TowingBossPro Blog — Tow Dispatch

Dispatching Commercial Account Calls: Motor Clubs, Police, Body Shops and Dealers

For many towing companies, commercial accounts are the backbone of the business. A motor club sends roadside and tow calls. A police department or city sends accident and impound calls. Body shops and dealers send transports. Property managers send private property impounds. Each account has its own expectations, contacts and billing.

When those calls get mixed in with retail calls and nobody tracks which account sent what, billing becomes a monthly headache and accounts start wondering if they should call someone else.

Why Accounts Need Their Own Structure

The impound guide in Dispatching Impound and Storage Tows: Starting the Storage Clock Correctly showed how many storage calls come from accounts. In TowingBossPro, commercial accounts such as motor clubs, police and municipal agencies, body shops, dealers and property managers have their calls and invoices kept under the account. When the account asks for a list of last month's calls, it is already there.

Attach every call to its account at intake. That one habit makes billing, reporting and account conversations much simpler.

Accounts also bring repeat locations. A dealer has the same lots, a body shop has the same address, a property manager has the same complexes. Save those as locations under the account so the call-taker can pick them instead of typing them, and the pin lands in the right place every time.

Motor Club Calls

Motor club calls usually come in with the member's location, vehicle and what service is needed. Take the details into a call under the motor club account and dispatch it like any other call: Roadside or Light-Duty Tows, assigned to a driver and truck in one step. Note any reference number the club gives you in the call notes so the invoice matches their records.

TowingBossPro does not connect to motor club dispatch systems, so calls from a club are entered by the dispatcher. Many companies find that entering them in the same place as every other call is still faster than juggling separate notepads.

Police and Municipal Calls

Police and municipal calls often come with urgency and a specific process. Accident scenes need clearing, abandoned vehicles need to be removed, impounds need to be documented. Put these calls under the police or municipal account and use the right category, such as Accident & Recovery or Impound & Storage.

Every agency has its own requirements for response times, documentation and storage. Rules vary by state and city, so build your dispatch notes and process around the agreements that apply to you.

Keep a short note on each police or municipal account about what they expect: who to contact, what information they need on scene, and how they want to be billed. A new dispatcher can read it in a minute and avoid the mistakes that cost accounts.

Body Shops and Dealers

Body shops and dealers mostly send planned work: transports between lots, cars to and from the shop, units to auction or the customer's home. These calls are good candidates for scheduling ahead on the dispatch board and using auto-routing to order them.

These accounts care about the specific unit, so plate and VIN matter, and vehicle photos at pickup and drop-off give them proof of condition. Arrival texts let them know when to have keys ready.

Body shops especially like to know when a car is on its way in. A quick text that the vehicle has been picked up gives them time to make room in the lot, and the arrival text tells them when to come out. Small courtesies like that make you the tow company they ask for by name.

Property Managers

Property manager calls often mean private property impounds, frequently at night. Save each property as a location with access notes so drivers know how to get in and where to look. Calls go under the property manager's account, and storage start dates and daily rates go on the impound calls.

Private property towing rules vary widely by state and city. Make sure your process, signage requirements and release procedures follow local rules.

Billing and Keeping the Account

The account relationship lives or dies on two things: showing up and billing cleanly. Dispatch handles the first. For the second, keeping calls and invoices under the account means you can invoice consistently, use auto-billing or card on file where appropriate and send payment follow-ups on overdue invoices. The next guide goes deeper on police and municipal work.

See how commercial accounts fit into dispatch on the tow dispatch software page.