie just strap the door shut but I've learned if you need more information call the person who needs the tow.