How to Set Up Roadside Assistance for Your Dealership

Why do dealerships need their own roadside assistance?

Every dealership service department handles towing situations daily — customer breakdowns, trade-in pickups, auction transport, and loaner vehicle recovery. Most dealerships default to one of two approaches: calling whichever tow company answers first, or relying on an expensive motor club contract.

Both approaches have serious problems. The "call around" method wastes service advisor time, produces inconsistent pricing, and offers zero documentation when disputes arise. Motor club contracts lock you into fixed rates, pay operators so poorly that the best companies won't work with them, and give you no control over response times.

The dealerships that are getting this right in 2026 are building their own operator networks — a curated list of reliable tow companies they trust, dispatched through a platform that handles pricing, tracking, and documentation automatically.

Step 1: Define your service needs

Before selecting any platform or signing any contracts, map out exactly what roadside services your dealership actually uses.

Start with volume. How many tow-related jobs does your service department create per month? Include customer tows, dealer trades, auction pickups, and any other vehicle transport. Next, identify the service types you need most. Standard towing is obvious, but don't overlook jump starts for dead batteries on the lot, lockout assistance for customers who lock keys in vehicles, and flatbed service for AWD/luxury vehicles that can't be dolly-towed.

Finally, determine your coverage radius. Most dealership towing needs fall within a 30-50 mile radius, but auction pickups and dealer trades may require longer distances. This information drives your pricing structure and the number of operators you need in your network.

Step 2: Build your operator network

The foundation of reliable dealership roadside assistance is a strong network of 3-5 tow companies in your area. You want enough redundancy that no single operator's unavailability leaves you stranded.

Look for operators with proper insurance (minimum $1M general liability, $1M auto liability), valid DOT numbers, at least 2 years of operating history, and equipment that matches your needs (flatbeds for luxury/AWD vehicles). The most reliable operators are the ones currently underserved by motor clubs — they have capacity, equipment, and motivation, they just need a steady job source that pays fairly.

Reach out directly. Most tow company owners are reachable by phone and will respond to a straightforward pitch: "We're a dealership that needs regular towing service. We pay fair rates, dispatch is via text message, and you get paid fast. Interested?"

That conversation takes five minutes and is far more effective than any marketing campaign.

Step 3: Set up your dispatch system

Once you have operators ready, you need a system to dispatch jobs efficiently. The minimum viable dispatch system needs to do four things: create a job with pickup/drop-off locations and service type, notify available operators with job details and pricing, track the operator's location in real-time, and document the job with photos and GPS records.

Modern dispatch platforms handle all of this through a web-based dashboard — your service advisors create jobs just like they'd create a repair order. The system finds the nearest available driver, sends them the details via SMS, and tracks everything automatically.

The key advantage over phone-based dispatch: your service advisor spends 30 seconds creating a job instead of 15 minutes calling around. That time savings alone, multiplied across dozens of monthly jobs, justifies the platform cost.

Step 4: Configure pricing and payment

Transparent, predictable pricing is what separates a professional roadside program from chaotic phone-tag dispatch. Your rate card should include a base rate for each service type (a typical DFW market range: $75-95 for standard towing, $45-65 for jump starts and lockouts), a per-mile rate for loaded mileage beyond the first included miles, and any applicable equipment fees or after-hours surcharges.

Publish this rate card to your operators before they join your network. When drivers know exactly what they'll earn before accepting a job, acceptance rates go up and dispute rates go down.

For payment, look for platforms that handle the financial flow — the dealership is charged at job completion, the operator payout is calculated automatically, and everyone can see the exact breakdown of how every dollar was allocated.

Step 5: Train your team and launch

The final step is getting your service advisors comfortable with the new system. The good news: if your dispatch platform is well-designed, training takes about 15 minutes.

Create a simple one-page cheat sheet that covers how to create a new job, how to select the right service type, what information the customer needs to provide (vehicle location, vehicle year/make/model, keys available), and how to track the driver's progress to give the customer an ETA.

Start with a soft launch — use the platform for 5-10 jobs while keeping your old phone-based backup available. Once your team is comfortable and you've verified that your operator network is responsive, make it your default dispatch method.

Most dealerships report that within the first week, service advisors prefer the platform because it's faster than calling around and gives them real-time tracking to relay to customers.

Frequently Asked Questions