A tow service loads vehicles after accidents, breakdowns and parking violations, and often keeps them in an impound lot. Owners and insurers may later claim that a scratch or a dent happened during towing. Without dated photos of the vehicle before loading, you cannot show that the damage was already there.
Photograph the vehicle before loading and after unloading
Create a category for the stage of the job, with tags (previously called types) such as Before loading and After unloading, and set it to require at least one tag. Every photo has a trusted timestamp and GPS position, so you can show the vehicle’s condition at both moments. See Grouping tags into categories.
Example: before loading a parked car, the driver photographs all four sides and an existing dent, and repeats the photos after unloading it at the impound lot.
Make each tow order a project
Create a project for each tow order, with your order number or the police or insurer reference as the custom ID. The driver attaches it to every report, so all photos of one vehicle are in one place. See Grouping reports by project.
Send drivers a task with the location
Give the driver a task for each job. Set the task location. Write in the description what to do, for example “Silver hatchback blocking the garage entrance, take it to the impound lot”. See Creating and assigning tasks.
Track the impound with statuses
Use statuses for the office work, for example Towed, In impound, Released to owner and Invoiced. Each change is kept in the status history. See Tracking report progress with statuses.
Hide other licence plates before sharing
Photos taken on the street often show other cars and people. Before you send a report to an insurer or owner, censor licence plates and faces that do not belong to the case. The original photo is kept. See Editing images.
Which features to use
| Feature | Use it? | How |
|---|---|---|
| Projects | Yes | One per tow order, order or reference number as custom ID |
| Tasks | Yes | One per job, with GPS location and instructions |
| Statuses | Yes | The impound and invoicing workflow |
| Venzeo™ Request | Sometimes | Ask the vehicle owner to confirm its condition with photos |
| Places of interest | Sometimes | Your impound lot and regular customer sites |
| Email alerts | Sometimes | A Damage found tag to the office |
| Assets | Rarely | Only when you track your own tow trucks |
To ask the vehicle owner for photos without the app, see Requesting photos from someone outside your team by SMS.