TowingBossPro Blog — Impound & Storage

The Waiting List: Seeing Incoming Impound Calls on a Live Map

Impound calls do not arrive on a schedule. A property manager calls in three cars at once. An agency needs a pull from an accident. A body shop wants a wreck moved before lunch. If all of that lives on a notepad next to the phone, something gets missed or sent to the wrong truck.

Scheduling Impound Pulls on the Dispatch Board by Truck and Day covered the planned side of dispatch. This article is about the calls that are not planned yet.

What the Waiting List Is

TowingBossPro keeps a Waiting List of incoming calls, shown on a live map. Every call that has come in but has not been assigned to a truck sits there with its pickup location visible. Dispatch sees at a glance where the work is.

For impound work, that picture matters. Three calls from the same apartment complex can go to one truck in one trip if you see them together. A police pull across town might be better for the truck finishing a job nearby.

It also helps when more than one person takes calls. Whoever answers the phone adds the call, and whoever is dispatching sees it on the map right away. Nobody has to shout across the office or walk over with a slip of paper.

Think About Both Ends of the Trip

Every call has a pickup and a drop-off address. For impounds headed to your lot, the drop-off is fixed, so the real question is which truck can reach the pickup and get back to the lot fastest. A truck that is close to the pickup but has a long haul back to the lot may not be the best choice if another truck is heading toward the yard anyway.

Seeing the Waiting List on a map next to where your trucks are working helps dispatch make that call quickly.

From Waiting List to the Board

When dispatch assigns a call, it moves onto the dispatch board by truck and day. The driver sees it in the driver app with the pickup, the drop-off and the vehicle details. Nothing gets retyped between taking the call and sending the truck.

Calls that cannot be run right away stay on the Waiting List, visible, until someone takes them. That is the main point: nothing is forgotten on a sticky note.

Assign calls as soon as you can, even if the truck will not get to them for a while. A call on a truck's list is a call someone is responsible for. A call sitting on the Waiting List with no owner is a call everyone assumes someone else is handling.

Capture the Details When the Call Comes In

The best time to get vehicle details is when the call comes in. A property manager or officer can often give you the color, make, model and plate. Put them on the call right away. The driver confirms them at the pickup, and if anything does not match, they know to stop and check before hooking the wrong car.

Note who authorized the tow and anything else your local rules or account agreement require on the call as well.

Write down where on the property the vehicle is if the caller can say: back row by the dumpsters, visitor spot near building C. Large properties eat time when the driver has to hunt for the car, especially at night.

Busy Nights and Batches

Private property work tends to come in waves, especially late on weekend nights. When the Waiting List fills up, dispatch can see clusters and send one truck to work a property instead of three trucks crossing paths. Fewer miles, faster pulls and more vehicles in the lot before the night is over.

Keep the List Honest

A Waiting List only works if calls come off it when they are done or canceled. If an owner shows up and drives away before the truck arrives, cancel the call so it does not sit there confusing the next dispatcher. At the end of every shift, look at what is still waiting and make sure each one is real.

A clear view of incoming work is where good storage starts, because every vehicle in the lot was once a call on this list. See how it connects to storage on the Impound & Storage Software page. Next: handling impound disputes.

Watch for calls that sit too long. A property manager who called an hour ago and has not seen a truck will call again, and possibly call a competitor. If a call cannot be run soon, let the caller know honestly.