TowingBossPro Blog — Towing Software

Assigning Calls to a Driver and Truck in One Step

In a towing company, "send Mike" isn't really a dispatch decision. The real decision is "send Mike in the rollback," because the truck matters as much as the driver. A good operator in the wrong truck for the job wastes a trip just as surely as a new driver does.

In The Waiting List: Seeing Every Open Call on a Live Map, we looked at open calls on the live map. This article covers the next step: turning those pins into assigned work.

Driver and Truck Are One Decision

Most companies have drivers who move between trucks. The guy who runs the wheel-lift on weekdays might be in the heavy wrecker on Saturday. Trucks go to the shop. A driver calls in sick and someone else takes his truck. If dispatch only tracks the driver, nobody can say for sure which truck did which tow, and that question comes up more than you'd think — fuel, mileage, maintenance and the occasional customer claim.

TowingBossPro assigns calls to a driver and a truck together, in one step. The record shows both, so a call history tells you who was there and what they were driving.

Set up your employees and trucks once and the assignment becomes a pick from two short lists. When a truck goes down for repairs, its driver can be paired with a spare unit for the day and the records still line up. When a new truck joins the fleet, add it and it shows up as an option the same afternoon.

Assigning From the Map

On the Waiting List map, you can circle a group of calls or select them, then assign the selection to a driver and truck. One action, several calls. For a dispatcher looking at a cluster of jump starts and lockouts on the east side, that means handing them all to the service truck at once rather than clicking through each call.

The calls move off the Waiting List onto the dispatch board under that truck and day. The driver sees them in his app, in order, with pickup, drop-off, vehicle details and notes.

Match the Equipment to the Call

Because each call carries vehicle details and a category, dispatch can match equipment to the job before assigning it. A Light-Duty Tow of a sedan to a shop is a rollback or wheel-lift call. A box truck or a loaded pickup with a trailer might be a Heavy-Duty Tow. Roadside calls — jump starts, lockouts, tire changes, fuel delivery and winch-outs — can go to whatever truck is close and equipped, without tying up a flatbed.

Getting this right at assignment time is cheaper than getting it right on scene. A driver who arrives and finds he needs a different truck has burned the trip and the customer's patience.

Rebalancing When the Day Changes

No dispatch plan survives the afternoon. A long recovery ties up a truck for three hours. A driver's truck loses a hydraulic line. A rush of calls lands on one side of town. When that happens, calls need to move from one truck to another.

Because assignments live on the dispatch board by truck and day, moving them is visible and quick. The driver who loses a call sees it disappear from his list; the driver who picks it up sees it appear. No group text asking who is taking the Walmart call, and no two trucks showing up for the same car.

What It Means for Drivers

Drivers hate two things: being sent across town for a call that somebody closer could have taken, and not knowing what is next. One-step assignment helps with both. Calls get grouped sensibly, and each driver always has an ordered list in the app.

It also cuts radio and phone traffic. Instead of dispatch reading out an address and a plate number while the driver tries to write it on his knee, the call arrives complete. The driver taps on-the-way when he heads out, which sends the customer a text without anyone in the office doing anything.

Clean Records Without Extra Work

Every assignment is a record. Later, you can see which calls each truck handled, which driver took them, and how the day actually went. That feeds reports, settles questions when a customer calls about damage, and helps you see whether a truck is earning its keep.

None of it requires drivers to fill out a log, because it comes from the assignment dispatch already made. Read how assignment fits into the rest of the system on the towing software overview.