AOBRD vs ELD – Which Should You Use?

One of the hottest questions as the ELD mandate deadline approaches is what is the difference between AOBRD vs ELD.

AOBRDs vs ELDs Guide

This guide is separated into 4 sections:

1 – What is an AOBRD?

2 – Why do some fleets use AOBRDs?

3 – Is Geotab Drive an AOBRD or ELD?

4 – Why are ELDs the future of trucking?

1 – What is an AOBRD?

AOBRDs, short for Automatic On-Board Recording Devices, are devices that electronically record driver hours. Wait a minute! Isn’t that the same thing as ELDs (electronic logging devices)?

Sort of. An AOBRD is similar to an ELD but they are not quite the same. AOBRDs are compliant with 1988 regulations, whereas ELDs are compliant with modern mandates. In the future, all AOBRD users must upgrade to ELD solution.

One of the big differences of AOBRDs vs ELDs is compliance.

For example, take a look at the following differences:

Editing. The FMCSA understands that sometimes there are mistakes and that drivers need to edit their hours. An AOBRD can edit hours, sometimes without leaving a trail. An ELD, on the other hand, protects data integrity by keeping a record of all edits.

On duty switching. ELDs switches driver status from Off to On Duty if the truck stopped for over 5 minutes. AOBRDs do not.

Unassigned hours. ELDs also warn drivers of any unassigned hours upon logging in, whereas AOBRDs do not. As a result, ELDs give drivers the flexibility of noting if they drove the truck or if someone else drove the truck.

differences between aobrd & eld

2 – Why do some fleets use AOBRDs?

The ELD mandate’s grandfather clause is stirring the debate between AOBRDs vs ELDs. The grandfather clause allows fleets to use AOBRDs for the next two years if it is bought before the deadline. However, after December 16, 2019, all AOBRDs must be upgraded to ELDs.

3 – Is Geotab Drive an AOBRD or ELD?

Geotab is committed to using ELDs. With the recent November 2017 update, the Geotab Drive program was upgraded from an AOBRD to an ELD.

4 – Why are ELDs the future of trucking?

ELDs future of trucking

Compliance

AOBRDs are a band-aid solution. It helps fleets avoid penalties today but fleets are still responsible for switching to full ELDs later. Instead of delaying the change, a lot of fleets are getting in full compliance.

Flexibility does not mean freedom

One of the biggest mistakes of getting AOBRDs instead of ELDs is trying to take advantage of the AOBRD’s flexibility. Yes, it is true that drivers can edit their logs without leaving behind a paper trail.

At the end of the day, however, drivers are still responsible for following the law. If DOT inspectors find that logbooks are tampered and hours are violated, the driver and company is still liable for penalties.

ELDs does more than just compliance

Another big difference between AOBRD and ELD is that ELDs collect more data than AOBRDs. This allows ELDs to provide more functions. For example, a lot of ELD programs also offer IFTA reporting, diagnostics, and driver coaching.

As a result, some fleet owners are choosing ELDS because it adds more value. “Last year, I paid an accountant hundreds of dollars per truck to do my IFTA,” said a fleet owner. “I didn’t realize that Electonic Logging Device can do the same thing and save that money!”

Read our Comprehensive Guide To ELD Compliance.

Click here for more information on ELDs.

Links:
Geotab: What is an ELD?
Overdrive: Log-editing ‘flexibility’ in current-generation AOBRD e-logs v. ELDs

Why Fleet Vehicle Tracking is Important for Your Business

Fleet vehicle tracking is important because it squashes problems and lets fleets run smoothly. Here are some common pain areas that tracking systems resolved.

Common Pain Areas Solved by Fleet Vehicle Tracking

“What the heck are my drivers doing?”

Pain area: Accountability, customer service.

One of the biggest issues for fleets is supervising drivers. Here are some examples of dishonest drivers:

  • Some drivers were caught taking leisure rides in company vehicles and on company time. Instead of serving customers, they drove to other places – ranging from their home to local hangouts.
  • Other drivers were caught using vehicles for personal business. For example, a snow plow business caught a driver that used the company vehicle to take side jobs.

All of these issues were solved when vehicles were tracked. Besides rooting out dishonest employees, location tracking is also used for customer service.

For businesses that need to update customers on their service, real-time location tracking is an easy way to get and share info. Some businesses even took it a step further and uploaded the tracking data to a customer accessible web portable.

Pain Areas Solved by Fleet Vehicle Tracking

“Don’t tell me we got in another accident!”

Pain area: Safety, liability.

Running a fleet of vehicles can be risky. Some companies were held legally liable for accidents. For example, a trucking company owner was jailed because he encouraged unsafe driving practices. Other companies lost thousands of money from traffic tickets, fuel wastage, and lawsuits.

A great way to reduce safety risks is to use fleet vehicle tracking to actively train drivers. Fleets were able to create and enforce rules, from classic speeding rules to more advanced driving habits.

For example, one company required all drivers to back into parking spots because reverse parking is safer than head-in parking. They created a reverse parking rule. With vehicle tracking, the fleet created and monitored parking reports. As a result, the company got their entire fleet to buy into the parking policy and significantly decreased parking lot accidents.

fleet vehicles risks

“How am I spending this much money on fuel?”

Pain area: Operation cost

Fuel is a huge operating cost. It hasn’t helped out that fuel prices have spiked over the past year. The most effective adaptors, however, came from companies who tracked and monitored fuel use.

For example, a common idea to save fuel is controlling idling. A lot of fleets have a no-idling policy and need a way to enforce the policy. Enter fleet tracking! With vehicle tracking programs, fleets were able to set idling limits and work with drivers that exceeded those limits.

Another idea is creating smart routes. For companies that answer multiple daily service calls, a challenge is to figure out what is the most efficient way organize the driver’s day. Route planners calculate the order of the route, the directions of the route, and how long to spend on sites. As a result, fleets took on more jobs throughout the day.

smart routes for fleets

Summary

Fleets have a lot of pain areas to deal with. Driver accountability. Safety. Fuel costs. The list goes on. Fleet vehicle tracking is valuable to fleets because it gives fleet managers a tool to create solutions for these pain areas.

Links

Sault Star: Judge hands transport owner 6 months jail

Geotab: Why Reverse Parking is Safer

Getting Through Winter 2018 – Part 1 | Winter Fleet Maintenance

Winter fleet maintenance is once again a popular topic now that winter is almost upon us!

Oh yes, (Or oh no, depending on your seasonal preference!) winter weather is indeed here. Earlier in November, a record cold temperature was set in Toronto. In other areas, large amounts of snow are already on the ground.

How has the early blast of winter affected fleets? For fleet managers, they got a fresh reminder on why winter fleet maintenance is important. Due to the snow and the cold, fleet managers have their hands full with anything from fuel usage to breakdowns.

Let’s take a look at a list of winter issues.

Common Winter Fleet Maintenance Issues

Idling and Fuel Usage

Issue: There is a myth that long periods of idling helps warm up your vehicle.

How long should drivers idle to warm up their vehicle? For some drivers, they leave their vehicle on for several minutes. One driver even left their truck running for 2 hours to try to stay warm! Was idling for several minutes, even hours, effective in keeping drivers warm?

Unfortunately for the idling drivers, the answer is no! Researchers found that modern vehicles only take 30 to 60 seconds to get ready. Anything over a minute leads to wasted time and wasted fuel.

Solution: Educating drivers and using a no-idling policy.

The best solution is education. Some drivers might not know that idling past a minute does not keep them warm. It’s not entirely their fault until told otherwise!

As a result, some fleets implemented a year-round no-idling policy. These fleets tracked idling and identified drivers who need to reduce their idle times. These drivers were then trained on how to reduce idling and on alternatives to staying warm.

Maintenance

Issue: Winter conditions can be punishing for fleet equipment.

Winter is punishing for vehicles. Its extreme conditions damage vehicle components. In fact, out of the year, the winter months are the most likely months for vehicles to break down.

Solution: Fleets should create and use a regular winter fleet maintenance program.

In order to prevent winter breakdowns, regular vehicle checks should be performed. For example, some of the best practices include:

  • Checking lights weekly
  • Checking oil levels, engine coolants, and tire pressures biweekly
  • Checking power steering fluids, windshield fluids, and brake fluids monthly.

Of course, like any regular human, check-ups can be easily forgotten and missed. In order to remind drivers and mechanics, fleets use maintenance programs to create regular tasks.

In addition to sending reminders, fleet maintenance programs actively monitor vehicle health. For example, if the system detects that the vehicle batteries are starting to fail, it will send an alert to the maintenance team. This allows the fleet to take the vehicle off the road and fix it before it breaks down.

Tire Health

Issue: Fleets need to equip appropriate winter tires and maintain their tire pressure.

Besides using winter tires, fleets need to actively monitor tire pressures. Even the best winter tires will underperform if it is not taken care of. How can fleets ensure that winter tires will do its job?

Solution: Drivers need to regularly check tire pressure.

The best practice is to regularly check tires. Experts recommend that tires should be checked multiple times per month. In addition to regular tire checks, a good program to use is a tire pressure monitoring system.

Tire pressure monitoring systems include a dynamic duo of a tire sensor and a tire pressure display. The tire sensor reads tire pressures in real time and sends the information to both in-cab displays and in reports. As a result, drivers and managers can fix under-inflated tires before the vehicle caught in an incident.

Check back in for part 2 of our winter 2018 guide!

Links

CP24: Toronto breaks 79-year-old record as temperature plunges to -10.1 C

CBC: Idling your car in winter not worth your time or gas, driving educator says

RAC: Winter Breakdowns

BusinessFleet: Winter Operation and Maintenance Tips for Fleets

The First 365 Days: Vehicle Tracking Solutions

Many fleets – small and big – are installing vehicle tracking solutions. Whether it’s for compliance or for improving productivity, fleets are noticing big changes.

That being said, people usually think about what happens next when a new idea is being implemented. How will the idea fit in immediately? In a week? In a month? Over the next year?

Let’s walk through the first year of using vehicle tracking solutions.

365 days of vehicle tracking

Day 1 to 7: Getting Started.

Onboarding and training

Vehicle tracking solutions are supposed to be easy to use. During the first week, a team of trainers from the fleet solution provider onboards the program. Users can arrange a training meeting is so everyone learns how the program works.

In addition to training, onboarding also involves setting objectives. For example, GoFleet consultants work with fleets to figure out what they want out of the program. After objectives are set, consultants recommend KPIs and set up a dashboard to monitor these areas.

Installation

The other big event is setting up hardware for each vehicle. Depending on the solution, this could mean either professional or self-installation. For example, since GoFleet uses plug-and-play solutions, fleets are able to use their own staff to install devices.

Day 8 – 39: Fixing Immediate Issues

During the first month, immediate issues such as unproductive drivers or unsafe driving are fixed. Here are 2 examples.

Naughty Drivers

After the first month of vehicle tracking, several fleets caught drivers that broke company rules. For example, some drivers were caught taking vehicles on long breaks rather than going to customers. The business quickly moved on to new employees and improved customer satisfaction.

New Driving Policies

In another business, they found that many drivers did not wear their seatbelts. After the first month of tracking, the fleet followed up with individual drivers who failed to wear seatbelts. As a result, seatbelt violations quickly dropped to 0.

Day 40 – 364: Working on KPIs

After fixing immediate problems, fleets can now focus on achieving KPIs. This involves using the vehicle tracking solution to analyze data, create policies, and measure success. Here are a few examples.

working on KPIs

Creating a Driver Engagement Program

Rather than focusing on punishing drivers, some fleets set up reward programs. This is where clean driving reports lead to bonuses. As a result, drivers are encouraged to drive safely and this reflected in a reduction in tickets, accidents, and fuel usage.

Reducing Fuel Usage

Another huge area of opportunity is reducing fuel. For example, one company set idling as a KPI and noticed that they were falling behind. The company responded. They set a no-idling policy and enforced this by sending idling alerts to drivers. By the end of the year, idling dropped to under 10 minutes per day.

Protecting Assets

Vehicle tracking solutions can also increase asset life. For fleets that prioritized preventative maintenance, ideas like active engine checking and service reminders help accomplish this goal. After using these ideas, mechanics found the new process to be easier and more effective.

Day 365: Reviewing Results!

For many fleets, the benefits of vehicle tracking solutions quickly outweighed the cost. For example, for the city of Charlottetown, their system helped improve processes in salt monitoring, idling, and preventive maintenance. This easily saved over $100,000 per year.

3 Villains That Fleet Fuel Cards Are Conquering

Fleet fuel cards are a trusty sidekick to conquering fuel and administration problems! A recent development for fleet fuel cards includes partnering with telematics. Because of this partnership, fleet fuel cards are capturing more data than ever.

What does this mean for fleets? For a lot of fleets, this means that fuel cards are getting a serious upgrade to fight off villainy! Let’s take a look at how they tackle the villainy of expensive fuel prices, dry paperwork and sly fraudsters.

fleet cards+telematics

Villain #1: High Fuel Prices

Well, this was bound to happen! After years of relatively modest prices, fuel is getting more costly. Big events in 2017 such as hurricanes caused the spike. And what does this mean for fleet managers? Fleet managers are tasked with minimizing fuel expenses and need a sidekick to counter rising prices.

One of the ways to fight expensive fuel is to reconsider how to pay for fuel. For fleets that use credit cards or cash, they could be overpaying. According to Glen Sokolis, president of the fuel management group Sokolis Group, fuel cards help save 5 to 20 cents versus other ways to pay.

How are fuel cards getting this discount? This is possible because fleet fuel cards are partnering up with gas stations to get kick-butt deals. For example, some cards provide live updates on which stations have the best deals. Other cards provide loyalty programs to earn free fuel.

Villain #2: Paperwork

Holy heap of paperwork, fleet manager! What are we going to do? One of the biggest challenges without fuel cards is managing fuel reports. To the annoyance of administrators, they have to fill in forms for things like receipts and reimbursements.

Instead of going through this process, fuel card software makes it easier. These software capture data such as fuel purchases and usage. As a result, it is very easy to generate reports.

And what do these reports mean for fleets? For administrators, it frees time to work on projects other than data entry. As well, for managers, fuel software eliminate human error and creates accurate reports.

eliminate paperworks

Villain #3: Fraudsters

In a perfect workforce, everyone follows the rules. Unfortunately, that is not always the case. Over the past few years, fraudsters came up with a lot of creative schemes. These schemes range from buying personal items with credit cards to filling up personal vehicles.

One of the key advantages of using a fuel card instead of a credit card is to control purchases. Whereas credit cards allow drivers to buy anything, fuel cards ensure that drivers will only purchase fuel.

Another idea is integrating fuel cards with telematics. This integration allows managers to match fuel purchases with tank fuel. As a result, managers can easily catch fraudsters who use fuel cards for a non-business vehicle.

Click here for more information about integrating fleet fuel cards.

Links
Pymnts: Why Fleet Spend For A Mobile Workforce Is Rarely A Clear Picture
HDT: Wow! My Fleet Fuel Card is Burning!
Infosys: Trends in the fuel card industry
USA Today: Gas prices rise for most Americans — especially in the Midwest. Here’s why.

What are the Best Methods of Live GPS Tracking?

The idea of live GPS tracking is not as straightforward as it sounds. A lot of people don’t realize that fleet tracking solutions have different ways of collecting and reporting data.

Let’s take a look at a few methods.

Method 1: Collecting and Reporting All Data

In a perfect world, every single moment of data would be collected and reported. However, this isn’t feasible. Each vehicle can send thousands of gigabytes of data. Not all of this data would be relevant and the sheer amount of data can overload a server.

Method 2: Sampling and Reporting Some Data

Instead of reporting every single second, a lot of fleet tracking solutions sample data. This means that data is only collected periodically. For example, data might be sampled and reported every 30 seconds or every 100 meters.

Although this is easier on the server, sampling data has some drawbacks. Between the sample periods, key information can be missed. For example, in some situations, it shows that drivers drove through a building. That doesn’t look right!

A Unique Method of Live GPS Tracking

Geotab uses a unique method of live GPS tracking called the curve based algorithm.

What is the curve based algorithm?

Engineers found a better way to collect and report data. This is done by identifying useful points and re-creating a path. And what is the result? By developing curve base algorithms, engineers invented an efficient and accurate way of providing live GPS tracking.

How Does it Work?

Neil Cawse does an amazing job of explaining the system in this video:

Let’s break it down into 3 steps.

1 – The Geotab system identifies the beginning and end of each route, and connects the points. Let’s call this the “predictive route”. The predictive route is then compared with data collected from the actual route. Let’s called the difference between the predictive route and the actual route as the “amount of error”.

2 – The system analyses the amount of error between each data point and decides what to do. If the distance between the predictive route and actual route is minimal, then the data point is reported. This is because the reported points would almost be identical to the route actually travelled.

3 – If the error, however, is still quite large, the system finds where the error is the largest. The system would then consider that to be a new data point. It runs the analytics again and again until the error is minimized. As a result, the system moulds the predictive route to closely match the actual route.

Why is this a good idea?

The biggest advantage of the curve based algorithm is that it captures every single critical point. Compared to the sampling method, these points may be missed if they occur outside of the sample period.

In addition, curve based algorithms can be applied outside of location tracking. Here are a few examples:

  • Speeding. Spikes in speed changes can be recorded with curve logic. As a result, managers can identify all infractions and determine how long each infraction lasted.
  • Battery voltage. 80% of vehicle failures are caused by electrical system faults. With curve based algorithms, the system can identify ripples in voltage. Once a ripple is identified, the system sends a critical warning that the unit will soon fail. This helped prevent costly breakdowns on the road.
  • Driving habits. By monitoring horizontal and vertical location data, the Geotab system can identify a lot of driving habits. These habits range from harsh acceleration to even driving over potholes!

Click here to see the live GPS tracking system.

Links:
Geotab: How the Curve Algorithm for GPS Logging Works

GPS Vehicle Tracking for Pest Control Helps In These 3 Areas

GPS vehicle tracking for pest control companies is growing popular. In this industry, pest control companies are looking for ideas to provide better service, protect their brand, and save money.

What’s with the hype about pest control businesses?

Pest control remains a popular industry. Think about all of the recent headlines about pests!

For example, remember the recent bed bug infestation? “Don’t let the bedbugs bite” used to be a figure of speech. Unfortunately, bed bugs returned and they returned with a vengeance! Over the past few years, bedbug infestations in hotels, hospitals, and residential areas made the news.

And don’t forget about the giant rats! In some places, rats can grow quite huge. In New York, rats stole pizza and were caught running through the subway. The videos were then shared on YouTube and went viral.

3 Areas of Focus

A growing industry is good news! At the same time, competition among businesses is fierce. 3 areas that pest control businesses should focus on include:

GPS tracking for pest control

  • Customer service. An easy way to grow the business is to satisfy existing customers and encourage them to come back.
  • Brand protection. What do customers think about a company? Related to providing good service, companies are challenged by supervising workers and ensuring that they act as good company ambassadors.
  • Cost control. It costs money to do good business. Pest control companies need to spend money on its people and its equipment.

Let’s take a look at how these 3 areas improved with GPS tracking for pest companies.

Customer service

A big part of growing pest control sales is winning repeat business and referrals. Are workers arriving on time? Are they spending enough time on site? Since pest infestations often require multiple visits, it’s important to leave a good impression every time. This ensure that customers will want a team to return and will refer the team to friends.

One of the biggest reasons for using GPS vehicle tracking for pest control is to track customer visits. For businesses that frequently receive complaints, pest control fleet tracking was very useful. After being tracked, workers were more accountable and complaints stopped.

Here’s a great story about customer support. A customer complained that service never arrived and was given a refund. Then, the customer complained a second time that the service was missed. After checking GPS data, it turned out that the team was on property. The customer finally admitted that they lied because of financial issues. The company then went beyond expectations by creating an affordable payment plan for the client.

Branding

How is branding related to vehicle tracking? Mike Gibney, Safety Director at Orkin/Rollins explains it best. “Orkin is probably recognizable by at least 90% of the country as the bug company,” said Gibney. “We have a brand to protect.” Orkin would much rather be known as a bug company than a company with unsafe drivers.

This is where vehicle tracking comes in. GPS vehicle tracking for pest control does a lot more than location tracking. Beyond looking at location, it helps people like Gibney get reports on driving and safety measures.

And how did Gibney use this info? He was able to quickly find and warn drivers who sped, refused to use seatbelts, or drove after hours. Gibney then retrained drivers and increased his company’s safety rating.

Cost cutting

GPS tracking for pest control is worth much more than its cost. Because fleets are saving on fuel, safety, and maintenance, the program usually earns back the investment within the first year.

Let’s take a look at some of the stats at Orkin. Orkin reports savings in several areas including insurance payments, accident reductions, maintenance improvement, and customer retention. Between all of these areas, $40M is saved each year. And what is the best part of saving $40M? Only $4M was spent. That sounds like money well spent!

Click here for more information about GPS vehicle tracking for pest control.

Links
USA Today: Bed bugs disappeared for 40 years, now they’re back with a vengence
Fox News: Pizza rat returns
Geotab: Three Connected Perspective

5 Solutions to Texting and Driving

Many fleets are searching for solutions to texting and driving. In response to the texting and driving epidemic, a lot of governments created new laws. In some places, getting caught texting and driving results in big fines and jail time. Many people agree that tough rules are a good idea.

At the same time, many fleets taking extra steps to avoid texting and driving. Let’s review some solutions to texting and driving.

solutions to texting and driving

1 – Creating a sound company policy.

The first step to reducing texting and driving is to establish a sound policy. Drivers need to understand what is expected of them and how expectations will be enforced.

Some of the best practices in establishing a good policy include:

  • Defining rules and exceptions. Drivers need to know what will be allowed and disallowed. For example, some companies allow hands-free Bluetooth while other companies do not.
  • Explaining what will happen if rules are broken. Drivers need to understand the consequences of texting and driving. Most companies will issue write-ups, suspensions, and terminations for violations.

2 – Supporting the company policy.

After establishing the company policy, the next step is to support it. This comes in 2 ways – training the drivers and enforcing the rules.

Training goes beyond telling a driver to stop texting and driving. Some of the most effective training includes giving drivers examples of what happens to distracted drivers. For example, in fleets with monitoring tools, drivers are trained on how distracted drivers are monitored and caught.

Another way to support policies is to enforce the rules. For several years, fleets waited for complaints from drivers or from traffic tickets. Nowadays, a lot of fleets rely on monitoring technology. This allows fleets to enforce their rules without relying on a tattletale to report offenders.

3 – Installing camera solutions.

A growingly popular solution to texting and driving is installing cameras. Cameras are a way to keep drivers accountable. With cameras, safety managers are able to set rules and review footage to check if drivers are distracted.

An example of a progressing camera technology is facial tracking. Facial tracking checks drivers’ eye movements to see if they are distracted. This allows companies to find distracted drivers even if they were not involved in a collision.

avoid texting & driving

4 – Using cell control devices.

Another effective technology that stops texting and driving is cell control. Cell control is a little different from cameras because this is a preventive tool. With cell control, fleets can set rules such as blocking cell phones while the vehicle is driving. Due to its ability to prevent distracted driving, cell control is popular with both fleets and families!

5 – Eliminate distractions while driving.

One of the biggest reasons why some drivers text in the first place is their supervisor. A lot of companies still rely on texting and calling drivers. This creates a distracting environment where drivers need to answer a call or a text.

Many fleets have since overhauled their dispatching process. For example, some fleets use a 2-way dispatch messaging service that only works when the vehicle is parked. This prevents dispatchers from distracting drivers while they are on the road.

Looking for more information about solutions to texting and driving?

Click here for more info on cameras.

Click here for more info on cell control.

Click here for info on 2-way dispatch systems.

Links
CNN: Driving while distracted: Which countries have toughest laws?
Fleet Financials: Developing Fleet Cell Phone & Texting Policies
Automotive Fleet: Preventing Distracted Driving

How Businesses Choose GPS Fleet Tracking Hardware

For businesses, choosing the right GPS fleet tracking hardware is a tough decision. In today’s market, there are a lot of great options. How do fleets pick the right company?

Let’s take a look at a survey. In this survey, businesses shared the most important factors when evaluating different solutions.

Survey of Important GPS Fleet Tracking Hardware Criteria

GPS Fleet Tracking Hardware

Screenshot from Automotive Fleet

As shown by the survey, fleets look at multiple areas before finalizing a solution. Let’s review some of the most important areas.

choosing the gps tracking hardware

Ease of Use

Vehicle tracking should not be difficult. One of the key concerns for fleets is learning how to adapt to the program and how to teach staff. “Some of our staff struggle with advanced Excel reports”, said a fleet manager. “We’re looking for a program where it would be easy for our staff to design and view reports.”

What is a good way to design easy-to-use reports? Here’s a typical process. Fleets decide on which reports they care about the most. Then, they (or their provider) would create those reports. As a result, a clean dashboard of relevant reports would be presented.

Tarn Bhui is a Product Expert at GoFleet. “Users care about accessing the most useful reports,” said Bhui. “By customizing reports and showing only those reports, fleets found the service to be easier to use.”

Customer Service

Another big deciding factor is the level of customer service. As with any technology, there might be hiccups with GPS fleet tracking hardware and software. When this happens, who can provide quick and satisfactory support?

Every service provider has some sort of customer service. Another big factor, however, is getting support beyond solving technical problems.

For example, GoFleet proactively works with clients to help them succeed. “Everything is data-driven in our process,” said Bhui. “Our clients set their performance targets. We would review performance trends and compare them with set targets. Then, our support team uses the data to make policy suggestions and ensure our clients reach their targets. Clients love our data-focused consulting.”

Service Coverage

Service coverage is another big concern when it comes to GPS vehicle tracking hardware. Some people ask, “can vehicles be tracked at all times?”. Some of these people were disappointed when they discovered that they didn’t get service in certain areas.

It’s important to pick a provider that has service flexibility. “In our process, we take a look at the areas where fleets operate”, said Bhui. “Because we work with all major cell providers, we would use the best provider based on a fleet’s operation area.”

For some fleets, they go to areas without any cell coverage. How can these fleets still get service? In order to serve these areas, satellite tracking is used. Satellite tracking does not rely on cell signal and can track fleets that travel to remote areas.

Software Features

And of course, fleets care about what the device actually does. A lot of fleets understand that GPS tracker hardware does a lot more than location tracking. Some of the other common uses include driver training, dispatching, and maintenance improvement.

Because of the different options, one of the first steps is to ask what are the expected results of using vehicle tracking. Once this is figured out, fleet management solution providers can then recommend what features can fill project needs.

Link
Automotive Fleet: How Fleet Size Dictates Telematics Needs

3 Important KPIs for Fleet Consulting

Fleet consulting is the process of advising how to achieve fleet objectives. Who is the typical fleet consultant and what kinds of objectives do they work on?

There are two ways of providing fleet consulting services – internally and externally. For internal consultants, these are superstars from within the organization that work on projects. As well, some companies hire outside experts to help achieve objectives.

As for fleet objectives, some of the common areas include:

  • Productivity. Drivers are not like office workers. Since drivers are working remotely, one fleet objective is making sure workers are productive.
  • Safety. Road accidents can happen. As with any fleet, a big objective is to minimize safety risks.
  • Fleet costs. Fleets have high operation costs. Some of the biggest categories include fuel and maintenance.
  • Compliance. Some companies fall under certain regulations. As well, companies might have to comply with customer contracts.

As we can see, fleet consultants need to attend to a lot of different areas. For this reason, fleet consultants created and looked at KPIs. KPIs are the most important numbers to collect and use when giving advice.

Here is our list of 3 important KPIs for fleet consulting:

KPIs for fleet consultants

1. Service time.

Category: Productivity, Fleet Costs

A common KPI for fleets is service time. This might include arrival time, departure time, and on-site time. For fleets, especially those in the service and transportation industry, customer service is important. Fleets must ensure that drivers are arriving and leaving at appropriate times.

A great tool to collecting customer service KPIs is setting up geofences. Geofences are zones that can be tracked. With geofences, fleets are able to track customer sites and get service reports.

geofences

With this KPI, successful fleet consultants were able to:

  • Identify rule-breakers. Consultants quickly found drivers who did not follow company rules. In one company, they found technicians who spent more time at coffee shops than at customer sites. This allowed the company to improve customer service by replacing rule breakers with trustworthy drivers.
  • Identify utilization. Utilization reports can be created from service data. In this report, consultants can check how many hours or miles each drivers drove in a day. This report held drivers accountable and productive.

2. Safety reports

Category: Safety, Fleet Cost

Another big KPI is monitoring safety reports. Although safety policies may vary with the company, some of the common reports include speeding and harsh driving. In order to monitor driving behaviour, fleet safety consultants create exception reports.

Exception reports are custom created rules. For example, for some companies, speeding might be defined as driving at any speed over the limit. In other companies, there might be a bit of a buffer. After rules are set, fleet consultants can collect data and make decisions.

monitoring safety reports

With this KPI, successful fleet consultants were able to:

  • Create training plans. Consultants are able to see areas where some or all drivers had poor performances. This allows consultants to provide targeted training. For example, one company noticed that a shocking number of drivers did not wear seatbelts. The company then created new seat belt policies.
  • Engage safe drivers. Consultants were also able to identify terrific drivers. In some companies, consultants successfully implemented a bonus system to reward good driving behaviour. This kept drivers happy and motivated to stay safe.

3. Idling

Category: Fleet Cost

One for the biggest areas for minimizing fleet costs is controlling idling. Idling is a significant waste of fuel. For some companies, there are no-idling policies.

In order to collect idling data, fleet management consultants create another exception report. They would identify criteria that would be considered idling. For example, one company defined idling as any time over 3 minutes.

controlling idling

With this KPI, successful consultants were able to:

  • Identify which drivers to train. Consultants were able to identify drivers who need training. With detailed reports, they targeted and trained drivers to stop idling. As a result, the fleet saved a huge portion of fuel costs.
  • Create a proactive process. Rather than using reports, some consultants opted to create live alerts. Whenever a driver idled, their supervisor would receive email alerts. Supervisors can then remind drivers to shut off their trucks.

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