Only 1 in 5 Companies use a Vehicle Tracking System!

What are the reasons for companies these days who are choosing not to have tracking devices fitted to their vehicles despite the financial and efficiency benefits that can be gained?

What is the main barrier to having a Fleet Management System installed?

Do you have the right to know where your company vehicles are and how they are being driven?

Driver Resistance – Many employees see a vehicle tracking unit as a way of spying on their drivers. The main obstacle is that you can monitor your drivers Private usage, now this doesn’t seem so bad on company vans however when you have a company car and you are permitted to use the vehicle when you wish the ‘Big Brother’ aspect keeps getting bought up, however if it is your vehicle and your fuel why shouldn’t you have the right to know where it is and when it has been used? Having the HR department on your side can always be a large factor in Vehicle Tracking, if you simply bring it in as a necessity to bring it into line with your Insurance Policy and Security measures then your drivers don’t have a choice (the drivers which are normally against the idea of Vehicle tracking are normally the ones who know they have to change their ways). Incorporating this into your employee handbook also means that new employees will be signing and acknowledging that they are aware that there is a tracking device within the company vehicles.

Speeding within a company vehicle during private usage is also another area which companies do not like to tackle however they are actually breaking the law and they are using your vehicle so why wouldn’t you want to know, also if your company logo is on the side of the vehicle they could be damaging your company image, drivers are ambassadors of your company when driving even when it is being used for private usage and this should never be forgotten.

A few months ago we ran a trial on two company vans to see how they were treating the companies’ vehicles, we asked the drivers to continue their driving habits and not to think about the vehicles having trackers in and the results were as follows:

Week 1 – 314 speeding offences of which 120 of these were over 80mph.

After the week 1 figures were released to the drivers, we then asked them to drive knowing that we would be monitoring their driver habits and how they would drive knowing that their Transport Manager would be getting weekly reports, the results are as follows:

Week 2 – 57 Speeding offences of which 1 was over 80mph.

It doesn’t take much analysis to understand where you can make savings on the fuel bill, driving at 90mph rather than 70mph uses 15% more fuel so with this one feature the fuel bill would be reduced. We can also reduce the risk of accidents and keep the vehicle in better condition as it is driven with care. Since this trial the company invested in our Telematics system and have seen big savings on their fuel bill just from this one feature, not to mention the increase in productivity and the use of Vehicle Timesheets, no longer are they relying on the drivers to give them overtime hours this can now be done automatically and with no discrepancies.

There is always resentment when a Fleet Management System is put in place however after a couple of months it does die down and they are used to being tracked, sometimes sharing the info with the drivers puts them more at ease. Many companies now use it as healthy competition by rewarding drivers who don’t break the speeding limit or always arrive to site on time.

From a Transport Managers point of view the admin benefit is massive, private mileage can be monitored and recorded, vehicle timesheets are also readily available and can be signed off immediately by your drivers without having to wait for them to submit mileage journey times. Customer/client disputes can be resolved with the use of a telematics system, missing appointment’s for leaving sites early can cause problems with your customers however through the historical reporting these can be monitored and dealt with accordingly.

Overcoming drivers backlash is never easy, however if you gave your own vehicles to a new employee you have the right to know where it is and how it is being driven, and also if you can save money on your fuel bill and increase productivity the Return on Investment will more than cover the cost of the system.

Cost of the system is probably the biggest deterrent we come across from customers as people are unaware how quick they can regain that money back, remember the money that you can save through the system goes straight onto the profit line, simply reducing your fuel bill by 10% is a saving which any owner would like to see go to them rather than out of the exhaust of their fleet of vehicles.

Tackling Fuel Fraud And Fuel Monitoring

Fuel Cost Reporting and Fuel Monitoring features can help the fight against fuel fraud.

One requirement that has been coming ever more frequently with Vehicle Tracking is the necessity to cut out fuel fraud. It is all too regular that drivers fail to give the petrol stations the correct number plate and mileage and what is to stop an employee giving their partner or friend a fuel card?

Nowadays matching up fuel card data with a Vehicle Tracking platform is getting so much easier, even being able to identify if a vehicle was actually at a specific fuel station only takes a matter of seconds.

We identified several employees within a sales based firm that were actually committing fuel fraud, how could a driver fill up 2 tanks worth £70 each in the space of 3 days? Our Vehicle Timesheet reported that he only drove 130 miles and with minimal idling time (7 minutes), we worked out that his Diesel car would have to be doing close to 10mpg in a car that averages closer to 60mpg, we also knew what date and time the fuel receipt was printed and when we matched this to the fleet management platform his company car was 42 miles away from the garage, therefore the evidence was so much against the employee that he lost his job and all over £40 worth of fuel, or it could have been more, unfortunately the fleet tracking solution was only in place for a month so we were unable to monitor behaviour before then.

The problem can be so much larger for a bigger organisation and fuel fraud could run into the £1000’s also fuel syphoning is on the up as a way round handing out your fuel card but the Vehicle Tracking market is now being flooded with CANbus solutions and fuel monitoring devices. It is great to see so many ways in which companies can tackle things like fuel fraud, there will always be people who can beat the system, but it is our job to make it harder and harder for fraudsters and in the end employees will get caught!

January Vehicle Tracking Sale

January Sale

Throughout the whole of January Business Vehicle Tracking promise to beat or match any quote you can find from our competitors on new tracking units and monthly payments.

This offer is only available to new customers who do not currently have tracking units supplied by Business Vehicle Tracking.

So what are you waiting for, contact us now on 0844 556 8632 or sales@businessvehicletracking.co.uk for a live demo and quote.

GPS Tracking Solutions

Where are your drivers right now?
Where have they been driving throughout the day?
Did they arrive and leave jobs at the correct time?
How long have they been at a job?
Do you know the nearest vehicle to a specific address?
Are you aware of unauthorised usage of your fleet of vehicles?
Do your drivers exceed the speeding limits?

The main idea of GPS tracking is to help companies manage their fleet tracking and vehicle tracking needs and to answer the all the above questions without the need investigate each and every driver individually. There are many companies who remain unsure about adopting this concept as they feel it only benefits companies that have a large fleet of vehicles. In reality both small and large companies can benefit from vehicle tracking.

Real-time Vehicle Tracking – This allows a business to monitor where their vehicles are at any given time, it is therefore easy to spot delays and to manage delivery allocation. A taxi company, for example, will be able to efficiently allocate jobs at all times as the live tracking function will show the operator where each driver is at any given time.

Employee Management – Having a fleet management system in place will give you far more control over your employees when out on the road. GPS Tracking will make sure that employees are hitting deadlines on the road, starting and finishing jobs at the specified time and to ensure they are using the most direct route. It can also benefit the drivers too as the fleet management platform can identify if they are caught up in traffic and simply can’t make a destination on time. The system will also identify out of hours usage on the vehicles meaning that you can either charge mileage to the employee or eradicate the need for personnel to fill out private mileage forms.

Operational Management – It doesn’t matter if you have 1 or 100 vehicles, vehicle tracking allows a business to assess and evaluate how deliveries work which makes it far easier to plan routes and to allocate jobs. We all know that timely deliveries will increase customer satisfaction and getting an edge on your competitors can be priceless in today’s market. Seeing a decrease in your overall operational costs due to increased efficiency is also a possibility, managing your fuel bill and associated costs could be driven down giving you greater profitability for the year.

We at Business Vehicles Tracking have been assisting both large and small companies over a number of years now, we even help out companies with 1 vehicle and they understand the benefits of the fleet management system and how it is saving them money on a daily basis, for more information visit our website www.businessvehicletracking.co.uk

How Can Vehicle Tracking Benefit Your Company?

How can vehicle tracking help a specific company?

Since I have started work at Business Vehicle Tracking I have been amazed with the diversity of vehicle tracking and how it can help out almost any company that has a vehicle. I have dealt with companies that I never imagined would have a requirement for a tracking unit but when it comes to saving money everyone will want to put more on their profit line.

Here are just a few examples of what companies use vehicle tracking for and the benefits it can bring them.

Limousine/Chauffeur Companies – The first question they always ask is can I see what my driver is doing when they are waiting around to pick up guests? More often than not the driver will have roughly 6 hours to pass before a stag do or hen party crawl into the back of a stretched limousine, once they have dropped off the guests the driver then has a choice, does he drive round London taking in the sites, return to base, park up or even do a few private jobs on the side? Let’s say a limo does 10miles to the gallon and drives that 10 miles between drop off and pick up enjoying the London scenery, that will cost about £6 in wasted fuel, imagine if they did this every day for a year, this will equate to £2190 for one vehicle, with a fleet of 10 this will be an extra £21,900 on a company’s fuel bill.

Vending Companies – A very simple task for employees is to drive to specific locations, fill up a vending machine, do the various checks and move on to the next job. Say it takes 30 minutes to fill up a vending machine, you as the operations manager will want to see a report with all journeys and stop times. If one employee can do 15 jobs in a day and another only does 10 you will want to analyse why. This could be down to longer drives between jobs, traffic issues or simply the worker is too slow and productivity is being affected. With a fleet management system you can plan routes better, ensure they are spending adequate time with customers and better understand problem areas for employees, thus increase productivity and a rise in profits.

Delivery Companies – I know how annoying it is when a delivery company says that they will deliver your parcel between 9am and 5pm, how often do they arrive at 4.55pm meaning that you have sat in all day twiddling your thumbs waiting for them to arrive. With the fleet management platform companies can now give you more accurate delivery times, we can now offer a service in which you can log in to a live tracker screen so you can see exactly where your delivery vehicle is meaning if you need to pop out you can with the knowledge that they won’t knock on your door 2 minutes after leaving your house. Nowadays this technology can give you a cutting edge in the market and a massive boost in customer satisfaction. Also the Fleet Manager can also see your driving behaviour on the road. Employees driving vans with the company logo on the side are acting as an ambassador for your company if drivers are tail gating, speeding or driving erratically this will affect your company image. With driver behaviour modules now being installed in vehicles you can now monitor all aspects of driving meaning that you can control your drivers and reward the ones who are meeting driver expectations.

Sales reps – The image of a sales rep is very important and the first thing that you normally see is what type of car they are driving. If a sales rep has a lovely new, clean BMW you are immediately going to think that the company is successful. When the weekend comes I am sure they would love to drive round in their new company car and why not? Companies do allow for employees to use their vehicle privately, it is a perk of the job. The problem arises when employees put in their hours for private mileage, how do you know this is accurate? Many people are now asking for employees to show their private mileage, whether it is for tax purposes or so they can charge back the mileage to the employee. We are now installing vehicle trackers into company vehicles to take away the responsibility of an employee having to constantly write down their mileage and hand it in every Monday morning. With the use of vehicle timesheets we can quickly identify when a car is used out of hours. Certain parameters can be put on our platform to flag up journeys after 7pm during weekdays or use of the car on a Sunday meaning a driver does not have to worry about recording this. We can even install a key fob system onto the dash board so each time a driver starts his engine he can choose between business and private mileage. It is inevitable that not all employees will write down their private mileage so companies will be losing out on fuel that they have paid for, also some drivers will choose against using the car at weekends as they know they will be charged again saving you money on your fuel bill.

All the above are examples of how you can save money through using Business Vehicle Tracking, every company out there that has a vehicle should have a fleet management platform, whether it is for 1 vehicle or 100 there are savings to be made.

What are the benefits of having Vehicle Tracking and Fleet Management?

Reduced operational costs:

Probably the biggest factor in vehicle tracking is that you can live track all vehicles and monitor the fuel usage, including mileage and fuel abuse, speeding, out of hours usage, driver behaviour. You can also direct drivers to the best driving routes and highlight when the vehicles engine is left running and burning unnecessary fuel. By having a fleet management platform it means that you can manage your staff and their vehicles more effectively which in turn means that you can increase the company’s productivity. Studies show that we can reduce a company’s fuel bill by an average of 8.9%.

Better vehicle management:

Fleet management platforms offer the opportunity to be able to live track your vehicles meaning that if an emergency jobs pop up you can easily identify a vehicle through the ‘nearest vehicle finder’ application. This means you can complete jobs quicker, keep fuel costs to a minimum and will ultimately allow increased productivity.

Happy customers:

With vehicle tracking it enables you to be much more accurate on delivery times to customers. Nobody wants to wait for a delivery between the hours of 8.30am – 6pm, it is a massive inconvenience. Having your routes planned out means keeping the customer better informed, happier and may well give you the competitive edge over other businesses which in this economic climate is vital. This will then inevitably increase your company’s productivity and image.

Reduced paperwork:

Vehicle tracking can cut out the need for manual time sheets, overtime sheets and delivery records and make this kind of administration much more accurate. It means that admin staff can stop chasing the whereabouts of drivers, vehicles and paperwork and get on with other important tasks.

Reduced insurance premiums:

Car insurance companies have also recognised the benefits of vehicle tracking and by installing a vehicle tracking system you could reduce your insurance premiums by a significant amount. Also, if one of your vehicles is ever stolen, the Business Vehicle Tracking platform can be used as a recovery tool as the units are hidden away the thieves will not realise that they are being live tracked.

Business Vehicle Tracking On YouTube

Business Vehicle Tracking YouTube Channel

Business Vehicle Tracking now have our very own channel on YouTube.  Here we will be posting how to videos, such as showing customers how to run reports, set up points of interest, create new users and more.

We will also be posting videos to help customers who may have browser issues, need to clear their cache, or how to unblock pop ups so your vehicle tracking experience runs as smooth as possible.