24-Hour Truck Tire Service: What a Dispatcher Should Have Ready

Most delays on a tire call happen before the technician leaves. Somebody has to find out what size the tire is, whether the unit is loaded, who can approve the work, and where exactly the unit is. Each of those questions is easy in the office on a quiet morning and hard at night with a driver on a shoulder.

A dispatcher who answers them in advance turns every breakdown into the same short call. The national roadside assistance page lists what each call needs. This article covers how to have it ready before the call ever happens.

For each tractor, trailer and straight truck in the fleet, keep one page or one record that shows:

• The unit number and type.
• The tire size at every position: steer, drive and trailer axles.
• The wheel type, steel or aluminum, and the mounting system if units differ.
• Any position running a retread, and any non-standard fitting.

Keep a copy in the cab and one in dispatch. When a driver reports "right rear drive, outside," the dispatcher can give the size immediately instead of asking the driver to read a sidewall at night.

Standardizing tire sizes across the fleet makes this sheet shorter and makes it more likely that a nearby store has the tire on hand. Building a fleet tire program covers standardization in more detail.

The quickest service usually comes from the location nearest the unit, so know in advance which location that is for each stretch your units run. Purcell offers 24-hour roadside assistance at 48 locations across 12 states, and each location page lists its phone number and address.

Build a simple route list: for each regular route, the stretches it covers and the nearest location with roadside service for each stretch, with the phone number beside it. Review it when routes change.

A technician cannot start work until someone with authority says yes. Settle these questions in writing:

• Who can approve a roadside call, and up to what amount without further approval.
• Who to call if that person is unavailable.
• Whether a replacement tire should be new or a retread, by position.
• What happens if the wheel or another part also needs replacing.
• How the work is billed.

A fleet account settles most of this once. Fleet services at Purcell includes terms and authorization agreed in advance, which is what lets a call move straight to the work.

A technician on the way may need to confirm the exact location or ask about the tire. Make sure the driver's phone stays charged and reachable, that the dispatcher has the number, and that the driver knows to share a location pin rather than a description where possible.

When a breakdown comes in, the dispatcher's job is to pass on clean information. A short script helps keep it consistent:

1. Unit number and type.
2. Location: road, direction, nearest mile marker or exit, or a location pin.
3. Position: axle, side, inside or outside on a dual.
4. Size, from the unit sheet.
5. Loaded or empty, and what the load is if it matters.
6. Whether the unit was driven after the failure.
7. Authorization: the name and the approval.
8. A number for the driver and one for dispatch.

Read it back to the location before ending the call.

Every roadside call is information about the fleet. Record the unit, the position, the cause if known, and what was fitted. A pattern of failures at one position, on one route or on one unit points at a cause worth fixing: pressure, alignment, a damaging site or a wheel that keeps leaking.

Ask whether the failed casing can be retreaded, and record the answer. Tire tracking and fleet reporting explains how to turn these records into figures a fleet can act on.

A roadside call that never happens costs nothing. Regular inspections, pressures checked cold and tires pulled before they wear through all reduce failures on the road. Where a fleet has many units at one yard, mobile service can handle planned tire work on site, at a time the fleet chooses.