It’s peak time for vehicle breakdown services

Driving in the rain and your vehicle shudders to a stop? Fret not. You can call 24-hour breakdown support services, and they reach you within 30 minutes.

Those riding two-wheelers and driving four-wheelers make hundreds of SOS calls every day. Flat tyres and battery problems top their list of complaints.

The two major players currently offering 24/7 services in Bengaluru are ‘Rescue Roadside Assistance’ and ‘ReadyAssist’.
Amith Pallipady, COO, and Prasanna Sivan, CEO of Rescue, started the service eight years ago. They wanted to replicate a model they had seen abroad. “People are inclined to push their vehicles to the puncture shop or the local mechanic. This is where we step in. We are an emergency service to find a quick fix for the problem at hand,” says Pallipady.

Rescue Roadside Assistance gets 200 to 240 calls a day and the numbers go up to 300 whenever it rains.

“Our staff are trained to handle all problems related to automobiles. If we cannot get the problem fixed then we help tow the vehicle to any service station of the customer’s choice,” he says. Vimal Singh, CEO of ReadyAssist, says his team gets anything between 200 to 400 calls a day and attend to about 250 breakdown calls a day.

A fleet of tow vehicles from ReadyAssist are on duty 24/7.

“ReadyAssist has 24 hotspots and a mobile repair unit to render the first level of repair on the spot. We also have our partner garages to attend to major repairs. In such cases we tow the vehicle using our own trucks,” Singh says.

Rescue has 16 breakdown hotspots in the city and works 24/7.

Customers?

Mostly those between 25 and 45 years.

Common complaints

Flat tyres
Battery down
Starting trouble

Peak time

The maximum complaints come in from June to December. The numbers drop in January and February and are almost negligible in April and May.

Wallet factor

Rescue roadside assistance

To attend to a breakdown, Rescue charges Rs 350 for two-wheelers
and Rs 500 for four wheelers, approximately. The rates vary depending on the availability of technicians, traffic, and the problem at hand.
Phone: [phone]

ReadyAssist
Charges between Rs 150 and Rs 3,000, and Rs 100 over and above that at night. The charges don’t increase when it rains or in any other situation.

Phone: [phone]

On the job

Mechanics who attend to complaints hold BE degrees in automobile engineering. Some hold diplomas.