Latest / BREAK/FIX the Motorsports & Vehicle Enthusiast Variety Show / Nation Safe Drivers: Richard Holland’s Roadside Revolution

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Nation Safe Drivers: Richard Holland’s Roadside Revolution · BREAK/FIX the Motorsports & Vehicle Enthusiast Variety Show

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Break Fix podcast is all about capturing the living history of people from all
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over the autos sphere, from wrench, turners, and racers to artists, authors,
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designers, and everything in between.
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Our goal is to inspire a new generation of Petrolhead that wonder.
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How did they get that job or become that person?
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The Road to Success is paved by all of us because everyone has a story.
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Today on Break Fix, we're joined by Richard Holland, a dynamic
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leader at Nation Safe Drivers.
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With decades of experience in the automotive and roadside assistance
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industry, Richard has been at the forefront of creating innovative
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solutions that keep drivers safe and supported when they need it most.
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From shaping customer first programs to building strong partnerships across the
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mobility space, his insights reflect both a deep industry knowledge and a
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vision for the future of driver safety.
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We're excited to dive into his journey, the evolution of nation safe
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drivers, and how he sees technology and service redefining the road ahead.
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And with that, let's welcome Richard to break fix.
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Eric, glad to be here.
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Appreciate the opportunity to visit with you for a few minutes.
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Well, Richard, like all good break fix stories, there's a superhero
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origin story and a little birdie tells me you're an avid motor sports fan.
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So let's talk about those beginnings and what drew you into the
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automotive and roadside assistance industry and how your journey with
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Nation safe drivers has evolved.
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Hey, I appreciate that.
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I think I go back to really my early youth.
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Raised in Southern California in the late sixties, early seventies.
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It was a car culture down there.
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I remember walking to my elementary school and walking by cars.
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Were in front of a restoration slash customization shop, and
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there was just something about the artwork of an automobile that
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just drew my attention to it.
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As I got older, started to approach those formative years, what a
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driver's license became like.
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This gate of manhood, I couldn't wait to get one, and as soon as I got one, I
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parlayed what little money I had made and went out and bought my first car, which
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back then was a 1965 Mustang fast back.
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I think I paid like $350 for it.
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Love that car, did all the stupid stuff teenagers do in it, you know?
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That was the era of, I will call it drag racing, or at least sporting
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yourself against your buddy's cars.
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And then as I got older, taste get more sophisticated, maybe a
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little more opportunity to get more selective about what you did.
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And then I found myself really in the automotive technology space, which put me
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into a car dealerships several every week.
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Gave me a chance, gosh, probably my twenties, to test drive.
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About every make that was made.
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So you got to see everything from back then.
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There was, even the Yugo existed right from Yugo to Ferrari and
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there was something unique, something clever about every car and
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something just so powerful about it.
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So I think, you know, my blood was replaced with motor oil
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and just been a car enthusiast.
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Ever since.
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So those early days with that Mustang.
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Yeah, probably a lot of stories that you can't share on air about your
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escapades, but a lot of lessons learned.
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So how did those translate into the automotive and
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roadside assistance industry?
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Well, I think the first thing, I think every young kid wants a car that is a
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statement about who they are, became sort of how you even defined yourself.
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It seems to be lost a lot with today's generations, but back then
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it was how you defined yourself.
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And so I looked for one that had a lot of.
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Z had interest, was powerful, made a lot of noise, but it had to be reliable.
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Didn't matter how loud that thing was or how fast it could go, if
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it only went that way a few days out of the week, it was a problem.
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So you learn back then how to open the hood, surface it your.
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Self, you could be a shade tree mechanic.
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You know, those days now have all largely changed.
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Cars have evolved so rapidly, technologically, I mean, now
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they're just works of art that are engineering masterpieces.
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And today the reliability dramatically improved, but still from time
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to time the unexpected happens.
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And so I got drawn into this career.
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In my twenties, been in it ever since.
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Really take a lot of lessons out of just helping people in a time of need, either
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preventing them taking good care of that vehicle and the road worthiness of it.
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Or when the unexpected happens, how do you quickly get them to a safe place, get
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that car repaired and back on the road.
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So been building and enabling technologies and services really for the last 40 years.
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To do that very thing.
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Tell us a little bit about what Nation Safe Drivers is.
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So it's a great group of team members here.
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We're headquartered in South Florida, but have a national reach.
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If you look at our name Nation right, that just speaks to us.
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Being from coast to coast.
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We can service anybody anywhere, any zip code in the country.
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Safe is really the fundamental principle that we execute.
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We wanna make sure the motorist is safe.
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Both from a financial perspective and then also from a physical one.
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And then we are all about the drivers.
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We love motor sports.
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Here we focus on the motorists, and so that's happens to be embedded in our name.
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So we really offer two predominant categories of solution.
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The first is, is risk aversion.
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Today, the cost of repairs on a vehicle can be.
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Catastrophic.
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Even for the small little repairs, whether it's a windshield being
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replaced, the wheels burnishing out that scuff you got on the curb road
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hazards that impact a tire failure all the way up to mechanical coverage.
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And so we call that our risk business, where we help motorists manage that risk.
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And you know, a relatively modest personal investment, they can safeguard.
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Themselves from any serious financial investment that they may have to make.
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That generally is always unexpected.
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The second part of our business is, is recovery.
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We realize that it's going to happen.
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You're gonna find yourself on the side of the road, flat tire, out of gas,
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check engine light, whatever it may be, and you need to call a friend.
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So we want that friend to be nation safe Drivers.
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We operate with a network of about 50,000 tow providers from coast to coast.
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Have roughly, gosh, 250,000 recovery vehicles at our disposal to get you
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off the side of the road, get the car to a certified repair facility.
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Maybe it's just bring you a couple of gallons of gas and get you back
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on the way or change that tire.
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We view it, we want every one of our motorists to be pictured in the minds
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of our team members as their little grandma on the side of the road.
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What wouldn't they do to make sure that she was safe and on her way?
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The 900 pound gorilla in your space is the long running, probably the oldest
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one outside of the a CO in France.
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Which would be the AAA in the United States.
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Yes.
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What's the key differentiator between Nation Safe and aaa?
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Well, I think AA is an all volunteer.
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I mean, you opt into it at a consumer to provider level.
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We happen to differentiate ourselves by being the fulfilling partner for
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the brand promise for lots of others.
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So if you've bought a. A new car, you have an OEM who
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incorporates roadside assistance.
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You might have an insurance product, whether it's your
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vehicle insurance, could be A VSC.
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It has a benefit in it, which is roadside assistance, rather than us
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saying, okay, it's insurance company A, B, C. We let them say that.
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We give them a number, they call us.
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And we think of ourselves as them and we're their fulfillment partner.
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And so we execute really on the brand promise of about 1400
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companies out there for us today.
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There isn't a direct to consumer access to nation safe drivers.
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Our ability to be of service comes through other partners that you have in your life.
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As I understand it, there's two sides to this business as you explained it.
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There's the roadside service and then there's the finance
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and insurance products.
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Yep.
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Can you explain how they work, how they work together, and what
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does it cost to become, let's say, a member of Nation Safe Drivers?
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I think we've all probably had an opportunity to purchase a vehicle from
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a dealership, whether a franchised one or an independent dealer.
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One of the services that they offer is, is the arrangement
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of financing, which is the I.
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The I happens to represent insurance like products, and usually when we hear
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insurance, we think life insurance, and I guess it's not a bad metaphor.
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This is the life insurance of a mechanical device, and there
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you have a menu of options.
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Depending on where you feel uncomfortable, you might want to cover that off.
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Maybe it's a used car and you say, gosh, you know it's got 50,000 miles on it.
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I don't know how much repairs are gonna cost in the future.
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So let me get into place a vehicle service contract in the event I have a serious
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mechanical failure transmission goes out.
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The cost of that repair is covered by the inclusion of that insurance product.
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That's probably the upper end, and they can run it in the
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several thousands of the dollars.
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There isn't a particularly set price for that because there's so many variables.
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What make model, what's the age of the car?
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How many miles are on the car?
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What's the service history been?
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And so all of those are priced dynamically so that that risk is as appropriate
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to the serviceability and frankly the expected failure rate of the car.
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Uh, you have at the other extreme, other products now cars.
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Is really a combination of components, no long gone are the days of repair.
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Now it's all just simply replaced, something goes
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wrong, they replace the system.
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And so some of those systems can be carved out and say, that's the one I
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want to have my insurance coverage in.
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Uh, one that happens to be very popular today is the infotainment system.
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Long gone is is the eight track tape or just the a m FM radio
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Now It's very sophisticated.
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Even CDs, you don't find those in cars anymore.
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It's the streaming surface.
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It's also the mission control for all of the other technology in the car.
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That component goes out very costly repair, so you can carve that out
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and do something just for that.
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Glass has become an incredible component in a vehicle, and we
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generally think of it as just.
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You know, refined sand that we can look through.
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But the reality is that a windshield now is a serious, specialized device.
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It has sound deadening properties, it has reflective properties,
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it has heads up display.
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Also it's, you know, the lens through which.
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Certain adaptive technologies all operate if they're not calibrated correctly.
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All of those are a failure point on the vehicle, so it's become a very
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integral part of the car and expensive.
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And so even just hedging that it can be a a windshield alone type of product.
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People love to personalize their vehicles.
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If you're a truck driver, it's bigger tires, bigger wheels.
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If you're just have an upscale vehicle, it's how do I differentiate
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myself with aftermarket wheels?
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All of those to be repaired is expensive.
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So you could even get just a tire and wheel program, and then
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there's combinations you can bundle some of those together.
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So I guess really the long and short answer, Eric is, is
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that you have lots of options.
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As a motorist, you do yourself really well to get informed about all the options are.
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Then make decisions that are appropriate for you.
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They could be in the thousands of dollars down to just a few hundred.
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So to make sure that our listeners aren't confused, it's not an extended warranty.
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No.
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It's augmenting what you're buying, whether that's a new car, certified
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pre-owned, or an existing used vehicle.
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So where is the suites?
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Spot for nation safe drivers in terms of the car's too old
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or the car's too expensive.
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We're looking for that Goldilocks car, right?
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Yeah.
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So what fits the bill if you wanted to become part of the program?
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It's personalized by every car.
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I mean, what we don't have is the ability to influence motorists to say
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what we have recognized is that this car is, it's going to be the most road
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worthy for the longest period of time, and we want everyone to go buy that.
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You'd minimize your repair bill, in fact.
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We have an interesting study here, and I comment that if I looked out
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my window and I had the mileage on the windshields of the car out there,
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knowing what there were, I could probably predict with about 93% accuracy what
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the next two years worth of repair bills would look like for those cars.
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So we do, you know, manage that particular risk.
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If you said, gosh, what do we love?
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We love that mid mileage, so call it.
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40 to 80,000 mile car that has four to seven years old.
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That one, because the risk profile is moderate to low and the affordability
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of it is commensurate to that.
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So that's a great one to have both in our portfolio and a good one for
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the motorist to have covered off.
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The risk for 100 is the lowest with that group, but when they
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do happen, they're severe.
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So are there any cars that are just outliers?
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Let's say you bought a brand new Ferrari and that's not gonna happen.
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Right?
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Well, you know what, we could, uh, no.
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I don't even think we could be persuaded to say, add a service
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contract to a Ferrari only knowing full well that those, if you have
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an mechanical failure, you're there.
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It takes a lottery ticket to get that thing repaired.
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We do shy away from some of the extreme highlines.
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Put that into any of those exotics, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Pagani.
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I mean, bear in mind that the fundamental principle of the insurance products is,
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is to help those with finite capacity, be prepared for the unexpected.
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The premise is that someone who has the ability to afford one of those should
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also have the capacity to solve for it.
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Should a calamity happen?
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Let's theorize here for a second.
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'cause a lot of our audience are Motorsport.
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Petrolhead.
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Yes.
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And so there's a huge conglomerate of folks that go out and buy used Porsches,
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you know, Caymans and Older nine elevens.
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Mm-hmm.
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And BM BMW M threes and m fours.
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And they take 'em to the track.
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So you buy A CPO Cayman, right?
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Yep.
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And you buy a plan for nation state drivers.
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'cause it fits in that window.
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It's four to seven years old.
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To the sweet spot.
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In terms of mileage, is there any sort of stipulation that says, well, if
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you take it to the track and something happens, you know, at A-H-P-D-E
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or an event like that, where this policy wouldn't work for the car?
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Not necessarily.
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Really, I think the biggest risk in a track is, is less about mechanical
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failure just from abusing the engine and more of an incident involving
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one of your fellow motor sports.
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And so this isn't a collision related.
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Policy, but again, it doesn't take a track.
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We've seen more than enough claims come in when the explanation
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is, is really understood.
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It was the owner's teenage son showing off to his friends and not
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realizing what a red line meant.
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So, so in that case, if you money shifted the motor and something happened.
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Be covered under this particular plan, it would be covered in this industry.
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They would call it exclusions.
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Are there things that are excluded or activities that are excluded
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and listen, I can't speak for all providers of things like this.
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There are some out there that who would say, yep, if this is happened
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to be being utilized at, uh, track, it would be exclusive for us.
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We don't have that exclusion tonight.
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So let's switch gears and let's talk a little bit more about the
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roadside assistance part of this.
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Sure.
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'cause obviously there's two sides to this equation.
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Let's talk about how roadside assistance has changed over the
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decades, because I think it's something we take for granted, right?
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You're stranded on the side of the road, you call somebody in a tow truck shows up.
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What does that mean today, especially with EVs and hybrids and you know, there
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are still some carbureted cars out there.
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What's roadside assistance like in 2025?
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The scenario is you're now on the side of the road and you've had a problem.
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It could be anything from a flat tire to out of gas, to whatever reason
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the engine stopped running and now I find myself on the side of the road.
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And again, it would be through via some of our partners.
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Um, it might be an 800 number that you call.
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It could be press the button for it gets support.
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I mean, telepathy.
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Now in cars, this is getting better and better all the time.
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But once that roadside assistance has been requested, we filled it
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by answering that toll free number.
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We answer it with an IVR and an IVR will answer and say, would you like to speak to
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an agent or would you like to self-direct?
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And we're finding there is a trend to the self-direct.
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So they press one.
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Next thing they know, they get a hyperlink texted to their phone,
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and at that point they're into an app-like experience, or they're able
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to say, here's what the problem is.
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I have a flat tire, I need a tow.
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And it comes up in literally just a matter of seconds.
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Says, here is a tow provider in your area, and it'll be 21 minutes
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before they can be to your.
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Location and you look at it, you see 'em on the map coming to you.
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They arrive, they make triage, what's going on and what used to be,
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let's hook you on the back of a tow truck now has largely been replaced.
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Like we're gonna put it onto a flatbed and they'll roll you up on the flatbed.
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I think that speaks really to the prevalence of now of EVs and other types
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of vehicles that that seems to be the way that they like to get towed away.
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And then they'll take that again, us the motorist.
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See where the car is, where it's headed.
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It goes to a shop of your choice.
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And if that doesn't exist, we can recommend out of a network of
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certified providers where you can have the work done or have it towed
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to your nearest franchise dealer that represents the car that's there.
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And at that point, they'll drop it off.
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We have a closed loop system so that you verify that all of that has happened,
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and that's the end of the experience.
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It should be uneventful.
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When that opportunity occurs.
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But the biggest change is probably the proliferation of EVs.
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And what really has changed them is, is since they're so weight
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conscious, they don't put a spare tire in one of those anymore, and
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they weigh so dang much, right?
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That they're more susceptible to road hazard.
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And so when you have a tire failure in an ev.
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Your options generally aren't come in and change my tire.
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For me, it's come in, recover my vehicle, get me to the nearest tire
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center so that I can get a replacement tire put on, and we're seeing a, an
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increasing percentage of what would normally be, what we would call a soft
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service, performing the service on the side of the road to a recovery.
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Just because of the, the EVs.
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So you mean like plugging a tire so they can get where they're going if they don't
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have run flats or something like that?
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Yep.
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It's just, uh, and that seems not to be the case.
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They don't put a lot of run flats on those cars and so we, we do
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see it where they lose a tire.
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It is a get it to a tire center and they're replacing a tire.
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And generally it's not a tire, it's all four tires.
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You know, there are folks that drive.
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Their BMWs and Porsches to the track.
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But what about the folks that they're borrowing their wife's Chevy Tahoe to tow
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their Porsche to the track and something happens and that car is registered
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under a nation safe driver plan.
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So are you suggesting, Eric, that it's the Tahoe pulling the car,
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or is it you have a disconnect from the trailer and the car goes?
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On its own little, uh, adventure.
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Well, let's not go that far.
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What I'm thinking is, okay, good.
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Is you're towing with your Tahoe or your Durango or whatever it is.
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You know, your F-150 and something goes wrong, the truck's covered by nation safe.
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What happens if, let's say your truck has to get towed?
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Do you guys offer any sort of extension to say, well, we'll help you get your
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trailer where it needs to go, because you can no longer pull it at that point.
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Yep.
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We'll call that a two-way tow.
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It might be that Yep, we're gonna take your truck to, uh, the GMC
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dealer and he's gonna get that thing repaired and we're going to have the
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other one towed, separate carrier, but towed to your destination.
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And so we're happy to oblige that way.
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Is that a separate charge for that or is that actually covered in the policy?
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That would be covered in the policy?
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It, it happens rarely, but it is one of those falling into that category.
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Fortunately, I've never had that situation arise, but the potential
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is certainly there and it applies to, to a camper or anything else.
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But we can now go to the next logical conclusion, which is the old adage
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when you're talking about trailers.
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Two is one and one is none.
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When you're talking about spare tires, so let's say you
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get a flat with your trailer.
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Can you call a nation safe and say, Hey, I'm stuck on the side
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of the road, the trailer's down.
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Can you come help me?
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Do you have spare trailer tires?
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You know, things like that.
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As far as carrying replacement tires for a trailer, probably unlikely.
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So you probably end up in that very situation.
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Road hazard tire on the trailer is gone defective.
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If there's not one to replace it with, it'll probably be, pull it off, get
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it to a tire center, replace it, bring it back to that particular vehicle.
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That part does happen occasionally.
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I, I think the crazy thing about higher trailers is, is it's never the miles.
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It's always the age.
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They sit out in the sun, they get abused by the sun.
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There's always great tread depth on them, but the tire fells just from
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exposure definitely becomes a three ring circus if the car on the trailer
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is not registered or road legal.
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So now we got what, three tow trucks coming out?
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Three problems.
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Yep, that's exactly right.
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And depending on the nature of the car, you may not want it on a flatbed.
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You might need a box truck.
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I mean, if the trailer was an enclosed trailer, you're
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gonna want an enclosed trailer.
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So that's just part of the sophistication of handling a, a motorist event like that.
20:21
Yeah.
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And, and I appreciate the fact that you guys are willing to work and be
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accommodating with your customers on that, because to your point, there's
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a lot of exclusions in other policies and it makes it very difficult.
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You, you're just stranded now you're left with you and the trailer and
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your truck is off going somewhere.
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Yep, that's exactly right.
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We're all vehicle enthusiasts or car enthusiasts at heart.
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And, uh, we probably have a few war stories just like that.
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I think our biggest one is, is we had a. Former, uh, principal at the business
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here had a exotic, took it to the track.
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His son happened to put it into the sidewall.
20:51
And what they needed was a tow to get it from the track back to a repair center.
20:55
But we didn't cover the repairs, but we were able to do the tow for them.
20:59
'cause it was at that point, undrivable.
21:01
That's interesting you bring that up because there are certain carriers
21:05
that tow trucks are not allowed or they won't cross the gates of a
21:09
racetrack to come pull a car out.
21:11
So the fact that you guys do that, that's immense.
21:13
Yeah, we do that.
21:14
We do recovery and sometimes it depends, 'cause this is, again, we're the
21:18
fulfillment partner for our B2B partners.
21:21
Sometimes they'll say, yeah, this is, we cover it up to
21:24
this point, but not after that.
21:25
And so we try to work with them, advise them on those type of things.
21:29
It's really about managing the risk, you know, how likely are
21:32
you gonna have that out of your hundreds of thousands of customers?
21:35
It's pretty minimal.
21:36
So we encourage 'em to cover that.
21:38
You know, a lot of our rivals won't cover accident tows, for example,
21:42
or, uh, a car that gets impounded.
21:45
We have one of our big service providers, they have a contract at
21:48
a very large airport here in town.
21:50
And if you've left your car for greater than 60 days at the airport lot.
21:54
They come and get them, they impound them, and you get a notice, and a lot of wreck
21:59
won't come and solve for the impound.
22:00
So we'll go and retrieve it from the impound and tow it
22:03
back to where it needs to be.
22:05
And so I think we've tried to look at it and solve those friction
22:08
points that a motorist has.
22:10
It's.
22:10
Bad enough that they don't without their car.
22:12
There's a mechanical failure, but how do you just make that part
22:14
of it as uneventful as possible?
22:16
So you mentioned partnerships are super important to nation
22:20
safe driver's business.
22:21
You guys are very technology forward.
22:23
I wanna kind of hone in on both of those things because when you're in a panic
22:27
situation, you're like, man, where's that one 800 number I gotta dial.
22:29
OnStar was the first one.
22:31
Yep.
22:31
You remember the little blue button you touch in your rear
22:33
view mirror and it dials out.
22:34
Do you need help?
22:35
Yep.
22:35
Are you tied into those?
22:37
Types of networks too, where OnStar is dispatching nation safe drivers
22:41
to kind of do the last mile work.
22:43
Yes.
22:43
We have several OEM partners where you're calling literally OnStar.
22:48
We will use them in there as an example, although I'll disclose they're
22:50
not one of our customers at present.
22:52
If you were to dial that, they would have a call center that is answering that,
22:56
that would be saying, how can I help?
22:57
And they would say, I need a roadside assistance.
23:00
And at that point they would, you'd then be transferred digitally into our system,
23:05
and at that point we would begin to provide the service on behalf of that OEM.
23:09
We have others where some OEMs have apps for their cars, for example, I
23:14
have one that's for a truck that I own, that if I needed roadside assistance,
23:18
I go to it and it is literally press this button for roadside assistance.
23:22
At that point, there's a digital handshake to us.
23:24
Location of it is sent to us, and we really let them wrap
23:28
inside of their application.
23:30
That same app-like experience that we have, others have a different
23:34
car, has the same app, or has a similar app that they offer.
23:37
Roadside assistance there is, is call this number, right?
23:41
So at that point you're literally on your iPhone calling the number, and again,
23:45
it's calling a number that looks like it's that OEM and it's really someone here at
23:49
Nation Safe Driver answering the phone on behalf of that OEM and we take care of it.
23:54
I think what we're learning is a feature we just released was, is
23:57
the ability to put that membership card in your iPhone digital wallet.
24:01
It's late, it's dark, it's raining.
24:03
You're not scrambling through the glove box looking for a number.
24:07
You just go to your digital wallet.
24:08
There it is.
24:09
Hit the triple dots there, there's the information, and press the dial.
24:13
Right?
24:13
And you're calling right out.
24:15
And I think you're gonna find that to be far more prevalent going forward.
24:18
And I'm glad we're talking about that late at night in the rain type of
24:21
situation because it, it's a source of frustration for a lot of people.
24:24
If you've ever gotten a flat tire or something's happened, or you
24:27
have to call roadside assistance, the last thing you want is.
24:30
Press one for roadside assistance.
24:31
Yes.
24:31
Press two.
24:32
For financial and insurance products.
24:34
Right.
24:34
Being a technology forward company, like you're talking about with
24:37
all the handshakes and the text messages and this and that.
24:39
Yeah.
24:39
Do you see AI playing a role in the customer service portion of what
24:44
Nation Safe drivers does in the future?
24:46
Yeah, I think absolutely.
24:47
I think pick a couple of things.
24:48
I mean there, the automotive repair industry has a wealth of information
24:53
that's been stored over the years and the only one really to master that
24:57
is, is to use an AI agent who can really process all of that and help
25:01
sort of triage what the situation is.
25:03
And so we're using it today in a few instances.
25:06
I think we have a number of research projects that are underway that we
25:09
think will barefoot root and be able to facilitate that service experience.
25:14
I mean, we're bullish on it.
25:15
Do we think it's ever going to replace the human interaction
25:19
and some judgment calling?
25:20
I don't think so.
25:21
It might enhance their decision making process, but it won't replace it.
25:24
Folks like to hear testimonials.
25:26
Sure.
25:26
The experiences of other peoples.
25:28
Can you share a couple of stories or examples where nations safe?
25:31
Made a meaningful impact on a customer's experience?
25:34
Yep.
25:34
I can think of one that was really personal.
25:36
A woman was, had just, uh, left the hospital late at night, had been
25:41
there to relieve her mother-in-law because her father-in-law was
25:46
in the last hours of his life.
25:48
His wife was frankly exhausted, so she stayed there.
25:51
All of that day was relieved by her brother-in-law, son of the
25:56
father, and on her way home.
25:59
Happened to hit a piece of road debris, 1130 at night, flat tire,
26:04
always at the least convenient time.
26:06
She took the exit, pulled off to a small little liquor store
26:10
in about the worst part of town.
26:12
Had no idea how you would change a tire, had no idea even frankly,
26:15
what to do, but reached out and said, here's my circumstances.
26:19
What do I do?
26:21
I happened to be one of our agents here, happened to say, well, the first
26:24
question is, are you in a safe place?
26:27
And her response was.
26:28
I don't think so.
26:29
I think I'm surrounded by a, a drug culture environment right here.
26:34
And she said, okay, let me see how quickly.
26:36
And so she, she placed an immediate action call to a service provider
26:40
that was the general area and said, effectively, this is a 9 1 1.
26:44
How quickly can you get there?
26:46
So a normal ETA might be 20 to 30 minutes for us.
26:49
On this one, it happened to be six minutes.
26:52
And so the agent just advised.
26:54
Don't get out.
26:54
Don't go look at the tire.
26:56
Just lock your doors and stay in the car.
26:58
I'm gonna stay on the phone with you and if you're approached,
27:01
we're gonna dial literally 9 1 1.
27:04
And so I just so appreciate that agent making it on a personal, it's
27:08
about protecting the individual.
27:10
Shortly after that, the wrecker arrived, they got the car.
27:14
Our agent dispatched an Uber to get that person off the road and onto their
27:19
home, and it meant so much to them that about a week later, Uber Eats delivers
27:26
here to our offices crumble cookies For that agent, just this motorist
27:31
wanted to say thank you to that agent for making it a personal experience.
27:35
Focusing on them as, and their safety about that being the most important thing.
27:40
And frankly, how uneventful, uh, not a, it was certainly eventful, but how, um,
27:45
seamlessly she was able to secure the tow provider and get the car delivered to what
27:50
happened to be a Mercedes dealership and then get that person back to their home.
27:55
So I, when I hear those stories, gosh, it causes me to be really
27:59
proud of our team that a lot of the training that we do with.
28:02
Them is this empathy, it's tonality, it's putting yourself in their
28:07
situation, focusing on them, and it's just so refreshing to see it when that
28:12
stuff just shows up and we learned about it by why are they delivering
28:16
crumble cookies to this person?
28:18
Just to say, thanks.
28:19
Folks are listening to this now and they're probably Googling
28:23
nation safe drivers, or on the website trying to figure out where
28:25
did they fit in the ecosystem.
28:27
Before we transition to our last segment, let's just talk about.
28:31
Becoming part of the nation safe driver system.
28:34
Where, when and how should you sign up?
28:36
There are a couple of ways.
28:38
Our present go to market strategy is, is B2B.
28:41
We partner with a number of providers out there.
28:44
It could be your insurance carriers, could be the OEM that you do business with.
28:48
It could be.
28:49
A lot of other things.
28:50
I mean, it's surprising, I probably shouldn't say, but even we have certain
28:54
cell phone companies that we're a partner in and they have benefits there.
28:58
So I guess the challenge I would send to your listeners is, is that when
29:01
you're in there, you'd like to use Nation Safe drivers for that benefit.
29:05
Ask about it by name.
29:06
I mean, they can become the greatest impetus for getting, for us more
29:10
coverage of Nation safe drivers.
29:12
I would say stay tuned.
29:14
In about two quarters time, we will release a direct to consumer.
29:18
On the roadside assistance, so you'll have that ability.
29:22
If you're on the side of the road, you Googled, I need a tow, you
29:25
would see a direct to consumer.
29:27
We figure we can leverage this network of these providers and assist there for
29:32
those that are on these one time events.
29:34
When it comes to the insurance related products, really a couple of ways.
29:38
We distribute a number of them through the dealerships,
29:41
through their insurance agents.
29:43
Through your personal automotive insurance agents and through a number
29:47
of credit institutions, whether they be a credit union or a bank like Ali.
29:52
And so again, you can ask about it by name.
29:54
We'd appreciate that, but that's certainly how they would get enrolled.
29:57
And that enrollment, that's a agreed upon fee, or is that a subscription?
30:02
How does that work?
30:03
It's generally agreed upon, let's say it was you're at the bank and you were buying
30:07
a car and you were financing it that.
30:10
Charge for those services would get bundled into the loan and you'd pay
30:13
for it over the term of the loan.
30:14
If it's the roadside, it's just a, it's a benefit of your collisions
30:18
insurance on your vehicle.
30:19
And if you looked, uh, I've done it for myself personally.
30:23
I have roadside assistance covered by three or four
30:26
vendors that I do business with.
30:28
On a personal level, I think it's really just.
30:30
Making the effort to familiarize yourself with who all offers it and
30:33
what's the extent of the benefit.
30:35
So your mileage may vary, deductibles, all sorts of stuff apply there.
30:39
It could really gotta do your due diligence when you're looking at this.
30:42
Read the agreement.
30:43
I mean, it's interesting how many of our rivals have exclusions.
30:47
Limitations to benefits.
30:48
And so that is how they differentiate.
30:50
We may not be the cheapest one.
30:52
What we probably are is the greatest value.
30:53
'cause the cheapest one probably excludes a lot of things that are fairly
30:57
customarily, the nature of the repair.
30:59
So as we switch into our last segment here, Richard, let's talk
31:02
about the future a little bit.
31:03
What are some of the challenges that the industry is gonna
31:07
face in the coming years?
31:08
We talked a little bit about the EVs, so how is nation safe drivers
31:11
preparing for those changes?
31:13
Oh, I think our first one is for the EVs in particular, is really
31:17
the evolution of the network.
31:19
We talk about nation safe driving B, a couple of thousand employees, but the
31:22
reality is we're about 250,000 strong.
31:26
When you bundle in.
31:27
Our partners there, you know, they're all entrepreneurial.
31:30
They have a small business.
31:31
They might have a truck, they might have a half a dozen trucks.
31:34
We've leaned on some of our financial capacity to help them with some
31:38
of the challenges that they have.
31:39
We're recognizing that.
31:41
Financing a truck may be an obstacle for them.
31:43
How can we help with that?
31:45
It might also be getting liability insurance, and so we have a
31:48
partner to help with that.
31:50
So we're very active in the tow community on how to help them build their business.
31:54
When it comes to the nature of the tows, they are evolving.
31:58
Some are specializing in those soft services, some are specializing
32:01
in light to medium duty, some even heavy duty, uh, towing services.
32:06
On those light to medium duties, it's really saying we need a mix.
32:10
We need more of those on the road and get away from more of the hooks.
32:14
So it's really help advising those tow providers on where
32:17
we see the trends occurring.
32:19
Uh, we take another one.
32:20
We have a little bit where we process, I hate to even say how many,
32:23
but a lot of road hazard claims.
32:26
We're starting to even add value through data, either to aftermarket suppliers or
32:32
even municipalities when we're starting to see problems on just their roads
32:37
that are causing frequent problems.
32:38
So the big question, what's next, Richard?
32:41
Looking ahead, what excites you the most about the future of Nation Safe drivers
32:45
and the role you play in continuing to expand and grow the company?
32:48
Listen, we're a really bullish on the future.
32:50
We love the automotive space.
32:52
We look for ways to be more intuitive in how we can help in motorist life.
32:58
I think the utilization of the smart devices and making that really convenient,
33:04
really trying to think through where are the gaps, where are the friction points?
33:08
How do we elegantly solve those things?
33:10
You know, I started my career as a software developer.
33:13
Even though this is like a service business, it's how do we leverage
33:17
more technology just to enable us to do better and higher quality
33:22
of services And, uh, whether it's AI deployment, it's some smart
33:26
learning, it's some machine learning.
33:28
It's.
33:29
Leveraging of priors experiences.
33:32
Those are pretty exciting.
33:33
And what we're finding is, is that there's a real appetite for it out there.
33:37
Most aren't as forward leaning on how do you continue to evolve as a business.
33:43
And so we're finding that we're just becoming much more of a
33:46
demanded partner by those that we don't have as partners today.
33:49
So that's really exciting.
33:50
You know, I'm be honest, I'm sort of on the last lapse of my career.
33:54
I mean, the checkered flag, I can see it.
33:56
It's not that far off.
33:58
But it's like, who do you pass the baton to?
34:00
So I get, uh, a lot of re-energizing out of working with the next generation here.
34:06
You know, teaching them about leadership, about how to be customer centric, how to
34:11
think differently, how to be uncommon.
34:14
And frankly, it's incredibly invigorating to be around that next generation.
34:19
See how excited they are to get into this business.
34:21
And we have a president's club.
34:23
And for us, our President's Club is to take about a dozen people
34:26
down to the Miami Formula One.
34:28
This last year I took 10 people who had never been to a motor
34:32
sports event in their life.
34:34
We live in the shadow of it.
34:35
We have the Daytona 500, a couple of hours up the road.
34:38
It's just instilling a love for motor sports that seems to have
34:43
skipped a generation or two.
34:44
Well, Richard, we've reached that part of the episode where
34:47
I like to invite our guests to share any shout outs, promotions.
34:50
Thank you.
34:50
Is there anything else that we haven't covered thus far?
34:53
I changed just for you, Eric.
34:54
I had on my Ferrari shirt because on Fridays we share our team, whether
34:59
it's a college football or the pros.
35:02
Or it's a race weekend, you know?
35:04
What team do you follow on Formula One and we're to walk the office here.
35:07
Out of the several hundred employees that are here, just on this floor alone,
35:11
two thirds of them would be wearing, unfortunately, red Bull or McLaren.
35:15
But fun to see that that enthusiasm is starting to.
35:18
Pick up as CEO of nation safe drivers.
35:21
Richard leads one of North America's most trusted finance and insurance and roadside
35:25
assistant providers serving automotive, rv, marine, and power sports markets.
35:30
He spent over three decades advancing technology driven solutions and
35:34
championing dealership growth from scaling endurance warranties by
35:37
266% to founding and selling major dealership management startups.
35:42
Richard's passion for the evolving auto landscape, focusing not only on
35:46
profitability, but on lasting value for dealers, drivers and enthusiast lines up
35:51
squarely with your needs as an enthusiast.
35:54
So to learn more, be sure to log on to www.nationsafedrivers.com
35:59
or follow them on social media at NSD Club on x. And at Nations Safe
36:05
drivers on Instagram and Facebook.
36:08
And with that, Richard, I can't thank you enough for coming on Break Fix and
36:10
sharing your time with us, and I think there's gonna be a lot of folks looking
36:14
to sign up for Nations safe driver policies in the near, near future.
36:18
So best of luck and hopeful.
36:19
See you soon.
36:20
No, listen, it's been a great to spend a few minutes with you.
36:23
It's always fun to talk about NSD and particularly talk about motor sports.
36:26
So appreciate the invitation, Eric.
36:33
We hope you enjoyed another awesome episode of Break Fix Podcasts, brought
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