November 18, 2025 • 37 mins
This Break/Fix episode features Richard Holland, a leader at Nation Safe Drivers (NSD), discussing the company's innovative approaches and his personal journey in the automotive and roadside assistance industry. Through an engaging conversation with the host, Crew Chief Eric, Richard shares insights into NSD's services, including financial and insurance products, and its comprehensive nationwide roadside assistance network. He emphasizes NSD's technology-forward strategy, partnerships, and commitment to safety and customer care. Richard also highlights the company's proactive role in addressing the evolving needs of vehicle owners, especially with the rise of electric vehicles (EVs), and sheds light on how AI and other technologies could enhance future services. Anecdotes about customer experiences and the industry's future challenges and opportunities make this an informative and inspiring listen for automotive enthusiasts.
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00:00 Meet Richard Holland: A Leader in Roadside Assistance 01:06 Richard's Early Automotive Passion 04:28 Nation Safe Drivers: Mission and Services 05:08 Risk Aversion and Recovery Services 06:30 Comparing Nation Safe Drivers to AAA 07:40 Finance and Insurance Products Explained 14:37 Roadside Assistance Evolution 16:52 Handling Roadside Assistance for EVs 18:57 Trailer Troubles: What to Do When You're Stranded 20:21 Nation Safe Driver's Commitment to Customer Service 22:16 Technology and Partnerships in Roadside Assistance 24:39 The Role of AI in Roadside Assistance 25:24 Customer Stories 28:19 How to Join Nation Safe Drivers 31:03 Preparing for the Future of Roadside Assistance 34:44 Final Thoughts and Farewell
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Break Fix podcast is all about capturingthe living history of people from all
over the autos sphere, from wrench,turners, and racers to artists, authors,
designers, and everything in between.
Our goal is to inspire a newgeneration of Petrolhead that wonder.
How did they get that jobor become that person?
The Road to Success is paved by allof us because everyone has a story.
(00:27):
Today on Break Fix, we're joinedby Richard Holland, a dynamic
leader at Nation Safe Drivers.
With decades of experience in theautomotive and roadside assistance
industry, Richard has been at theforefront of creating innovative
solutions that keep drivers safe andsupported when they need it most.
From shaping customer first programs tobuilding strong partnerships across the
mobility space, his insights reflectboth a deep industry knowledge and a
(00:50):
vision for the future of driver safety.
We're excited to dive into hisjourney, the evolution of nation safe
drivers, and how he sees technologyand service redefining the road ahead.
And with that, let's welcomeRichard to break fix.
Eric, glad to be here.
Appreciate the opportunity tovisit with you for a few minutes.
Well, Richard, like all good breakfix stories, there's a superhero
origin story and a little birdie tellsme you're an avid motor sports fan.
(01:14):
So let's talk about those beginningsand what drew you into the
automotive and roadside assistanceindustry and how your journey with
Nation safe drivers has evolved.
Hey, I appreciate that.
I think I go back toreally my early youth.
Raised in Southern California inthe late sixties, early seventies.
It was a car culture down there.
(01:34):
I remember walking to my elementaryschool and walking by cars.
Were in front of a restorationslash customization shop, and
there was just something aboutthe artwork of an automobile that
just drew my attention to it.
As I got older, started to approachthose formative years, what a
driver's license became like.
This gate of manhood, I couldn't waitto get one, and as soon as I got one, I
(01:58):
parlayed what little money I had made andwent out and bought my first car, which
back then was a 1965 Mustang fast back.
I think I paid like $350 for it.
Love that car, did all the stupidstuff teenagers do in it, you know?
That was the era of, I will call itdrag racing, or at least sporting
yourself against your buddy's cars.
(02:19):
And then as I got older, tasteget more sophisticated, maybe a
little more opportunity to getmore selective about what you did.
And then I found myself really in theautomotive technology space, which put me
into a car dealerships several every week.
Gave me a chance, gosh, probablymy twenties, to test drive.
(02:39):
About every make that was made.
So you got to seeeverything from back then.
There was, even the Yugo existedright from Yugo to Ferrari and
there was something unique,something clever about every car and
something just so powerful about it.
So I think, you know, my bloodwas replaced with motor oil
and just been a car enthusiast.
Ever since.
So those early days with that Mustang.
(03:01):
Yeah, probably a lot of stories thatyou can't share on air about your
escapades, but a lot of lessons learned.
So how did those translateinto the automotive and
roadside assistance industry?
Well, I think the first thing, I thinkevery young kid wants a car that is a
statement about who they are, becamesort of how you even defined yourself.
It seems to be lost a lot withtoday's generations, but back then
(03:22):
it was how you defined yourself.
And so I looked for one that had a lot of.
Z had interest, was powerful, made alot of noise, but it had to be reliable.
Didn't matter how loud that thingwas or how fast it could go, if
it only went that way a few daysout of the week, it was a problem.
So you learn back then how toopen the hood, surface it your.
(03:43):
Self, you could be a shade tree mechanic.
You know, those days nowhave all largely changed.
Cars have evolved so rapidly,technologically, I mean, now
they're just works of art thatare engineering masterpieces.
And today the reliability dramaticallyimproved, but still from time
to time the unexpected happens.
And so I got drawn into this career.
(04:04):
In my twenties, been in it ever since.
Really take a lot of lessons out of justhelping people in a time of need, either
preventing them taking good care of thatvehicle and the road worthiness of it.
Or when the unexpected happens, how doyou quickly get them to a safe place, get
that car repaired and back on the road.
So been building and enabling technologiesand services really for the last 40 years.
(04:27):
To do that very thing.
Tell us a little bit aboutwhat Nation Safe Drivers is.
So it's a great groupof team members here.
We're headquartered in SouthFlorida, but have a national reach.
If you look at our name Nationright, that just speaks to us.
Being from coast to coast.
We can service anybody anywhere,any zip code in the country.
Safe is really the fundamentalprinciple that we execute.
(04:50):
We wanna make sure the motorist is safe.
Both from a financial perspectiveand then also from a physical one.
And then we are all about the drivers.
We love motor sports.
Here we focus on the motorists, and sothat's happens to be embedded in our name.
So we really offer two predominantcategories of solution.
The first is, is risk aversion.
Today, the cost of repairson a vehicle can be.
(05:13):
Catastrophic.
Even for the small little repairs,whether it's a windshield being
replaced, the wheels burnishing outthat scuff you got on the curb road
hazards that impact a tire failureall the way up to mechanical coverage.
And so we call that our risk business,where we help motorists manage that risk.
And you know, a relatively modestpersonal investment, they can safeguard.
(05:37):
Themselves from any serious financialinvestment that they may have to make.
That generally is always unexpected.
The second part of ourbusiness is, is recovery.
We realize that it's going to happen.
You're gonna find yourself on the sideof the road, flat tire, out of gas,
check engine light, whatever it maybe, and you need to call a friend.
So we want that friend tobe nation safe Drivers.
(05:59):
We operate with a network of about50,000 tow providers from coast to coast.
Have roughly, gosh, 250,000 recoveryvehicles at our disposal to get you
off the side of the road, get thecar to a certified repair facility.
Maybe it's just bring you a coupleof gallons of gas and get you back
on the way or change that tire.
(06:19):
We view it, we want every one of ourmotorists to be pictured in the minds
of our team members as their littlegrandma on the side of the road.
What wouldn't they do to make surethat she was safe and on her way?
The 900 pound gorilla in your space isthe long running, probably the oldest
one outside of the a CO in France.
Which would be the AAAin the United States.
(06:40):
Yes.
What's the key differentiatorbetween Nation Safe and aaa?
Well, I think AA is an all volunteer.
I mean, you opt into it at aconsumer to provider level.
We happen to differentiate ourselvesby being the fulfilling partner for
the brand promise for lots of others.
So if you've bought a. Anew car, you have an OEM who
(07:01):
incorporates roadside assistance.
You might have an insuranceproduct, whether it's your
vehicle insurance, could be A VSC.
It has a benefit in it, which isroadside assistance, rather than us
saying, okay, it's insurance companyA, B, C. We let them say that.
We give them a number, they call us.
And we think of ourselves as themand we're their fulfillment partner.
(07:21):
And so we execute really onthe brand promise of about 1400
companies out there for us today.
There isn't a direct to consumeraccess to nation safe drivers.
Our ability to be of service comes throughother partners that you have in your life.
As I understand it, there's two sidesto this business as you explained it.
There's the roadside serviceand then there's the finance
(07:42):
and insurance products.
Yep.
Can you explain how they work,how they work together, and what
does it cost to become, let's say,a member of Nation Safe Drivers?
I think we've all probably had anopportunity to purchase a vehicle from
a dealership, whether a franchisedone or an independent dealer.
One of the services that theyoffer is, is the arrangement
(08:03):
of financing, which is the I.
The I happens to represent insurancelike products, and usually when we hear
insurance, we think life insurance,and I guess it's not a bad metaphor.
This is the life insurance ofa mechanical device, and there
you have a menu of options.
Depending on where you feel uncomfortable,you might want to cover that off.
(08:25):
Maybe it's a used car and you say, gosh,you know it's got 50,000 miles on it.
I don't know how much repairsare gonna cost in the future.
So let me get into place a vehicle servicecontract in the event I have a serious
mechanical failure transmission goes out.
The cost of that repair is covered bythe inclusion of that insurance product.
That's probably the upper end,and they can run it in the
(08:46):
several thousands of the dollars.
There isn't a particularly set price forthat because there's so many variables.
What make model, what'sthe age of the car?
How many miles are on the car?
What's the service history been?
And so all of those are priced dynamicallyso that that risk is as appropriate
to the serviceability and franklythe expected failure rate of the car.
(09:08):
Uh, you have at the otherextreme, other products now cars.
Is really a combination of components,no long gone are the days of repair.
Now it's all just simplyreplaced, something goes
wrong, they replace the system.
And so some of those systems can becarved out and say, that's the one I
want to have my insurance coverage in.
Uh, one that happens to be very populartoday is the infotainment system.
(09:32):
Long gone is is the eight tracktape or just the a m FM radio
Now It's very sophisticated.
Even CDs, you don't findthose in cars anymore.
It's the streaming surface.
It's also the mission control for allof the other technology in the car.
That component goes out very costlyrepair, so you can carve that out
and do something just for that.
Glass has become an incrediblecomponent in a vehicle, and we
(09:56):
generally think of it as just.
You know, refined sandthat we can look through.
But the reality is that a windshieldnow is a serious, specialized device.
It has sound deadening properties,it has reflective properties,
it has heads up display.
Also it's, you know,the lens through which.
Certain adaptive technologies all operateif they're not calibrated correctly.
(10:18):
All of those are a failure point onthe vehicle, so it's become a very
integral part of the car and expensive.
And so even just hedging that it can bea a windshield alone type of product.
People love to personalize their vehicles.
If you're a truck driver, it'sbigger tires, bigger wheels.
If you're just have an upscalevehicle, it's how do I differentiate
myself with aftermarket wheels?
(10:39):
All of those to be repaired is expensive.
So you could even get just atire and wheel program, and then
there's combinations you canbundle some of those together.
So I guess really the longand short answer, Eric is, is
that you have lots of options.
As a motorist, you do yourself really wellto get informed about all the options are.
Then make decisions thatare appropriate for you.
They could be in the thousands ofdollars down to just a few hundred.
(11:02):
So to make sure that our listeners aren'tconfused, it's not an extended warranty.
No.
It's augmenting what you're buying,whether that's a new car, certified
pre-owned, or an existing used vehicle.
So where is the suites?
Spot for nation safe driversin terms of the car's too old
or the car's too expensive.
We're looking for thatGoldilocks car, right?
Yeah.
So what fits the bill if you wantedto become part of the program?
(11:23):
It's personalized by every car.
I mean, what we don't have is theability to influence motorists to say
what we have recognized is that thiscar is, it's going to be the most road
worthy for the longest period of time,and we want everyone to go buy that.
You'd minimize your repair bill, in fact.
We have an interesting study here,and I comment that if I looked out
my window and I had the mileage onthe windshields of the car out there,
(11:45):
knowing what there were, I could probablypredict with about 93% accuracy what
the next two years worth of repairbills would look like for those cars.
So we do, you know, managethat particular risk.
If you said, gosh, what do we love?
We love that mid mileage, so call it.
40 to 80,000 mile car thathas four to seven years old.
(12:07):
That one, because the risk profile ismoderate to low and the affordability
of it is commensurate to that.
So that's a great one to have bothin our portfolio and a good one for
the motorist to have covered off.
The risk for 100 is the lowestwith that group, but when they
do happen, they're severe.
So are there any carsthat are just outliers?
Let's say you bought a brand newFerrari and that's not gonna happen.
(12:29):
Right?
Well, you know what, we could, uh, no.
I don't even think we could bepersuaded to say, add a service
contract to a Ferrari only knowingfull well that those, if you have
an mechanical failure, you're there.
It takes a lottery ticketto get that thing repaired.
We do shy away from someof the extreme highlines.
Put that into any of those exotics,Ferrari, Lamborghini, Pagani.
(12:51):
I mean, bear in mind that the fundamentalprinciple of the insurance products is,
is to help those with finite capacity,be prepared for the unexpected.
The premise is that someone who has theability to afford one of those should
also have the capacity to solve for it.
Should a calamity happen?
Let's theorize here for a second.
'cause a lot of ouraudience are Motorsport.
(13:13):
Petrolhead.
Yes.
And so there's a huge conglomerate offolks that go out and buy used Porsches,
you know, Caymans and Older nine elevens.
Mm-hmm.
And BM BMW M threes and m fours.
And they take 'em to the track.
So you buy A CPO Cayman, right?
Yep.
And you buy a plan fornation state drivers.
'cause it fits in that window.
It's four to seven years old.
To the sweet spot.
In terms of mileage, is there any sortof stipulation that says, well, if
(13:36):
you take it to the track and somethinghappens, you know, at A-H-P-D-E
or an event like that, where thispolicy wouldn't work for the car?
Not necessarily.
Really, I think the biggest risk ina track is, is less about mechanical
failure just from abusing the engineand more of an incident involving
one of your fellow motor sports.
And so this isn't a collision related.
(13:58):
Policy, but again, itdoesn't take a track.
We've seen more than enough claimscome in when the explanation
is, is really understood.
It was the owner's teenage sonshowing off to his friends and not
realizing what a red line meant.
So, so in that case, if you moneyshifted the motor and something happened.
Be covered under this particular plan,it would be covered in this industry.
(14:20):
They would call it exclusions.
Are there things that are excludedor activities that are excluded
and listen, I can't speak for allproviders of things like this.
There are some out there that whowould say, yep, if this is happened
to be being utilized at, uh, track,it would be exclusive for us.
We don't have that exclusion tonight.
So let's switch gears and let'stalk a little bit more about the
roadside assistance part of this.
(14:42):
Sure.
'cause obviously there'stwo sides to this equation.
Let's talk about how roadsideassistance has changed over the
decades, because I think it'ssomething we take for granted, right?
You're stranded on the side of the road,you call somebody in a tow truck shows up.
What does that mean today, especiallywith EVs and hybrids and you know, there
are still some carbureted cars out there.
What's roadside assistance like in 2025?
(15:04):
The scenario is you're now on the sideof the road and you've had a problem.
It could be anything from a flat tireto out of gas, to whatever reason
the engine stopped running and now Ifind myself on the side of the road.
And again, it would be throughvia some of our partners.
Um, it might be an 800number that you call.
It could be press thebutton for it gets support.
I mean, telepathy.
Now in cars, this is gettingbetter and better all the time.
(15:26):
But once that roadside assistancehas been requested, we filled it
by answering that toll free number.
We answer it with an IVR and an IVR willanswer and say, would you like to speak to
an agent or would you like to self-direct?
And we're finding there isa trend to the self-direct.
So they press one.
Next thing they know, they get ahyperlink texted to their phone,
(15:47):
and at that point they're into anapp-like experience, or they're able
to say, here's what the problem is.
I have a flat tire, I need a tow.
And it comes up in literallyjust a matter of seconds.
Says, here is a tow provider inyour area, and it'll be 21 minutes
before they can be to your.
Location and you look at it, yousee 'em on the map coming to you.
They arrive, they make triage,what's going on and what used to be,
(16:10):
let's hook you on the back of a towtruck now has largely been replaced.
Like we're gonna put it onto a flatbedand they'll roll you up on the flatbed.
I think that speaks really to theprevalence of now of EVs and other types
of vehicles that that seems to be theway that they like to get towed away.
And then they'll take thatagain, us the motorist.
See where the car is, where it's headed.
It goes to a shop of your choice.
(16:31):
And if that doesn't exist, wecan recommend out of a network of
certified providers where you canhave the work done or have it towed
to your nearest franchise dealerthat represents the car that's there.
And at that point, they'll drop it off.
We have a closed loop system so that youverify that all of that has happened,
and that's the end of the experience.
It should be uneventful.
When that opportunity occurs.
(16:52):
But the biggest change isprobably the proliferation of EVs.
And what really has changed themis, is since they're so weight
conscious, they don't put a sparetire in one of those anymore, and
they weigh so dang much, right?
That they're moresusceptible to road hazard.
And so when you have atire failure in an ev.
Your options generally aren'tcome in and change my tire.
(17:13):
For me, it's come in, recover myvehicle, get me to the nearest tire
center so that I can get a replacementtire put on, and we're seeing a, an
increasing percentage of what wouldnormally be, what we would call a soft
service, performing the service onthe side of the road to a recovery.
Just because of the, the EVs.
So you mean like plugging a tire so theycan get where they're going if they don't
have run flats or something like that?
(17:34):
Yep.
It's just, uh, and thatseems not to be the case.
They don't put a lot of run flatson those cars and so we, we do
see it where they lose a tire.
It is a get it to a tire centerand they're replacing a tire.
And generally it's not atire, it's all four tires.
You know, there are folks that drive.
Their BMWs and Porsches to the track.
But what about the folks that they'reborrowing their wife's Chevy Tahoe to tow
(17:56):
their Porsche to the track and somethinghappens and that car is registered
under a nation safe driver plan.
So are you suggesting, Eric, thatit's the Tahoe pulling the car,
or is it you have a disconnectfrom the trailer and the car goes?
On its own little, uh, adventure.
Well, let's not go that far.
What I'm thinking is, okay, good.
Is you're towing with your Tahoeor your Durango or whatever it is.
(18:17):
You know, your F-150 and something goeswrong, the truck's covered by nation safe.
What happens if, let's sayyour truck has to get towed?
Do you guys offer any sort of extensionto say, well, we'll help you get your
trailer where it needs to go, becauseyou can no longer pull it at that point.
Yep.
We'll call that a two-way tow.
It might be that Yep, we're gonnatake your truck to, uh, the GMC
(18:39):
dealer and he's gonna get that thingrepaired and we're going to have the
other one towed, separate carrier,but towed to your destination.
And so we're happy to oblige that way.
Is that a separate charge for that oris that actually covered in the policy?
That would be covered in the policy?
It, it happens rarely, but it is oneof those falling into that category.
Fortunately, I've never had thatsituation arise, but the potential
(19:01):
is certainly there and it appliesto, to a camper or anything else.
But we can now go to the next logicalconclusion, which is the old adage
when you're talking about trailers.
Two is one and one is none.
When you're talking aboutspare tires, so let's say you
get a flat with your trailer.
Can you call a nation safe andsay, Hey, I'm stuck on the side
of the road, the trailer's down.
Can you come help me?
(19:22):
Do you have spare trailer tires?
You know, things like that.
As far as carrying replacement tiresfor a trailer, probably unlikely.
So you probably end upin that very situation.
Road hazard tire on thetrailer is gone defective.
If there's not one to replace it with,it'll probably be, pull it off, get
it to a tire center, replace it, bringit back to that particular vehicle.
(19:42):
That part does happen occasionally.
I, I think the crazy thing about highertrailers is, is it's never the miles.
It's always the age.
They sit out in the sun,they get abused by the sun.
There's always great tread depth onthem, but the tire fells just from
exposure definitely becomes a threering circus if the car on the trailer
is not registered or road legal.
(20:03):
So now we got what, threetow trucks coming out?
Three problems.
Yep, that's exactly right.
And depending on the nature of thecar, you may not want it on a flatbed.
You might need a box truck.
I mean, if the trailer wasan enclosed trailer, you're
gonna want an enclosed trailer.
So that's just part of the sophisticationof handling a, a motorist event like that.
Yeah.
And, and I appreciate the fact thatyou guys are willing to work and be
(20:24):
accommodating with your customers onthat, because to your point, there's
a lot of exclusions in other policiesand it makes it very difficult.
You, you're just stranded now you'releft with you and the trailer and
your truck is off going somewhere.
Yep, that's exactly right.
We're all vehicle enthusiastsor car enthusiasts at heart.
And, uh, we probably have afew war stories just like that.
I think our biggest one is, is we hada. Former, uh, principal at the business
(20:46):
here had a exotic, took it to the track.
His son happened to putit into the sidewall.
And what they needed was a tow to get itfrom the track back to a repair center.
But we didn't cover the repairs, butwe were able to do the tow for them.
'cause it was at that point, undrivable.
That's interesting you bring that upbecause there are certain carriers
that tow trucks are not allowedor they won't cross the gates of a
(21:09):
racetrack to come pull a car out.
So the fact that you guysdo that, that's immense.
Yeah, we do that.
We do recovery and sometimes it depends,'cause this is, again, we're the
fulfillment partner for our B2B partners.
Sometimes they'll say, yeah,this is, we cover it up to
this point, but not after that.
And so we try to work with them,advise them on those type of things.
(21:29):
It's really about managing therisk, you know, how likely are
you gonna have that out of yourhundreds of thousands of customers?
It's pretty minimal.
So we encourage 'em to cover that.
You know, a lot of our rivals won'tcover accident tows, for example,
or, uh, a car that gets impounded.
We have one of our big serviceproviders, they have a contract at
a very large airport here in town.
(21:50):
And if you've left your car for greaterthan 60 days at the airport lot.
They come and get them, they impound them,and you get a notice, and a lot of wreck
won't come and solve for the impound.
So we'll go and retrieve itfrom the impound and tow it
back to where it needs to be.
And so I think we've tried to lookat it and solve those friction
points that a motorist has.
It's.
(22:10):
Bad enough that theydon't without their car.
There's a mechanical failure, buthow do you just make that part
of it as uneventful as possible?
So you mentioned partnershipsare super important to nation
safe driver's business.
You guys are very technology forward.
I wanna kind of hone in on both of thosethings because when you're in a panic
situation, you're like, man, where'sthat one 800 number I gotta dial.
OnStar was the first one.
(22:31):
Yep.
You remember the little bluebutton you touch in your rear
view mirror and it dials out.
Do you need help?
Yep.
Are you tied into those?
Types of networks too, where OnStaris dispatching nation safe drivers
to kind of do the last mile work.
Yes.
We have several OEM partners whereyou're calling literally OnStar.
We will use them in there as anexample, although I'll disclose they're
not one of our customers at present.
(22:52):
If you were to dial that, they would havea call center that is answering that,
that would be saying, how can I help?
And they would say, I needa roadside assistance.
And at that point they would, you'd thenbe transferred digitally into our system,
and at that point we would begin toprovide the service on behalf of that OEM.
We have others where some OEMs haveapps for their cars, for example, I
(23:14):
have one that's for a truck that I own,that if I needed roadside assistance,
I go to it and it is literally pressthis button for roadside assistance.
At that point, there's adigital handshake to us.
Location of it is sent to us,and we really let them wrap
inside of their application.
That same app-like experience thatwe have, others have a different
(23:34):
car, has the same app, or hasa similar app that they offer.
Roadside assistance there is,is call this number, right?
So at that point you're literally on youriPhone calling the number, and again,
it's calling a number that looks like it'sthat OEM and it's really someone here at
Nation Safe Driver answering the phone onbehalf of that OEM and we take care of it.
I think what we're learning is afeature we just released was, is
(23:57):
the ability to put that membershipcard in your iPhone digital wallet.
It's late, it's dark, it's raining.
You're not scrambling through theglove box looking for a number.
You just go to your digital wallet.
There it is.
Hit the triple dots there, there'sthe information, and press the dial.
Right?
And you're calling right out.
And I think you're gonna find that tobe far more prevalent going forward.
(24:18):
And I'm glad we're talking about thatlate at night in the rain type of
situation because it, it's a sourceof frustration for a lot of people.
If you've ever gotten a flat tireor something's happened, or you
have to call roadside assistance,the last thing you want is.
Press one for roadside assistance.
Yes.
Press two.
For financial and insurance products.
Right.
Being a technology forward company,like you're talking about with
all the handshakes and the textmessages and this and that.
(24:39):
Yeah.
Do you see AI playing a role in thecustomer service portion of what
Nation Safe drivers does in the future?
Yeah, I think absolutely.
I think pick a couple of things.
I mean there, the automotive repairindustry has a wealth of information
that's been stored over the years andthe only one really to master that
is, is to use an AI agent who canreally process all of that and help
(25:01):
sort of triage what the situation is.
And so we're using ittoday in a few instances.
I think we have a number of researchprojects that are underway that we
think will barefoot root and be ableto facilitate that service experience.
I mean, we're bullish on it.
Do we think it's ever going toreplace the human interaction
and some judgment calling?
I don't think so.
(25:21):
It might enhance their decision makingprocess, but it won't replace it.
Folks like to hear testimonials.
Sure.
The experiences of other peoples.
Can you share a couple of storiesor examples where nations safe?
Made a meaningful impacton a customer's experience?
Yep.
I can think of one thatwas really personal.
A woman was, had just, uh, left thehospital late at night, had been
(25:41):
there to relieve her mother-in-lawbecause her father-in-law was
in the last hours of his life.
His wife was franklyexhausted, so she stayed there.
All of that day was relieved byher brother-in-law, son of the
father, and on her way home.
Happened to hit a piece of roaddebris, 1130 at night, flat tire,
(26:04):
always at the least convenient time.
She took the exit, pulled offto a small little liquor store
in about the worst part of town.
Had no idea how you would changea tire, had no idea even frankly,
what to do, but reached out andsaid, here's my circumstances.
What do I do?
I happened to be one of our agentshere, happened to say, well, the first
(26:24):
question is, are you in a safe place?
And her response was.
I don't think so.
I think I'm surrounded by a, a drugculture environment right here.
And she said, okay,let me see how quickly.
And so she, she placed an immediateaction call to a service provider
that was the general area andsaid, effectively, this is a 9 1 1.
(26:44):
How quickly can you get there?
So a normal ETA might be20 to 30 minutes for us.
On this one, it happenedto be six minutes.
And so the agent just advised.
Don't get out.
Don't go look at the tire.
Just lock your doors and stay in the car.
I'm gonna stay on the phone withyou and if you're approached,
we're gonna dial literally 9 1 1.
And so I just so appreciate thatagent making it on a personal, it's
(27:08):
about protecting the individual.
Shortly after that, the wreckerarrived, they got the car.
Our agent dispatched an Uber to getthat person off the road and onto their
home, and it meant so much to them thatabout a week later, Uber Eats delivers
here to our offices crumble cookiesFor that agent, just this motorist
(27:31):
wanted to say thank you to that agentfor making it a personal experience.
Focusing on them as, and their safetyabout that being the most important thing.
And frankly, how uneventful, uh, not a,it was certainly eventful, but how, um,
seamlessly she was able to secure the towprovider and get the car delivered to what
happened to be a Mercedes dealership andthen get that person back to their home.
(27:55):
So I, when I hear those stories,gosh, it causes me to be really
proud of our team that a lot ofthe training that we do with.
Them is this empathy, it's tonality,it's putting yourself in their
situation, focusing on them, and it'sjust so refreshing to see it when that
stuff just shows up and we learnedabout it by why are they delivering
(28:16):
crumble cookies to this person?
Just to say, thanks.
Folks are listening to this nowand they're probably Googling
nation safe drivers, or on thewebsite trying to figure out where
did they fit in the ecosystem.
Before we transition to our lastsegment, let's just talk about.
Becoming part of thenation safe driver system.
Where, when and how should you sign up?
(28:36):
There are a couple of ways.
Our present go to marketstrategy is, is B2B.
We partner with a numberof providers out there.
It could be your insurance carriers, couldbe the OEM that you do business with.
It could be.
A lot of other things.
I mean, it's surprising, I probablyshouldn't say, but even we have certain
cell phone companies that we're apartner in and they have benefits there.
(28:58):
So I guess the challenge I would sendto your listeners is, is that when
you're in there, you'd like to useNation Safe drivers for that benefit.
Ask about it by name.
I mean, they can become the greatestimpetus for getting, for us more
coverage of Nation safe drivers.
I would say stay tuned.
In about two quarters time, wewill release a direct to consumer.
(29:18):
On the roadside assistance,so you'll have that ability.
If you're on the side of the road,you Googled, I need a tow, you
would see a direct to consumer.
We figure we can leverage this networkof these providers and assist there for
those that are on these one time events.
When it comes to the insurance relatedproducts, really a couple of ways.
We distribute a number ofthem through the dealerships,
(29:41):
through their insurance agents.
Through your personal automotiveinsurance agents and through a number
of credit institutions, whether theybe a credit union or a bank like Ali.
And so again, you canask about it by name.
We'd appreciate that, but that'scertainly how they would get enrolled.
And that enrollment, that's a agreedupon fee, or is that a subscription?
(30:02):
How does that work?
It's generally agreed upon, let's say itwas you're at the bank and you were buying
a car and you were financing it that.
Charge for those services would getbundled into the loan and you'd pay
for it over the term of the loan.
If it's the roadside, it's just a,it's a benefit of your collisions
insurance on your vehicle.
And if you looked, uh, I'vedone it for myself personally.
(30:23):
I have roadside assistancecovered by three or four
vendors that I do business with.
On a personal level, Ithink it's really just.
Making the effort to familiarizeyourself with who all offers it and
what's the extent of the benefit.
So your mileage may vary, deductibles,all sorts of stuff apply there.
It could really gotta do your duediligence when you're looking at this.
Read the agreement.
I mean, it's interesting how manyof our rivals have exclusions.
(30:47):
Limitations to benefits.
And so that is how they differentiate.
We may not be the cheapest one.
What we probably areis the greatest value.
'cause the cheapest one probablyexcludes a lot of things that are fairly
customarily, the nature of the repair.
So as we switch into our lastsegment here, Richard, let's talk
about the future a little bit.
What are some of the challengesthat the industry is gonna
face in the coming years?
(31:08):
We talked a little bit about theEVs, so how is nation safe drivers
preparing for those changes?
Oh, I think our first one is forthe EVs in particular, is really
the evolution of the network.
We talk about nation safe driving B, acouple of thousand employees, but the
reality is we're about 250,000 strong.
When you bundle in.
Our partners there, you know,they're all entrepreneurial.
(31:30):
They have a small business.
They might have a truck, theymight have a half a dozen trucks.
We've leaned on some of our financialcapacity to help them with some
of the challenges that they have.
We're recognizing that.
Financing a truck maybe an obstacle for them.
How can we help with that?
It might also be getting liabilityinsurance, and so we have a
partner to help with that.
(31:50):
So we're very active in the tow communityon how to help them build their business.
When it comes to the nature ofthe tows, they are evolving.
Some are specializing in those softservices, some are specializing
in light to medium duty, some evenheavy duty, uh, towing services.
On those light to medium duties,it's really saying we need a mix.
(32:10):
We need more of those on the roadand get away from more of the hooks.
So it's really help advisingthose tow providers on where
we see the trends occurring.
Uh, we take another one.
We have a little bit where weprocess, I hate to even say how many,
but a lot of road hazard claims.
We're starting to even add value throughdata, either to aftermarket suppliers or
(32:32):
even municipalities when we're startingto see problems on just their roads
that are causing frequent problems.
So the big question, what's next, Richard?
Looking ahead, what excites you the mostabout the future of Nation Safe drivers
and the role you play in continuingto expand and grow the company?
Listen, we're a reallybullish on the future.
We love the automotive space.
We look for ways to be more intuitivein how we can help in motorist life.
(32:58):
I think the utilization of the smartdevices and making that really convenient,
really trying to think through where arethe gaps, where are the friction points?
How do we elegantly solve those things?
You know, I started my careeras a software developer.
Even though this is like a servicebusiness, it's how do we leverage
more technology just to enable usto do better and higher quality
(33:22):
of services And, uh, whether it'sAI deployment, it's some smart
learning, it's some machine learning.
It's.
Leveraging of priors experiences.
Those are pretty exciting.
And what we're finding is, is thatthere's a real appetite for it out there.
Most aren't as forward leaning on howdo you continue to evolve as a business.
(33:43):
And so we're finding that we'rejust becoming much more of a
demanded partner by those thatwe don't have as partners today.
So that's really exciting.
You know, I'm be honest, I'm sortof on the last lapse of my career.
I mean, the checkered flag, I can see it.
It's not that far off.
But it's like, who doyou pass the baton to?
So I get, uh, a lot of re-energizing outof working with the next generation here.
(34:06):
You know, teaching them about leadership,about how to be customer centric, how to
think differently, how to be uncommon.
And frankly, it's incredibly invigoratingto be around that next generation.
See how excited they areto get into this business.
And we have a president's club.
And for us, our President's Clubis to take about a dozen people
(34:26):
down to the Miami Formula One.
This last year I took 10 peoplewho had never been to a motor
sports event in their life.
We live in the shadow of it.
We have the Daytona 500, acouple of hours up the road.
It's just instilling a love formotor sports that seems to have
skipped a generation or two.
Well, Richard, we've reachedthat part of the episode where
(34:47):
I like to invite our guests toshare any shout outs, promotions.
Thank you.
Is there anything else thatwe haven't covered thus far?
I changed just for you, Eric.
I had on my Ferrari shirt because onFridays we share our team, whether
it's a college football or the pros.
Or it's a race weekend, you know?
What team do you follow on FormulaOne and we're to walk the office here.
Out of the several hundred employeesthat are here, just on this floor alone,
(35:11):
two thirds of them would be wearing,unfortunately, red Bull or McLaren.
But fun to see that thatenthusiasm is starting to.
Pick up as CEO of nation safe drivers.
Richard leads one of North America's mosttrusted finance and insurance and roadside
assistant providers serving automotive,rv, marine, and power sports markets.
He spent over three decades advancingtechnology driven solutions and
(35:34):
championing dealership growth fromscaling endurance warranties by
266% to founding and selling majordealership management startups.
Richard's passion for the evolvingauto landscape, focusing not only on
profitability, but on lasting value fordealers, drivers and enthusiast lines up
squarely with your needs as an enthusiast.
So to learn more, be sure to logon to www.nationsafedrivers.com
(35:59):
or follow them on social media atNSD Club on x. And at Nations Safe
drivers on Instagram and Facebook.
And with that, Richard, I can't thankyou enough for coming on Break Fix and
sharing your time with us, and I thinkthere's gonna be a lot of folks looking
to sign up for Nations safe driverpolicies in the near, near future.
So best of luck and hopeful.
(36:19):
See you soon.
No, listen, it's been a greatto spend a few minutes with you.
It's always fun to talk about NSD andparticularly talk about motor sports.
So appreciate the invitation, Eric.
We hope you enjoyed another awesomeepisode of Break Fix Podcasts, brought
to you by Grand Tour Motorsports.
(36:39):
If you'd like to be a guest onthe show or get involved, be sure
to follow us on all social mediaplatforms at Grand Touring Motorsports.
And if you'd like to learn moreabout the content of this episode,
be sure to check out the followon article@gtmotorsports.org.
We remain a commercial free and noannual fees organization through
our sponsors, but also throughthe generous support of our fans,
(37:02):
families, and friends through Patreon.
For as little as $2 and 50 cents a month,you can get access to more behind the
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So consider signing up for Patreontoday at www.patreon.com/gt motorsports.
(37:27):
And remember, without you,none of this would be possible.
Break Fix podcast is all about capturingthe living history of people from all
over the autos sphere, from wrench,turners, and racers to artists, authors,
designers, and everything in between.
Our goal is to inspire a newgeneration of Petrolhead that wonder.
How did they get that jobor become that person?
The Road to Success is paved by allof us because everyone has a story.
(00:27):
Today on Break Fix, we're joinedby Richard Holland, a dynamic
leader at Nation Safe Drivers.
With decades of experience in theautomotive and roadside assistance
industry, Richard has been at theforefront of creating innovative
solutions that keep drivers safe andsupported when they need it most.
From shaping customer first programs tobuilding strong partnerships across the
mobility space, his insights reflectboth a deep industry knowledge and a
(00:50):
vision for the future of driver safety.
We're excited to dive into hisjourney, the evolution of nation safe
drivers, and how he sees technologyand service redefining the road ahead.
And with that, let's welcomeRichard to break fix.
Eric, glad to be here.
Appreciate the opportunity tovisit with you for a few minutes.
Well, Richard, like all good breakfix stories, there's a superhero
origin story and a little birdie tellsme you're an avid motor sports fan.
(01:14):
So let's talk about those beginningsand what drew you into the
automotive and roadside assistanceindustry and how your journey with
Nation safe drivers has evolved.
Hey, I appreciate that.
I think I go back toreally my early youth.
Raised in Southern California inthe late sixties, early seventies.
It was a car culture down there.
(01:34):
I remember walking to my elementaryschool and walking by cars.
Were in front of a restorationslash customization shop, and
there was just something aboutthe artwork of an automobile that
just drew my attention to it.
As I got older, started to approachthose formative years, what a
driver's license became like.
This gate of manhood, I couldn't waitto get one, and as soon as I got one, I
(01:58):
parlayed what little money I had made andwent out and bought my first car, which
back then was a 1965 Mustang fast back.
I think I paid like $350 for it.
Love that car, did all the stupidstuff teenagers do in it, you know?
That was the era of, I will call itdrag racing, or at least sporting
yourself against your buddy's cars.
(02:19):
And then as I got older, tasteget more sophisticated, maybe a
little more opportunity to getmore selective about what you did.
And then I found myself really in theautomotive technology space, which put me
into a car dealerships several every week.
Gave me a chance, gosh, probablymy twenties, to test drive.
(02:39):
About every make that was made.
So you got to seeeverything from back then.
There was, even the Yugo existedright from Yugo to Ferrari and
there was something unique,something clever about every car and
something just so powerful about it.
So I think, you know, my bloodwas replaced with motor oil
and just been a car enthusiast.
Ever since.
So those early days with that Mustang.
(03:01):
Yeah, probably a lot of stories thatyou can't share on air about your
escapades, but a lot of lessons learned.
So how did those translateinto the automotive and
roadside assistance industry?
Well, I think the first thing, I thinkevery young kid wants a car that is a
statement about who they are, becamesort of how you even defined yourself.
It seems to be lost a lot withtoday's generations, but back then
(03:22):
it was how you defined yourself.
And so I looked for one that had a lot of.
Z had interest, was powerful, made alot of noise, but it had to be reliable.
Didn't matter how loud that thingwas or how fast it could go, if
it only went that way a few daysout of the week, it was a problem.
So you learn back then how toopen the hood, surface it your.
(03:43):
Self, you could be a shade tree mechanic.
You know, those days nowhave all largely changed.
Cars have evolved so rapidly,technologically, I mean, now
they're just works of art thatare engineering masterpieces.
And today the reliability dramaticallyimproved, but still from time
to time the unexpected happens.
And so I got drawn into this career.
(04:04):
In my twenties, been in it ever since.
Really take a lot of lessons out of justhelping people in a time of need, either
preventing them taking good care of thatvehicle and the road worthiness of it.
Or when the unexpected happens, how doyou quickly get them to a safe place, get
that car repaired and back on the road.
So been building and enabling technologiesand services really for the last 40 years.
(04:27):
To do that very thing.
Tell us a little bit aboutwhat Nation Safe Drivers is.
So it's a great groupof team members here.
We're headquartered in SouthFlorida, but have a national reach.
If you look at our name Nationright, that just speaks to us.
Being from coast to coast.
We can service anybody anywhere,any zip code in the country.
Safe is really the fundamentalprinciple that we execute.
(04:50):
We wanna make sure the motorist is safe.
Both from a financial perspectiveand then also from a physical one.
And then we are all about the drivers.
We love motor sports.
Here we focus on the motorists, and sothat's happens to be embedded in our name.
So we really offer two predominantcategories of solution.
The first is, is risk aversion.
Today, the cost of repairson a vehicle can be.
(05:13):
Catastrophic.
Even for the small little repairs,whether it's a windshield being
replaced, the wheels burnishing outthat scuff you got on the curb road
hazards that impact a tire failureall the way up to mechanical coverage.
And so we call that our risk business,where we help motorists manage that risk.
And you know, a relatively modestpersonal investment, they can safeguard.
(05:37):
Themselves from any serious financialinvestment that they may have to make.
That generally is always unexpected.
The second part of ourbusiness is, is recovery.
We realize that it's going to happen.
You're gonna find yourself on the sideof the road, flat tire, out of gas,
check engine light, whatever it maybe, and you need to call a friend.
So we want that friend tobe nation safe Drivers.
(05:59):
We operate with a network of about50,000 tow providers from coast to coast.
Have roughly, gosh, 250,000 recoveryvehicles at our disposal to get you
off the side of the road, get thecar to a certified repair facility.
Maybe it's just bring you a coupleof gallons of gas and get you back
on the way or change that tire.
(06:19):
We view it, we want every one of ourmotorists to be pictured in the minds
of our team members as their littlegrandma on the side of the road.
What wouldn't they do to make surethat she was safe and on her way?
The 900 pound gorilla in your space isthe long running, probably the oldest
one outside of the a CO in France.
Which would be the AAAin the United States.
(06:40):
Yes.
What's the key differentiatorbetween Nation Safe and aaa?
Well, I think AA is an all volunteer.
I mean, you opt into it at aconsumer to provider level.
We happen to differentiate ourselvesby being the fulfilling partner for
the brand promise for lots of others.
So if you've bought a. Anew car, you have an OEM who
(07:01):
incorporates roadside assistance.
You might have an insuranceproduct, whether it's your
vehicle insurance, could be A VSC.
It has a benefit in it, which isroadside assistance, rather than us
saying, okay, it's insurance companyA, B, C. We let them say that.
We give them a number, they call us.
And we think of ourselves as themand we're their fulfillment partner.
(07:21):
And so we execute really onthe brand promise of about 1400
companies out there for us today.
There isn't a direct to consumeraccess to nation safe drivers.
Our ability to be of service comes throughother partners that you have in your life.
As I understand it, there's two sidesto this business as you explained it.
There's the roadside serviceand then there's the finance
(07:42):
and insurance products.
Yep.
Can you explain how they work,how they work together, and what
does it cost to become, let's say,a member of Nation Safe Drivers?
I think we've all probably had anopportunity to purchase a vehicle from
a dealership, whether a franchisedone or an independent dealer.
One of the services that theyoffer is, is the arrangement
(08:03):
of financing, which is the I.
The I happens to represent insurancelike products, and usually when we hear
insurance, we think life insurance,and I guess it's not a bad metaphor.
This is the life insurance ofa mechanical device, and there
you have a menu of options.
Depending on where you feel uncomfortable,you might want to cover that off.
(08:25):
Maybe it's a used car and you say, gosh,you know it's got 50,000 miles on it.
I don't know how much repairsare gonna cost in the future.
So let me get into place a vehicle servicecontract in the event I have a serious
mechanical failure transmission goes out.
The cost of that repair is covered bythe inclusion of that insurance product.
That's probably the upper end,and they can run it in the
(08:46):
several thousands of the dollars.
There isn't a particularly set price forthat because there's so many variables.
What make model, what'sthe age of the car?
How many miles are on the car?
What's the service history been?
And so all of those are priced dynamicallyso that that risk is as appropriate
to the serviceability and franklythe expected failure rate of the car.
(09:08):
Uh, you have at the otherextreme, other products now cars.
Is really a combination of components,no long gone are the days of repair.
Now it's all just simplyreplaced, something goes
wrong, they replace the system.
And so some of those systems can becarved out and say, that's the one I
want to have my insurance coverage in.
Uh, one that happens to be very populartoday is the infotainment system.
(09:32):
Long gone is is the eight tracktape or just the a m FM radio
Now It's very sophisticated.
Even CDs, you don't findthose in cars anymore.
It's the streaming surface.
It's also the mission control for allof the other technology in the car.
That component goes out very costlyrepair, so you can carve that out
and do something just for that.
Glass has become an incrediblecomponent in a vehicle, and we
(09:56):
generally think of it as just.
You know, refined sandthat we can look through.
But the reality is that a windshieldnow is a serious, specialized device.
It has sound deadening properties,it has reflective properties,
it has heads up display.
Also it's, you know,the lens through which.
Certain adaptive technologies all operateif they're not calibrated correctly.
(10:18):
All of those are a failure point onthe vehicle, so it's become a very
integral part of the car and expensive.
And so even just hedging that it can bea a windshield alone type of product.
People love to personalize their vehicles.
If you're a truck driver, it'sbigger tires, bigger wheels.
If you're just have an upscalevehicle, it's how do I differentiate
myself with aftermarket wheels?
(10:39):
All of those to be repaired is expensive.
So you could even get just atire and wheel program, and then
there's combinations you canbundle some of those together.
So I guess really the longand short answer, Eric is, is
that you have lots of options.
As a motorist, you do yourself really wellto get informed about all the options are.
Then make decisions thatare appropriate for you.
They could be in the thousands ofdollars down to just a few hundred.
(11:02):
So to make sure that our listeners aren'tconfused, it's not an extended warranty.
No.
It's augmenting what you're buying,whether that's a new car, certified
pre-owned, or an existing used vehicle.
So where is the suites?
Spot for nation safe driversin terms of the car's too old
or the car's too expensive.
We're looking for thatGoldilocks car, right?
Yeah.
So what fits the bill if you wantedto become part of the program?
(11:23):
It's personalized by every car.
I mean, what we don't have is theability to influence motorists to say
what we have recognized is that thiscar is, it's going to be the most road
worthy for the longest period of time,and we want everyone to go buy that.
You'd minimize your repair bill, in fact.
We have an interesting study here,and I comment that if I looked out
my window and I had the mileage onthe windshields of the car out there,
(11:45):
knowing what there were, I could probablypredict with about 93% accuracy what
the next two years worth of repairbills would look like for those cars.
So we do, you know, managethat particular risk.
If you said, gosh, what do we love?
We love that mid mileage, so call it.
40 to 80,000 mile car thathas four to seven years old.
(12:07):
That one, because the risk profile ismoderate to low and the affordability
of it is commensurate to that.
So that's a great one to have bothin our portfolio and a good one for
the motorist to have covered off.
The risk for 100 is the lowestwith that group, but when they
do happen, they're severe.
So are there any carsthat are just outliers?
Let's say you bought a brand newFerrari and that's not gonna happen.
(12:29):
Right?
Well, you know what, we could, uh, no.
I don't even think we could bepersuaded to say, add a service
contract to a Ferrari only knowingfull well that those, if you have
an mechanical failure, you're there.
It takes a lottery ticketto get that thing repaired.
We do shy away from someof the extreme highlines.
Put that into any of those exotics,Ferrari, Lamborghini, Pagani.
(12:51):
I mean, bear in mind that the fundamentalprinciple of the insurance products is,
is to help those with finite capacity,be prepared for the unexpected.
The premise is that someone who has theability to afford one of those should
also have the capacity to solve for it.
Should a calamity happen?
Let's theorize here for a second.
'cause a lot of ouraudience are Motorsport.
(13:13):
Petrolhead.
Yes.
And so there's a huge conglomerate offolks that go out and buy used Porsches,
you know, Caymans and Older nine elevens.
Mm-hmm.
And BM BMW M threes and m fours.
And they take 'em to the track.
So you buy A CPO Cayman, right?
Yep.
And you buy a plan fornation state drivers.
'cause it fits in that window.
It's four to seven years old.
To the sweet spot.
In terms of mileage, is there any sortof stipulation that says, well, if
(13:36):
you take it to the track and somethinghappens, you know, at A-H-P-D-E
or an event like that, where thispolicy wouldn't work for the car?
Not necessarily.
Really, I think the biggest risk ina track is, is less about mechanical
failure just from abusing the engineand more of an incident involving
one of your fellow motor sports.
And so this isn't a collision related.
(13:58):
Policy, but again, itdoesn't take a track.
We've seen more than enough claimscome in when the explanation
is, is really understood.
It was the owner's teenage sonshowing off to his friends and not
realizing what a red line meant.
So, so in that case, if you moneyshifted the motor and something happened.
Be covered under this particular plan,it would be covered in this industry.
(14:20):
They would call it exclusions.
Are there things that are excludedor activities that are excluded
and listen, I can't speak for allproviders of things like this.
There are some out there that whowould say, yep, if this is happened
to be being utilized at, uh, track,it would be exclusive for us.
We don't have that exclusion tonight.
So let's switch gears and let'stalk a little bit more about the
roadside assistance part of this.
(14:42):
Sure.
'cause obviously there'stwo sides to this equation.
Let's talk about how roadsideassistance has changed over the
decades, because I think it'ssomething we take for granted, right?
You're stranded on the side of the road,you call somebody in a tow truck shows up.
What does that mean today, especiallywith EVs and hybrids and you know, there
are still some carbureted cars out there.
What's roadside assistance like in 2025?
(15:04):
The scenario is you're now on the sideof the road and you've had a problem.
It could be anything from a flat tireto out of gas, to whatever reason
the engine stopped running and now Ifind myself on the side of the road.
And again, it would be throughvia some of our partners.
Um, it might be an 800number that you call.
It could be press thebutton for it gets support.
I mean, telepathy.
Now in cars, this is gettingbetter and better all the time.
(15:26):
But once that roadside assistancehas been requested, we filled it
by answering that toll free number.
We answer it with an IVR and an IVR willanswer and say, would you like to speak to
an agent or would you like to self-direct?
And we're finding there isa trend to the self-direct.
So they press one.
Next thing they know, they get ahyperlink texted to their phone,
(15:47):
and at that point they're into anapp-like experience, or they're able
to say, here's what the problem is.
I have a flat tire, I need a tow.
And it comes up in literallyjust a matter of seconds.
Says, here is a tow provider inyour area, and it'll be 21 minutes
before they can be to your.
Location and you look at it, yousee 'em on the map coming to you.
They arrive, they make triage,what's going on and what used to be,
(16:10):
let's hook you on the back of a towtruck now has largely been replaced.
Like we're gonna put it onto a flatbedand they'll roll you up on the flatbed.
I think that speaks really to theprevalence of now of EVs and other types
of vehicles that that seems to be theway that they like to get towed away.
And then they'll take thatagain, us the motorist.
See where the car is, where it's headed.
It goes to a shop of your choice.
(16:31):
And if that doesn't exist, wecan recommend out of a network of
certified providers where you canhave the work done or have it towed
to your nearest franchise dealerthat represents the car that's there.
And at that point, they'll drop it off.
We have a closed loop system so that youverify that all of that has happened,
and that's the end of the experience.
It should be uneventful.
When that opportunity occurs.
(16:52):
But the biggest change isprobably the proliferation of EVs.
And what really has changed themis, is since they're so weight
conscious, they don't put a sparetire in one of those anymore, and
they weigh so dang much, right?
That they're moresusceptible to road hazard.
And so when you have atire failure in an ev.
Your options generally aren'tcome in and change my tire.
(17:13):
For me, it's come in, recover myvehicle, get me to the nearest tire
center so that I can get a replacementtire put on, and we're seeing a, an
increasing percentage of what wouldnormally be, what we would call a soft
service, performing the service onthe side of the road to a recovery.
Just because of the, the EVs.
So you mean like plugging a tire so theycan get where they're going if they don't
have run flats or something like that?
(17:34):
Yep.
It's just, uh, and thatseems not to be the case.
They don't put a lot of run flatson those cars and so we, we do
see it where they lose a tire.
It is a get it to a tire centerand they're replacing a tire.
And generally it's not atire, it's all four tires.
You know, there are folks that drive.
Their BMWs and Porsches to the track.
But what about the folks that they'reborrowing their wife's Chevy Tahoe to tow
(17:56):
their Porsche to the track and somethinghappens and that car is registered
under a nation safe driver plan.
So are you suggesting, Eric, thatit's the Tahoe pulling the car,
or is it you have a disconnectfrom the trailer and the car goes?
On its own little, uh, adventure.
Well, let's not go that far.
What I'm thinking is, okay, good.
Is you're towing with your Tahoeor your Durango or whatever it is.
(18:17):
You know, your F-150 and something goeswrong, the truck's covered by nation safe.
What happens if, let's sayyour truck has to get towed?
Do you guys offer any sort of extensionto say, well, we'll help you get your
trailer where it needs to go, becauseyou can no longer pull it at that point.
Yep.
We'll call that a two-way tow.
It might be that Yep, we're gonnatake your truck to, uh, the GMC
(18:39):
dealer and he's gonna get that thingrepaired and we're going to have the
other one towed, separate carrier,but towed to your destination.
And so we're happy to oblige that way.
Is that a separate charge for that oris that actually covered in the policy?
That would be covered in the policy?
It, it happens rarely, but it is oneof those falling into that category.
Fortunately, I've never had thatsituation arise, but the potential
(19:01):
is certainly there and it appliesto, to a camper or anything else.
But we can now go to the next logicalconclusion, which is the old adage
when you're talking about trailers.
Two is one and one is none.
When you're talking aboutspare tires, so let's say you
get a flat with your trailer.
Can you call a nation safe andsay, Hey, I'm stuck on the side
of the road, the trailer's down.
Can you come help me?
(19:22):
Do you have spare trailer tires?
You know, things like that.
As far as carrying replacement tiresfor a trailer, probably unlikely.
So you probably end upin that very situation.
Road hazard tire on thetrailer is gone defective.
If there's not one to replace it with,it'll probably be, pull it off, get
it to a tire center, replace it, bringit back to that particular vehicle.
(19:42):
That part does happen occasionally.
I, I think the crazy thing about highertrailers is, is it's never the miles.
It's always the age.
They sit out in the sun,they get abused by the sun.
There's always great tread depth onthem, but the tire fells just from
exposure definitely becomes a threering circus if the car on the trailer
is not registered or road legal.
(20:03):
So now we got what, threetow trucks coming out?
Three problems.
Yep, that's exactly right.
And depending on the nature of thecar, you may not want it on a flatbed.
You might need a box truck.
I mean, if the trailer wasan enclosed trailer, you're
gonna want an enclosed trailer.
So that's just part of the sophisticationof handling a, a motorist event like that.
Yeah.
And, and I appreciate the fact thatyou guys are willing to work and be
(20:24):
accommodating with your customers onthat, because to your point, there's
a lot of exclusions in other policiesand it makes it very difficult.
You, you're just stranded now you'releft with you and the trailer and
your truck is off going somewhere.
Yep, that's exactly right.
We're all vehicle enthusiastsor car enthusiasts at heart.
And, uh, we probably have afew war stories just like that.
I think our biggest one is, is we hada. Former, uh, principal at the business
(20:46):
here had a exotic, took it to the track.
His son happened to putit into the sidewall.
And what they needed was a tow to get itfrom the track back to a repair center.
But we didn't cover the repairs, butwe were able to do the tow for them.
'cause it was at that point, undrivable.
That's interesting you bring that upbecause there are certain carriers
that tow trucks are not allowedor they won't cross the gates of a
(21:09):
racetrack to come pull a car out.
So the fact that you guysdo that, that's immense.
Yeah, we do that.
We do recovery and sometimes it depends,'cause this is, again, we're the
fulfillment partner for our B2B partners.
Sometimes they'll say, yeah,this is, we cover it up to
this point, but not after that.
And so we try to work with them,advise them on those type of things.
(21:29):
It's really about managing therisk, you know, how likely are
you gonna have that out of yourhundreds of thousands of customers?
It's pretty minimal.
So we encourage 'em to cover that.
You know, a lot of our rivals won'tcover accident tows, for example,
or, uh, a car that gets impounded.
We have one of our big serviceproviders, they have a contract at
a very large airport here in town.
(21:50):
And if you've left your car for greaterthan 60 days at the airport lot.
They come and get them, they impound them,and you get a notice, and a lot of wreck
won't come and solve for the impound.
So we'll go and retrieve itfrom the impound and tow it
back to where it needs to be.
And so I think we've tried to lookat it and solve those friction
points that a motorist has.
It's.
(22:10):
Bad enough that theydon't without their car.
There's a mechanical failure, buthow do you just make that part
of it as uneventful as possible?
So you mentioned partnershipsare super important to nation
safe driver's business.
You guys are very technology forward.
I wanna kind of hone in on both of thosethings because when you're in a panic
situation, you're like, man, where'sthat one 800 number I gotta dial.
OnStar was the first one.
(22:31):
Yep.
You remember the little bluebutton you touch in your rear
view mirror and it dials out.
Do you need help?
Yep.
Are you tied into those?
Types of networks too, where OnStaris dispatching nation safe drivers
to kind of do the last mile work.
Yes.
We have several OEM partners whereyou're calling literally OnStar.
We will use them in there as anexample, although I'll disclose they're
not one of our customers at present.
(22:52):
If you were to dial that, they would havea call center that is answering that,
that would be saying, how can I help?
And they would say, I needa roadside assistance.
And at that point they would, you'd thenbe transferred digitally into our system,
and at that point we would begin toprovide the service on behalf of that OEM.
We have others where some OEMs haveapps for their cars, for example, I
(23:14):
have one that's for a truck that I own,that if I needed roadside assistance,
I go to it and it is literally pressthis button for roadside assistance.
At that point, there's adigital handshake to us.
Location of it is sent to us,and we really let them wrap
inside of their application.
That same app-like experience thatwe have, others have a different
(23:34):
car, has the same app, or hasa similar app that they offer.
Roadside assistance there is,is call this number, right?
So at that point you're literally on youriPhone calling the number, and again,
it's calling a number that looks like it'sthat OEM and it's really someone here at
Nation Safe Driver answering the phone onbehalf of that OEM and we take care of it.
I think what we're learning is afeature we just released was, is
(23:57):
the ability to put that membershipcard in your iPhone digital wallet.
It's late, it's dark, it's raining.
You're not scrambling through theglove box looking for a number.
You just go to your digital wallet.
There it is.
Hit the triple dots there, there'sthe information, and press the dial.
Right?
And you're calling right out.
And I think you're gonna find that tobe far more prevalent going forward.
(24:18):
And I'm glad we're talking about thatlate at night in the rain type of
situation because it, it's a sourceof frustration for a lot of people.
If you've ever gotten a flat tireor something's happened, or you
have to call roadside assistance,the last thing you want is.
Press one for roadside assistance.
Yes.
Press two.
For financial and insurance products.
Right.
Being a technology forward company,like you're talking about with
all the handshakes and the textmessages and this and that.
(24:39):
Yeah.
Do you see AI playing a role in thecustomer service portion of what
Nation Safe drivers does in the future?
Yeah, I think absolutely.
I think pick a couple of things.
I mean there, the automotive repairindustry has a wealth of information
that's been stored over the years andthe only one really to master that
is, is to use an AI agent who canreally process all of that and help
(25:01):
sort of triage what the situation is.
And so we're using ittoday in a few instances.
I think we have a number of researchprojects that are underway that we
think will barefoot root and be ableto facilitate that service experience.
I mean, we're bullish on it.
Do we think it's ever going toreplace the human interaction
and some judgment calling?
I don't think so.
(25:21):
It might enhance their decision makingprocess, but it won't replace it.
Folks like to hear testimonials.
Sure.
The experiences of other peoples.
Can you share a couple of storiesor examples where nations safe?
Made a meaningful impacton a customer's experience?
Yep.
I can think of one thatwas really personal.
A woman was, had just, uh, left thehospital late at night, had been
(25:41):
there to relieve her mother-in-lawbecause her father-in-law was
in the last hours of his life.
His wife was franklyexhausted, so she stayed there.
All of that day was relieved byher brother-in-law, son of the
father, and on her way home.
Happened to hit a piece of roaddebris, 1130 at night, flat tire,
(26:04):
always at the least convenient time.
She took the exit, pulled offto a small little liquor store
in about the worst part of town.
Had no idea how you would changea tire, had no idea even frankly,
what to do, but reached out andsaid, here's my circumstances.
What do I do?
I happened to be one of our agentshere, happened to say, well, the first
(26:24):
question is, are you in a safe place?
And her response was.
I don't think so.
I think I'm surrounded by a, a drugculture environment right here.
And she said, okay,let me see how quickly.
And so she, she placed an immediateaction call to a service provider
that was the general area andsaid, effectively, this is a 9 1 1.
(26:44):
How quickly can you get there?
So a normal ETA might be20 to 30 minutes for us.
On this one, it happenedto be six minutes.
And so the agent just advised.
Don't get out.
Don't go look at the tire.
Just lock your doors and stay in the car.
I'm gonna stay on the phone withyou and if you're approached,
we're gonna dial literally 9 1 1.
And so I just so appreciate thatagent making it on a personal, it's
(27:08):
about protecting the individual.
Shortly after that, the wreckerarrived, they got the car.
Our agent dispatched an Uber to getthat person off the road and onto their
home, and it meant so much to them thatabout a week later, Uber Eats delivers
here to our offices crumble cookiesFor that agent, just this motorist
(27:31):
wanted to say thank you to that agentfor making it a personal experience.
Focusing on them as, and their safetyabout that being the most important thing.
And frankly, how uneventful, uh, not a,it was certainly eventful, but how, um,
seamlessly she was able to secure the towprovider and get the car delivered to what
happened to be a Mercedes dealership andthen get that person back to their home.
(27:55):
So I, when I hear those stories,gosh, it causes me to be really
proud of our team that a lot ofthe training that we do with.
Them is this empathy, it's tonality,it's putting yourself in their
situation, focusing on them, and it'sjust so refreshing to see it when that
stuff just shows up and we learnedabout it by why are they delivering
(28:16):
crumble cookies to this person?
Just to say, thanks.
Folks are listening to this nowand they're probably Googling
nation safe drivers, or on thewebsite trying to figure out where
did they fit in the ecosystem.
Before we transition to our lastsegment, let's just talk about.
Becoming part of thenation safe driver system.
Where, when and how should you sign up?
(28:36):
There are a couple of ways.
Our present go to marketstrategy is, is B2B.
We partner with a numberof providers out there.
It could be your insurance carriers, couldbe the OEM that you do business with.
It could be.
A lot of other things.
I mean, it's surprising, I probablyshouldn't say, but even we have certain
cell phone companies that we're apartner in and they have benefits there.
(28:58):
So I guess the challenge I would sendto your listeners is, is that when
you're in there, you'd like to useNation Safe drivers for that benefit.
Ask about it by name.
I mean, they can become the greatestimpetus for getting, for us more
coverage of Nation safe drivers.
I would say stay tuned.
In about two quarters time, wewill release a direct to consumer.
(29:18):
On the roadside assistance,so you'll have that ability.
If you're on the side of the road,you Googled, I need a tow, you
would see a direct to consumer.
We figure we can leverage this networkof these providers and assist there for
those that are on these one time events.
When it comes to the insurance relatedproducts, really a couple of ways.
We distribute a number ofthem through the dealerships,
(29:41):
through their insurance agents.
Through your personal automotiveinsurance agents and through a number
of credit institutions, whether theybe a credit union or a bank like Ali.
And so again, you canask about it by name.
We'd appreciate that, but that'scertainly how they would get enrolled.
And that enrollment, that's a agreedupon fee, or is that a subscription?
(30:02):
How does that work?
It's generally agreed upon, let's say itwas you're at the bank and you were buying
a car and you were financing it that.
Charge for those services would getbundled into the loan and you'd pay
for it over the term of the loan.
If it's the roadside, it's just a,it's a benefit of your collisions
insurance on your vehicle.
And if you looked, uh, I'vedone it for myself personally.
(30:23):
I have roadside assistancecovered by three or four
vendors that I do business with.
On a personal level, Ithink it's really just.
Making the effort to familiarizeyourself with who all offers it and
what's the extent of the benefit.
So your mileage may vary, deductibles,all sorts of stuff apply there.
It could really gotta do your duediligence when you're looking at this.
Read the agreement.
I mean, it's interesting how manyof our rivals have exclusions.
(30:47):
Limitations to benefits.
And so that is how they differentiate.
We may not be the cheapest one.
What we probably areis the greatest value.
'cause the cheapest one probablyexcludes a lot of things that are fairly
customarily, the nature of the repair.
So as we switch into our lastsegment here, Richard, let's talk
about the future a little bit.
What are some of the challengesthat the industry is gonna
face in the coming years?
(31:08):
We talked a little bit about theEVs, so how is nation safe drivers
preparing for those changes?
Oh, I think our first one is forthe EVs in particular, is really
the evolution of the network.
We talk about nation safe driving B, acouple of thousand employees, but the
reality is we're about 250,000 strong.
When you bundle in.
Our partners there, you know,they're all entrepreneurial.
(31:30):
They have a small business.
They might have a truck, theymight have a half a dozen trucks.
We've leaned on some of our financialcapacity to help them with some
of the challenges that they have.
We're recognizing that.
Financing a truck maybe an obstacle for them.
How can we help with that?
It might also be getting liabilityinsurance, and so we have a
partner to help with that.
(31:50):
So we're very active in the tow communityon how to help them build their business.
When it comes to the nature ofthe tows, they are evolving.
Some are specializing in those softservices, some are specializing
in light to medium duty, some evenheavy duty, uh, towing services.
On those light to medium duties,it's really saying we need a mix.
(32:10):
We need more of those on the roadand get away from more of the hooks.
So it's really help advisingthose tow providers on where
we see the trends occurring.
Uh, we take another one.
We have a little bit where weprocess, I hate to even say how many,
but a lot of road hazard claims.
We're starting to even add value throughdata, either to aftermarket suppliers or
(32:32):
even municipalities when we're startingto see problems on just their roads
that are causing frequent problems.
So the big question, what's next, Richard?
Looking ahead, what excites you the mostabout the future of Nation Safe drivers
and the role you play in continuingto expand and grow the company?
Listen, we're a reallybullish on the future.
We love the automotive space.
We look for ways to be more intuitivein how we can help in motorist life.
(32:58):
I think the utilization of the smartdevices and making that really convenient,
really trying to think through where arethe gaps, where are the friction points?
How do we elegantly solve those things?
You know, I started my careeras a software developer.
Even though this is like a servicebusiness, it's how do we leverage
more technology just to enable usto do better and higher quality
(33:22):
of services And, uh, whether it'sAI deployment, it's some smart
learning, it's some machine learning.
It's.
Leveraging of priors experiences.
Those are pretty exciting.
And what we're finding is, is thatthere's a real appetite for it out there.
Most aren't as forward leaning on howdo you continue to evolve as a business.
(33:43):
And so we're finding that we'rejust becoming much more of a
demanded partner by those thatwe don't have as partners today.
So that's really exciting.
You know, I'm be honest, I'm sortof on the last lapse of my career.
I mean, the checkered flag, I can see it.
It's not that far off.
But it's like, who doyou pass the baton to?
So I get, uh, a lot of re-energizing outof working with the next generation here.
(34:06):
You know, teaching them about leadership,about how to be customer centric, how to
think differently, how to be uncommon.
And frankly, it's incredibly invigoratingto be around that next generation.
See how excited they areto get into this business.
And we have a president's club.
And for us, our President's Clubis to take about a dozen people
(34:26):
down to the Miami Formula One.
This last year I took 10 peoplewho had never been to a motor
sports event in their life.
We live in the shadow of it.
We have the Daytona 500, acouple of hours up the road.
It's just instilling a love formotor sports that seems to have
skipped a generation or two.
Well, Richard, we've reachedthat part of the episode where
(34:47):
I like to invite our guests toshare any shout outs, promotions.
Thank you.
Is there anything else thatwe haven't covered thus far?
I changed just for you, Eric.
I had on my Ferrari shirt because onFridays we share our team, whether
it's a college football or the pros.
Or it's a race weekend, you know?
What team do you follow on FormulaOne and we're to walk the office here.
Out of the several hundred employeesthat are here, just on this floor alone,
(35:11):
two thirds of them would be wearing,unfortunately, red Bull or McLaren.
But fun to see that thatenthusiasm is starting to.
Pick up as CEO of nation safe drivers.
Richard leads one of North America's mosttrusted finance and insurance and roadside
assistant providers serving automotive,rv, marine, and power sports markets.
He spent over three decades advancingtechnology driven solutions and
(35:34):
championing dealership growth fromscaling endurance warranties by
266% to founding and selling majordealership management startups.
Richard's passion for the evolvingauto landscape, focusing not only on
profitability, but on lasting value fordealers, drivers and enthusiast lines up
squarely with your needs as an enthusiast.
So to learn more, be sure to logon to www.nationsafedrivers.com
(35:59):
or follow them on social media atNSD Club on x. And at Nations Safe
drivers on Instagram and Facebook.
And with that, Richard, I can't thankyou enough for coming on Break Fix and
sharing your time with us, and I thinkthere's gonna be a lot of folks looking
to sign up for Nations safe driverpolicies in the near, near future.
So best of luck and hopeful.
(36:19):
See you soon.
No, listen, it's been a greatto spend a few minutes with you.
It's always fun to talk about NSD andparticularly talk about motor sports.
So appreciate the invitation, Eric.
We hope you enjoyed another awesomeepisode of Break Fix Podcasts, brought
to you by Grand Tour Motorsports.
(36:39):
If you'd like to be a guest onthe show or get involved, be sure
to follow us on all social mediaplatforms at Grand Touring Motorsports.
And if you'd like to learn moreabout the content of this episode,
be sure to check out the followon article@gtmotorsports.org.
We remain a commercial free and noannual fees organization through
our sponsors, but also throughthe generous support of our fans,
(37:02):
families, and friends through Patreon.
For as little as $2 and 50 cents a month,you can get access to more behind the
scenes action, additional pit stop,mini SOS and other VIP goodies, as
well as keeping our team of creators.
Fed on their strict diet of figNewton's, Gumby bears, and monster.
So consider signing up for Patreontoday at www.patreon.com/gt motorsports.
(37:27):
And remember, without you,none of this would be possible.
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