Towing Industry
AI receptionist for towing services
VantaWeb's AI receptionist, Anna, is built to take a tow call when the driver who would pick up is on a run: she captures the location, the vehicle, what happened and who is paying, and hands the call to your dispatcher. She does not dispatch a truck, see where one is, take payment or write into dispatch software. Phone answering runs on a dedicated receptionist number at $0.41 a minute plus $45/mo.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics counts 10,726 motor vehicle towing establishments with paid employees in the United States, and about 6 in 10 of them have fewer than five people on the payroll. This page shows how Anna handles a roadside call, the checklist she works from, and the limits.
TL;DR
Anna captures roadside details and emails a summary to your dispatcher, transfers to the dispatch number you set, makes a cold emergency transfer for the calls you define as urgent, and tells anyone in danger to call 911 instead of transferring them. VantaWeb has no connection to Towbook, Omadi or Dispatch Anywhere, so your dispatcher enters the job.
Why do tow calls get missed?
Because the people on the phones are the people driving the trucks. A solo operator or a two-truck shop cannot take a call during a highway recovery, and a stranded driver phones the next company on the list. A call that rings out is a lost job, and if you take dispatches from others, possibly the assignment.
Size explains most of it. A shop with a handful of employees has no one whose only job is the phone, and the calls that matter most arrive at night and in bad weather, when every truck is out. The numbers below describe how common that setup is.
The numbers behind that, with sources and method
- 10,726 motor vehicle towing establishments (NAICS 488410) had paid employees in 2024, up 0.6% from 2023, and they employed 73,256 people, down 0.5%: about 6.8 employees per establishment. Source: BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, 2024 annual averages, checked 2026-10-18. Method: the national, private-ownership, all-sizes row of the annual file; the 6.8 is employment divided by establishments. An owner-operator with no employees is not counted.
- 62% of those establishments (6,596 of 10,694) had fewer than five employees in the first quarter of 2024, and 80% had fewer than ten. Source: BLS QCEW establishment size-class files, 2024 Q1, checked 2026-10-18. Method: added the establishment counts for size classes 1 to 9 (national, private ownership, NAICS 488410), then divided class 1 ("fewer than 5 employees"), and classes 1 and 2 together, by that total. The quarterly total differs slightly from the annual average above.
These describe the industry, not your call volume. Count your own unanswered calls for a month before you decide how much coverage you need.
A breakdown on a night shoulder: sample call flow
Sample flow, not a recorded call
We scripted this example to show the sequence and the tool behind each step. It names no real company or caller, and the brackets mark your own wording. Anna draws on the script, arrival window and dispatch number in her business details.
| Step | Caller | Anna | Tool |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "My car broke down and I'm on the shoulder." | "I'm sorry. First, is anyone hurt, or are you in danger right now?" | Your script |
| 2 | "No, we're all okay and pulled over." | "Good. Where are you? An address, cross street, highway direction and mile marker or exit all work." | Your script |
| 3 | "Eastbound, near mile marker 42." | "Got it. What is the vehicle, and what is it doing?" | Your script |
| 4 | "A 2018 Civic. It won't start." | "Is this through an insurance company or a motor club, or are you paying directly?" | Your script |
| 5 | "Through my motor club." | "Thanks. Keep the membership number handy for the driver. What number can we reach you on?" | Your script |
| 6 | "How long will it be?" | "I can't see where the trucks are. Your usual window is [your wording]. I'll connect you to the dispatcher now." | Business details, transfer |
| 7 | (nobody answers at dispatch) | "I'm sorry — I wasn't able to reach someone right now. I can take a message for the team." Then she records location, vehicle, payer and number. | Take a message, call summary |
The summary is emailed to your dispatcher, who enters the job in your dispatch software. Anna makes no call-back promise, so the message and the summary are the record. A confirmation text goes out only where the account has switched on caller texts, which is off by default, and a follow-up email is available for a caller who wants the details in writing.
Two rules sit above the script. If a caller says they or a passenger are hurt or in danger, Anna says "This sounds like an emergency. Please hang up and call 911 right now." and does not transfer the call. If a caller reports a fire or smoke, she tells them to get clear and call 911 and does not transfer the call. For calls you define as emergencies, such as a disabled vehicle blocking a lane, she makes a cold emergency transfer to your dispatch number with no qualifying questions first, and if nobody answers she says "I couldn't reach anyone right now. If anyone is in danger, hang up and call 911. Otherwise I can take a message for the team."
Tow dispatch intake checklist to copy into your setup
Anna asks what you tell her to ask. Paste this into a note, delete what you do not need and fill in the brackets.
TOW CALL INTAKE [ ] Safe? Anyone hurt or in danger: 911 line, no transfer [ ] Name and phone number (she reads the number back) [ ] Exact location: address or cross street; highway, direction, mile marker or exit; landmark [ ] Vehicle: year, make, model, color; plate if known [ ] What happened: won't start / flat tire / accident / lockout / out of fuel / stuck / other [ ] Drivable? Keys with the caller? On a roadway, in a lot, or in a lane? [ ] Destination (shop or address), if they know it [ ] Who is paying: insurance / motor club / direct / police or property-ordered [ ] Club or policy number, if the caller has it [ ] Anything the driver should know (low clearance, gated lot, locked wheels, AWD) RULES TO WRITE DOWN ONCE [ ] Dispatch number for transfers, and the hours it is answered [ ] Which situations count as emergencies (cold transfer, no questions) [ ] Your usual arrival window, in your own words [ ] Service area, and what to say outside it [ ] Price wording: "[hook-up fee and per-mile wording, or: the dispatcher quotes]" [ ] Calls to leave as a message: impound release, billing disputes, [your list]
Can Anna dispatch a truck?
No. Anna cannot assign a driver, see where your trucks are, or send a job to a driver's phone. She captures the details, transfers to the dispatch number on the account, or takes a message and emails your dispatcher a summary. Dispatch stays with your people and your software.
Can Anna give a caller an ETA?
Only the arrival window you write for her, such as "usually 30 to 60 minutes." She cannot see driver locations or traffic, so she does not give a live estimate. If a caller needs a firm time, she transfers to your dispatcher or takes a message with the details.
Can Anna handle insurance, motor club and cash calls differently?
She asks who is paying and records the answer, with any membership or policy number, in the call summary. She transfers to the one dispatch number on the account; she does not send the three call types to separate queues. Your dispatcher sorts them from the summary.
What does Anna do when a caller is in danger?
She tells them to call 911 and does not transfer the call. A caller who says a person is hurt or in danger is told to hang up and call 911 right now. A caller who reports a fire or smoke is told to get clear and call 911. She promises no call back.
What about impound and police-ordered tows?
Anna can state the lot address, hours and documents you list for impound release, and take a message for anything else. She cannot tell whether a police notification is genuine or dispatch the tow. If you class those calls as urgent, she transfers to your dispatch number with no questions first.
Does VantaWeb connect to Towbook, Omadi or Dispatch Anywhere?
No. VantaWeb has no connection to Towbook, Omadi or Dispatch Anywhere, and Anna creates no job in any of them. She emails your dispatcher a summary of location, vehicle, payer and number, and your dispatcher enters the job. If automatic job creation is a must-have, this is the wrong fit today.
Can Anna quote a price or take payment?
She can repeat the price wording you write, such as a hook-up fee and per-mile rate, or say that the dispatcher quotes. She cannot take a card number or any payment on a call, and she does not negotiate. Payment stays with your driver or your office.
What Anna does not do
- No humans sit behind Anna; a call she cannot resolve goes to your dispatch number or becomes a message.
- Anna does not take Spanish calls, and every call is handled in English.
- VantaWeb is not for healthcare use, PHI or HIPAA-covered calls, and Anna gives no medical advice.
- VantaWeb has no CRM or dispatch-software write-back. Nothing Anna captures appears in Towbook, Omadi or Dispatch Anywhere unless your dispatcher enters it.
- VantaWeb has no missed-call text-back, so nobody who hangs up gets a text from Anna.
- Anna does not dispatch trucks, give live ETAs, verify a motor-club membership, take payments or promise a call back.
Pick someone else if...
The cases below are better served elsewhere. Vendor details were read on each vendor's own page on 2026-10-18; verify them on a test call.
- You want a person on every call, day and night. Ruby sells receptionist plans from 50 minutes for $250 a month, covers after-hours, weekends and holidays, and says humans take every call (ruby.com/pricing, checked 2026-10-18).
- You want live answering with an AI option. Answering Service Care lists live plans from $40 a month plus $1.75 a minute and AI plans with 24/7 human escalation (answeringservicecare.com/pricing, checked 2026-10-18).
- You need someone to dispatch, quote live or take payment on the call. Anna does none of these; that is your dispatcher's job or a human service's.
- You need Spanish on the phone. Ruby lists Spanish and bilingual call handling at any hour (ruby.com/pricing, checked 2026-10-18).
What does a towing company pay for Anna?
A towing company that wants the phone covered pays $0.41 a minute plus $45 a month for the receptionist number. Website chat is $0.04 per message. There is no contract, setup is one time, and the pricing page lists every other figure.
To judge whether it pays for itself, put your own average job value into the missed-call calculator; our figures are examples until you replace them.
Sources
- US Bureau of Labor Statistics, QCEW open data, NAICS 488410, 2024 annual averages (checked 2026-10-18).
- US Bureau of Labor Statistics, QCEW establishment size classes and the 2024 Q1 size-class files (checked 2026-10-18).
- Ruby, Plans and pricing; Answering Service Care, Pricing (each checked 2026-10-18).
Book a towing service demo.
Describe how your dispatch works and we will go through which plan fits and how Anna would handle your calls.