Every limo company needs someone answering calls, confirming reservations and dispatching trips whenever it operates. As a company grows, the owner usually cannot do all of that alone, and the question becomes whether to hire dispatchers, outsource the work, or combine the two.
There is no single right answer. This guide sets out the factors that matter so you can decide for your own operation.
What the dispatch role covers
Be clear on the work before comparing options. Depending on the company, dispatch can include taking reservations by phone and email, confirming bookings, assigning chauffeurs, reconfirming trips, monitoring flights, handling live trip issues, closing out trips for billing and producing daily reports. List the tasks you need covered and the hours you need them covered.
In-house dispatchers
Advantages
- Direct control over hiring, training and day-to-day work.
- Local knowledge of roads, venues, airports and regular customers.
- Dispatchers sit alongside the rest of your team, so communication is easy.
Things to consider
- The full cost of employment: wages, taxes, benefits, equipment, office space and software seats.
- Covering nights, weekends, public holidays, sick days and vacations usually means more than one person.
- Recruitment and training time, and the cost of starting again when someone leaves.
- Quiet periods when you still pay for full shifts.
Outsourced dispatch
Advantages
- Coverage for hours that are hard to staff in-house, such as overnight and weekends.
- No recruitment, payroll or office space for the outsourced work.
- The ability to adjust cover as your volume changes, within what you agree with the provider.
- An outside team that is already used to dispatch software and routines.
Things to consider
- The team needs time to learn your services, customers, rates and procedures.
- You must give them access to your dispatch software and decide what they can see and change.
- Clear written procedures matter more, because the team cannot simply ask across the office.
- Time zone and communication arrangements need to be agreed, especially for urgent issues.
The hybrid approach
Many companies combine the two: in-house staff during business hours, when most corporate bookings and local knowledge matter, and an outsourced team for nights, weekends, overflow or specific tasks such as reservations or trip close-out. This keeps control of the core work in-house while covering the hours that are hardest to staff.
How to compare the cost fairly
Comparing an hourly wage with an outsourced monthly fee is misleading. For an honest comparison, work out the full cost of each option for the same hours of cover:
- In-house: wages for every shift needed to cover your hours, plus taxes, benefits, paid leave cover, recruitment, training, equipment and software.
- Outsourced: the provider's fees for the agreed hours and tasks, any set-up or onboarding cost, and the time your team spends managing the relationship.
- For both: the cost of missed calls and mistakes, which is harder to measure but often the biggest number.
Questions to ask an outsourced dispatch provider
- Where is your team based, and which hours will they cover in my time zone?
- Will I have dedicated dispatchers who learn my business, or a shared team?
- Which dispatch software do your dispatchers already know, and can they work inside mine?
- How do you train new dispatchers on my services, customers and procedures?
- How will your team escalate urgent problems to me, and at what hours?
- What reports will I receive, and how often?
- How is customer and company data protected, and who on your team can access my systems?
- What are the contract terms, notice period and any set-up costs?
- Can we start with a limited scope, such as overnight cover, and expand later?
A provider should answer these questions clearly and in writing. Be cautious of anyone who cannot say where their team works or who promises results without understanding your operation.
About Callstones
Callstones is a Pakistan-based company providing outsourced limo dispatch and operational support to limousine companies in the U.S. and Canada. We work inside your dispatch software, follow your procedures and agree the tasks and hours we cover with you, whether that is overnight and weekend cover or a larger part of your daily operations.