Fleet Tracking
Additional Add-on Services
Jan 18, 2021
Making sure your fleet is working productively is an essential part of managing your fleet, as an unproductive fleet can cost your business time and money that adds up in the long run. According to the Energy Saving Trust, through higher productivity and increased vehicle utilisation, operating costs can fall by 10% every year and fuel use by 15%.
One very effective way of doing this is through the use of vehicle tracking devices that give you the ability to see where all of your fleet vehicles are at any given time as well as a history of all their journeys.
Fleetsmart vehicle tracking uses Advanced Mapping that allows fleet managers to plot specific journeys on a map, making sure their drivers are taking the quickest routes possible so that they aren’t wasting time (and therefore money) by taking longer routes. Not only can you plan routes, but you can also ensure that your drivers are sticking to them via live updates that will notify you as soon as a vehicle comes off its set course.
If your driver is approaching an accident sit or traffic jam, you can also use GPS tracking to divert them via a less busy route, saving time that would otherwise be spent queuing in traffic, particularly if they don’t know the area well enough to navigate it themselves.
Fleetsmart’s vehicle reports can show you a complete picture of your fleet’s activities which can be viewed per day, per month or per year to simplify the process of evaluation. Using features such as Journey Replay and Geo-Fence Alerts can give you the specific information regarding driver behaviour including unscheduled stops, speeding, going off route and out-of-hour movements.
In order to comply with the Driver & Vehicle Standards Agency’s safety rules, your drivers should be taking at least a 45 minute break after a maximum of 4 and a half hours of driving, yet according to research by Verizon, a quarter of UK commercial drivers fail to take these regular breaks. At the other end of the scale, some drivers take advantage of this and make too many stops for long periods of time. By implementing vehicle tracking devices, you can ensure your drivers are taking the correct number of stops for the right length of time through the use of vehicle reports and journey replay.
These reports provide information on when and where a vehicle stopped, how long for and whether it was or wasn’t scheduled. If a certain driver is a repeat offender, you can use the data provided to have a conversation with them about working more efficiently to ensure the business is productive. Similarly, if a driver isn’t taking their scheduled stops, you must address this for their own safety.
Tedious administration tasks can be reduced and made easier through the use of vehicle reports that store lots of useful information on a database. For example, when drivers are sent out to do a job, they are usually given a timesheet or form to fill in about their journey, including start and end times, breaks and fuel stops. Many drivers forget to fill this in or leave it until they get back into the office to complete, by which time they cannot remember the information and may provide incorrect times. By using Fleetsmart’s reports, you can be sure that your driver reports are complete and far more accurate.
For more information, please get in touch today by calling 01942 356333 or book a free trial here.