Never Miss a Towing Call Again — An AI Dispatcher for Towbook Shops

What Tow Deputy Does Before Towbook Ever Sees the Call

Towbook is where a job lives once it exists. Tow Deputy's job is everything that happens before that — answering the phone, running the intake, and getting the caller to a quoted, qualified job. That's the half of the workflow an AI towing dispatcher can genuinely own today:

• 24/7 pickup, no voicemail. Tow Deputy answers every call in under two seconds, day or night, including the 12 AM–6 AM window most towing companies can't staff.
• Structured intake, not a message slip. The AI asks towing-specific questions — vehicle year, make, model, drivetrain, problem type, exact pickup and drop-off location — and resolves landmark-based directions into a real address.
• Exact price quoting from your rate card. Base hook-up fee, per-mile rate, vehicle-class surcharges, and after-hours fees are quoted to the caller in real time, using pricing you control from your own dashboard.
• SMS deposit collection via Stripe. The AI can send a secure, PCI-compliant SMS payment link during the call and collect a deposit straight into your Stripe account, so you're paid before a driver leaves the yard.

All of that happens whether or not you use Towbook at all. For Towbook shops specifically, it means the call has already been answered, priced, and often paid for by the time you sit down to open Towbook.

How the Towbook Workflow Works Today

We're not going to describe a connection that doesn't exist. Here is the actual, current workflow for a Tow Deputy customer who dispatches out of Towbook:

1. A caller reaches your number. Tow Deputy's AI answers and runs the intake conversation described above.
2. The moment the call ends, you receive the complete job — every field below — by SMS and inside your Tow Deputy dashboard.
3. You open Towbook and create the call yourself, typing in the details Tow Deputy already gathered.

There is no live sync, no webhook, and no automatic job creation inside Towbook today. What changes is what you're doing at that keyboard: you're transcribing an already-complete, already-priced job instead of interviewing a caller while trying to drive, take notes, and quote pricing from memory at the same time.

Here's exactly what arrives in your SMS and dashboard for every call, ready to copy into Towbook:

• CallerName and callback number
• VehicleYear, make, and model
• DrivetrainFWD, RWD, AWD, or 4x4
• Problem typeBreakdown, accident, lockout, flat tire, winch-out, or fuel delivery
• Pickup locationExact address, resolved from landmarks or highway exits if needed
• Drop-off destinationWhere the vehicle is headed
• Quoted priceCalculated live from your rate card
• Deposit statusPaid or not collected, if deposits are enabled

Native Towbook Sync: What We're Building

A native, two-way Towbook integration — one where a completed AI call creates the job inside Towbook automatically, with no manual entry — is on our roadmap. It is not built yet, and we'd rather tell you that plainly than sell you a connection that doesn't exist.

If you run Towbook and want to be first in line when native sync ships, tell us on a setup call and we'll reach out the moment it's ready. There's no obligation and no charge for being on the list.

Why Towbook Users Add an AI Dispatcher

Towbook manages a job once it exists — drivers, routing, invoicing, records. What it doesn't do is answer your phone. That gap is where jobs disappear:

• Roughly 80% of emergency callers hang up and call the next towing company on the list if no one answers.
• A missed after-hours call costs an average of $150 in lost lockout or local-tow revenue.
• A single overnight human dispatcher shift runs $3,000–$4,500 a month; Tow Deputy's Starter plan is $99/mo.
• Owner-operators lose calls simply because they're winching a car out of a ditch when the phone rings.

An AI dispatcher for Towbook users doesn't replace Towbook — it makes sure there's a priced, qualified job to put into Towbook in the first place.

If you're weighing this against putting a person on the phone, the cost of staffing a tow truck dispatcher lays out the arithmetic, and the AI receptionist comparison puts it next to a traditional answering service.

Towbook + Tow Deputy FAQs