National Trend by "Smart Cities" and Law Enforcement to Implement Vehicle Towing Management

SAN FRANCISCO, March 21, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Smart City" movement is aimed at improving how governments increase quality of life by using technology to improve the efficiency of services and meet residents' needs. One of the most recent smart city examples is how municipalities are turning to AutoReturn, a vehicle towing management company, to automate the entire life cycle from the dispatch request through storage and retrieval for agencies and their citizens.

In the past year, AutoReturn has won contracts in Austin, Denver, San Francisco, and Las Vegas.

The company's success is in relieving cities and police of the day-to-day administrative burden of managing towing operators--from contracts and performance monitoring to licensing and auditing. And, the company automates what was a manual process for police communication and 911 centers allowing them to focus on other law enforcement activity.

"We're a technology-enabled services company, not a towing company.  We don't own a single tow truck and never will," said AutoReturn CEO John Wicker. "Instead our platform works efficiently with professional, locally-owned, existing tow operators. We provide our logistics platform and expertise to achieve success for local government agencies and improved services to residents."

AutoReturn's cloud/smartphone-based logistics platform, coupled with its 24x365 dispatch and partner support centers, and in-house development and integration capabilities, drives better value and higher return for cities and police departments than any other model.

In 2016, the 12-year-old company is achieving large success as the growth of the smart cities movement takes hold.

Last week the San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously agreed to a new five-year, multi-million-dollar contract for AutoReturn to provide the city with continued use of AutoReturn's innovative municipal towing management and logistics program. The contract has an option to extend for an additional five years.

AutoReturn systems and processes in San Francisco and other cities have improved every step in the municipal towing lifecycle. The results are minimized wait times, decreased secondary accidents, improved officer safety, reduced emissions, increased traffic flow, reduced burden on dispatch and 911 centers, improved customer service, reduced claims and complaints, and millions of dollars of savings to the San Francisco transit authority and police department.

AutoReturn also makes it easier for citizens to find and release towed vehicles. AutoReturn's system allows car owners to find vehicles through a user-friendly web search or an automated phone system, backed by a 24-hour service center. Queue management and trained multilingual staff result in average wait times of under 90 seconds and average release processing times under five minutes.

"Working with AutoReturn is an easy decision for smart cities," said San Francisco Supervisor Aaron Peskin, "San Francisco enjoys the benefit of working with proven companies who can increase service and at the same time reduce costs with technology and innovation."

"Our solution changes the way cities think about municipal services," said Wicker. "AutoReturn brings state-of-the-art logistics capabilities to police and transit departments making the process a lot easier for everyone."

About AutoReturn

AutoReturn is the nation's leading municipal towing logistics company through its world-class technology, 24x365 dispatch command center and system integration capabilities.  It has addressed the common set of problems that have historically plagued municipal towing – long towing wait times, vehicle damage, property loss, accounting issues, lost city revenue, little or no transparency, and poor customer service.

AutoReturn collaborates with municipalities and existing local tow operators to help achieve efficiency, superior service, and decreased costs. The company was formed to revolutionize the municipal towing industry and is an innovator and investor in technology, repeatable processes, training programs and other infrastructure. AutoReturn's platform is used in Austin, Baltimore County, Concord (CA), Denver, Indianapolis, Kansas City, San Diego, and soon Las Vegas.

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SOURCE AutoReturn