It’s the dreaded roadside breakdown. Having a fleet driver stuck on the side of the road with a fleet vehicle that’s loaded with equipment, tools, and supplies might be high on the list of a fleet manager’s worst nightmares. How long will it be until a tow truck can get to the vehicle? How will a customer react when they learn a technician isn’t coming as scheduled? There are a myriad of questions that arise when a fleet manager is notified of a fleet vehicle breakdown.
But there are some fleet managers who don’t sweat it.
When drivers of those certain fleets experience the dreaded roadside breakdown in a company vehicle carrying equipment and supplies, the nearest tow truck driver in the area can be notified to come to their aid as soon as possible. During roadside breakdowns the drivers in these particular fleets can be confident knowing their tow truck driver’s exact location and when they’ll show up. These drivers can rest easy knowing the tow truck driver prioritizes safety and is qualified for the job.
All of this is possible with HONK.
HONK FOR HELP
Unless the driver or fleet manager directly calls a tow and recovery business to aid in a roadside event, the manager or driver likely calls their insurance company or a roadside assistance company such as AAA. Insurance providers and roadside assistance companies typically use a small amount of tow and recovery providers to work certain territories. What happens if those providers are dispatched to multiple customers at once? Lots of waiting.
For fleets using HONK, the experience is drastically different. HONK is an on-demand platform that connects motorists to towing professionals and insurers. A fleet manager or driver can simply request a tow on the platform, and HONK identifies the service providers that are nearest to the event and can get there the fastest. “We race in real time and queue our network based on quality,” says HONK VP of business development, Paul Williams.
HONK is reliable. Its two largest demographics of customers are insurance companies and fleet companies—both being businesses that serve others.
For fleets specifically, HONK understands that no two fleet companies are the same. They each have slightly—or vastly—different needs that should be handled in a timely, professional way. Each fleet wants to be better for their client, and without HONK a customer could be forced to wait on a service technician for hours or even days.
HOW IT WORKS
Williams says HONK is different because its focus on the roadside incident experience. While smartphones put technology in everyone’s hands, HONK built a platform powered by tech. Tow and recovery professionals simply join the HONK network and download the partner app on their smartphone to connect to those requiring assistance. Currently more than 75,000 service vehicles comprise HONK’s network.
Once HONK receives a service request, HONK dispatches the nearest service vehicle for the fastest recovery. HONK’s dispatch technology provides fleet drivers and their managers with real-time ETA, GPS pin-point location data, and its driver/customer communications channel that handles payment virtually. HONK isn’t subscription based and doesn’t require a fee for its services. If you don’t use it, you don’t pay for it; clients and customers send payment per event.
Although HONK is for everyone, the company isn’t new to the fleet industry. It currently works with two of the largest fleet management companies in the US: ARI and Wheels, Inc. In fact Wheels, a fleet leasing and management company, uses HONK for its fleet of 300,000 vehicles nationwide. Barbara Banas, the senior director of procurement for Wheels, says the company came across HONK when researching ways to improve its services.
“Our perspective in procurement is based on our client driver experience,” Banas begins. “With roadside services, we are most interested in how safely and efficiently our roadside provider can provide repair services for our client drivers.”
Banas says that after evaluating competitors in the roadside market, the result proved HONK as the industry leader. Three years later, Wheels, Inc. still uses HONK services.
HONK is currently available for light- and medium-duty vehicles up to 26,000 GVWR and features services such as tow and recovery, jump start, flat tire, refueling, and locked out incidents.
SAFE, QUALIFIED
Qualified, insured, and safe service technicians are the only technicians HONK strives to have on its platform. The brand achieves this goal through its vetting process when a provider signs up to connect with HONK’s network. The process ensures the service provider holds a minimum level of insurance required for tow and recovery. HONK also ensures the service provider holds a license to operate tow and recovery machinery.
A breakdown is a vulnerable time for drivers. With uncertainty surrounding the cause of the breakdown, when help will arrive, what their customers will think, etc., the last thing that should be on the driver’s mind is whether the help coming treat them and their equipment in a professional manner. To ease the minds of drivers and fleet managers, HONK sends out a service provider who shares that safety concern. All HONK service providers undergo a complete background check—a service offered and paid for by HONK.
In fact, HONK is so concerned about driver safety in the event of a roadside incident that it partnered with Checkr, a company that simplifies and makes sense of the background check process. Checkr expanded how HONK provides and delivers background checks. Checkr provides continuous background data to HONK, so that any time there is an update to the criminal background, HONK is also notified.
TRANSPARENCY
HONK’s web-driven platform and 24/7 contact center handles the interaction with the service provider, so after the fleet manager has notified HONK that service is needed they can simply sit back and let HONK do its thing. Once a service provider is on their way, the fleet manager (and the driver using HONK’s mobile app) can monitor the service provider’s whereabouts and ETA in real time. If the driver is taking a solo run with no management back at the office, the driver can also use HONK’s mobile platform to request a service provider.
With HONK’s transparent platform that shows drivers and fleet managers their service provider’s location, fleet managers can even improve planning. With this feature, fleet managers can assess if it’s possible to send out an extra vehicle to the driver so they can be on their way to their job instead of waiting on their current vehicle. They can also better inform customers on the timing of their driver’s arrival.
With these tools and the assurance of a quick, qualified, and safe recovery process, why would any fleet not choose to HONK for help?
FOR MORE INFORMATION
HONK is an on-demand roadside assistance platform that connects service providers to those experiencing a roadside event. Request a demo and find out more, visit www.honkforhelp.com.
