Internet Tow Service Fastlane?

[socaldude]

So my car broke down and I had to get a hold of a tow truck and I think I might have found a need.

I needed to find the cheapest service. And because of the popularity of Smartphones i did some simple searches.

Maybe a website or a smartphone application that you simply put in your location and you are simply quoted on the price of the assistance?

Tow truck service owners can pay a small fee of the transaction if it goes through. And they can sign up for free.

As we all know part of identifying a need is looking both ways before we cross the street: Why DOESNT the market need it?

If i were to kick my own a$$ how would i do it?

And my only concern is insurance companies sometimes have their own roadside assistance eliminating this need or cutting the middle man.

Or maybe this can be a roadside assistance subscription type of plan??

There are some GREAT domain dot coms available that are super brandable as a matter of fact WAY more brandable than typical: towing.com or towservice.com.

What do you guys think? ideas? comments? dislikes? :smx9:

 

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[hedgehog757]

So my car broke down and I had to get a hold of a tow truck and I think I might have found a need.

I needed to find the cheapest service. And because of the popularity of Smartphones i did some simple searches.

Maybe a website or a smartphone application that you simply put in your location and you are simply quoted on the price of the assistance?

Tow truck service owners can pay a small fee of the transaction if it goes through. And they can sign up for free.

As we all know part of identifying a need is looking both ways before we cross the street: Why DOESNT the market need it?

If i were to kick my own a$$ how would i do it?

And my only concern is insurance companies sometimes have their own roadside assistance eliminating this need or cutting the middle man.

Or maybe this can be a roadside assistance subscription type of plan??

There are some GREAT domain dot coms available that are super brandable as a matter of fact WAY more brandable than typical: towing.com or towservice.com.

What do you guys think? ideas? comments? dislikes? :smx9:

Sounds interesting to me. Everyone wants the convenience...but will it work?

 

[JasonR]

I think it could be a solid idea if executed and marketed correctly. Problems that I see: you only really use the app/service when you break down (marketing will be key to get customers to download the app/pay for the service ahead of time). One app that I do use on occasion is the Gas Buddy app. Maybe you could roll both services into one so that they customer has an incentive to use it all the time.

Sounds promising. However I think you should incorporate a time element into it. People hate waiting for the tow truck. So, for example, results from you app/service could be: AAA Towing Company, $75/100 miles, guaranteed to be at your location within 45 minutes. BBB Towing Company, $70/100 miles, guaranteed to be at your location in an hour. Etc.

Where are you going to pull your rates from? That has to be automated (in other words, tow and service companies need an easy way to upload to your app...through a data feed or something, etc.).

Good luck!

 

[andviv]

Sounds to me like a LeadGen site.

From a technical perspective, I would do it as a Mobile Website, using HTML5.
One-offs are not good use cases for Mobile Apps (most people simply won't install apps that they need hopefully only once).

And my only concern is insurance companies sometimes have their own roadside assistance eliminating this need or cutting the middle man.

I am not sure about this... when I called my insurance about this (State Farm) they simply gave me a couple of referrals for the area, which was useless. Oh, and I had to pay and get the reimbursement from the insurance company later.

Or maybe this can be a roadside assistance subscription type of plan??

You would then be competing with AAA. I am not sure I would like to take on them that way.

I rather stay as a LeadGen, and charge the towing companies a fee/commission for the lead. After all, that is a pretty captive audience with nowhere to go

 

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[JEdwards]

Wow, Interesting... Very Interesting.. I like this Idea.. Sitting here thinking about it for 5 minutes.. Humm..

 

[socaldude]

From a technical perspective, I would do it as a Mobile Website, using HTML5.

Thats what I was thinking because nobody is really gonna use it on a desktop :coco: But with the popularity of Smartphones, a simple google search could bring up the mobile site with some simple forms to fill out and an instant quote?

I'm starting to think that this need doesn't have enough weight or momentum to turn it into a full blown Fastlane. Because if you ask yourself where are the people who are getting tow trucks right now getting them from? And is that working well? Do they really need what i have to offer. Will it make things way easier?

You see I love Fastlane ideas where it leaves the consumer no choice but to buy your product or service. This is why i love products that save time and money cause it leaves the consumer saying to themselves: "This is a no brainer I save 50% of what I would normally spend on time or money, ill buy it"

But other than that it is lead gen. I personally talk to the owners of these tow companies and sign em up cause its free advertising. People's cars break down and they search google and they find my mobile site and get and instant quote on what its gonna cost. Because you see some companies charge $100 and some charge $40 for a fixed rate ride. And i KNEW that when my car broke down but i didn't know how to find it. I would have to check every website and call every tow company for a quote.

 

[The-J]

I think it would be an interesting lead generation site, with spin-offs as an iPhone app. I think you'd be competing with On Star though.

 

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[socaldude]

I think it would be an interesting lead generation site, with spin-offs as an iPhone app. I think you'd be competing with On Star though.

Thats one of the reasons this need is a flop, you compete with economies of scale and companies that ALREADY have a customer in theirs grip which leaves them no reason to use what I have to offer.

EDIT: the problem with an app is people are not gonna download it UNTIL they find out they need it and THEN they might not even KNOW it exists.

 

[andviv]

Thats one of the reasons this need is a flop

funny, the more I think about it, the more sense it makes to me...

Wow, Interesting... Very Interesting.. I like this Idea.. Sitting here thinking about it for 5 minutes.. Humm..

Jack, let me know what you think.... I think this one has a great potential. And I will have some free time relatively soon...

 

[LamboMP]

A lot of potential. As Andviv mentioned, this needs to be a mobile HTML5 website, extremely simplified, with guided user experience. When I'm in need, I don't want to fill out a search form, then scan through 5000 companies - so, you will need to minimize my aggravation considerably.

You need a really good domain name for this. Make it short, easy to remember.

 

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[LamboMP]

Thats one of the reasons this need is a flop,

you compete with economies of scale and companies that ALREADY have a customer in theirs grip

the problem with an app is people are not gonna download it UNTIL they find out they need it and THEN they might not even KNOW it exists.

Stop making excuses and do it already. Not everyone has AAA or onstar, you know?

 

[socaldude]

Stop making excuses and do it already. Not everyone has AAA or onstar, you know?

HAHA Yes but part of the execution is identifying the obstacles to destroy. This is WAR. lol

 

[The-J]

Personally, I think it's got potential. Your execution honestly has to be spot on, though. You might even want to get insurance companies in on it: with a little convincing, you can get insurance companies to REQUIRE people to have this app (i mean, for that you'd need a number for people to call, too)

 

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[LamboMP]

I seriously think you should consider doing this. I think you are missing out on a good thing if you don't. The idea will never be perfect in every way, you just have to get around the obstacles.

 

[CommonCents]

I'd do a local area test, need to get enough towing companies on board to have some competition, and enough customers. Do some homework on how many tows there are in a given city. I think it's an area ripe for efficiency with a marketplace to bring prices in line. Tow companies are price hogs, esp if they store your car. Especially city tow contracts for accidents/arrests etc...

Dont forget the commercial trucking market as well, you might get the attention of companies with fleets of trucks to have a nice lil bidding app. They would be a nice buying group for tow companies to sharpen their pencil instead of one-off individual car tows.

 

[halfstepdown88]

I've been trying to find something I can work at, a fastlane idea to move towards.

This sounds very interesting. I have no experience. Which would make it even more interesting...

 

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