If you run a breakdown recovery or roadside assistance business, you have probably tried most things. Google Ads, a Facebook page, listing sites, flyers, a wrapped van. Some of it brings work in. A lot of it quietly drains the bank account every month.
This is what we see from working with recovery operators across the UK — the five things that reliably waste money, and the three that reliably do not.
1. Google Ads with sloppy location targeting
We see this constantly. A recovery firm in Manchester paying for clicks from drivers searching in London, because the campaign was set to "United Kingdom" and never touched again.
Google Ads can work for recovery — the intent is about as strong as intent gets. But it only works if the targeting is tight: a radius you can actually reach in your response time, negative keywords stripping out job seekers and DIY searches, and ad scheduling that matches when you are genuinely available to answer.
Most small operators do not have time to manage that properly, so they pay £5 to £15 a click for traffic that was never going to convert. If you are not reviewing the search terms report at least monthly, you are almost certainly funding clicks you would never have chosen to buy.
2. Buying shared leads
This is the biggest one, and it is worth being blunt about it.
Traditional lead generation companies sell the same enquiry to three, four or five providers. By the time you ring, the driver has already spoken to two other firms. They are irritated at being called repeatedly, you are competing on price alone, and your conversion rate sits somewhere miserable.
You are not really buying a lead. You are buying a place in a queue, and paying for the privilege of racing to the bottom on price.
It is precisely why we built ours differently: our leads are exclusive. First provider to claim the job gets the customer. No sharing, no five-way scramble, no undercutting a stranger to win work you should have been paid properly for.
3. Social media with no plan behind it
A Facebook page you post to once a month is not marketing. But we also see the opposite — operators sinking hours into content that nobody sees, and concluding social media does not work for recovery.
Usually the effort is fine. The platform and the format are wrong.
Short-form vertical video is where the attention is. A fifteen-second clip of a genuinely awkward recovery — a car wedged somewhere unlikely, a winch job on a slope, a wheel lift done neatly in tight space — will out-reach any written post you have ever published. People are fascinated by the work. You are sitting on content most industries would pay for.
It also does something a Google Ad cannot: it makes you a known name locally before anyone needs you. When they do break down, they already recognise the van.
4. General directory listings
Being on a broad business directory sounds sensible. In practice those sites rank for their own brand, not for "breakdown recovery near me", and your entry sits well beyond the page anyone actually looks at.
Niche directories convert better for one simple reason: intent. Somebody browsing a general directory might be researching. Somebody on a traffic and breakdown platform is stood at the roadside right now with a vehicle that will not move.
The test worth applying to any listing you pay for: does the person reaching this page need help today, or are they just looking around?
5. Never asking for reviews
This one is free, takes ten seconds, and is probably the highest-return thing on the list.
After every completed job, ask the driver to leave a review. Google Business Profile first, then wherever else you are listed. Most people are happy to — they have just been rescued — but almost nobody does it unless asked.
New customers read reviews before they ring. A firm with fifty genuine five-star reviews wins against a firm with none, every single time, even at a higher price. Especially at a higher price, in fact: reviews are what let you stop competing on cost.
What actually works
The operators doing best right now tend to combine three things.
Real local visibility. A properly filled-in Google Business Profile — correct hours, service area, photos of your actual vehicles, and a steady trickle of recent reviews. This is free and it still beats most paid advertising for local intent.
Presence where drivers already are. Not a directory they would have to think to visit, but the place they end up when something has gone wrong. That is the whole point of a traffic platform: people arrive already needing you.
Speed. This is the one nobody wants to hear, because it is not a marketing spend. Drivers do not choose you on branding. They choose whoever answers the phone and gives a straight ETA. If you are letting calls go to voicemail during the day, no amount of advertising fixes that.
A quick note on pricing
Operators competing on shared leads almost always end up quoting low to win, then resenting the job. Exclusive leads change that maths: if you are the only one being called, you can quote what the work is genuinely worth and explain why. Drivers accept fair pricing far more readily than the industry expects — what they will not accept is being surprised at the end.
Agree the price before you start. Every time. It is the single biggest source of complaints in this trade and it is entirely avoidable.
Frequently asked questions
How much should a recovery company spend on marketing?
There is no fixed figure, but before spending anything, get your Google Business Profile complete and start collecting reviews. Both are free and usually outperform the first few hundred pounds of paid advertising.
Are shared leads ever worth buying?
Rarely. If you buy them, track your true cost per completed job rather than cost per lead — most operators find the real number is several times what they assumed.
What is the fastest way to get more recovery jobs?
Answer the phone quickly, quote clearly, and ask every customer for a review. Those three habits change more than most advertising budgets do.
Does it cost anything to list on UK Traffic Updates?
No. You can list your business free and start receiving exclusive local enquiries.
Getting started
If you want exclusive enquiries from drivers broken down in your area — not shared, not resold, not already called three times — list your business for free and see how it compares to what you are paying for now.