Don’s Towing has become a fixture in southeast Michigan since Joe Morisette bought the company almost 25 years ago. Over the years, Joe dealt with the challenges of rising costs and never ending competition, and has steadily grown his fleet to 12 trucks. Don’s Towing now serves nearly every police agency in the county and won the towing contract for the city of Port Huron. They also do calls for most major motor clubs and a steady volume of cash calls. In 2013, Don’s Towing was named Metro Detroit’s #1 towing service by NBC Channel 4’s Click on Detroit.

Joe’s son Joey Morisette joined the business at the age of 14, starting by helping around the office and riding along to assist with tows. It didn’t take long and Joey was behind the wheel doing calls himself. Now, more than 10 years later Joey plays a large role in running the daily operations of Don’s Towing.

The Challenge

Like most young people, Joey has spent a lot of time on computers so the thought of using towing software to help his Dad’s business seemed logical to him.  Seeing the advantages towing software could bring to the company, Joey became a driving force to start using software at Don’s. Several key things were behind Joey’s interest in towing software, including;

Hand-written “everything”. Like most towing companies, nearly everything Don’s did was hand-written. Their systems and processes worked but employees had to write everything down, and then manually calculate charges and storage fees. This was time consuming and too prone to innocent errors. It’s also too difficult to store records and locate the right file quickly when a customer or insurance company calls.

Reporting. Another challenge Joey was looking to solve was evaluating business performance. It was tough to dig into the details and analyze company performance with so much key data listed on hand-written forms or in file cabinets.

Automation.  With large accounts as an important part of their business, the Morisette’s were also looking for a system that would help bring automation to Don’s Towing. Including the ability to create and email electronic invoices and allow key accounts to request tows online.

The Solution

For towing software, Joey turned to Towbook’s web-based system. What attracted him to Towbook was a combination of affordability and features. Most importantly, Towbook is web-based so there’s no software to install on computers and you can use the system from anywhere with internet service, including smartphones and tablets. With no setup fees, free support and no extra cost to have a user account for every employee, Towbook seemed like the right choice.

The software features in Towbook that attracted Joey the most include;

Paperless.  Having a system that automatically calculates charges and storage fees, and can generate an invoice or account statement with a simple click of a button was a huge factor.

Police App. Don’s Towing was invited to join a group testing Towbook’s new Police App. With this new app, police agencies use a version of Towbook (for free) that allows them to assign calls straight to towing companies in their community.  Police officers can even create a request from a smartphone and the call is automatically created inside Towbook for the towing company.

Mobile apps. The ability for drivers to receive calls on a smartphone was appealing to Joey. With mobile apps, drivers can scan VIN numbers, take photos of vehicles and add them to the call and capture the customer’s signature – right from their Android or iPhone. The Towbook mobile apps also work with mobile printers so drivers can print a tow receipt right from their truck.

Motor Club Calls. Towbook recently launched a new system that accepts calls from most motor clubs directly into the software. This saves time and eliminates mistakes. Now, when a motor club issues a call to Don’s it’s dispatched automatically within seconds.

Commission. Tracking commissions is difficult and time consuming. The opportunity to use a system that could track commissions accurately and generate commission statements for employees was very appealing.

Results

After launching the software in July of this year, the results were incredible and nearly instant.  Joey Morisette provided some feedback on the experience and the impact towing software has made so far;

“First off, we didn’t have to install software on any of our computers and Towbook helped us set up our accounts and pricing in the system so getting started was pretty easy.”

“We can now find records in an instant – even if I’m at home when an account calls, I can look up the information and send it to them from my phone.  I love the fact that we can see what’s going on at work and we can handle customer requests when we’re on the move. “

“It’s also great that we have access to all our historical records. I can pull up a call from July and see photos of the vehicle, review notes and send that paperwork to anybody who needs it.”

“When a customer comes to pick up a vehicle we can check them out in under a minute because the system automatically calculates all charges and we simply pull up the call and print or email them a professional invoice.”

“Before launching Towbook, we had to manually track letter due dates, but the system automatically reminds us when letters are due. The system can even create letters automatically if we need them.”

“If I want to see how the company did yesterday or last week, I simply run our Daily Activity Report in Towbook and we have an instant summary of our call performance.”

What was hard about launching the system?

Change is hard, especially for a company that’s been in business for so long. Joey Morisette provided some insight about what was challenging when launching towing software and what’s next for them;

“I think the most important thing is you have to be serious about change. Some employees wanted to go back to the old way of doing things rather than using the software. Towing software changed a lot of what we do but it made things better, so you have to put your foot down.“

“It took us about a week to fully make the switch and things were hectic for a while as we changed over. Our employees were used to the system within a few days and after just a few weeks all of our calls were done through Towbook.”

“There is still a lot more we can do with the system, it seems like every day I find something or think of something more we can do with Towbook that will help us get better or grow the business. I’m going to be in this business for a long time and I couldn’t imagine trying to compete without something like this.”

www.towbook.com
(888) 884-9598

Night time recovery operations are challenging even for the most experienced tow professional.  Danger created by careless drivers, unseen debris and spills and shadows created by eye-level lighting make a tough job harder than it has to be. Night Scan® Powerlite HDT by Will-Burt is a light tower specifically designed to reduce these hazards.

Created especially for the tow professional, Night Scan Powerlite HDT is mounted directly on the wrecker and provides 360° of recovery scene lighting from up to 15 feet above the wrecker deck.  Illuminating the scene from above simulates daylight, which helps to eliminate shadows.  Eliminating shadows allows you to see everything at the site. Lights aimed down from high above the scene also allow oncoming traffic to safely see the site from a distance, but it will not blind the drivers.

A minimal amount of space on the wrecker is needed, and the light tower can be incorporated into new builds or easily installed on existing vehicles. No generator is required for the LED lights, which create a total of 84,000 lumens and will last for years.

Night Scan is always with the wrecker, meaning you will never need to call for lighting back-up.  The speed and safety of operations will increase, and you can also increase your billings by charging for the lighting equipment.

THE WILL-BURT COMPANY
330-347-8622
www.willburt.com

Road America is a wholly owned United States subsidiary of the MAPFRE Group (MAPFRE), the largest insurance group in Spain, with annual revenues of over US $27 Billion in worldwide operations. MAPFRE’s strength has been recognized with the A+ (superior) rating by AM Best (since 1999) and A1 rating by Moody’s (since 2002). MAPFRE operates an extensive international assistance network through its specialized subsidiary, MAPFRE Asistencia.

MAPFRE Asistencia, Road America’s direct parent, is a leading multinational Insurance, Reinsurance, and Services Company founded in Madrid, Spain in 1989, providing services worldwide in 84 countries through 44 business units. MAPFRE Asistencia is a recipient of the prestigious ITIJ Award given to best Assistance Company in the world.

Founded in 1978 as a motor club company with headquarters in Florida, Road America was acquired by MAPFRE Asistencia in February 2003. Operating today with a management team that has more than 145 years of combined experience in the motor club industry, Road America understands the areas most important to motorists during an emergency roadside event:

• Speed of service
• Accuracy
• Reliability
• Communication

Today, Road America is a leader in the North America roadside assistance market, where it maintains long-term partnerships with significant corporations and services over 21 million of their customers. At Road America, we believe that our decisions are guided by the conviction that all business is about relationships; we will never choose a short-term reward over the value of a long-term client relationship.

Road America
800-442-4690

Ohio Power Systems made their debut at the Orlando Tow show in April and is looking forward to the Baltimore show. The response had been great. We are now supplying two truck body manufacturers with complete hydraulic valve and electronic control systems. We also have set up new dealers to resell our products and systems. OPS was created 10 years ago by Mike Brooks as a company that specializes in designing and building radio remote and hydraulic valve systems.  OPS sells their products mostly to the O.E.Ms directly for applications such as controlling locomotives, drill rigs, utility equipment etc., and has decided to bring that expertise to the auto recovery market after getting a request to upgrade a customer’s truck. OPS did not know what to expect from being at the show but was surprised how many people were interested in rebuilding the trucks they own because of the cost of a new one. Our approach to the market is to give the owners a place they can go to buy a replacement valve remote system or help them upgrade to a proportional system, no matter what size or brand of truck. Our systems, for the most part, are plug and play, and they come with an instruction manual to operate the radio. Plus, we have a full staff of engineers available to support the customers from install to start up. The products are standard off the shelf with all parts available by many distributors.

The major differences we bring to the market with our products are safety and added value. The reason we have a business today is because of the need to reduce accidents in the marketplace, whether it’s running a locomotive or a recovery truck.

Please come by our booth to see the products we offer for your application.

Ohio Power Systems
807 East Findlay Street
Carey, OH 43316
419-294-4985
www.ohiopowersys.com

Track What Matters has made a conscious effort to ensure its service is very easy to use while providing comprehensive delivery of vehicle tracking information. Track What Matters, LLC is a GPS tracking company that specializes in creating customized GPS tracking solutions specific to the individual needs of their clients.

Leveraging cutting-edge GPS tracking hardware with vanguard and incredibly powerful yet user-friendly web-based software, Track What Matters, LLC has helped numerous Fortune 500 clients improve returns on investments by reducing waste and inefficiencies elsewhere. With a core philosophy of customized solutions culminated with unprecedented customer service, Track What Matters, LLC is the GPS tracking company that leading companies turn to for innovative and customized solutions and 24/7 accessibility. For more information, visit www.trackwhatmatters.com or call 800-293-0420.

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