Category: Blog

Three Fuel Saving Practices To Lower Your Fuel Costs

Posted on | by Devin Johnson

Lower Your Fuel Costs With Fuel Saving Practices

Businesses with fleet operations have been feeling the strain of high fuel costs for the past few years. At first, these business owners assumed they just had to get past a tough couple of years and then the fuel costs would stabilize. It is now clear that high fuel costs are here to stay. The only way to lower your fuel costs is to implement fuel saving tips and use less fuel.

Decrease Idle Times

Each hour your vehicle is in idle equals approximately 25 driving miles in fuel. Unfortunately, many drivers are in the habit of sitting in their vehicle while it is idling as a form of climate control. This directly translates into costing your business more money. A quality GPS fleet management system can send notifications to you when your drivers are idling for excessive periods of time giving you the opportunity to have their behavior corrected immediately.

Reduce Driving Speeds

The United States Environmental Protections Agency states that every 5 miles driven above the speed limit costs your business approximately 20 cents more per gallon of fuel. If you have several drivers speeding regularly, the costs can add up quickly. A GPS fleet management system can provide reports on driving speeds and notifications when a driver exceeds the speed threshold you have set. This can help you manage your driver’s behavior better. Ensuring your drivers drive at fuel-efficient speeds will not only reduce fuel costs, it will improve safety.

Efficient Routing

Intelligently planning the routes your drivers take can save you money on fuel. A high quality GPS fleet management system can plan efficient routes for you automatically. These solutions can shave fuel costs by planning routes with the fewest miles and stops. Inefficient routing wastes both valuable time and fuel. With GPS fleet management software, your dispatchers are also able to send the closest driver to a job location.

Implement these fuel saving tips and start saving your money.

Are you struggling with fuel costs? Contact one of our Fleet Consultants to find out how GoFleet can help.

Improve Your Customers’ Experience

Posted on | by Devin Johnson

GPS Tracking Management Improves Your Customers’ Experience

It’s very likely you have heard the expression “Work smarter, not harder.” If you are like many small business owners, you probably have thought to yourself, “Is it really that easy?” If you manage a fleet of business vehicles, the answer is yes! If you implement a GPS tracking management system helps you to provide higher quality customer support.

We all know competitors that appear to have their business under complete control at all times. They provide high quality customer support, run efficiently and make everything seem easy. You too can have the same level of control in your business.

Even if your company’s service or product might be the superior choice, you can improve your customers’ experience when they do business with you. This can help you stand apart from your competitors and become your area’s leader. Stop wasting valuable talent, energy and time; take a step back and start working smarter.

Add Value To Your Customer Beyond Your Service Or Product

When you get to know the customers in your industry, you are able to determine what they are looking for and what would add value to the service or product you provide. They key is interacting with your customers and getting to know what affects their business or personal life the most. Adding value to your customers’ experience can give your company the edge it needs to make a lasting impression and gain repeat and referral business.

For example, if you are in the plumbing business, you would know that your customers do not want to be given a four hour service window. That means your customer will be stuck at their location for up to four hours just waiting for your plumber to arrive not including the time your plumber is providing the service. Your customers’ time is valuable and that could waste their entire day. Your competitor might not have plumbers as qualified, professional and experienced as yours, however, they might be able to tell the customer they will arrive within 30 to 40 minutes. It is very possible the customer will choose speed of service over reputation, experience and service quality because they simply don’t have 4 hours to sit around waiting.

Implementing a GPS tracking management system, can allow you to easily manage your drivers. The system provides automatic fleet routing and scheduling, vehicle locations, valuable alerts, fleet management reports and much more. When your customer calls to request service, you will be able to tell them, with confidence, an accurate estimated time of arrival. Your dispatchers can also send the closest driver to the customer’s location instead of having the customer wait for a driver who is in another county. Your customers will appreciate the short service window and efficient service.

Comprehensive Fleet Driver Monitoring Best Practices

Posted on | by Devin Johnson

Best Practices For Comprehensive Fleet Driver Monitoring

When you want to take an integrated approach to driver monitoring, you must consider driver’s license data, traffic violation information, Motor Vehicle Records and telematics information. However, alone this take gives an incomplete picture of a driver’s safety.

Today, business owners and fleet managers have access to an unbelievable amount of information about their drivers. The trick is you need to play connect the dots with all of the information and driving records to get a comprehensive view of your employee’s driving record.

The best practices for comprehensive fleet driver monitoring include:

Establish An Initial Baseline

Monitoring your drivers has to start with a clear, complete and accurate baseline. Get an official 3-year Motor Vehicle Report provided by the state. All of your future driver monitoring activities will then be compared to the initial baseline.

Frequently Monitor

At the absolute minimum, drivers need to be monitored monthly. In 30 days, many things can happen that could lead to potential problems and increased risk of negligent driver entrustment.

Take Action

Once you have insight into your driver’s habits and behavior, you now have the ability to take action. Corrective action includes enrolling employees in additional driver training or having them ride with another employee for a specific period of time.

Separate from the additional costs of an unsafe driver, understanding your driver’s performance is the best thing to do to improve safety. It creates a culture of safety with safer employees and promotes a safer community.

Comprehensive fleet driver monitoring best practices require commitment and diligence; however, it has never been as easy as it is today. There are so many advances in fleet management technology that are making it easy for you to manage your fleet and take corrective action if it is needed. It is unbelievable how much more efficient, productive and safer implementing these best practices can make your business

Gas Detection Systems: How Do They Work?

Posted on | by Devin Johnson

How Do GoFleet’s Gas Detection Systems Work?

Gas detection systems are offered by GoFleet as an add-on to their fleet management solution. They measure the concentration of gases in the air for worker safety purposes. The units signify high levels of gas through visible and audible indicators in addition to sending instant threat reports to the driver’s fleet manager.

While older gas detectors where originally designed to detect only one gas, GoFleet’s modern gas detection systems have four different gas sensors in one unit. Users can select the types of gases that are to be detected. There are over 120 different possibilities. In addition to improving workers’ safety, GoFleet’s gas detection systems are fully integrated with the fleet management solution to make managing a fleet more efficient and productive.

GoFleet offers two different types of gas detection systems: 1) Oil and gas and 2) Fire and HazMat. The oil and gas package helps fleet managers protect their oil and gas workers with a combination of gas senor solutions. The fire and hazmat package is used for to protect public safety employees who face toxic gas hazards every day.

Gas detection systems improve worker safety in confined spaces such as vehicles, bins, cargo trucks, storage containers, vessels and pits, as they do not have continuous occupancy by employees.

GoFleet’s gas detection systems are extremely reliable. The gas sensors can run off of internal rechargeable batteries or the vehicle’s power. Fleet managers receive continuous gas detector reports for safety including the signal strength of the radio and the level of the battery charge. These reports are sent directly to GoFleet’s Geotab GO device.

Workers using one of GoFleet’s gas detection systems can also send a panic alarm to fleet managers from within 300 feet of their vehicle. If external antennas are installed, they can use the panic button up to a mile away.

Adding a gas detection system on to a vehicle is essential when your workers’ safety is at risk. The workers will know the presence of gases even before they exit the vehicle.

The Best Hiring Practices For Hiring Fleet Drivers

Posted on | by Devin Johnson

Hiring Best Practices For Fleet Drivers

When you are hiring a new employee that will be responsible for driving one of your fleet vehicles, it is crucial that you make sure that person is a safe driver. Every business should have a clear and consistent hiring process for drivers, from interviewing the potential driver to employment requirements. The following are fleet driver hiring best practices:

Establish A Hiring Policy

The first step to hiring a driver is to establish a hiring policy based on any federal or state rules that involve interviewing and hiring. Even small fleets should make sure that a hiring policy is in place. Instituting a hiring policy ensures all of your drivers are properly vetted before they are hired. Every state has different rules so you must check with your specific state. Even if your business is not required to follow Department of Transportation guidelines, it is a good idea to use them as a guideline especially if you are close to the requirement threshold.

Don’t Rush The Hiring Process

When you are ready to hire a new driver, you must take your time with the hiring process. In order to keep your standards consistent, you need to go through the hiring process by narrowing down job applicants. Once the best candidate is chosen, the job should be offered contingent on the results of a criminal background test, pre-employment drug test and Motor Vehicle Report. Remember, you should not rush the hiring process because you are ultimately liable for the driver when he or she is behind the wheel of your company’s vehicle.

Drug Test

The driver you are going to hire is going to be behind the wheel of an expensive asset; therefore, you may want to have them take a pre-employment drug test. After the driver is hired, you can then make the decision whether or not they are drug tested randomly on an ongoing basis.

Department Of Transportation and State Guidelines

Businesses that operate certain types of vehicles in interstate commerce are required to comply with applicable DOT regulations. Regulations include: drivers must have a commercial driver’s license; business must test drivers for alcohol and controlled substances; hours of service; and medical exams. Check with the Department of Transportation to see if your business must comply with these safety guidelines.

In addition, business operating exclusively within their state must comply with any applicable local and state regulations.

Computerized Maintenance Management System: Reduce Fleet Maintenance Costs

Posted on | by Devin Johnson

 

Reduce Fleet Maintenance Costs With GoFleet’s Computerized Maintenance Management System

 

Were you aware that emergency fleet repairs cost 3-9 times more than planned vehicle maintenance? It’s true. You can reduce your fleet’s maintenance costs with a computerized maintenance management system. GoFleet in partnership with Maintenance Assistant, offers a computerized maintenance management system as an add-on to our GPS fleet management solution.

Your vehicle meters will stay up to date with convenient automated meter readings. Work orders are intelligently triggered by the API and real-time computerized maintenance management system using user defined triggers. The best part is the fleet manager or business owner can build as many different triggers for any preventive maintenance schedule you want. The work order system in the computerized maintenance management system is the easiest system yet. GoFleet and Maintenance Assistant understand how important work orders are to your business. That is why they have put extra time into making it as easy as possible for you to prepare and complete your work orders in a timely manner.

A computerized maintenance management system will improve your fleet’s performance by helping you follow the best practices regarding vehicle maintenance. It will help you improve your business’ overall performance while saving you money. Your workers will be empowered with simple self-service computerized maintenance management system applications for their mobile phone and the web. With a computerized maintenance management system, you will now be able to fully manage your assets’ life-cycles with a view of all assets and equipment.

The software also has an easy to use dashboard. All scheduled maintenance will now be conveniently located in one place, making it much easier for fleet managers to maintain the vehicles properly. In addition to helping you maintain your vehicles, the computerized maintenance management system has an easy source for you to search for parts. You can locate parts and supplies at the lowest prices by searching multiple sites at one time.

GPS Fleet Technology Increases Fleet Productivity

Posted on | by Devin Johnson

Increase Fleet Productivity With GPS Fleet Technology

Business owners are under constant pressure to manage the most efficient fleets when they are expected to provide services to their customers or deliver goods. While this can seem like a highly difficult task, new fleet management technology has evolved to improve efficiency and productivity. This new technology is the key factor in increasing productivity.

Many Fleet Management Options Available
There are various fleet management options available to businesses with fleet operations. All fleet management companies are not good at everything. That is why business owners need to find the GPS fleet technology provider that is the perfect fit for their specific company. Look for a company with high quality GPS hardware, custom telematics reports and full integration with other industry specific software.

Real-Time GPS Monitoring
With real-time GPS monitoring, fleet managers are able to provide drivers with immediate feedback. Monitoring where the fleet vehicles are being driven and the vehicles’ locations makes the GPS a fleet efficiency and safety monitoring device. If a driver is working inefficiently or driving in an unsafe manner, the at-risk behavior is immediately identified so that can be addressed on-the-spot. The best way to increase efficiency, productivity and safety is to tackle the issue the first time it happens, when it happens.

Efficient Routing And Scheduling
GPS fleet technology increases a fleet operation’s productivity with automatic efficient routing and scheduling. Drivers are able to save time and distance by driving the most efficient routes from job site to job site. If a customer places an emergency service call, the dispatcher will be able to send the closest vehicle to their location. Instead of making the customer wait hours for a driver to reach their location from another city, the vehicle that is only two miles away can be assigned that emergency job. In addition to making a business’ fleet operations more productive, their customers will be highly satisfied with the level of service that they received.

in car camera system

In Car Camera System: Helping To Protect Fleets

Posted on | by Devin Johnson

Help Protect Your Fleet With A GoFleet In Car Camera System

GoFleet offers an in car camera system by Zone Defense as an add-on to their GPS fleet management solution. You will be able to capture what happens both outside and inside of the vehicle in high resolution and real-time. Fleet owners are using the in car camera system to protect their vehicles and their drivers. For example, many taxi companies require an in car dash camera be installed in all of their taxicabs. This decreases liability in the case of an accident and increases the taxi drivers’ safety from passengers behaving in an unlawful manner. Regardless of the fleet owner’s industry, installing an in car camera system can provide many valuable benefits.

In Car Camera System Packages And Options

GoFleet has a wide array of in car camera system packages and options for fleet owners to choose from including night vision cameras, heated cameras and license plate cameras.  Some of the packages and options from GoFleet include:

License Plate Camera: The license plate camera can be easily connected to the vehicle’s license plate using the license plate’s existing screws. There are four infrared emitters with a super wide 180° view.

Digital Video Recorders: Zone Defense provides all of the same features that you expect from the expensive and large in car camera system DVRs, however, their DVRs are small, easy to use, simple to install and affordable.

DVR Monitor: The in car camera system DVR monitor is a one-piece solution for fleet owners. There are multiple features in the DVD monitor that are necessary for the efficiency and safety of your fleet.

LCD Monitor Plus Cameras: GoFleet has two in car camera system LCD monitor and camera options available. The 5” LCD monitor has a built in trigger switch to side or reverse camera views with 3 camera inputs. The 7” LCD monitor and camera has all the same features as the 5” monitor but it has 4 camera inputs.

How Your Fleet Can Avoid Traffic Violations

Posted on | by Devin Johnson

Traffic Violations: How Your Fleet Can Avoid Them

Operating a fleet of vehicles involves fuel, maintenance, repair and insurance costs. It should not have to include traffic violation costs such as speeding tickets, parking tickets or photo enforcement tickets. However, some businesses just add these unnecessary expenses as part of the cost of doing business. Other companies make the drivers responsible for any of these violation costs. What all business owners seem to agree on is that traffic violations are a burdensome and costly problem for fleet operations.

As there are more advances in traffic violation practices by law enforcement, driven by photo enforced tickets, the issue of traffic violations has become a more visible topic in the world of operating fleets. These technological advancements are making it less costly and easier for law enforcement to cite vehicles which, in turn, increases the potential amount of traffic violations a business’ fleet could receive. Using a GPS fleet management system can help businesses save money and avoid traffic violations.

When a business uses a GPS fleet management system, they can keep track of where each vehicle is at all times. Automatic alerts can be set up to notify fleet managers if their drivers are speeding or driving aggressively. These alerts can be sent to the fleet managers even when they are offline via email or SMS text messaging. Fleet managers are able to contact the driver to have them immediately correct their driving behavior avoiding an unnecessary traffic violation.

GPS fleet management systems are also helpful because reports can be created based on the drivers’ driving habits. This allows business owners and fleet managers to identify issues with specific drivers that are consistently demonstrating poor driving habits. Those drivers might need additional training or long-term corrective action.

Businesses can avoid traffic violations by establishing a safety policy, tracking drivers and taking immediate action for violations. Tracking their drivers’ behavior and identifying high-risk drivers using a GPS fleet management system are both essential to reduce the risk of traffic violations. If a driver violates the business’ safety policy, immediate action must be taken such as mandatory training. Businesses find utilizing all of the features of a GPS fleet management system and establishing a culture of safety can prevent traffic accidents, traffic violations and costly traffic violation costs.

Fuel Management System: Prevent Fuel Theft

Posted on | by Devin Johnson

Prevent Employee Fuel Theft With A Fuel Management System

When you run a business with fleet operations and you use a corporate credit card for fuel purchases, you run the risk of your employees abusing your card for their personal gain. It is unfortunate but fuel theft can occur at any business. Using a fuel management system with fuel cards can prevent fuel theft.

When you add-on a fuel management system to a GoFleet GPS fleet tracking system, you can track fuel purchases and make the smartest fuel purchase decisions. In addition to the many benefits of a GPS fleet tracking system, fuel cards allow fleet managers to be able to view and confirm daily fuel card expenditures. A fuel management system helps business owners and fleet managers to better understand their fuel costs.

Fleet managers are able to use the GoFleet fleet management system to spot inconsistencies in fuel purchases. The GPS fleet tracking system can be used to provide the vehicles’ specific location and it can be compared to the fuel purchase location and the amount of fuel purchased. If the vehicle is not in the location of the fuel purchase, this would indicate that your driver is participating in unsavory activities that should be investigated.

A fuel management system gives fleet managers and business owners a deeper insight into their fleet operating costs. Fuel card transactions are processed every day so they always have fuel information that is up-to-date. The fuel management system is fully integrated with GoFleet’s My.Geotab so no additional software is needed. There are many customized reports and configurable alerts that can be set up to monitor fuel metrics. Being able to spot fuel trends early will help prevent employee fuel theft.

Integrating fuel cards with a GPS fleet tracking system provides you with the true cost per gallon of fuel and miles per gallon. In addition, you will find out the true cost of idling when your drivers idle for climate control. Knowledge of your fleet’s true fuel usage is important to save costs and reduce the risk of theft.