Tow truck aggregators: is it worth using a newfangled service
To make life easier for drivers who find themselves in a difficult situation on the road, when outside help is indispensable, enterprising startups launched tow truck aggregators, reminiscent of taxi ordering services in their functionality. What these sites are and whether they can be used, the AvtoVzglyad portal found out.
With taxi aggregators - services that combine several taxi companies - many Russians are familiar firsthand. As for the platforms to which roadside assistance services are connected, drivers still treat them with distrust. However, it is understandable: such sites began to appear quite recently - it will take time for them to win the favor of motorists or, on the contrary, leave the market.
WHAT YES HOW?
Tow truck aggregators work on the same principle as taxi services. The user downloads a mobile application to the smartphone, and, if necessary, enters information about the car, location, his contacts and sends an application. Further, the services promptly select the nearest technical assistance vehicles for the client, indicating the estimated cost of future loading.
PLUSES AND MINUS
Such services have a lot of advantages. Firstly, the driver does not need to call the evacuation services, specifying the approximate time of arrival and price tags. Secondly, the selection of free cars takes place in a matter of minutes. Thirdly, the user - as in the case of taxi aggregators - sees reviews about employees. He has the opportunity to choose the performer with the highest ratings, which most likely will not spoil the mood and will not damage the “swallow”.
However, there is one very significant disadvantage that crosses out all the advantages of such platforms - the overpriced price of the service. And although the authors of the projects claim that the interactions of direct performers with services do not affect the final price of evacuation in any way, this is not at all the case, as the correspondent of the AvtoVzglyad portal, whose car treacherously stalled in the middle of the road, was personally convinced.
HOW MUCH?
Looking for a tow truck, the author of these lines first turned to the largest aggregator of technical assistance services today. For the transportation of a “tired” passenger car from the Western District of Moscow to the South-Eastern District, the service asked for about 3000 rubles, and this was the lowest possible price. The same companies that work directly with drivers, without any single platforms, offered their services for 2000 rubles. The difference is significant, isn't it?
IS THERE ANY REASON?
What is the bottom line? If you do not feel sorry for the money, and you need a tow truck as soon as possible, then it is better to use an aggregator. Since thousands of machines are connected to such services, a free one will actually be found faster, and you will have to wait less for it. Transportation not "burning"? Then start looking for a loader yourself - this way you will save your hard-earned money.
When choosing from large companies and private tow trucks, stop at the first ones. In the case of the latter, although they are cheaper, there is a risk of running into incompetent specialists, for whom injuring a car during loading and unloading is a common thing.
