TowingBossPro Blog — Driver App & Routes

Accident and Recovery Calls: What the Driver Needs on the Phone Before Rolling

Accident and recovery calls are where experience shows. A light-duty tow from a driveway is routine. A car on its roof in a median, or a pickup down an embankment with a trailer still attached, is not. The driver who shows up with the right truck and a plan is the one who clears the scene safely and quickly.

In Roadside Calls in the Driver App: Jump Starts, Lockouts, Tire Changes, Fuel, Winch-Outs, the calls were small and fast. This article is about the opposite end of the day.

Location Detail Is Everything

Accident calls rarely come with a clean address. They come as "southbound, just past the river bridge" or "the intersection by the feed store." The pickup on the call should be as close as possible, and the notes should carry everything the caller said: direction, lane, landmarks, which side of the road.

The driver taps the pickup to navigate and reads the notes on the way. If the location is vague, the office can ask the caller follow-up questions while the truck is rolling and pass along anything new.

Vehicle and Scene Notes

The vehicle details (year, make, model, color, plate) help the driver find the right vehicle when there is more than one involved. On a multi-vehicle crash, the call should be clear about which vehicle is yours.

Scene notes matter as much as the vehicle. Is the vehicle on its wheels, on its side, or upside down? Is it in a ditch, against a pole, in a lane? Is there a trailer, a load, or leaking fluid? The answers decide whether a light-duty truck is enough or whether this is a heavy-duty or second-truck job.

The office should ask these questions on the phone and write the answers down. A driver who knows the vehicle is on its side brings the right equipment the first time.

Where Is It Going?

Accident vehicles do not always have an obvious destination. The owner may be at the hospital, the insurance situation may be unclear, and the vehicle may need to go to your lot first. Every call in TowingBossPro has a drop-off, and on accident calls that is often your own storage lot.

When the vehicle goes into Impound and Storage, the storage start date and daily rate are recorded, and storage days are added to the invoice. Getting that start date right begins with the driver completing the drop promptly.

If the drop-off changes at the scene, the driver tells the office so the call is updated before the invoice goes out.

Photos at the Scene

Photos on accident calls show the vehicle as you found it, before your equipment touched it. That protects you when the owner later says the damage got worse during the tow. Shoot the vehicle from all sides and close up on the damaged areas.

Stay focused on the vehicle. Respect the scene, stay clear of anyone working it, and follow direction from whoever is in charge. What you may photograph and when varies, so check your local requirements.

Photos taken in the app stay with the call, so the office has them when the owner or their representative calls about the vehicle.

Keeping the Office in the Loop

Recovery calls take longer than anyone predicts. The driver should tap start when they begin, and the office should expect that a recovery can take a big chunk of the day. If it is going to be much longer than expected, a quick call to dispatch lets them move the driver's remaining calls to another truck.

That is where the Scheduled list earns its keep. Dispatch can see every call still assigned to that truck and reassign them in a few clicks, so the customers waiting on those calls are not left hanging.

Safety First, Always

Accident scenes are dangerous for tow operators. Phone use should happen when the truck is parked and the driver is in a safe spot, not while working in traffic. Scene safety rules, lighting and positioning requirements vary by state and locality, so check local requirements and train to them.

The app is there to make sure the driver arrives informed. Once on scene, the work comes first and the phone comes out only for photos and status taps.

For more on how the driver app supports every type of call, see the Tow Truck Driver App page.