AutoReturn Partners With San Diego

We featured AutoReturn in the October issue when they partnered with the city of San Fransisco (Click here to read the October issue of Footnotes.) They're now contracted with San Diego. Here's the press release:

City of San Diego Partners with AutoReturn

Towing Logistics Company to Alleviate Administrative Burdens and Help Streamline City Towing Process with Computer Operated Towing Dispatch Center

AutoReturn, a towing management and logistics company, has announced a two-year contract with the city of San Diego . Using proprietary GPS-enabled technologies, AutoReturn will improve tow response times and track towed vehicles from initial dispatch through final disposition. AutoReturn’s towing management process allows citizens to find their vehicles faster and easier through a user-friendly Web search or an automated phone system integrated with the City’s 311 system.

“AutoReturn presented us with a solution that will improve our towing operation” said David Ramirez, executive assistant chief of the San Diego Police Department. “AutoReturn will shorten tow response times and reduce the administrative burden on our police department, allowing us to focus on core services while increasing our oversight and control of this important city service. As a result of California Assembly Bill 2210, municipalities are now required to collect certain information about vehicles towed from private property. AutoReturn will deploy technology and processes to record required information on each private property tow, replacing the current manual system. Citizens will soon be able to find vehicles towed from private property via phone or Internet and the City will know that proper procedures have been followed.

“We’re looking forward to working with the City of San Diego to improve its municipal towing operation” said John Wicker, chief executive officer of AutoReturn. “This partnership is an example of how government and the private sector can work together to improve service and reduce costs at the same time.”

AutoReturn is currently operating under municipal contracts in San Francisco and Baltimore County .

About AutoReturn AutoReturn is the leader in municipal towing management and logistics solutions, partnering with municipalities and existing local tow operators to help achieve efficiency, superior service, and increased cost recovery. AutoReturn was formed in 2002 to revolutionize the municipal towing industry. Recognizing the presence of a common set of problems in municipal towing across the country, AutoReturn realized that a new type of company was required, a municipal towing management company. In March of 2004 AutoReturn assumed overall responsibility for towing, storage, customer service and unclaimed vehicle disposal for the approximately 70,000 annual tows under exclusive contract with the City and County of San Francisco . AutoReturn has made sizable investments in technology, repeatable processes, training programs and other infrastructure.