Managing any fleet of vehicles is a complex and stressful job. The larger the fleet, the more valuable the cargo, or the more critical the fleet to business operations, the more stressful the management task will be. If you manage a fleet of vehicles of any size you need to know that GPS fleet management makes your life easier.
You might know that GPS fleet management equipment allows you to see (on your laptop) exactly where every vehicle is at a particular point in time. But do you know that this same equipment also maintains a complete history for each vehicle of where, when and how that vehicle has traveled over any time frame? If you notice an anomaly at any time, you can download a report of the history of each appropriate vehicle and analyze the cause for the anomaly and determine what corrective action is appropriate.
You probably know that GPS fleet management equipment allows you to watch your computer screen and see movements of your vehicles in “real time” in order to monitor everything that is happening with your fleet. You might not know that GPS fleet management equipment also allows you to receive alerts or historical reports when drivers are speeding, idling, stopped, traveling, moving outside a predefined area or driving unsafely in a number of other ways. You can also track driving habits that negatively affect fuel efficiency or the useful life of the vehicle.
If you choose a GPS fleet management system that includes a maintenance scheduling system, you will be able to keep track of maintenance needs of each vehicle organized into an easy-to-read report whenever you want an update. This feature of the GPS fleet management system also alerts you to a number of maintenance problems when they begin instead of when the vehicle breaks down at an inopportune time.
GPS fleet management will also help you save a bundle of money and run your fleet in ways that are environmentally friendly. You can monitor fuel mileage reports and compare the data to maintenance schedules and engine tuning details. You can compare fuel mileage with actual routes traveled by individual vehicles and/or drivers.
Many GPS fleet management systems also allow you to disable your vehicles to prevent theft, as well as tracking with minute-by-minute pinpointing if a vehicle should be stolen. This capability alone will qualify your fleet for a discount on the insurance rates charged by most leading insurance companies.
Many of these capabilities of GPS fleet management systems will also allow you to monitor and coach driver behavior. The reports available for instant download can be used to coach drivers in achieving better response times, more efficient travel routes, greater fuel efficiency, safer driving habits, and more. This is a wonderful contribution to the efforts of many organizations to improve employee productivity. You will have the added opportunity to improve vehicle productivity, extend vehicle life, and operate the vehicles in the fleet in ways that help to protect the environment with the various benefits of GPS fleet management.
If, for example, you notice when you monitor the vehicles leaving the garage each morning that most of the vehicles travel the same route for the first eighteen miles, but one driver takes a different route, not only is your curiosity engaged, but you wonder why this is happening. Further investigation reveals that this particular driver takes the same route every day. As you review the reports from your GPS fleet management system, you discover that this driver is your most productive driver and reaches his first stop first with uncanny consistency. You decide to download a customized report that shows the progress of each vehicle on a minute-by-minute basis. Your analysis reveals that while the other drivers spend 37 minutes idling in traffic, your lone wolf is making uninterrupted progress toward his first destination. GPS fleet management has demonstrated a way to increase efficiency and reduce costs.
GPS fleet management will make your life easier. It can help you:
- track all movements of every vehicle and maintain a full history on the movements of every vehicle
- monitor driving habits for use in coaching drivers in achieving greater efficiencies and saving fuel, time and costs
- manage maintenance of the fleet with greater ease
- protect vehicles against theft or find them quickly if stolen
- improve employee productivity
- manage vehicles for greater efficiency and longer life.
For a small investment in the GPS device, a minimal monthly monitoring fee, and a few minutes for installation, you can be saving time and money instantly. Most companies that install GPS fleet management equipment find that they save enough in the first 90 days to pay for equipment, installation and the first year of monitoring.
For more information about GPS fleet management, get the free report “7 Ways Your Company Can Save Thousands of Dollars With GPS Fleet Tracking.” Many companies have substantially increased their revenue and lowered their costs by installing a GPS tracking system for their fleet. To calculate the ROI for your company in under 30 seconds, see the Fleet GPS ROI calculator.
As a fleet manager you have probably experienced an afternoon or evening when you were asking, “Truck 27, Where Are You?” You’ll never ask that question again when your trucks are equipped with mobile GPS. This simple device, installed in just seconds, allows a fleet manager to know the exact location, speed, and status of every truck you have on the road (and the ones in the garage).
From your central monitoring computer, you can track the movements of every truck all day. And when you arrive in the office in the morning, you can review the movements of any trucks overnight. Have you ever thought a particular truck was racking up far more mileage than it should? Would you like to be able to prove that two of your employees are using that truck every weekend as a moving van for their moonlighting business? With mobile GPS you can track where every vehicle has been driven since installation of the system.
Have you wondered why Truck 36 seems to take longer to reach local destinations than other trucks and drivers? With mobile GPS in the truck, you can prove that the drivers are taking the longest possible route to each destination and stopping at home for a very long lunch.
Or perhaps you think several of the trucks are using too much fuel for the miles they are putting on the odometer. Mobile GPS in the truck would tell you that they are meeting in the parking lot of an empty warehouse for card games every afternoon, leaving the trucks idling so nobody will know.
Mobile GPS will certainly provide all the ammunition you need to prove that you have a few slackers on your team or that your vehicles are being used after hours by some enterprising drivers. But there are also many positive results you can achieve with this technology. For example, by monitoring routes taken by your drivers, you can help them identify more fuel-efficient or faster routes. Mobile GPS tracking will reduce fuel use and cost, reduce carbon emissions, and increase productivity of these drivers.
Instead of walking the garage at the end of each driver’s run to note mileage and make other checks of the vehicle, you can automate the data gathering with a mobile GPS system. Then you can use that time to analyze the information and still get home in time for supper. As you analyze the information the mobile GPS system will gather about your vehicles and your drivers you will be able to reduce costs, improve driving safety and fuel-efficient driving habits, improve productivity, improve customer satisfaction, maintain vehicles more efficiently, extend the life of vehicles, and protect your drivers and your vehicles from theft and other dangers.
Consider, also, this very different benefit of a mobile GPS system in your fleet. At 10 am, you notice that the truck 12 is sitting on the side of the Interstate, but shows no indication of a vehicle problem. You assume the driver has pulled over to check something. You continue to monitor, noting that the truck has not moved at 11:30. You try to call your driver and he does not answer the phone. You continue to monitor and call until noon. By this time, you are concerned. Using your mobile GPS tracking system, you locate a truck returning to the garage that is about 10 miles beyond the location of truck 12. You call the driver and ask her to stop and check on truck 12. You continue to monitor the arrival of truck 16. Within a minute you receive a phone call from the driver of truck 16 informing you that the driver of truck 12 is in bad shape and appears to have suffered a stroke. She has called 911 and will accompany the driver of truck 12 to the hospital and remain there until his family arrives. You then call the driver’s wife, and take a van to deliver another driver to complete the run for truck 12, pick up the driver of truck 16 and take her back to her truck (unless she followed the ambulance with it), and return to the hospital to wait with the driver’s wife. Mobile GPS saves a life and keeps a delivery on schedule.
Mobile GPS in every vehicle in the fleet can save money, save time, increase productivity, reduce fuel usage and carbon emissions, reduce your management time, protect your vehicles, and even save the life of a driver. All things considered, don’t you need mobile GPS for your fleet?
Installing a vehicle tracking system in every family car has been a sensible decision for many families today. If your family has not considered a GPS tracking system in every family car, I encourage you to give it serious thought. You might also want to consider installing a system in your RV, Boat, ATV and other vehicle.
The obvious use of a vehicle tracking system is to locate the vehicle if it is stolen. Installation of a device will provide real time location of the car. Some systems will even tell you if the vehicle is in a garage or parking deck. Because these devices make finding a stolen vehicle so much easier and faster for police to locate, insurance companies offer discounts of five to fifteen percent when they are installed.
Not only will a vehicle tracking system help you locate a stolen vehicle, it will notify you with an erratic driving alert when the thief starts driving to escape the area of the theft. A system that includes a dash board camera will even identify the thief to police.
A vehicle tracking system can also be used for spying or tracking the activities of family members. This benefit can, of course, have both positive and negative implications. You can use it to track the movements and activities of teenagers or of a spouse if you have reason to suspect them of undesirable activity. But there are several very positive uses, as well. A vehicle tracking system in the car of an aging parent or a parent with Alzheimer’s Disease can protect their autonomy while assuring you that their driving is safe or knowing where they are at all times in case they become lost.
The ability of some vehicle tracking system equipment to track driving habits can also make them a valuable driving instruction tool for teens or other new drivers. Your system can be programmed to track driving speed, cornering speed, how quickly the driver accelerates after a stop, idle time at a location, and other safe and efficient driving habits.
Reviewing driving practices can help a new driver improve their skills quickly and efficiently. Safe and efficient driving habits by all drivers can reduce fuel consumption, reduce fuel costs, and help to protect the environment. Some vehicle tracking system equipment can even be programmed to provide an alert when it is time for the engine to be serviced and when the tires are improperly inflated.
Your vehicle tracking system will also include GPS driving directions. Use of directions will save time and provide the most direct or the shortest route to your destination. Some systems also provide the most efficient route. You might choose a high-end vehicle tracking system that not only includes directions, but includes capabilities to provide voice directions and to monitor traffic along the route and notify you if there is an accident or traffic jam ahead. It can then provide an alternate route. Many parents choose this option because it prevents teen drivers from becoming lost when they need to detour around traffic.
Finally, a vehicle tracking system can provide the option of “geo-fencing” to define limits or boundaries for safety. This can be used, for example, to notify you if a teenager enters an unapproved part of town. It can also be used to provide an alert if an aging parent leaves a customary location.
A vehicle tracking system can certainly be used for spying on family members. But it’s more positive value makes it worth considering for every family vehicle. The reduction in insurance costs could recover the installation costs in as little as three years. The fuel cost savings achieved by more economical driving habits and the increased safety of your family members makes vehicle tracking a smart choice for many families. Just choose the features you want on your system and start sleeping better at night.
U.S. Defense Monitoring systems and cell phones have brought together several communications technologies in ways that enable parents to know where their teenagers are at any time. Teen tracking technology actually utilizes other vehicle tracking applications in combination with global positioning systems that provide real time information and the capability to monitor the activities and movements of anyone with the appropriate device on their vehicle, phone, or person. Because the technology is both available and affordable, every parent should consider teen tracking technology to keep their teens safe.
Teen tracking technology gives parents the tools to help their teen-aged children exercise the freedom they want while also letting parents know where they are and if they are safe. If, for example, your teen’s car is equipped with a GPS device, you can monitor driving speed, receive alerts when it is time to service the vehicle, know the current location of the vehicle, receive alerts if the vehicle is moved or stolen, and even create “geo-fences” around areas your teens are or are not permitted to visit.
There are other clear benefits of using teen tracking technology. Because the technology uses a GPS system, parents can upgrade to the devices that provide additional options, such as real time re-routing if there is heavy traffic or an accident ahead. Teen tracking technology will save time for the driver and keep the driver on a planned route instead of becoming lost when attempting to detour around a traffic jam. Some of these systems will provide both the street address and the name of the establishment when the teen is located by the teen tracking system.
Teen tracking can be used in several ways to monitor your child’s activities:
– monitor driving speed
– monitor engine and tire safety
– monitor approved and unapproved locations
– monitor improvements in your teen’s driving capabilities
– monitor if others are in the vehicle with your teen
– monitor most frequently visited locations
– put a geo-fence around undesirable areas
Why use teen tracking to monitor your teen’s activities behind the wheel? Consider these facts:
– Automobile accidents are the leading cause of death for teens in the USA.
– One teen dies in an automobile accident every day of the year in the USA.
– Speed and lack of experienced judgment are the two most common reasons for teen auto accidents.
– The knowledge of being monitored may reduce the chances of your teen being involved in a serious crash.
– The knowledge of being monitored could provide the only reason your teen needs to resist peer pressure to make bad choices.
Carefully programmed and consistently used, teen tracking can also help you protect your child from becoming a victim of crime. The National Crime Prevention Council states that “for all major types of crimes, people aged 12 to 19 are the most frequent victims.” Teen tracking technology, clearly programmed to protect the safety of your teen and not to spy on him or her, could get help to your child before he or she becomes a victim of crime.
Every parent knows the crime statistics. We all know that teens are the most likely people to go missing. We all know there has been a recent increase in child abduction and in human trafficking. An inexperienced teenager, lost in an unfamiliar neighborhood and stranded by a vehicle breakdown is most at risk of becoming a victim of crime. The ability to quickly locate and send appropriate help to your teen could mean the difference between life and death.
When you consider that danger is always present and that no teenager has the experience to always think rationally and logically in a tense situation isn’t teen tracking worth the cost and the time to explain to your child? Isn’t the safety of your child and your peace of mind reason enough why every parent should consider teen tracking technology?
Sales of GPS fleet tracking systems have grown by more than 300% in each of the last two years. The reason is simple: it saves money and increases productivity. If you have a fleet of five or more company vehicles and you have not investigated the savings you can achieve with GPS fleet tracking, now is the time to take action. Don’t lose thousands – even tens of thousands – of dollars this year because you failed to take action.
For as little as $300 per vehicle and a small monthly maintenance fee, you can take full advantage of this constantly evolving technology to reduce your company’s operating costs. Here’s how GPS fleet tracking saves your company money.
1. Improve navigation. Your GPS fleet tracking system will be fully integrated with Google maps. This enables drivers to identify the fastest, most direct or most fuel-efficient route to a destination (whether it is within the city or across the country). The navigation function also provides live time reports on traffic conditions along the way, even providing detours around traffic jams. If the weather is bad, you can choose terrain views to see what is ahead. Navigation functionality in your GPS fleet tracking system also allows fleet managers to know precisely where every vehicle is at any time. This makes it easy to identify the closest vehicle to an emergency situation and quickly re-route a vehicle.
2. Monitor and improve driving habits. Because your GPS fleet tracking system compiles data on driver behavior, you can identify drivers who are habitual speeders or who consistently brake hard or who accelerate too fast from a stop. You will have regular reports of every trip taken by every vehicle. You can program the GPS fleet tracking system to alert the driver when the speed limit is exceeded by more than 5 mph and to alert the fleet manager when the speed limit is exceeded by more than 10 mph. You can track exact routes and know which drivers are taking detours or are sitting somewhere with the engine idling for extended periods of time. By monitoring and reviewing this data with your drivers you can improve driving habits and safety.
3. Accident and theft reporting capabilities. If a driver is involved in an accident, the GPS fleet tracking system will provide a complete analysis of the incident with precise data on the speed and direction of the vehicle. This results in accurate and defensible information about the accident for police and insurance companies and makes completing insurance claims faster and easier. In the event of a theft, you will be able to track exactly where the vehicle is at any given moment and this information can be shared with police. You also have the ability to lock doors, disable the starter and cause the horn to start blasting from your central office with your GPS fleet tracking system.
4. Vehicle monitoring and maintenance management. Your GPS fleet tracking system will also have the option for including a maintenance tool. This can interface with the vehicle’s on-board computer to provide notices of times for routine servicing, low tire pressure, evolving engine or system problems or excessive carbon emissions. This enables the fleet manager to either alert the driver of a problem or to bring the vehicle in for service or repairs before there is a complete breakdown requiring emergency action.
Use of these four major capabilities of a GPS fleet tracking system will help your company save money in the following ways:
– Use less fuel and save on fuel costs
– Reduce engine maintenance and operating costs
– Save 5-35% on insurance costs per vehicle
– Eliminate damaging or costly bad driver habits
– Increase productivity and reduce overtime
– Reduce paperwork for drivers, fleet manager and payroll
– Eliminate unauthorized breaks, side trips, or after hours use of vehicles
– Improve customer service and customer satisfaction
In most cases, companies that installed a GPS fleet tracking system recovered the total cost of installation and the first year’s maintenance costs in 3 to 6 months. Some recovered their entire annual cost in just one month. A GPS fleet tracking system is becoming an essential tool of effective and efficient fleet managers throughout the world in all industries, services and businesses. Can you afford to continue spending too much on fuel, insurance, operating costs, employee overtime and employee waste? Isn’t it time you find out how a GPS fleet tracking system can save your company money?
No matter what kind of vehicles your company owns, there are many ways to benefit from fleet GPS tracking data. The GPS devices can be used to help you protect your investment in the vehicles. More important, the data the devices monitor and send to your tracking station will help your employees effectively manage routing and extract information that can be used for a wide variety of management processes. If your company owns several vehicles, you need a fleet GPS system to make the most of your investment.
Types of Information You Can Gather
A fleet GPS system will be connected to a satellite mapping service that will also be able to provide information at the street level and a satellite image of streets and buildings anywhere your vehicles might go. Upon request, these mapping services can be programmed to distinguish truck routes, as well. Other information includes:
- Precise location of each vehicle up to the minute.
- Vehicle route history.
- Ability to show the proximity of vehicles to a given location.
- Notification and alerts about traffic violations, unsafe driving practices, and driving habits that waste fuel.
- Maintenance history and schedules.
- Fuel saving suggestions.
- Vehicle theft protection and recovery tools.
- Geo-fencing capabilities.
- Instant calculation of alternate routes.
Ways to Use the Data
The abundant data provided by a fleet GPS tracking system can be used in many ways to improve efficiencies, reduce fleet operating costs, improve customer service, make operations more fuel efficient, and even reduce accidents and vehicle break-downs. Whether you use you vehicles to haul freight over long distances, to respond to human emergencies, to provide product servicing and maintenance or to transport your sales force, fleet GPS tracking can help you in often unexpected ways.
1. Driver information provides the basis for coaching or re-training drivers who your fleet GPS data shows to be driving unsafely or in ways that waste fuel or damage the vehicles.
2. Driver information from fleet GPS tracking can provide the basis for performance based compensation and bonus programs, and the metrics tracking for implementation of the program.
3. Driver and route tracking maintained by your fleet GPS device provides needed documentation for dispute resolution of customer complaints, servicing time, schedule discrepancies.
4. Provide directions when a driver is lost or to redirect a driver around traffic jams or accidents causing long delays or highway closures.
5. Ability to define routes on the basis of travel time, fuel efficiency or route characteristics.
6. Identify and redirect the closest vehicle in response to an emergency.
7. Program driver and dispatcher alerts when vehicles exceed safe speeds.
8. Create anti-theft measures, such as disabling starters, locking doors, triggering sirens and defining geographic boundaries.
9. Verify time cards, automate billing and accounting steps and avoid mistakes.
10. Improve employee productivity by as much as 35%.
11. Monitor time per stop and after hours or other unauthorized vehicle use.
12. Use your scheduling accuracy and reliability as a marketing tool.
13. Rack up insurance discounts on each vehicle equipped with a fleet GPS tracking device.
The capabilities of fleet tracking expand year by year. Investment in fleet GPS tracking and monitoring will often pay for itself in money saved with fuel savings in just the first year. As your fleet becomes more efficient and more productive with these tools and the abundance of data provided, your company will reap the benefits above and more.
If you are not using a fleet GPS system you are missing out on far too many business efficiency tools. Shouldn’t you make the investment today?
It is 10:00 pm. Do you know where your cargo is? You probably do not know with any certainty unless you are using some kind of truck GPS tracking system. If you move cargo of any kind, you need to know exactly where it is at all times. Even more, you need to know that it is safe and that it will arrive at the destination on schedule.
If you own a fleet of trucks, there is far more to managing that fleet than just knowing where each truck is at a given moment. Those trucks are critical business assets. You need to know those assets are being properly managed. You can improve asset management with truck GPS tracking.
Everyone with a cell phone knows what GPS tracking is all about. The GPS device sends a signal to a satellite which transfers it to a tracking station. Truck GPS tracking goes a step beyond this, allowing the fleet manager to see the position of each truck on a single-view map. Some systems also use satellite imaging to show the surrounding topography and streets.
With truck GPS routing systems, the same GPS technology is used to map out the best route for each truck. You might define the best route as the most direct, the fastest, or even the route that supports maximum fuel efficiency. Once the truck is on the road, the system can identify traffic jams, accidents and other situations the driver should avoid. It can then calculate a new route and communicate it instantly to the driver.
A good truck GPS tracking system also offers certain protections in the event of an attempted theft or hi-jacking. With geofencing technology you can define parameters of the region within which the truck should be operating. If it is taken outside of those parameters, you receive an alert. If the truck is actually stolen, you will be alerted and you can use the system to disable the truck or call attention to it with very narrow geofencing, disabling the starter, locking doors and triggering horn blasts. Finding the truck is as simple as looking at your map and calling police.
Truck GPS devices cost as little as $300 each, can be installed in less than one minute, and immediately begin to gather and communicate vital information back to your home office about how the truck is being driven. It also begins to build a history of every time and place the truck is driven, when it is serviced, fuel efficiency and much more.
The data received through the truck GPS monitoring system will help your managers handle your trucks as the costly investments they are. They can then be managed and serviced in order to protect the engines, get the most use from tires, and achieve optimal fuel efficiencies. If you are operating trucks on the highways, you are spending a very significant amount of operating capital on fuel. Fuel economy is a good business practice and an environmentally responsible outlook.
The U.S. Department of Energy conducted a recent study of fuel efficiency and other maintenance costs for vehicles driven in particular ways and at specific speeds. A few of their most significant findings relevant to truck GPS tracking are:
- Running at 60 mph instead of 50 or 55 requires 73% more horsepower from the engine; running at 70 mph uses 159% more horsepower.
- For every mile per hour above 50 mph, the fuel consumption in increased by 1.5%. This means running at 70 mph uses 30% more fuel.
- Running at 70 mph instead of 50 mph will double the wear on tires.
- Running at 70 mph instead of 60 mph will increase maintenance cost by 80%.
Other studies have also demonstrated that running up to a traffic light or stop sign and slamming on brakes and accelerating too quickly also drastically cut into fuel economy. Other practices, such as not leaving the truck idling or following routes that can be expected to involve extensive idling in traffic will also dramatically reduce fuel economy. All of these habits can be detected and addressed with the help of truck GPS tracking.
Fleet management involves far more than simply dispatching a particular truck and driver to a particular location with a load of cargo (whatever that might be). Truck fleet asset management also includes fostering safe and efficient driving styles and practices, making the most efficient route choices and properly maintaining the equipment. With a truck GPS tracking system, you can make the task of truly managing these assets easier and more scientific for your staff.
Have you ever turned off your computer at 6:00 pm and wondered where one or more of your company vehicles were? Have you ever looked in amazement at the fuel cost line in the monthly finance report? Have you ever wondered why there are so many customer complaints about service response time? Putting a GPS device in each vehicle and initiating fleet tracking takes the guesswork out of business management.
At a surprisingly low cost, you can equip every vehicle owned by your company – from company cars to long-haul tractor trailers – with a GPS tracking device. This device enables fleet tracking, which will send and receive signals via satellite. You will then have access to a broad range of vehicle and driver information, as well as the ability to communicate critical information to your vehicles (and drivers) that will increase efficiency and productivity.
Fleet tracking can help you achieve the following results for your company:
- Reduced time (driver, manager, accounting) spent on paperwork.
- Automated billing and payroll applications reduce errors.
- More efficient routes and speeds resulting in lower mileage and lower fuel expense.
- More efficient routing reduces extra stops.
- More efficient routing and driving reduces idling times.
- Ability to redirect the closest vehicle with fleet tracking for urgent needs.
- Tracking eliminates unauthorized use of company vehicles.
- Eradication of employee fraud.
- Ability to improve safe-driving habits and fuel-efficient driving habits.
- Drivers protected by fleet tracking against false customer claims and dangerous driving accusations.
- Rapid recovery of stolen vehicles.
- More efficient delivery of products and services.
- Ability to document key performance metrics for employee recognition or retraining.
- Possible reduction in vehicle insurance costs.
Fleet tracking will provide a myriad of standard and customized reports on vehicle history, driver history, safety statistics, economies achieved, and payroll and billing information. You can monitor the location of every vehicle in a single screen view or in greater detail. You can view vehicle status from the office or on a hand-held device from anywhere. You can even access statistical information from remote locations to help you answer customer questions or complaints, estimate costs and schedules for new clients or customers, and provide instant assistance to drivers.
A recent study by the Aberdeen Group documented a 23% increase in total number of service calls completed per day per technician in organizations with small fleets when GPS fleet tracking was installed in their vehicles. What would a 23% increase in profitability mean for your company if achieved across your entire fleet?
What would you save in overtime pay if all of your technicians were able to achieve a 23% productivity increase and reduce 23% of overtime pay with fleet tracking? When technicians are more efficient and productive, not only do they finish their work faster, they also enable supervisors, managers and others to eliminate overtime, as well.
Consider next the impact on your fuel bill if you were able to eliminate all speeding (over 60 mph), reduce idle times, ensure use of the fastest, most direct, and most efficient routes by all drivers, and eliminate unauthorized vehicle usage with fleet tracking? Then add to this savings the additional amount of fuel you could save if all of your employees authorized to drive company vehicles were safe and efficient drivers.
Finally, by using the maintenance alerts and schedule monitoring capabilities of a fleet tracking system, you can ensure that your vehicles are operating in peak condition, most efficiently and reduce the number of needed repairs while on the road. This keeps vehicles on the road longer, saves the costs associated with avoidable break-downs, and improves fuel efficiency. The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that a properly tuned engine saves mpg by up to 4%. Immediate repair of a major mechanical problem, they say will improve mpg by as much as 40%.
Consideration of all the ways GPS fleet tracking can help you achieve operating cost reductions and improve productivity makes it easy to see how fleet tracking takes the guesswork out of business management. Is it time to make fleet tracking part of your management team?
Are you confused by seemingly excessive vehicle costs? Are you having difficulty explaining why it costs 40% more to operate a specific company car than it costs to operate your own personal vehicle? It might be time to take control of this significant portion of your company’s operating expense. The way to take charge is with GPS vehicle tracking.
Do you recall the news reports a few years ago when UPS decided to have all of their drivers plan their routes and make their deliveries without making left turns? They did some analysis and found that left turns were burning fuel, time and money. How did they perform the analysis? They used GPS vehicle tracking to reduce costs.
GPS vehicle tracking allowed the company to monitor where the trucks were at any given time. They were able to extract reports showing the average wait time to make right turns and to make left turns. They were also able to analyze the amount of extra fuel required to make left turns (due to waiting for traffic to clear or for lights to change). They were also able to convert their findings to dollars lost. They determined that making left turns was simply too expensive.
In September of 2009, the mayor of Dyersburg, Tennessee reported on initial findings about city employee productivity and responsiveness to resident requests for services. Using new GPS vehicle tracking the city discovered several ways to improve productivity, reduce operating costs, eliminate waste, and improve customer satisfaction.
GPS vehicle tracking provides a wealth of information to management, including:
- driving speed (fuel efficiency is lost when speed exceeds 60 mph).
- unsafe or inefficient driving habits.
- use of less efficient travel routes.
- excessive idle time.
- ability to identify and re-route the closest person when there is an urgent need.
- time spent at each location.
All of this information then becomes the basis for helping drivers exercise better driving habits, identify consistent habits that reduce efficiency, and even document reasons for some customer complaints. The ability to activate warning systems, for example, for bad driving habits and to communicate more efficient alternate routes is just the beginning of the value to a company of GPS vehicle tracking to a business of any size.
GPS vehicle tracking systems enable companies to know where their vehicles are, how they are being driven, where they are and for how long. When analyzed over a period of time, bad driving habits, bad routing, and many kinds of costly waste can be identified and addressed with individual drivers, resulting in increased productivity, less waste of time, fuel and money, and improved responsiveness to customers. These and other benefits derived from the data provided by the GPS vehicle tracking system reduce operating costs and increase profits and efficiencies.
With GPS vehicle tracking your company can streamline operations, increase customer satisfaction, reduce costs, and increase profits by facilitating the kinds of savings that directly and proportionately improve your bottom line. Because GPS vehicle tracking is inexpensive, you will probably see instant benefits when the devices are installed in your company vehicles.
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Welcome to Geosavi - The Power of Where... Our talented editors will be posting interesting and useful articles every week on the topics that you care about. We hope to cover issues stretching from personal tracking, teenager tracking, all the way to fleet tracking and asset monitoring.
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- GPS Fleet Management Makes Your Life Easier
- Truck 27, Where Are You? You’ll Never Ask Again With Mobile GPS
- A Vehicle Tracking System In Every Family Car
- Why Every Parent Should Consider Teen Tracking Technology
- How GPS Fleet Tracking Saves Your Company Money
- 22 Ways To Benefit From Fleet GPS Tracking Data
- Improve Asset Management With Truck GPS Tracking
- Fleet Tracking Takes the Guesswork Out of Business Management
- GPS Vehicle Tracking Reduces Company Vehicle Costs