Thomas Boughton, President
Can you give me a little bit of the history of your company and how it became involved in offering roadside assistance programs?
Driven Solutions has been providing automotive products & services for over 65 years. The company currently operates under two names: Dominion Automobile Association (DAA) in Canada, and in the United States as United States Auto Club, Motoring Division (USAC/MD). Driven is the only fully licensed auto club operational in all 50 U.S. states and Canada, including the U.S.Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.
Driven is one of the leading providers of emergency roadside assistance and recovery services in the North America. Now serving more than 5 million members, DAA has a 65-year story of financial stability, operational excellence and unrelenting focus on customer satisfaction. It pioneered many innovations such as roadside assistance tower background and drug testing, vendor-scoring models, digital dispatching, automated call back confirmation, internet reporting and invoicing, and direct deposit payments to service providers. Moreover, Driven is the only auto club and service supplier/ administrator in the to be certified by the International Organization of Standardization (ISO) 9001:2000 along with PCI Certification in 2010.
How do you distinguish your product offerings from your competitors? What makes you different?
One, we are the only true North American Solution with both U.S. and Canadian auto clubs provided in English, Spanish and French.
Two, the quality of service from our total call ownership to the customized services such as vehicle reunites and branding capabilities on the service. Driven’s focus on operational excellence and unrelenting focus on customer satisfaction comes with our company-owned call centers. To our contracted and managed tow network, that is not flipped for $.05 for a hook rate for a tenured tower or service provider that delivers the end service. And we require and facilitate drug/alcohol and background checks on our service providers and towers.
Moreover, Driven is the only auto club and service supplier/administrator has been certified by the International Organization of Standardization (ISO) 9001:2000 along with current Level 1 PCI Certification from 2010 to present.
Where do you focus your sales efforts when it comes to selling this service? EG: direct sales via dealers/agents; bundled with service contracts, etc. What would you consider your primary sales channel to be?
Our primary sales channel is through VSC/Warranty/Agents/Brokers in both the Auto and P&C Insurance verticals today.
How important is technology to your business? Where could technology add even more efficiencies to your products and processes?
We use every bit of the latest technology in our two 24x7 emergency roadside call center that leverages the latest mapping and geo locating technologies, to having three different iPhone applications in the market today. At the end of the day, we have learned it doesn’t replace a phone call from a live person saying, “has our towing provider arrived” because every second feels like an hour to someone on the side of the road in adverse weather or traffic conditions. The personal touch wins every time – no matter how much technology we add that touch point with the customer is key to managing the process.
Where do you see the most growth potential for roadside assistanceproducts in the future? What changes, if any, do you believe the product will see in the next 5-10 years?
The highest growth segments we believe will be with the new and used car growth trends coupled, with the changing automotive technology and P&C insurance industry.
