What kind of computer do I need to use your programs?
I never or rarely STORE vehicles. Do I need to buy the Lot Control Program?
Does the Lot Control Program calculate storage fees?
I don't use a dispatcher. Can I use Truck & Driver to simply enter my driver's tickets?
I have heard about this AlphaNumeric paging. What is it and how much does it cost?
Your programs look complicated. I need something simple and easy to use.
What about Accounting? I spend a lot of time keeping track of who owes me money and how much.
Well that is nice, but then do I have to enter the charge in the accounting program?
Isn't there more to accounting than just AR?
Are you saying that I shouldn't buy your programs?
Will the DATOW Software Accounts Receivable work with these other accounting programs?
I spend a lot of time each month calculating my drivers' commissions. Can you help?
I've heard a lot about Windows. Does your program work with Windows?
I want to be able to use my home computer to do work from home. Can your program do that?
A: Almost any computer you have or can buy will be fine. We do not run on Apples and we require a color monitor. If you are going to buy a new computer, anything on the market will work just fine. We will need about 20 Megs of hard disk space and the usual 640K of memory. Most users are going with laser printers, but an inexpensive dot matrix printer will do. If you want to do Lien Sales, a laser is required.
We can help you purchase a computer. Call us.
A: NO! And that is one of the nicest aspects of our programs. You only purchase the programs you need. If you do not store vehicles, why buy that program? All DATOW Software programs are modular. You can add modules when, and if, you need them.
Some of our users never send statements, so they do not purchase our Accounts Receivable program. Pick and choose -- whatever is right for you!
A: Of Course! That is one of the most important parts of the Lot Control program. In fact, you can have up to 4000 different storage rates. You will probably only use a few, but isn't it nice to know that there is plenty of room to grow? Also, our program calculates the storage up-to-the-minute. And you can adjust the first day's storage if the laws in your state require special handling for short term storage.
A: Yes. We have designed Truck & Driver so that you can use it as a dispatching tool, or you can use it as an "after the fact" entry tool.
There are advantages to using it as a dispatching tool. You will be able to see at a glimpse the calls you are holding and working. You can also take advantage of our AlphaNumeric paging. But whatever way is right for you, use it that way.
A: AlphaNumeric paging is similar to regular paging, except that you can send words as well as numbers. It is a powerful tool that gives you many of the benefits of those very expensive truck mounted terminals, at a very low cost. Typically, you can expect to pay about $5 per month to rent the pager and about $15 per month for the service. There is a one time fee of $30 for the additional program that Truck and Driver uses to send the page.
A: At first glance, DATOW Software may look complicated. But you will find, as so many others have, that it really isn't. Many of the features of our programs are there so that as you get more familiar with our programs, and with computers, you will GROW into using them. Until then, you can simply ignore those portions of the programs that you do not need.
And remember that HELP is always available!
A: DATOW Software programs have built-in help for each place in each screen where you enter information. And the help is what computer people call "context sensitive". This means that the computer knows where you are and it gives you help that is specific to that place. Just press the help key and one line of information appears at the bottom of the screen.
A: No, that is just the start of the Help we offer. If that first line of help has a flashing plus sign, it means that there is more help. Just ask for help again and you get page after page of help. If the first line of help is blue and white, this means that PickList help is available. We call this a PickList, because you can pick an entry from this list and just press Enter to have it inserted for you.
A: You bet! Some fields (those places on the screen where you enter information) have SmartHelp. This means that even if you cannot figure out what to enter, the program will "guess". For example, if you try to leave the License plate field blank in Lot Control, the program will put the word "NONE" in that space for you. A blank VIN will get an "UNKNOWN".
And if you still need help, remember that we are here to answer your telephone call 24 hours a day!
A: What you are referring to is called Accounts Receivable, since it keeps track of what you are due to receive. Not only do we offer a full function AR program, but we designed it with towing companies in mind. This way, when you dispatch a call, the accounting tells you not only the name and address of the customer, but also warns you if that customer has exceeded any credit limit that you might have set.
Also, the usual charges for that customer are shown. And you have access to that customer's "Extended Comment" file from the dispatching program.
A: No way! Our motto is "Once Is Enough!", so when you enter the information about a tow once, that is the last time you ever have to enter that information.
Each DATOW Software program knows how to talk to the other programs. So the computer does the work, not you. And isn't that why you are considering a computer? Computers, and programs like DATOW Software, work together to make you more productive.
A: We hear this one quite often. After 18 years of serving the towing industry, there isn't much we haven't heard! Rest assured that our programs can adapt quite well to the way you do business. For example, you can send a statement whenever you want to, as often as you want to. And since all our programs "talk" to each other, your AR is always up-to-date. Use our Rent-To-Own plan and try us out!
A: Yes, there are programs to keep track of what you owe other companies. This is known as Accounts Payable. Other accounting programs can do balance sheets, budgets, payroll and more. DATOW Software has programs that do each of these things. But most of our customers only use our Accounts Receivable. The reason for this is that there is nothing unique to the towing business when it comes to programs such as Accounts Payable or General Ledger. Any "off the shelf" AP or GL program will do the job just fine.
A: We want you to buy and use our programs that are designed for the towing industry. But with all honesty, you could save a lot of money by using a program such as QuickBooks for your AP, GL and Payroll. You see, since there is nothing specific to towing in those programs, the makers of those programs can sell them to doctors, lawyers and almost any other business you could think of. Since they are selling to a larger market, they can sell these programs for less.
A: If you mean "Will they both work on the same computer?", the answer is Yes. If you mean "Will they share information?", the answer is usually No. However, the amount of information that you will need to enter into your GL program each month is really small. And our AR program will give you that info in an End of Period report. It will take you less than 2 minutes each month to enter those figures. Of course, we would be glad to sell you OUR programs.
A: Yes. Our Truck & Driver program can do in a few seconds what many of our customers were spending hours, or even days, doing before they started using DATOW Software. And we do it in such a way that your dispatcher does not have to indicate on the call ticket, in any way, what the commission should be. Other programs we have seen require the dispatcher to decide who gets paid and how much. We think this is wrong. Our program puts YOU in control.
A: Yes, and we can do even more. You see, DATOW Software has to work in hundreds of different companies, so it has to know how to handle many kinds of situations. You can even have a different rate for towing than you do for mileage, and you can have a different rate for a club call than for a public agency or a commercial call. This is a complicated area, so if this didn't answer your question, call!
A: We have been serving California towing companies for over 18 years, and we have a program that our users tell us is powerful yet very easy to use. And if you have ever seen the California lien sale forms and procedures, you can guess how much work we did to make our programs earn that praise. We have always thought that "If we can deal with California, we can deal with any state!", and we have found this to be true.
We now offer a comprehensive lien sale program for some other states. You should call us to see if we have a package for your state.
However, many states have lien sale procedures that are so simple that you may not even need our lien sale program! You see, we have letters that California tow companies use to notify certain Public Agencies and Legal Owners. These letters can be easily changed to handle what many states call "Lien Letters". If that is all you need, it comes with our Lot Control program. No extra charge. And consider yourself lucky you are not in CA!
A: Yes, you can start DATOW under Windows or DOS. In fact, our programs even include a cute little icon you can use for your shortcut. All DATOW Software programs work great with both versions of Windows that are now popular -- WINDOWS 3.11 and WIN95/98. We are testing under WIN NT 4.0 and everything looks good so far. But because our programs work with MS-DOS, you do not have to use WINDOWS to use DATOW Software. We have found that some people do not like or want to use WINDOWS, and some computers have a problem running WINDOWS. So with DATOW Software, you have a choice.
A: Almost any program can be run from a remote computer. We have some users that have remote yards and they connect using telephone lines to their office computer. To do this, you will need a device called a modem for each computer, and some software that connects the two computers together. It works, but it is not as easy or reliable as the computer industry would like you to believe. And don't forget about that telephone bill. But, if you need it, we do it.
A: I thought you would never ask! We offer a Full Function Demo, which is an up-to-date version of our PROfessional Editon programs, with just a few limitations. The biggest is that it will run for at least one month, but then it will turn itself off.
It comes with just one password, and you do not get the program that lets you add more passwords. And it only allows you to print a "blank" lien sale form.
It is, however, the multi-user version of our programs, so you can test it in a network system to make sure it works OK for you. But we haven't found a network that we do not work on!
It is a very inexpensive way to see if you can get good use and value from our programs. Before you invest hundreds or thousands of dollars, buy & try our FF Demo!
You can download the FF Demo from our web site, and there is no charge for this. But you MUST print the Guided Tour document that goes with the FF Demo. And you must contact us to setup the FF Demo.
A: The funny thing about computer software is that price is often no indicator at all of the quality of the program. We have spent thousands of dollars on programs that I would be embarassed to give away for free, and we have some programs that we got for free, or for just a few dollars, that we use every day and that we couldn't live without.
The price of a program is controlled by many factors. The seller must determine how large a market there is for the program, how much it costs to develop and maintain the program, how much support it requires, and many other factors. Sometimes, it is just a "what the market will bear" price, and sometimes it is such an arbitrary price that you wonder how they stay in business. (Often, they don't!)
We know that there are some towing programs that sell for under $100, and some that sell for over $10,000. So how are you to know which is right for you?
The towing industry is a limited market, from the point of view of the software industry. It is what is known as a vertical market, since a program developed for the tow yard is not able to be sold to a video store or a doctor's office. So the price of the program must reflect this limited market. The developer must recover development and maintenance costs, and still make a profit. If not, he/she is not going to be able to stay in business, and you need to be sure that this company will be there in the years to come to support you and to make changes to the program as laws and computers change.
Would it surprise you to hear that the development, maintenance and support of a fully functional vertical market program often costs hundreds of thousands of dollars? It shouldn't, because it does.
Is it reasonable to believe that a developer can sell tens of thousands of copies of his program to a limited market? Of course not.
So ask yourself: Is a program that sells for such a low price, the kind of program you want to spend your dollars and your time on?
What about programs that sell for $8-10,000 or more? Can a price like that be justified?
Yes, it CAN, but not necessarily. If you are a large towing company, and you need to run many computers and you need a lot of training and support, then it is reasonable to expect to pay more. In fact, the PROfessional Edition of DATOW Software is priced in this category. Our price includes extensive training and support (real 24 hour support) and some of our customers require and appreciate that personal touch. And they tell us that they receive real value for the price.
But what if you are a smaller company that only needs one computer (for now!)? There are a number of programs in the $500 to $2000 price range that you should consider.
At this price, the developer is probably able to recover costs and still make a profit. And you will probably receive a program that will do the job for you.
So how are you to know which program you should trust your company to? The one with the biggest ad? The one with the biggest booth at a trade show? Maybe the least, or most, expensive one?
How about the program from the company that lets you try it before you commit to buying it? Our Rental plan allows you to do just that, and our Rent-To-Own plan ensures that you are not wasting hard earned dollars. How about the one from the company that wants you to buy just the programs you need? Our modular design allows you to pick and choose which programs you need now or which programs you want to start with, and add other programs as you need them and you are ready for them.
Do you think that the company that offers a very powerful yet easy to use Single User version as well as a somewhat more powerful PROfessional Editon understands your needs?
Is the ability to upgrade at anytime, with full credit for what you have already paid, a good idea? Especially since the programs LOOK and FEEL the same? Is fast training time with built-in help a good idea?
Is it important to you that the company you buy from is committed to your industry? That it is an active participant in its' state association? That it has been serving the towing industry EXCLUSIVELY for over 18 years? That it has more technical support staff than it does salespersons? That it is so confident in its' product that it lets you stop paying for it if you don't like it?
We think these things are important and we think you think so too.
We have developed a quality product that is easy to use, expandable, fairly priced, well supported and backed by a company that understands the towing industry.