Fleet Tracking
Additional Add-on Services
If you’re considering implementing vehicle tracking in your fleet, there are a few things you should know before getting started. In this guide, we will be explaining some of the daily, weekly, monthly and annual checks you should be carrying out.
Before you start using your vehicle trackers across your fleet, there are some important things you must first know.
Vehicle tracking is considered as personal processing data. This means it falls under the laws of the General Data Protection Regulations 2018 (GDPR). The basic principles of GDPR state that data should be:
To begin with, the very first rule of vehicle tracking is to inform your drivers as it is illegal to track a vehicle if the driver is unaware that they are being tracked. What’s more, you also need their consent in order to track any vehicle they are driving. This can be agreed to explicitly or via a clause in their employment contract.
Secondly, it is important that your business only records adequate and relevant data. Fortunately, Fleetsmart’s vehicle tracking systems only record necessary data about your vehicle journeys. However, it is worth noting that if your business allows its employees to use your vehicles for both business and personal use, you must not record any data from personal business trips.
To ensure your vehicle trackers aren’t recording any of your drivers’ personal data, we offer an optional add-on called Driver Privacy Switches.
Once installed, your drivers can turn the switch on to privacy mode, which will stop the vehicle tracker from recording any data while the vehicle is being used for personal reasons.
According to the Office of the Traffic Commissioner, it’s estimated that 85% of roadworthy infringements could be avoided if the driver had performed a walkaround check before beginning a journey.
That’s why prior to any journey, your drivers should conduct a quick walkaround check to ensure your vehicle is safe to use on the road.
Walkaround vehicle checks include:
Daily walkaround checks ensure the general safety of your vehicle, however it is also important to carry out more in-depth checks to make sure everything is operating as it should.
While your drivers don’t need to be experts in the mechanics of their vehicles, they should have an idea of whether or not the vehicles they are driving are safe to drive.
Ideally, they should be carrying out more in-depth monthly checks including:
Having your vehicles serviced annually is essential in ensuring they are operating safely, at a level most drivers wouldn’t be able to identify from their general walkaround checks.
This means any smaller problems can be identified early on, so it can be fixed before it worsens. This reduces the risk of accidents and also helps to keep your repair costs down, as typically, the more serious a problem becomes, the more expensive it is to fix.
What's more, if your vehicle is still under warranty, an annual service will ensure it is still valid as many manufacturers deem a warranty void if the vehicle hasn’t had an annual service to ensure it is running safely.
It is a legal requirement to have any vehicle over three years tested to ensure it is roadworthy with an MOT. An MOT certificate confirms that your vehicle meets the minimum road safety and environmental standard laws.
As we mentioned above, there are a lot of rules and regulations involved in vehicle tracking under GDPR. One of the key regulations is that data is kept no longer than necessary, to fulfil its purpose.
In order to ensure you aren’t keeping records longer than necessary, it is wise to do an annual check on your data records, making sure all data is still relevant and deleting any that could be deemed as a breach of GDPR.
One of the many great features of Fleetsmart’s vehicle tracking solution is the ability to set MOT and service reminders and create schedules.
This allows you to plan each vehicle’s MOT and service well in advance, creating a schedule that ensures as little downtime as possible for your fleet operations.
For more information about Fleetsmart’s Advanced Vehicle Tracking System, get in touch today and start managing your fleet more effectively.