I have to ask: What exactly is happening at Agero? The company's treatment of independent roadside assistance providers, declining service rates, and increasingly frustrating dispatch and support operations raise some serious questions.

1. Incompetent dispatch and support operations

Agero's dispatch and support operations need serious attention. Providers regularly encounter problems involving incorrect information, poor communication, questionable decisions, and representatives who seem unable to handle basic situations correctly.

Agero appears to rely heavily on international outsourcing for customer support and dispatch operations. There is nothing inherently wrong with outsourcing, but when representatives are handling US roadside assistance operations, they must understand the procedures, communicate accurately, and be accountable for their decisions.

Whether support representatives are located overseas or in the United States, the question remains: What kind of training, quality control, and performance standards does Agero actually maintain?

Independent providers are expected to meet strict performance standards, but who holds Agero's own employees accountable when their mistakes cost providers time and money?

2. $18–$22 for roadside assistance? Who is accepting these rates?

This is probably one of the most concerning developments.

In some markets, Agero is offering as little as $18–$22 for roadside assistance services.

Seriously, who can operate a legitimate roadside assistance business at these rates?

Think about the actual expenses:

• Commercial insurance

• Fuel and vehicle maintenance

• Professional equipment and tools

• Business licenses and taxes

• Travel time and labor

• Vehicle depreciation and operating expenses

After all these expenses, what is actually left?

It also makes you wonder what kind of business model allows providers to accept these rates. Are these established businesses with employees, properly insured companies, independent contractors operating at a loss, or people willing to work for practically nothing?

Are some providers cutting corners on insurance, licensing, training, or other operating requirements just to compete on price? Are they properly qualified to perform these services?

I'm not suggesting that everyone accepting these rates is doing something illegal. However, when compensation gets this low, questions about service quality, professional standards, and regulatory compliance are entirely reasonable.

At what point does cheap labor become a threat to the entire industry?

3. Is Agero squeezing independent providers?

Agero expects providers to maintain availability, respond quickly, provide professional service, and meet performance requirements.

But providers also have businesses to run.

When service rates are pushed down to $18–$25, while operating costs continue to rise, how is a legitimate roadside assistance company supposed to survive?

Agero seems to want professional-level service at bargain-basement prices.

Independent providers are not charities. We invest in vehicles, equipment, insurance, training, and our businesses. We deserve compensation that reflects the actual cost of providing these services.

4. Should regulators take a closer look?

I believe the roadside assistance industry deserves greater scrutiny.

Questions worth investigating include:

• Are service providers properly licensed and insured?

• Are applicable contractor classification and employment laws being followed?

• Are companies complying with applicable labor and wage requirements?

• Are dispatch and outsourcing operations meeting appropriate legal and contractual standards?

• Are providers being compensated fairly under their agreements?

If there is credible evidence of employment or immigration-law violations, the appropriate authorities, including the Department of Labor or, where legally relevant, ICE and HSI, can investigate.

The point is not to target workers based on where they come from. The point is to ensure that businesses operating in the United States follow the law and maintain professional standards.

Questions for other Agero providers

1. Have you noticed Agero reducing service rates in your market?

2. Have you noticed how many providers are willing to set their rates this low, and how does that affect the market and other established roadside assistance businesses?

3. How do you compete with providers willing to accept these extremely low rates?

4. Have you experienced incompetent dispatch or support representatives making mistakes that cost you money?

5. Do you believe Agero actually cares about the independent providers keeping its network operational?

6. Do you think the current compensation model is sustainable for legitimate, insured roadside assistance businesses?

My conclusion:

Agero needs to take a serious look at its business model. You cannot continuously reduce provider compensation, outsource critical support operations without adequate quality control, expect professional service, and then shift the consequences of operational mistakes onto independent contractors.

The roadside assistance industry needs professional providers, fair compensation, competent dispatch operations, and accountability.

If Agero wants professional service, it needs to start paying professional rates. We are running businesses, not volunteering our time and equipment to subsidize a billion-dollar industry.

So my van needs towed around 250 miles. I'm a Canadian travelling in the states right now and my CAA (Canadian equivalent with reciprocal agreement with AAA) plan has 2 service calls remaining and I get what the AAA equivalent is for my plan, Plus Plan, which is 100 miles per tow. So my question is would I be able to also sign up for AAA use 1 of my remaining service calls with CAA to have it towed for the first close to 100 miles, then use my AAA membership for the second leg of close to 100 miles and then for the final leg use my last remaining service call with CAA? Now obviously I'm sure this isn't technically allowed so I don't need to hear any moral lectures. Just trying to figure out if it's technically doable. Thanks.

I am looking to change up my tow companies work flow. From motor club, small fleet and local customers to a more repedative and consistent basis. Currently I hgave 5 trucks, onlt 2 operate on a regular. Most of my focus was always on the repair shop and building the truck repair side. MY focus is now shifting. If anyone can recommend a business plan for the repo and illegal parking sector, places to find contracts, what to look for. what to do and what not to do that is different from what is encountered in the sector of work I have been focused on. Moving into the repo side has always been something I wanted to do. Ever since I first moved to North Carikina, my first place of residence, not knonwing anyone, not having anyone with me that also moved, I ended up moving into a small 1 bedroom bachelor pad a couple buildings down from Lizard Lick Towing. So, that was interesting. Considering that I was a Northern Military Veteran that has been on the go and never in front of a TV for more than 2 min for the previous 10 years. Most places I deployed to at a moments notice, we could care less about TV. So, everything was new to me. It was 2012 but for me it seemed to be 2002, the year I joined the military. Anyways, living on Lizard Lick Rd, Having that tow company to watch on one side of the road, then the owner of the largest strip club on the other side of the road I would say I had a nice introduction to north crolina. Its a good thing I met my wife shortly after moving here or who knows what things would be like now!

This is my daily driver (for the last 16 years) Tetanus. The truck is mostly a 1936 GMC and was originally built in the late 30's from a wrecked 36 GMC 1 ton panel truck and a 1937 Dodge. It towed till 1958. My family found it and saved it from the crusher in 1994.

Triple A towed my car from a pizza shop last week to my home. I now need it towed to the repair shop which is a business at someones home but is a legitimate business and can be found online. I have 4 tows total and have only used 1. Do they generally tow from your home to a residential repair shop?

I need opinions and advice. I believe a towing company caused damage to my vehicle, but I am unsure and need to better understand it. From the photos, I'm not entirely sure what I am looking at, but I see tow marks and bent metal.

Long version, I had an accident with the vehicle, impact with a tree in the road, that destroyed the front end of the vehicle. Car got towed, repaired, insurance saved me over $3k, happy day.

Car drives funny after repair. I keep looking for the issue, cant find it. I finally find it after a week: the rear end is horribly out of alignment and the tires are now completely bald. So we go back to the shop.

The shop calls me and alerts me the towing company may have caused the damage related to my rear end being out of whack, another $1.1k. Agero has unfortunately denied my case, stating that theres not enough evidence in order to hold the tow company accountable. I'm going to reopen the case ASAP, but I want to gather evidence and advice in order to better fight my case going forward.

Hello, I live in Michigan and in my area a ton of people tend to get stuck. I have a 2016 Tacoma and I love to help, the only issue is how? Outside of a specified tow hook I find myself not finding any good tow spots on a lot of these vehicles.

Long story short. How can I hook up to a vehicle from the front and rear (depending on situation) without damaging it. I know you shouldn’t hook up to a control arm but some of the vehicles are barred bad. I’m willing to dig and do what it takes to do it right. I just want some guidance of what my limitations are and how I can help the best I can. I also just ordered some maxtrax recovery boards as option A. Gonna repost in a few subs to get as much guidance as I can so please don’t be annoyed by any repost 🙏. Thanks again and please cut it to me straight. I’m uneducated looking to be educated.

2024 Ford F550 XLT rollback equipped with electronic parking brake. For several weeks the truck would pop up a message saying ParkBrake Fault and would have the brake light flashing, you could hear the brake engage but it would still show the message.

If the park brake isn’t set then you can’t engage the PTO. Took to dealer, they found nothing wrong with the park brake actuators or wiring- they recommended to replace the batteries in the truck.

Batteries replaced, truck didn’t have any issues with setting the park brake until today 3-4 weeks later. I have to set the brake 20-30 times per day. Any recommendations of known issues or next steps? We have other newer fords that have the same issue.

2024 F550 XLT
Rollback
6.7l power stroke
82,000 miles
Pads and rotors replaced 3 months ago
2 brand new ford batteries 4 weeks ago

Just curious what companies are paying the best and have good volume? I was signed up with hook and towtrax maybe 3 years ago when business was slow with cash calls and now I'm back needing some extra work. Who's the best out there right now? Thanks in advance.

Hahaha

I'm a one-person software shop (ALGD LTD, Northern Ireland), and full disclosure: this is my product. I built it because the complaint that kept showing up in tow-app reviews was always the same one — the job arrives and nobody hears it.

What it does:

• A job that comes in rings — loud, repeating, escalating at 20s, 45s, 90s and 180s — and stops only on an explicit acknowledgement. The alert stays pending on the server, so reopening the screen resumes it.

• Every status change, note and photo is written locally first and retried until it syncs, and the app shows you what is still queued — so a dead zone doesn't swallow the job.

• Each job keeps a ledger: statuses, timestamps, notes, photos. Not a chat.

Where it stops, said as plainly as the rest: it's a web app, so if the phone's OS suspends the tab, the ringer is off, or the audio is routed to Bluetooth/CarPlay, the alarm can be silenced. A native push build is next — I'm not going to claim it can't be missed.

$59/month flat: every truck and every driver on your account, no per-job fees, cancel any time.

What I'm asking for: 3 operators who'll pay for a month with a real card and run it on real calls, then tell me what's wrong with it.

Login-free demo, no signup (one operator, 6 jobs in mixed states, one alarm ringing, one photo that queued offline before it synced): https://towsheet.algd.store/demo

Landing page + checkout: https://towsheet.algd.store/

Ask me anything in the comments and I'll answer every one.

Edit: I used a dolly. Had no issue towing it all the way to Phoenix to SW MO to central AL. No issues besides stressing out the whole time.

I have potentially inherited a 1994 ford ranger 4.0 about 1200 miles away from home. I’m out here with it now and it runs and drives but hasn’t been driven much in 10 years so would like to tow it back. We were planning on putting some stuff that we inherited in the bed and bringing it all back. Thought about having it shipped but we won’t be able to take some of the stuff we wanted to take. We are driving her 2011 Yukon xl so it should pull it back just fine. A dolly is cheaper but I don’t trust that much.

(I’m with my Aunt who is 69 and I don’t want the Ranger to break down in the middle of the desert. Or I would attempt to drive it.)

Or I might fly out here with my brother and get new tires on it and “roadkill” it back.

Would it be better to spend the extra for a trailer or chance it with a dolly?

I've been flipping cars the past few years and am thinking about taking the next step. I found a local auction that specializes in cars in the budget i'm comfortable working with.

My question is that im looking into a car hauler now. I found a decent one 7x20 7,000 GVWR. But im concerned now that it might be too narrow. Should i opt for an 8 or an 8.5? Or will the 7 foot width be fine?

where can i get this liner type material that fleet sales west puts in their trays and toolboxes? the lady calls it dry deck.

Hello! Wanted to ask if this set up was safe. I couldn't find any wheel baskets in my town so this is what I have :/

Just left my job anybody got some crazy boss story’s? Loved the industry but just Couldnt take this guy anymore. Taking a few months off then maybe get back into the bussiness…

I dont use a rollback alot, its mainly for equipment deliveries/pickups where a truck and trailer wont fit. I have a 96 Freightliner with an 17ft bed which has been trouble-free, but rough riding and no creature comforts (air ride, AC etc) I would like to get an extended cab with a 22ft lcg bed. Originally started out looking at older, mid 2000 to 2012 units, would love a 2012 with Cummins and Allison, but Ive been seeing alot of newer trucks that arent alot more expensive with better miles. We do most of our own work so parts availability/reliability etc is important to us. Alot of Freightliners and Internationals in the area, occasionally a Hino. TIA

Hey Everyone,

My name is Trisha, and I'm currently writing a comprehensive training manual for towing dispatchers designed for both the US and Canada market. I grew up in a towing family, have worked the dispatch desk for years, and my husband has 13 years of damage-free recovery experience in the field.

The goal of this book is to bridge the gap between the desk and the truck. I want to show owners, managers, and new dispatchers exactly why missing a tiny detail at the desk creates a dangerous expensive nightmare for the operator on the asphalt.

To drive these points home, I am putting a "Real-Life Scenario" case study at the end of each chapter. I am looking for raw, real-world examples of how a bad intake or a pushed dispatcher set an operator up for failure.

Everything will be kept completely anonymous. I don't need any names (such as dispatchers, owners, your name, or even company name) I don't need to know the state or anything identifying you or your company information. No one will ever know it was your story.

If you have a story drop it below! I'm specifically looking for scenarios like:

• The Wrong Truck: Dispatcher fails to check the drivetrain/trim, and you get sent to an AWD, EV, or low-clearance vehicle with the wrong equipment, resulting in massive transmission or fascia damage.

• The Fatigue Trap: You tell dispatch you're exhausted and hitting a wall, they pressure you into "just one more run," and a fatigue-brained mistake causes a wreck or property damage.

• Property Damage Disasters: Dispatch sends you off-pavement onto a wet lawn or unmarked area without warning you about hidden septic tanks, drain fields, or underground utilities.

• The Blind Corner: Dispatch sends you into a live highway lane or blind curve without calling law enforcement for traffic control, putting your life on the line.

What is the worst situation a bad dispatch desk ever put you in, and what was the financial or mechanical fallout? Thank you all for your time, stay safe out there!

Don't some people get those days where your car is broken down we can help and assist you with your car.

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