Volvo Trucks adds digital, advanced roadside assistance service

ORLANDO, Florida—Volvo Trucks North America (VTNA) is adding a new service tracking feature to its Volvo Action Service roadside assistance program later this year that will provide 24/7 customer service access from a team of 50 people stationed at Volvo's Greensboro uptime center. 

This spring, some Volvo Trucks vendors will begin onboarding the service to enhance customer experiences during unplanned stops. That team of Volvo specialists monitor trucks constantly as they move across the continent, Ashley Murickan, VTNA product marketing manager, told FleetOwner during American Trucking Associations' Technology & Maintenance Council event on March 7.

The hope is that team would be able to alert drivers and fleets of fault code problems before the trucks need roadside assistance. But if they do, the service tracker will offer a "convenient and modernized experience for our customers, but it will also help our highly trained Volvo Action Service employees be more efficient,” Murickan said. “As nearly every form of communication is digital, we are going above and beyond to provide complete visibility and elevated roadside assistance for our customers.”

The Volvo Action Service tracking feature offers operational advantages such as efficiency gains, automatic dispatching, and enhanced insights for the preferred vendor network. For customers and roadside assistance vendors, the new connectivity features enable Volvo Action Service employees to expedite getting the driver back up and running by:

• Providing transparency through accurate, real-time updates throughout a breakdown event.
• Improving estimate time of arrivals (ETAs) for roadside assistance vendors by leveraging a digitized preferred vendor network.
• Modernizing service experiences with higher visibility and live tracking of the provider’s location via an interactive map—similar to rideshare platforms.
• Reducing the number of phone calls to customers by giving them the option to communicate directly via text throughout the breakdown event.

Because drivers won't be stuck on the phone while waiting for roadside service, it will free them up to do other things while they wait, Murickan said. 

The feature also shows customer transparency and ensures safe and precise communications through connectivity by offering visibility of the provider truck, name, and contact information, according to VTNA.

The ETA also updates live traffic conditions and job progress for even further insights to both customers and the certified experts at the Volvo Uptime Center in Greensboro, North Carolina, which provides all Volvo Trucks customers around-the-clock assistance across North America.

“This new technology serves as a true milestone in our efforts to improve customer productivity and uptime,” said Magnus Gustafson, VP of aftermarket quality and operations at VTNA. “Volvo Action Service plays a critical role in keeping us ahead of the curve in the connectivity space, and this added tracking feature will enable Volvo Trucks to deliver on a high-quality customer experience.”

This article originally appeared on FleetOwner.com.