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Partnering with a local towing company can save trucking fleets money, minimize downtime, and improve safety and reliability across operations.
Even if your trucking company is a well-oiled machine (pun intended), breakdowns, faulty parts or empty gas tanks are inevitable. Staying prepared for those moments requires a lot of things, including partnering with a reliable, reputable towing company to ensure your drivers and trucks are secure — and your wallet is still intact.
Unplanned truck downtime is already costly: On average, it costs $760 per vehicle, per day. Why add insult to injury by paying for individual, on-demand tows? Especially when towing and recovery can cost anywhere from $800 to $3,500 each time a vehicle breaks down. And think about the mileage costs that factor in: Short-range tows (25 miles or less) can cost up to $300; mid-range tows (100 miles or less) can cost up to $1,200; and long-distance tows (100 miles or more) typically exceed $1,200.
Even beyond the costs and downtime issues, having a vehicle inoperable on the side of the road is unsafe, unproductive, a potentially poor reflection of your truck fleet, and a huge frustration to the client waiting on your truck with their goods or services to arrive.
Instead, try a different route: Partner with a towing company, particularly one that’s local. You’ll find it’s not only cost-effective; it also comes with added benefits.
Save money when you partner with a local towing company
The word “local” is key here. Small businesses and ma-and-pa shops are integral to a community — not just because they help funnel money back into the area, but also because they’re keen to provide discounted, transparent prices to their customers.
The same is true for local towing companies.
By partnering with a local tow business, your trucking company will enjoy better rates, regular discounts, greater service transparency and improved operational efficiency. And consider this: They’re helping you while you’re helping them. Your partnership with a towing business provides them with steady revenue and ideally long-term contracts, while they ensure your company’s fleet enjoys minimal vehicle downtime.
Let’s unpack all these perks a little further. Here are the top five cost-effective benefits of partnering with a local towing company:
- Enjoy less vehicle downtime. Tow trucks aren’t just there when your downed vehicle needs a lift. They also provide prompt emergency assistance to get your driver and your vehicle off the road safely and securely. And it’s exactly this prompt service that yields less downtime. Swift recovery gets your downed vehicle back on the road more quickly, while at the same time maintaining a steady flow of goods/services that your clients expect.
Partnering with a reputable, local towing company makes quick response and fast recovery that much smoother: When you know and trust who you’re working with (and alternatively, they know what your business requires to stay on the fast track), you can expect fast emergency assistance and timely turnaround with minimal disruption to the day-to-day operations of your fleet.
- Experience consistent cost-savings when towing is needed. As previously mentioned, partnering with a local tow company almost guarantees regular discounted rates on its services. But it also cuts costs in other ways: If the local tow company you work with also provides other services and repairs, they can help prevent future costly problems by proactively addressing (and fixing) them. If the company solely provides towing and doesn’t offer additional services, many times they can still produce detailed reports about the issues they’re seeing, allowing fleet managers to reach out to mechanics or other necessary resources for preventative maintenance. Being proactive about potential issues before they become a true headache saves your fleet money in the long term.
And finally, partnering with a local tow company removes the unpredictability factor from your budget. You’ve now allocated funds specifically for this towing partner and its services, meaning you’re no longer having to cough up hard-to-find funds for unpredictable downtime events because you’re already prepared.
- Maintain service reliability through a tow company partnership. It’s no secret that fleet supervisors are regularly under pressure to maintain and preserve service reliability. After all, your clients trust that their shipments will arrive in a timely, accurate manner, and it’s your role as manager to ensure this happens — while also ensuring your drivers and your fleet are happy and healthy. Working with a local tow company, especially one that can respond quickly because they’re already in the area geographically, helps ease that pressure.
And a valuable, added perk? With a local service being just a call away, it automatically improves driver safety thanks to near-immediate assistance. You can also expect a personalized touch from a local towing company, as they are ingrained in the community and, as mentioned before, are prone to help a neighbor or a partner when they’re down (literally), from immediate and actionable service to discounted rates and more. Bottom line: When you work with a local tow and repair company, expect reliable and efficient emergency support that in turn helps maintain your fleet’s service reliability.
- Boost visibility (both ways) when you partner with a tow service. Think of it as a marketing opportunity for both parties. The tow shop can display your company’s business cards, brochures or even recruitment materials to trucking customers, and you can recommend the local tow company by word of mouth or through similar, aforementioned marketing collateral. This calls back to our previous point about scratching each other’s backs and enjoying the fruits of that partnership. It seems partnering with a local tow service not only saves money; it may also help you generate it.
- Enjoy access to specialized towing equipment and expertise. Instead of gambling on a towing company you’re unfamiliar with — and one that could possibly have faulty or old equipment, inexperienced staff or outdated services — partnering with a local tow service ensures access to a professional team, a wealth of field expertise and high-quality equipment. Again, this calls back to the local, community aspect of it all: You’re more likely to get a better overall experience with an area ma-and-pa towing company than a statewide or nationwide chain.
The perfect combination of expertise and equipment ensures that complex recoveries are handled efficiently, effectively and with care. Your local tow company’s trained staff of operators and technicians will adhere to best practices, ensuring the highest levels of safety no matter the size or type of vehicle. And there’s a heightened focus on reliable, well-running equipment at a local towing company because it’s typically their only in-house equipment. That means there’s a dedication to regular upgrades and quality assurance. Working with a local towing service means you’re always in good hands, because it’s their job to be the best.
When it comes to your truck fleet, the bread and butter of your business, don’t settle. Your drivers and your vehicles deserve the highest-quality attention when it comes to emergency assistance and getting them back on the road as quickly and safely as possible. Partnering with a local towing company minimizes vehicle downtime, cuts short- and long-term costs, ensures driver and vehicle safety and leads to a long-lasting, reliable relationship with a team of experienced staff you can trust.
Keep your fleet moving with a reliable towing and repair company in the Winchester, Virginia, area: Contact Brian Omps Towing & Repair today.
