|
Towmark FAQs
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
| Why does Towmark III cost so much less than the competition? |
| Software does not have to cost thousands of dollars. Our software
gives you everything you need to run your business, with billing,
statements, impound lot management, lien sales, driver commissions,
accounting, vehicle maintenance, and more. We constantly add features
to the program, and give updates to current customers. The money you
save can be better spent on equipment for your business. There are
no hidden costs to our software. $799 buys the package, and there
is no annual fee. Telephone support is just $85/year. |
| |
| What does Towmark III do? |
| You can use the Towmark Computer Program to track Tow
Jobs and Repair/Shop Tickets, generate Statements and Invoices, and
print reports. The program offers Lot Management, Lien Sales, Police
information, Vehicle Maintenance, and a built in Accounting package.
The Dispatching screen shows all trucks on the road, scheduled jobs,
and status, and is color coded to show missed ETAs. Live Dispatching
to an alphanumeric pager is included, and the system also includes
password protection with (4) access levels. Accounting entries are
made automatically, you can print financial statements, Invoices,
and account summaries at will. Program also produces correspondence
on computer generated letterhead. All entry is in a fill-in-the-blank
format, and entries are made with your mouse and keys as in any Windows
application. |
| |
| You Get:.. |
| |
| Dispatching, Billing (including automatic calculation of Storage,
Mileage, and Late fees), Impound Letters and user correspondence,
Truck and Driver statistics, Vehicle Maintenance, and complete A/R,
Cash Accounting with A/P, GL, Income Statement, and User adjustable
Chart of Accounts. |
| |
| Do I need any special forms or stationery? |
| No. Towmark III is designed to print on plain paper so you don’t
have additional costs of buying forms and supplies to use the product.
One exception to that is the OneForm Standard Mailer. This is an optional
form (you could use the program’s lien letters instead), exclusively
available from One Form Certified Mailers (800) 272-2712. |
| |
| What kind of training do I need? |
| The program records fuel and repair expenses, and tells
you how much per mile it is costing you to operate the vehicle, and
how much you should be charging per mile to recover your investment
in that truck. It automatically reminds you, every time you turn the
program on, when maintenance is due, tags are expiring, or other work
needs to be done on each truck. If you ever have to prepare for a
DOT audit or if you are asked to produce maintenance records on a
particular truck, the computer will give you a typed maintenance log
between any two dates |
| |
| Is a demo Available? |
| Yes. You can download the demo from this web site, or we will be
happy to mail you a CD. Either send an e-mail with the company address,
or you can call us to request a demo. The manual for this program
can also be downloaded from this web site, but you need Adobe Acrobat
to read it. If you don’t have Adobe Acrobat, you can download the
latest version from this web site. See our download
page. |
| |
| Are updates available after I buy? |
| Yes. Updates are available periodically. Check our download
page for the latest software. |
| |
| What do I need to get started? |
| A PC-compatible computer running Windows 98 ME, NT, 2000 or XP,
along with any Windows compatible printer. |
| |
| Do you offer payment options? |
| Yes. We have a payment plan available. We also accept most major
creid cards or we can ship COD. Contact us for details. |
| |
| How do I order? |
| Contact us at (800) 379-1865 or got to the
CCS Online Store |
| |
|
Technical
Questions
|
|
|
| |
| |
| Will the program tell me when to send notices? |
| Yes. Every time you go into the program, the automatic update calculator
will increase the storage on every car in your lot through the current
date, and tell you which letters need mailed, what trucks need maintenance,
and which Drivers need attention. Storage can be different for different
vehicles (see Fee Calc in the manual) |
| |
| Can Driver commissions be different on different calls? |
| Yes. Even if you enter your Driver’s normal commission rate under
System Settings, it can be different (or none) on any vehicle. Each
tow ticket allows up to (3) drivers and gives the opportunity to change
commissions. |
| |
| What if I pay commission only on the towing? |
| Not a problem. Under System Settings you can indicate which charges
count toward the commission (Towing, Hookup, and up to 7 additional
choices) |
| |
| Can I customize my invoices? |
| To a point. You have Towing, Mileage, Storage, and Tax locked in
on each ticket. You can change the remaining (7) listings (Dolly,
Winching, Labor, etc.) to anything you want under System Settings.
You have (4) possible Invoice and Statement formats available when
you get ready to do your billing, and you can use different ones for
different customers. |
| |
| I have an accounting program. Will this replace it? |
| No. Towmark III’s accounting was designed for non-accountants, and
takes entries in a “checkbook style” format. It will print an Income
Statement, Accounts Receivable and Payable, and summaries by expense
category (cost center), but will not print checks, calculate withholding
on your payroll, and track non-cash expenditures such as depreciation.
It is a cash based system. Money in, money out. |
| |
| I have an Accountant. Will this replace him/her? |
| Absolutely not. If you ever get audited, you want somebody to drag
in there with you, and he may also catch errors in your work as another
set of eyes. You also need somebody to prepare year-end reports, taxes,
and all the other detailed paperwork that goes with running a business.
On the other hand, however, this accounting program can make it easier.
You can run a printout before you take him the records, and have a
ballpark idea how you did, and since all printouts are organized regardless
of how sloppy you were in entering data, he can prepare your returns
in a fraction of the time it would take to go through all of your
receipts. Customers have reported that the time it took their accountant
to prepare their taxes went from 3 weeks to 4 days by having everything
organized when they turned it in. You also have the ability to print
an income statement for any period of time, at any time. How did the
business do today, or last week compared to the same week last year?
All you have to do to get this information is specify the dates you
want, and press “Print”. |
| |
| Why should I enter truck expenses? |
| You need to enter truck expenses if you want to know how much the
truck is costing you to operate. The program will calculate how much
you are earning with that truck, what you are spending on the truck,
and how much you need to charge per mile to recover your investment.
You can post totals periodically instead of each gas and repair ticket,
as long as the total dollars are entered. |
| |
| Is Password Protection available? |
| Yes. Select "Full Access" for yourself, "Supervisor Access" should
be for everything except changing system settings, "Clerk Access"
for entry only, or "No Access" for people who don’t need to be in
the system at all. The clerk can enter new tickets, look up cars,
and answer questions when customers call in. The clerk can’t delete
or change a ticket once entered, can’t print reports, look at your
customers or financial information, and can’t see the commission rates
paid to drivers. |
| |
| Can I pre-enter rates for Drivers and Customers? |
| Yes. Driver commissions are entered under System Settings, Customer
rates are entered under “Enter/Edit Customers” under the “Establish
Standard Charges” button. These can be changed on a case-by-case basis
on a tow ticket without changing the amount you preset. |
| |
| Can I use my own Lien Letter? |
| Absolutely. The program comes with a dozen letters you can use or
change, or you can also write your own. Once the letters are written,
they are printed under the “Enter Vehicles/Billing” button on the
main menu under the option labeled “Billing & Notices”. You can
also use (if desired) the standardized “OneForm Certified Mailers”
by selecting that option under the “Print Letters” tab. These forms
are available for every state. |
| |
| Does this program do Dispatching? |
| Yes. The “Pending” screen shows all calls that are not yet completed,
along with what driver is involved, location, vehicle, and status.
You can send this information to any alphanumeric pager from within
the system by entering the Driver number or initials on the ticket,
and pressing the button labeled “Send Page.” |
| |
| Tax is different in my state. |
| Not a problem. You have the ability, under “System Settings” to
establish the tax rate (if any), and then indicate which charges are
taxable. In one state parts and labor may be taxed, and the next state
only storage is taxable. You decide, and if things change, you can
modify this information at any time. |
| |
| My state has different requirements for Lien Sales. |
| Also not a problem. Under System Settings you type in how many days
until you must send the first notice, second notice, and then how
many days until the car can be sold. The program will automatically
project dates for each impounded vehicle by adding the proper number
of days to the date towed/impounded, and then the computer will nag
you until you actually mail the letters. Have a company doing all
this for you? It’s still a good idea to enter all the days and let
the computer remind you when letters are due. That way you can nag
the company that is doing this for you, and things don’t fall through
the cracks in the notification process. |
| |
| Can I backup Towmark III to a CD? |
| Yes. You can back up Towmark III to a CD using any of the popular
CD writing programs such as Roxio's Easy CD Creator, Ahead Software's
Nero or by using Windows XP's Writable CD folder. To backup from within
Towmark III, you must use a rewritable CD and format it, then configure
Towmark III to back up to the correct drive. |
| |
| To make a backup using Window's Writable CD folder, do the following: |
| |
- Place a blank CD in your CD writer
- When Window's asks 'What do you want to do?' select 'Open Writable
CD Folder' and click OK
- Open the 'My Computer' icon on the desktop, then double click
on the 'C Drive'
- Find the Wintow folder, drag the wintow folder from the 'My
Computer' window and drop it into the writable CD folder that
you opened previously.
- Select 'Write These Files to CD' and follow the wizard to complete
the CD writing process
|
