Owner guide
How to dispatch tow trucks without a driver app
Last updated
The short answer
You can dispatch tow trucks without a driver app by sending each driver a text with a link to the job. The page behind the link carries the customer, vehicle and pickup details, navigation, status buttons and photos, so nothing needs to be installed or logged into.
Why do drivers resist dispatch apps?
Drivers resist apps because each one is another password, another update and another screen to fight with while wearing gloves in the rain. Turnover makes it worse, since every new hire has to be set up before they can take a job.
The other cost is quiet: if an app is annoying, drivers stop using it, and dispatch is back to phone calls with less information than before.
What should you demand from any job link?
A good job link carries everything a driver needs to do the job without calling the office, and it should work on any phone and make the next action obvious. What matters more when you are choosing or building one is how the link behaves, because the link is the only key to the job.
The driver job link page shows what the TowSitePros link carries, and the driver guide shows it from the driver side. Whatever you use, test it against these.
- It opens in the phone browser with no install and no login.
- It belongs to one job, so it cannot show other jobs or internal notes.
- It expires, and it stops working when the job is reassigned.
- Dispatch can switch it off in a second if a phone changes hands.
- A tap made in a dead zone is kept and sent when the signal returns.
How do you track progress without an app?
Have the driver tap a status on the job page instead of calling in. Each tap stamps the time and updates dispatch, and it can trigger the customer update, so nobody has to relay anything.
If you are starting from a phone and a whiteboard, you can still get most of the benefit by sending each driver a single text with all the details and asking for a reply at each step. It is more work for dispatch, but it teaches you which information you actually need.
What are the limits of going app-free?
Going app-free suits small and mid-sized operations that want less to manage. It is not a fit if a required dispatch source mandates its own app, since some motor clubs and contracts require their own systems.
TowSitePros works this way, and it does not do motor-club digital dispatch, so keep the system those programs require and log those jobs here.
Step by step
List what a driver needs
Write down the information a driver asks the office for on a normal job, and make that the minimum for every job.
Put every job in one place
Log calls, web requests and account jobs in one queue so dispatch is not working from three lists.
Send one text with a link per job
When you assign a unit, send the driver a text that opens the job, rather than reading details over the phone.
Ask for a status at each step
Get the driver to mark got it, on the way, arrived and done from the job page, not by calling.
Collect photos on the job
Have drivers add pickup and drop-off photos from the same page so they are filed with the job.
Make reassigning easy
When you move a job to another truck, the first driver's link should stop working so the two never collide.
Review the timeline afterward
Check the recorded times against what happened, and adjust your routine where information was missing.
Frequently asked questions
Will drivers really use a link if there is no app?
Usually yes, because it asks for so little. There is nothing to install or remember, and it opens from the text they already received. The fewer steps, the more reliably it gets used.
What if a driver has no data signal?
A link needs a signal to load and update, so keep a phone call as the fallback for dead zones. Drivers can note what they need before heading out of coverage.
Does this work with motor club jobs?
You can log motor club jobs and dispatch them to your drivers the same way as any other job. What it does not do is connect to a motor club's own digital dispatch system, so those calls still come in through the club's channel.
Is a link secure enough?
It can be, if each link is specific to one job, expires, cannot show other jobs and can be turned off by dispatch. Ask any vendor exactly how their links work before relying on them.
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