Société d’Assistance Touring Secours:
staying as close as possible to motorway users

The Société d’Assistance Touring Secours (SATS) was created on 28 December 1974 and is a subsidiary of AREA and the insurer Groupama Rhône-Alpes Auvergne.

In 1974, AREA decided to set up an independent, autonomous assistance and breakdown service, integrated with other motorway services.

The objectives set by AREA were:

• Short response time,
• On-site repair of vehicles whenever possible,
• Inclusion of the notion of assistance to customers (hotel search, car rental etc.) in the concept of car breakdown services,
• Having an available operator with a light vehicle breakdown company dedicated solely to the motorway sector.

Ever since the creation of Touring Secours, these objectives have remained our priorities. It is our goal for breakdown assistance to take place in less than 30 minutes so that customers do not remain beside motorways and are brought to safety as quickly as possible.
All the call-out missions carried out by Touring Secours come from the AREA safety headquarters(CESAR). They are transmitted to the repair personnel at the depot concerned by telephone or by the operating radio and trigger a call-out in our management system.

Our resources:

SATS employs 34 people in different depots located in AREA’s maintenance centres (see company location diagram). These teams work 365 days a year, either on 3 x 8 shifts or on call.

The company’s fleet of intervention vehicles are of the following types:

• Flatbed/wheel-lift trucks with 7-seater cab
• Utility vehicles for security patrols
• Light liaison vehicles

The intervention vehicles are equipped with Tetra terminals (AREA operating radio), telephones, an on-board computer terminal and a credit card payment terminal.
The on-board computer consists of a smartphone and a printer allowing the use of our unique billing software (LIDIE). This software allows us to invoice our interventions in all locations, while providing information to our information system (accounting, operations, monitoring, etc.).

The breakdown assistance concept:

• On-site repair for customers’ vehicles whenever it is technically possible and can be carried out safely (e.g. running out of fuel, flat tyre, etc.), in this case the vehicle can return to the road.
• Towing and evacuation if on-site repair is not possible within 30 minutes (e.g. cylinder head gasket, engine malfunction, accident, etc.); in this case the breakdown mechanic will transport the vehicle either to one of the manufacturer’s garages or some other garage, or to the nearest exit (in accordance with the regulations relating to pricing of breakdown services on motorways).
• Contact with their assistance company to resolve accommodation problems (finding a hotel, rental car, taxi or train, etc.).

Customer support:

Touring Secours vehicles are in constant contact with the AREA safety headquarters (CESAR). Upon receipt of the customer’s request for assistance, the CESAR operator launches a call-out by contacting the relevant SATS repair person on their LIDIE smartphone.
The services provided are constantly monitored, AREA knows on a daily basis how long call-outs take, the number of breakdowns, whether the vehicle was able to return to the road or had to be towed.
The service provided by Touring Secours is invoiced to the person being helped or to their assistance company. The prices charged and services provided are determined by the state. Prices are updated by ministerial decree.

Network surveillance:

Touring Secours carries out surveillance rounds of the motorway network with dedicated vehicles between Lyon and La Tour du Pin. The patrols alert the safety headquarters of any incident (stopped vehicles, accidents, objects on the road, pedestrians, etc.) and provide assistance whenever possible.

Company location:

With 7 depots, SATS is located as close as possible to the sectors of the AREA network where it provides assistance.