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.

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?

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.