Founders of the company
Edvard Hojnik and Rainer Tuppinger Our company TBS TEAM 24 was established in the year 1996 as a green field Investment of our Austrian founders Mr. Tuppinger and Mr. Goertz. Originally the idea of foundling the company was to establish a truck and coach Assistance in the territory of former Yugoslavia.

The Idea of focusing only to the truck and coach sector was fixed by our founders, who thought me that the passenger car sector was something that only the national Automobile clubs can be responsible of. The first employee at that time was me, current General Manager and shareholder Edvard Hojnik. I was engaged to look for the commercial success of the new founded company.

This was not an easy task in the mid 90`s, due to the fact that the major historical transit route for transport companies has been shifted from the »Yugoslavian« territory to the east via Bulgaria and Romania. Meeting a truck in our area of coverage was the same as looking for a needle in the haystack. Basically the only trucks in the area were the UN Military and Humanitarian aid transporters. Since the initial Idea of starting a company has had nothing to do with Passenger car, Travel and Lifestyle Assistance, the outlook for the commercial success of the newly founded company, were not so bright. However in the following years we soon scented the new perspective of passenger cars and travel Assistance.

I can remember well the day back in 1998, when a desperate Assistance coordinator from the German assistance company stumbled across our young company - more or less by accident, asking to assist one of their clients in Croatia (it was in the middle of the high season in summer of 1998). I can still remember how surprised I was realizing that the Automobile Clubs were not only ones responsible for passenger cars, after all. I started to search the Yellow pages company registry which weighted at least 3 Kilos or so, to find a towing company in the area of breakdown. It proved to be not such an easy task since nobody knew TBS TEAM 24 and the mistrust was huge. Finally I managed to find an appropriate provider, and then I was able to celebrate the first passenger car assistance case in our history. At that point I started to be aware of the huge hole in Assistance industry which appeared after the disintegration of Yugoslavia.

It was a clear signal that we have to go for it. And so we started to build up the network of suppliers all over our territory of coverage (Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia (FYROM) and Kosovo). Simultaneously I was eager to find out more about the possible clients in Europe and the around the Globe. I could write a book about my struggle with my car while driving across the country, my mobile phone was my 24/7 companion, emerging clients were demanding the services - as we were the most competent Assistance company in Europe, encountering difficulties with new suppliers all around the territory, not really knowing what they wanted from me, and then afterwards back home at the office, me not really knowing what I want from them…

Well it was not the easiest part in my life, though it had a huge impact on my private life as well. But the experience I made, together with my Colleagues in the company is invaluable. So all of the sudden a new era for TBS TEAM 24 has begun. More and more clients started to trust us (frankly speaking some of them trusted us only because of the fact, that there was no alternative to TBS TEAM 24 at that time) and consequently we started to build up our quality and excellence standards for our precious clients all over the World.

What I see as a comparative advantage by using service of our company is, to have the certainty of knowing that our staff shares the same enthusiasm and the inventive spirit even nowadays, when we serve the waste majority of Assistance demands in the territory of former Yugoslavia to the biggest global Assistance companies.

However I want to underline the philosophy of gratitude to each and every client trusting us, no matter big or small. Every client must have the chance to feel some of the enthusiasm and spirit that we, the employees of TBS TEAM 24 want to share. Since we no longer have to run around the country and take the calls at the same time, we have a clear corporate structure which enables us to focus to really the most important thing in our business life, which is our precious client. If you happen to think about your new Assistance Partner in our territory of coverage think of TBS TEAM 24 – Approved to Assist – You can send us your message and we will contact you or simply call us at +386 2 616 58 19 or any other number from the list.