Benefits of Vehicle Tracking

What is vehicle tracking and how does it work?

Vehicle tracking refers to monitoring the location of your vehicles or other moving or fixed assets.

The systems used in vehicle tracking usually involve a GPS device fitted in the vehicle. State-of-the-art vehicle trackers also include an ‘accelerometer’. This can detect when the driver accelerates suddenly, brakes sharply or cuts a corner too fast.

Key features of vehicle trackers

You can do much more with vehicle tracking than just track a vehicle.

Many UK businesses see the benefits of GPS vehicle tracking systems every single day.

Here are the main benefits of business vehicle tracking:

• Reduce costs across more than one area
• Protect your business against fraud
• Improve security to protect your vehicles
• Increase productivity and efficiency
• Provide better customer service with more informed communication

How vehicle trackers help fleets

1. Minimise costs

Reducing fleet business costs is one of the greatest benefits of GPS tracking systems. With fleet tracking you can save across more than one business areas.

First, you can easily reduce fuel costs and that’s one of the main benefits. Fuel costs are one of the largest expenses for transportation companies and large fleets. Vehicle tracking systems can help you keep fuel costs down. They help you understand how your vehicles are being operated. You get reports on poor driving behaviour that can decrease fuel efficiency. These reports also make it easy to immediately spot any unauthorised vehicle use as that too can increase fuel costs.

Second, you can save costs on vehicle repair and maintenance. One of the great benefits of business vehicle tracking is that you get detailed reports on what your vehicles need. The best vehicle tracking systems can connect to the vehicle CAN bus and transmit diagnostics and other information about parts of a vehicle. Stay on top of vehicle maintenance and don’t lose time and money with vehicles in the repair shop for too long.

2. Protect your business against fraud

Many fleet businesses and transport companies use fuel cards. One of the many benefits of vehicle tracking is that you can link your GPS device to fuel cards and help protect your business against fraud.

Linking your GPS tracker to the fuel cards your company uses means you can cross-reference the stations your cards were used at, and the time of purchase, to the location of your vehicle. That means you can immediately spot if the card was used when your vehicle was somewhere else. Are your employees using company fuel cards to top up their own cars without authorisation? GPS tracking makes it easy to find out.

Additionally, fuel card providers have analytical software that monitors payments and looks out for any unusual transactions. This means your business always has the data you need to ensure it’s protected against fraud.

3. Improved security

The security benefits of GPS tracking systems don’t stop at combining with fuel cards to spot fraudulent payments.

Just seeing where your drivers are on a map and getting an estimate of their arrival time based on current traffic conditions, means you don’t have to put them at risk by distracting them with a phone call while they’re driving. If you have an HGV fleet, lorry tracking can prove very useful.

You can also designate your vehicles to specific locations and set up alerts to notify you when they enter or exit this location. This is called geofencing.

Geofences can be used around areas such as your depots and customer worksites. If your vehicles leave the areas they’re expected to be in, then you’ll receive a notification, so you can quickly identify if a car or van has potentially been stolen.

Theft recovery is yet another benefit of a GPS system. With instant alerts when your vehicles leave a designated area, you can alert the police immediately and increase the chances of getting your vehicle back. Plus, tracked stolen vehicles get recovered at a much higher rate than untracked ones.

4. Increase productivity and efficiency

Increasing productivity and efficiency are aims that every company works to achieve. Vehicle tracking can help you manage the efficiency levels of your drivers.

Do you manage a van fleet? With van tracking, you can monitor how your drivers are working. You can see:

• How many miles they’ve travelled
• How long they’re on site for
• The length of time their journeys take
• Many other things about their performance

You can use all the information you get from your vehicle trackers to spot areas where you can improve the productivity of your staff.
For example, you might see that they aren’t taking the best routes between sites. Vehicle tracking software can show traffic jams and alert your drivers so they don’t get delayed in traffic.

Changing routes could reduce both how long it takes them to get to their destination and the fuel they use to get there, saving your business time and money.

5. Better customer service

GPS vehicle tracking is an excellent tool for improving the service you provide to your customers. It does so by allowing your business to communicate quickly and accurately with your customers, so you can let them know exactly when they can expect their orders or your workers to arrive. Find out how accurate ETAs matter for business.

Live updates are really important if your business is sending goods or services that your customers need to take a job to the next stage or get their operations moving again.

Vehicle tracking benefits for small businesses

The benefits of vehicle tracking apply for any business, small or large, as well as sole traders. Even for small businesses with a few vehicles, car tracking systems can:

• Improve productivity and make you work more efficient
• Increase security
• Reduce costs in the long run
• Keep customers satisfied and returning

There are many vehicle tracking systems on the market so the trick is to compare the market to find the best vehicle trackers for small business. Not all tracker benefits suit all businesses, but we can help you find the right one for your exact business needs.