Why Finance now?

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Reasonable questions, certainly, for tow-company owners to ask—but the answers might surprise you. According to the Equipment Leasing & Finance Association, seven of 10 businesses in the U.S. lease or finance their equipment—and you should consider these options, too. Leasing or financing can provide your firm with access to high-quality equipment that helps your company grow.

Working with an equipment leasing and finance firm like Advantage Funding, which specializes in the vocational equipment industry, you can apply to qualify for 100% financing, with no down payment. You can also take advantage of technology upgrades by changing out equipment every few years through a provision in your lease or finance contract.

There are other advantages to equipment leasing or financing as well. Tow operators can free themselves from the hassles of equipment remarketing and disposal, because we provide these services, too. What's more, we can simplify your billing, bundling costs into a single invoice, so you can make one payment every month.

Whether you need to refresh your fleet or replace a rusting tow truck, you owe it to your firm to consider equipment leasing or financing. Advantage Funding has served the tow industry since 1997 and is the largest independent Commercial Transportation Lender in the U.S. We know your business, and we have the flexibility to provide solutions when banks and others can't. Use us to your Advantage!


72%

The percentage of U.S.
Businesses that Lease
Or Finance Equipment

Deal Of the Month

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Small businesses, when viewed alone, do not have much power or influence. Often, these small businesses and others like them are unable to successfully push for the privileges to which they should be entitled as a business. With over 27 million small businesses operating in the United States, Rapport recognized the potential benefits of pooling together these individual purchasing powers.

CorpMatch is an online business-to-business networking group created for the purpose of saving small businesses money. CorpMatch levies the buying power of its 3000+ members and its expertise in negotiation to command discounts not normally available to small businesses.

Rapport started CorpMatch with the mission of bringing to small businesses the kinds of savings and discounts typically only available to large companies and corporations. Too many small businesses continue to shop for products and services as if they were regular consumers, and CorpMatch has set out to change these buying habits. By leveraging his own background in business and negotiation, Rapport initiated the program with just a few members and vendors. To date, the start-up has already signed up close to 3000 member businesses in just 6 months and inked discount programs with major companies such as Staples, AutoZone, Orbitz for Business, FedEx, NXGEN, TimeWarner Cable, Michelin, ADP, 1800Flowers, and USPS. By concentrating the purchasing power of thousands of small businesses under one umbrella, CorpMatch has created the largest non-industry specific trade association and lobbied for corporate rate pricing and discounts on everything from office supplies to tires.

By offering these discounted rates to its members, CorpMatch encourages small businesses to focus on saving. CorpMatch is developing a program that would allow it to become an educational tool for small businesses. Many small business owners fail to recognize how much money they are losing by purchasing goods and services as though they were typical consumers. However, they often lack the time or the manpower to search for and acquire the discounts they deserve. As a result, they end up paying in full or signing up for multiple programs that each provides only one of the discounts they need. CorpMatch provides a web platform where members can get all the discounts they need in one place.

The ultimate vision is for CorpMatch to create something of a “Small Business Land” where small businesses go for everything. The goal is for this medium to evolve into something of the world’s largest small business social network - a place where these small businesses can interact with one another, acquire a practical business education, access deals and discounts, share ideas, opinions and updates, and exchange products and services.

There are currently over 40 vendors that will provide you discounts as a member of Southwest Tow Operators. For a list of these vendors call Southwest Tow Operators today and start taking advantage of some great savings. 

STO Legislative Accomplishments

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Bills Passed	Bill number	Date
Implemented Certification Testing and Continuing Education for tow operators all over the state, including bi-lingual and oral testing. Helped thousands of tow operators comply with TDLR requirements and obtain proper licenses.	HB 2094	2007
Major Clean-Up Bill Reducing and Correcting current laws	SB 702	2009
Lobbied TDLR successfully for a fair minimum PPI tow fee ($250)	SB 1431	2009
Added Tow Trucks to MOVE OVER LAW	HB 378	2011
Lowered # of days to keep vehicles prior to sale from 72 to 45	HB 3510	2011
Major Clean-Up Bill Reducing and Correcting current laws	HB 3510	2011
Made tow hearing jurisdiction anywhere in county where vehicle was towed, eliminating need for VSF to list specific JP each time on letters and invoices	HB338	2013
Bills Killed:
Required VSF's to let 2 people on VSF lot to retrieve vehicle	HB 91	2009
Required VSF's to release stolen vehicles to owner at no charge	SB 46	2009
Allowed cities to regulate daily storage fees	HB 3087	2009
IM tow regulation: 1.required VSF to release cargo AT NO CHARGE with 1 hours notice 2. add trucking company and passenger commercial carrier reps to TOWING ADVISORY BOARD 3.required tow ticket to be prepared along with itemized bill to be presented to vehicle owner PRIOR to tow 4. required all IM tows to be reported to TDLR monthly	SB 1321	2011
If tow company lost tow hearing, they would have to pay vehicle owner AND STATE to reimburse tow and storage charges	HB 3553	2011
Vehicle purchaser would have to pay tax assessor $25 per car for each Storage Lein processed	SB 1036	2011
Allowed used car dealers to tow own vehicles without having a TDLR Tow Company/Operator license	SB 298	2013

Legislative Update 6-25-2014

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Legislative Update

It’s hard to believe that another legislative session for Texas will begin this January! I am so glad this occurs only once every two years. We have a lot of work ahead of us as usual!

And, don’t forget that Southwest Tow Operators is here working every day between sessions to make sure that the laws and rules are interpreted properly throughout the state by law enforcement and TDLR inspectors.

We need your support all year and every year to protect our industry! If you are not a member of Southwest Tow Operators, you need to join today. I know it’s hard to write that check when things are seemingly running along so smooth. Our full-time staff and lobbyist work all year to make sure that our members can concentrate on what they do best: TOWING! Also, we rely on test certification and continuing education funds to run our organization. Please make sure your drivers use STO for their testing and continuing education so we can continue to fight for our industry!

Here are some items we have been working on for you:

VSF 265 Storage Lein issues: We are working with DMV and tax assessors around the state to clear up the confusion on storage lein processing.

Tow Signs: We are working on new verbiage for tow signs law that will simplify the tow sign requirements and make it easier to comply with the law.

Registering Used Tow Trucks: We worked with TDLR to put some things in place so that registering a used tow truck is not such a hassle.

Rules and Statute simplification: TDLR has asked us to work with them to further simplify the rules and statutes. We are working on this project as I write this. If there are any rules or laws that you think should be completely eliminated, please email us as soon as possible.

We will be at Tow Expo International in San Antonio August 7-10 to do testing and education for the industry. Don’t miss our conference on Sunday where we will go over the Top Ten TDLR violations and how to comply with the most common violations.

Remember to SUPPORT YOUR ASSOCIATION THAT SUPPORTS YOU!

• Keep your membership current
• Consider upgrading to premium or executive membership if you are able
• Require that your drivers use STO for testing and continuing education
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God bless and safe travels!

Business Tips June 4, 2014

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IMPROVING EMPLOYEE MORALE

By Dan Messina

I was at a trade show in Baltimore and had just finished my seminar when a business owner came up to me and said he had a problem in his company. He went on to explain that he did not like his drivers and that they hated him. He is the owner of the company and yet he hates to go to work on a daily basis! When you have this type of environment everyone suffers. This includes people you are having a problem with as well as all the other employees. Eventually your customers will sense that the people pro- viding them with the service are unhappy. If you lose these customers, this will definitely end up costing your money.

With this in mind let’s take a look at some ways to improve the morale of your company:

   1. The first step to improve morale begins at the top with the employer/owner. You must recognize the value of your employees and realize that they are the ones who make you money. Many businesses have the attitude that employees are “a dime a dozen”. If one leaves, another can be found to take their place without too much trouble. While this may be true to some extent, the cost of advertising, interviewing and training a new employee can be cost prohibitive.

   2. Let your employees know they are appreciated. A simple pat on the back or a few words about a job well done will go a long way and it doesn’t cost you anything.

   3. Provide employee perks such as casual Friday, free lunches and cash bonuses or gift certificates. You might want to have a company softball team or a sponsored event for your employees. This makes the employees happy while you’re able to get some good advertising out of the event.

   4. Offer bonuses such as financial incentives, company cars or other prizes. This gives employees a goal to work toward and can create enthusiasm which is often contagious among employees. Open the lines of communication with employees to find out what kind of programs would get them motivated. This will also enable them to feel that they are an important contributing part of the company.

Read more: Business Tips June 4, 2014