While just about anybody with a dream and truck can start a towing business, it takes some business savvy and dedication to keep and grow your business for the “long haul”.
Take it from us at Durham Towing Company, for over 15 years we’ve managed to ride the ups and downs of the market place all while growing our business in the Durham / RTP area. And believe me, it didn’t come easy.
Over the years , we’ve learned a few things guidelines that help you properly manage and grow your towing business – check ’em out…
Safety First
One of the first things that you should ensure is the safety of everyone involved in your business. Towing companies can be called at any time of day and learning safety tips while driving at night will help your clients get the service they called for.
Whether it is your clients, employees or simply the people on the road, safety should be your priority. To help you do this, you can schedule your employees to have training sessions with regard to safety.
Another way to ensure safety is to make sure that your vehicles are always inspected before each trip. Also, take necessary measures to ensure that your drivers are not distracted while driving. Prioritizing safety will result in multiple benefits like a lower premium on insurance rates of your tow trucks.
Carefully Select Your Tow Truck Drivers
When hiring tow truck drivers, make sure that you screen them carefully. They are the ones who use the trucks and they represent your company to clients. Select tow truck drivers who prioritize safety. Also, when you carefully select your drivers, you are more likely to keep them for the long term. That is also great news for your company because you don’t have to train them again and things can run more smoothly.
Create Policies For Workplace Safety
Even if you tell your employees to make safety a priority, many wouldn’t know exactly what you mean unless you create policies. The policies can help guide them to your goal. Create an outline of what you expect from your drivers with regards to safety. Also, draft consequences in case they fail to follow the policies.
If everything is written clearly, your employees won’t have a hard time understanding and following them. Also, make sure you have open communication with your employees so you can clear things out with you. When creating such policies, also make sure that you are not violating any employment laws.
Train Your Drivers And Employees
Training is something you have to spend on but it really helps. Think of training as an investment. There is so much to learn and you should make sure your employees are continuously learning. Training can help with safety but it can also teach your employees lots of different things. It can help them be more confident and productive in their jobs.
Even if you have veteran drivers, they would still get a lot from refresher training sessions. There is also still a lot of updates and improvements that they can learn today. Equip your employees with these tools so you can be confident that your business will run smoothly.
Regular Maintenance And Checks
All your vehicles must be regularly checked and maintained so they can be always ready when the need arises. Preventive maintenance programs should be created to make sure all your trucks and wreckers are kept in the best shape possible.
Trucks that aren’t properly maintained are more likely to cause accidents, which can injure drivers as well as those on the road. Avoid that liability by making sure your trucks strictly follow their maintenance schedules. It is better to prevent things from happening rather than to find a solution to a problem that you could have avoided.
Inspect All Vehicles Before Deployment
Before a vehicle is deployed to for a towing or roadside service, it must be properly inspected first. Your drivers should be responsible enough to do this before they head out. This will help catch any problem early on. Also, this prevents the trucks from having problems on the road and being delayed to get to where they are supposed to go.
To make this more organized, documentation and logging of pre-trip inspections should be done. Truck drivers should not be the only ones who are responsible for checking vehicles. You may do it too and make sure to fix any issues before getting the truck back on the road.
Get Tow Truck Insurance
Insurance coverage can help your towing business if there is ever a claim or if your tow truck gets involved in an accident. There are many types of insurance coverage so make sure you select the one right for your towing business.
