Research by Frost and Sullivan says that you can increase the productivity of your fleet and vehicle utilization by 10 to 15% and 15 to 20% respectively through GPS vehicle tracking.A company can cut down on its fuel consumption by 20 to 25%, idle time by 20 to 30%, overtime by 10 to 15% and miles driven by 5 to 10%.
What Is Fleet Tracking?
Fleet tracking uses location-based technology to track and record both real-time and historical whereabouts of vehicles, equipment, and assets. A fleet tracking system also monitors onboard vehicle data whenever possible.
Typically, a fleet tracking solution includes a physical device and a web application that lets the business monitor data and receive alerts from all of their tracked assets.
How Can a Business Benefit from Fleet Tracking?
Fuel cost savings
Fuel is estimated to represent about 60% of a fleet’s total operating costs. Fleet tracking systems have been shown, on average, to save:
- $11 per vehicle per month, thanks to reduced vehicle idling times
- $34 per vehicle per month, thanks to more efficient routing
Additional driver behavioral changes save on the order of $165 per vehicle month, bringing the average annual fuel cost savings to a whopping $2,520 per vehicle. To put it in more concrete terms, you could add another Transit Connect van to your fleet with this annual fuel cost savings alone on a 10 vehicle fleet.
Reduce theft with geofencing
Where are my vehicles right now? That’s the question GPS breadcrumbs can’t answer. But real-time GPS tracking allows you to see the live location of your vehicles and assets at all times. Beyond the value of always knowing where your fleet is, combining real-time GPS tracking with geofencing can help you prevent theft.
By setting up geofences, you’ll be automatically alerted if your vehicles or assets unexpectedly move outside of working hours or across your yard’s perimeter so you can take immediate action to stop theft.
It helps prevent unauthorized use of your business vehicles
Unauthorized use of your company’s vehicles can hurt your company in a number of ways. For example, every time an employee takes your landscaping truck from a customer site to an off-the-record cash job without your knowledge, that employee is increasing the chances of an accident, a vehicle engine or mechanical problem, and even the opportunity for theft of whatever equipment and other company property is stored in that vehicle.
Fleet tracking can help your company reduce all of these risks, by:
Allowing you to monitor your vehicles’ locations in real time, 24/7 — and even alerting you if they leave a certain area when they aren’t supposed to.
Giving you a record of each vehicle’s history, down to the minute — so you can spot employee misuse.
Creating a deterrent to employees misusing your vehicles — because they’ll know you know.
Dispatch the right drivers at the right time
Only having a partial view into your fleet can make dispatching drivers a frustrating, time-consuming process. Coordinating pickups and route changes often involves multiple phone calls between drivers and dispatchers, which can be extremely inefficient.
By tracking your drivers’ locations in real-time, you can make informed decisions on how to most efficiently dispatch them. When new work orders arise or unexpected pick-ups are needed, GPS tracking data will show you which driver is closest and should be dispatched.
Fleet and asset utilization
The latest research from Frost & Sullivan found that, on average, businesses that implement a fleet tracking solution enjoy 15% greater fleet utilization, with an increase of +13% in the number of stops and +24% more miles driven per vehicle.
In other words, if your average driver makes 7 stops a day, that 13% means one extra job squeezed in per service tech.
Further, for construction companies, better asset utilization means more engine hours being racked up on jobsites rather than their heavy equipment gathering dust. And better scheduling of fleet maintenance means that your vehicles and equipment will spend more time making you money than sitting in the shop.
Share real-time locations with customers
On top of improving dispatch efficiency, real-time GPS tracking is crucial for accurate ETAs. And providing customers with real-time ETAs is key to improving their happiness with your company. Instead of calling back-and-forth between your drivers and your customers, a solution like Samsara’s Live Sharing Links lets you share GPS location updates directly with your customers. With these links, your customers can track your vehicles on their smartphones in real-time and know exactly when to expect your driver to arrive.
Providing customers with accurate ETAs can increase their trust in you. And the more your customers trust you, the more likely they are to continue partnering with you.
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