A call comes in at eleven at night. The caller is on a hard shoulder, lorries are passing a metre away, she is still in the driver's seat, and she is asking how much recovery costs.
The price is the last thing that matters. Where she is sitting is the first.
Safety comes before commerce
The first response to a fast road breakdown is the official safety guidance and the correct emergency contact route, not a quote. Publishing that, and having it given immediately, is a matter of responsibility rather than marketing.
Motorway access is restricted
Recovery on motorways and certain fast roads is controlled, and callers must be routed through the correct authority. Saying so plainly prevents somebody waiting for a firm that cannot legally attend.
Example conversations
These scripts use information a recovery firm might publish. Your answers should come from your own pages and should direct people to official guidance.
Caller: I have broken down on the motorway, how much to recover me? Assistant: Please follow the official safety guidance first and contact the relevant emergency number, because motorway recovery is arranged through them rather than directly. Our page explains the route. Are you in a safe place away from traffic?
Caller: I am on a dual carriageway slip road, can you come? Assistant: Our page sets out which roads we can attend and how it is arranged. The most useful thing now is your exact location including which direction you were travelling and the nearest marker or junction. I will pass this straight to the duty controller.
Caller: I am on a normal road, car will not start. Assistant: The page shows our coverage area, typical response times and how recovery is priced. Could you give me the postcode or a nearby landmark, the make and model, whether it is drivable and whether anyone is with you?
Get location before anything else
Direction of travel, nearest junction, marker post or distinctive landmark. A postcode is often useless on a fast road and the wrong direction sends a truck twenty miles the wrong way, which is the problem in breakdown location questions that slow a response.
Ask who is with the vehicle
Children, older passengers, anybody with a medical condition and whether an animal is in the car. It changes the priority and it changes what the driver needs to be told.
Ask what the vehicle is
Make, model, whether it is drivable, whether it is in gear or locked, whether the wheels turn and any modifications. It decides which vehicle is dispatched.
Publish your coverage honestly
Which roads, which areas, which hours and where you cannot attend. Somebody stranded needs to be sent elsewhere in seconds rather than left waiting.
Publish response time realistically
A range by area and time of night. An honest ninety minutes is better than an optimistic thirty followed by two hours of anxious calls.
Night calls are a different operation
They are covered in breakdown recovery requests late at night, and the same out of hours urgency appears in heating breakdowns that arrive on the coldest nights.
Distressed callers need a person
Anyone frightened, hurt or in danger needs a human immediately, which is the discipline in how to handle sensitive questions in your chatbot.
Getting started
Publish your coverage, the restricted road routing and the official safety guidance, then capture location, occupants and vehicle at any hour. SpideyChat for automotive businesses answers from your published pages. Try SpideyChat on your own site, or read about capture on the features page.