Looking For The Best Vehicle Tracking System?

About Vehicle Tracking

With the advancement of technology, it is becoming easier and easier to optimise your business to be as efficient and profitable as possible. Vehicle Tracking is something that is becoming increasingly popular amongst businesses that utilise a fleet, to do exactly that.

Vehicle Tracking can benefit a business in numerous ways, ranging from saving on fuel, to the streamlining of operations.

That's why here at Commercial Experts, we're committed to helping out thousands of businesses with their Vehicle Tracking needs.

What Is Vehicle Tracking?

Vehicle Tracking as the name suggests, is a means of tracking the vehicles that you possess in your fleet. These can range from Dashboard Trackers which are visibly placed on the dashboard of the vehicle, or Internal Trackers, which are placed within the vehicle itself.

These Vehicle Trackers, provide a range of data including; location updates of the vehicle, both in real-time and at regular intervals, speed and operation, fuel consumption and driving behaviour.

The Active tracking system will gather information in real time which fleet managers can then access via online interface. With the information coming in real time, you'll have immediate updates on any situation.

Passive tracking systems on the other hand, collect data that can then be downloaded and interrogated at a later date. As a result, Passive systems do not provide real time updates.

What Are The Benefits Of Vehicle Tracking?

So that's the basics out of the way. Below, we've compiled a quick list of a few ways that installing Vehicle Tracking systems can help with the running of your business, whilst significantly increasing both operational and financial efficiency.

Save Fuel

A great benefit of Vehicle Tracking systems is their ability to plan the most efficient routes for your fleet. These routes will avoid toll roads and smaller streets that will be unsuitable for larger vehicles. Some systems will even come equipped with real-time traffic updates which will allow your drivers to become aware of situations that they may be faced with.

Some systems include Geofencing capabilities. This will send alerts to the driver letting them know that they are leaving a pre-determined designated area of travel.

This efficiency on the road, aided by Vehicle Tracking systems could end up saving your business when it comes to fuel expenditure.

A way to save even more on fuel would be by acquiring Fuel Cards, for your business, which can be found HERE.

Driver Behaviour Reporting

Having an insight in to how your drivers are preforming and conducting themselves on the road can be imperative to success. Speeding, idling and hard-breaking/accelerating, can all be monitored with Vehicle Tracking systems.

Not only do these types of behaviours increase fuel consumption, but reckless driving can also result in damaged goods, fines and higher insurance premiums. This type of driving can go a long way in damaging your businesses reputation, as well as profits.

Vehicle Maintenance

Knowing exactly how long and far your fleet has travelled will provide a pretty good insight into what potential maintenance needs to be carried out. Some Vehicle Tracking systems can provide alerts to your fleet manager, once the vehicle has completed a certain number of miles.

The old saying "a stitch in time saves nine" comes to mind here. Being able to have a much more accurate understanding of exactly what sort of shifts your fleet have been putting in could end up saving your business significant sums in the long term.

Detect Suspicious Behaviour

Amongst other features that Vehicle Tracking allows, setting up alerts from your fleet for suspicious behaviour is one that could benefit you greatly. Something as simple as monitoring out of hours usage of the vehicles can be put into place.

This will allow you to know if the vehicles are being used strictly for business related purposes, or alert you to a possible theft of the vehicle. If it is unfortunately the latter, you'll be able to track the vehicles movements with ease and efficiency.

Go Green

Many companies today are looking to promote a much more eco-friendly image of themselves. We realise that in industries that rely heavily on fleets this can be quite difficult. With Vehicle Tracking however, you can monitor your CO2 output and make decisions based around your findings.

This can help not only the environment, but also your profitability, as a 2019 study shows that nearly 50% of internet users worldwide have ditched products and services from brands that did not fall in line with their personal beliefs. Environmental concern is a hot topic and one that if your business does not do its part, could see you losing out.

What Type Of Vehicle Tracking System Is Best For Me?

Every business is unique and as a result of that, so are their Vehicle Tracking needs. There are a wide range of Vehicle Tracking system suppliers on the market which offer a variety of options. Some will just provide the hardware, others, the software and some will provide both. These will range from basic models to bespoke systems tailored specifically to your needs.

A good place to know where to start is by looking at what type of information that you want to collect? Do you need it to be as sophisticated as possible, with all the bells and whistles or just the most basic data available?

It is worth noting that HGV drivers are mandated by law to have a tachograph installed, something that most suppliers can offer you.

So we've come up with a few more questions to help you decide as to which Vehicle Tracking supplier and system will best suit your business.

How Big Is Your Fleet?

Larger fleets may need more complex Vehicle Tracking systems to enable your fleet manager to easily monitor the situation at hand with certain components such as Geofencing software and Telematics installation. Telematics acts as a black box for every vehicle that it is installed in.

Smaller fleets on the other hand may only need the most basic features available without any in-depth metric analysis options.

It almost goes without saying that the larger the fleet and the more complex you wish for your systems to be, the greater the cost.

Supplier Customer Service

Is customer service important to you? If it is, looking for suppliers that have around the clock help on hand may be something that will draw you towards a certain supplier. Maybe the methods of contacting them is more of a concern i.e. a supplier that offers direct online chat compared to one that doesn't.

The best barometer of any business is to get online and see what their customers and clients are saying about them. This will help you to make an informed decision when the time comes to choose a supplier.

Contract Length

Every Vehicle Tracking supplier is different and as a result, will offer different contract lengths to suit their services.

If you're new to the Vehicle Tracking world, then we suggest looking for shorter 12 month contracts. This will allow you the flexibility to change supplier relatively quickly should you not be happy with the service that you are being provided or if you're in search of an upgrade.

If you like the look of a certain company but they don't offer short term contracts make yourself familiar with any cancellation fees that may be incurred if you were to exit your contract before the agreed time is up.

Other Fees & Perks

Will the supplier come to your premises and install the Vehicle Tracking systems for free, or will this come with a cost? Are there any charges when it comes to replacing damaged or faulty systems? Will they train your staff to use the systems or is that down to you?

These are just some of the other features that may be important to you and your business when it comes to Vehicle Tracking.

How Do I Get Vehicle Tracking For My Business?

Hopefully that's answered most of the questions that you may have regarding Vehicle Tracking. Now the last one you may have is "How do I get it for my business?" The process couldn't be any simpler, all you have to do is click the "Get Quote Now" button and you can start comparing quotes. This is an absolutely free service and there's no obligation to buy, so click the button, follow the prompts and get comparing now.