All It Takes is Five Steps

            There are a lot of costs associated with running a business—especially if that business is equipped with a fleet of vehicles. Aside from fuel and maintenance costs, fleet managers also have insurance costs—an  expense that can significantly add up if an employer is involved in an accident. That being said, a major area of concern for fleet managers is driver behavior.

        In a recent Automotive Fleet article entitled, “Steps to Reducing Preventable Accidents,”  there are five basic steps to reduce preventable accidents: 

1. Collect motor vehicle reports on all job applicants and existing fleet drivers to prevent the hiring of problem drivers and help identify high-risk drivers who require extra attention, such as remedial training.
2. Keep current files on driver behavior, and include as many data points as possible. In addition to motor vehicle violations, include accident history, traffic camera violations and public driver re-porting data.
3. Set up a system where every driving event is equally applied to a driver’s risk summary, anywhere it happens. Create a formula for identifying different risk levels based on each driver’s cumulative performance.
4. Make it easy for drivers and their managers to know the risks they present to fleet, what can make increase or decrease risk and what the consequences are.
5. Take action for poor driving as soon as possible after drivers pass into a higher risk level, and reward drivers for good driving performance.

         With actionable data about drivers’ speeds and locations, fleet managers can improve their fleet’s safety, reducing the risk of an accident and lowering the cost of insurance. 

                 While these steps are all beneficial, there is another step fleet managers can take to help prevent accidents and that’s GPS fleet tracking. A fleet tracking solution enables fleet managers to proactively monitor their employees for unsafe driving habits. For example, if a driver is speeding or driving aggressively, fleet managers can set up alerts to be notified the minute a driver exceeds the speed limit.

Five Tips To Improve Your Fleet Management

           It's a very difficult task to maintain the fleet efficiently.There is no right or wrong approach to run a fleet.There are however, many playbooks  available to help the fleet managers to advise their drivers which routes to take and how business owners can optimize performance and save costs. Choosing the right playbook and partner in company vehicle tracking is essential.

Five tips to effectively utilize a company vehicle tracking program:

1.Manage Your data: 

            

        From service and repairs to scheduling to drivers, it’s easy to lose control of the numerous streams of data coming in on a daily basis. And with Big Data on the rise, managing information will only become more difficult. Using a company vehicle tracking system helps you control your data and centralize it in a place that is accessible and easy to interpret.

2.Choose the Right Technology:

          

          Implementing a company vehicle tracking solution into your fleet can significantly help reduce costs, improve productivity and increase efficiency. However, not all vehicle-tracking solutions are created equally and choosing the wrong one can negatively impact your success. Be sure to do your homework and partner with a provider that is invested in your success.

3.Keep Track of Your Spending:

             In today’s economy, every penny counts. The key to operating a successful company vehicle-tracking solution involves not only keeping a close eye on your spending, but identifying areas where cost improvements can be made. For example, a fleet can substantially reduce fuel costs by using more efficient routes.

4.Focus On Compliance:

            There’s no excuse for being non-compliant. A small violation could cost your fleet big bucks and place one of your vehicles out of commission. Stay on top of inspections and educate your drivers on the importance of compliance. Implementing a company vehicle tracking solution can give you the insights and reporting you whenever there is a non compliance.

5. Go Green:

             Going green not only helps reduce your carbon footprint, but it also can help save you money.

             If you’re a small or medium sized business looking for a company Vehicle tracking system that will help you optimize performance, reduce costs and drive more to your bottom line, check out Tranzlogix.  Tranzlogix brings an enterprise-grade GPS company vehicle tracking system to the local fleet customer.  It’s bundled at an affordable price and it’s easy to use.

School Bus GPS System

       School buses are under pressure to not only provide a safe, reliable service to school children and their parents, but also to run efficiently and provide a profitable return.GPS based vehicle tracking system helps them to solve both the problems.It helps to improve safety of the school children also helps to run the fleet efficiently which leads to reduction of the running cost.So once the running cost get reduced the institution could offer the transportation services at a low cost which will help to improve the goodwill of the institution.   

Let's see how the GPS based tracking will be helpful.

Safety: 

         Track all buses in real-time so parents can be notified of the actual arrival time of the buses, minimizing the time children have to wait, exposed to bad weather or other dangers. Alerts can also be set up so that fleet managers receive a message the instant buses enter a no-go zone, or drivers engage in unsafe driving.

Cost-savings: 
     Monitor bus driving patterns to make sure drivers operate their vehicles efficiently, eliminating unnecessary idling, observing speed limits and not taking detours. And because GPS tracking is considered an anti-theft device by most insurance companies, you can save on insurance premiums, too.

Time: 
       Avoid time-consuming manual collection of fleet activity needed for state reports . With GPS tracking this information is automatically collected and reported, which saves time and minimizes errors for both drivers and fleet managers.

Better maintenance: 
    Improve the regularity and timeliness of preventative maintenance with automatic GPS tracking on vehicles. Know in advance when bus servicing is due to minimize downtime and unwanted breakdowns, as well as allowing sufficient time to schedule substitute buses. Accurate mileage tracking also means better warranty recovery — another cost saving.
  

What Your Drivers Need to Know About Fleet Tracking

Explaining to your employees that you’re implementing a GPS fleet tracking solution can be a difficult task—especially when not all of your employees are on board.Employee might say “This is a loss of trust.” But among the concerns, resistance and threats to quit “if a fleet tracking device is installed in my vehicle,” your drivers actually have a lot to gain from a fleet tracking solution.


But how do you convince your drivers that GPS vehicle tracking technology can help not just your business, but them too? You provide them with the benefits. Here are 6 of the top fleet tracking benefits that your drivers need to know:


1. It ensures safety and compliance for both your business and the employees.

2. It helps your business keep up with vehicle maintenance, keeping your drivers and vehicles safe on the road.

3. It enables your business to quickly recover any lost or stolen assets.

4. It boosts customer relations.

5. It protects your drivers against complaints or false claims.

6. It offers multiple benefits that can help increase profitability. When your business is thriving, that provides job security to your employees.

3 Key Pieces of Information That Can Help You Manage Your Business 

When the nature of your business requires your employees to be on the road constantly, it makes it difficult to efficiently manage your business—especially if you don’t have a clear understanding of where your fleet is and where it’s going.

Using GPS fleet tracking technology can help your business in a number of ways. One of the most important aspects of a fleet management solution is the detailed information it provides that can be invaluable to your business. Let’s take a look:

1. Route Information: Using a GPS fleet tracking system can help give you an idea of the routes your drivers are taking to get from point A to point B. With this information, you can determine which routes are more efficient, saving you time, gas and money.

2. Vehicle Information: Speeding, unauthorized vehicle use, and idling are all factors that can affect your business. With a fleet management solution, you can set up real-time alerts to notify you instantly if an issue arises. Alerts provide the insight you need to run your business smarter and more efficiently.

3. Driver Information: Fleet tracking technology can also provide key data about your drivers, including driving behaviors and productivity. With reporting and alerts functionality, you can identify your aggressive drivers, keep track of your drivers’ hours and identify the most productive and unproductive drivers on your payroll, saving you time and money. 

How Reporting Can Benefit Your Service Organization

   

  

  

         Managing all of your fleet-related activities can prove to be a difficult task. But overlooking key areas in your operations can end up costing you more than what you bargained for.

        With a GPS fleet management solution and reporting functionality, you can gain greater visibility into your fleet operations to see what’s working and what’s not.

      Reports can benefit your business in many ways. Let us take a look.

1. Maintenance Schedule Summary Report:

A maintenance schedule summary report displays summary information for all maintenance schedules for a specific vehicle or for an entire fleet. Using this report ensures that preventative maintenance is carried out consistently and on schedule. Not only that, it extends the life of your vehicles, saving you money in the long run.

2. Start/Stop Report:

With a start/stop report, you know your vehicles first movement of the day and all movement up to the vehicles last stop of the day. You can analyze a vehicle’s time spent in transit, the time spent at each stop and the number and locations of stops each day. This report can also be used as a virtual time card to validate payroll hours.

3. Idle Report:

Use an idle report to identify high idling drivers and see how much money is being spent while idling. With this report, you can view the cost of idling based on gas prices and fuel efficiency that you set for your fleet. Eliminating excessive idling will help reduce your fuel operating expenses.

4. Speed Report:

A speed report allows you to identify consistent speeding offenders by showing a vehicles speeding incidents over a defined speed threshold for a given time period. Using this report will allow you to hold your drivers responsible while reducing your liability and insurance premiums.

4 Ways To Improve Your Fleet Operations In 2014

           

             We are about to enter into a new year, it’s time to start thinking about what you’d like to improve and accomplish in the upcoming year. To help kick-start your business goals for the New Year, here are 4 ways to take your fleet operations to the next level and make 2014 your best year yet:  

Monitor Vehicle and Driver Activity: 

              It’s important to have a clear understanding of where your vehicles and drivers are throughout the day. Unfortunately, this can be hard to monitor when you can’t be in the passenger seat. By utilizing a fleet tracking solution, you can use your computer or mobile device to see where your drivers are heading and where they have been. This helps to ensure jobs are being competed on time.

Provide Your Drivers with Efficient Routes:

              If your drivers have multiple stops in a day, it’s crucial that they have the most efficient routing plan. With a fleet tracking solution, you can take all locations and stops and order them to create the shortest routes. This means your drivers can get more jobs done in a day and helps to reduce your fuel spend. You can also re-route your drivers on the fly if they get lost or struck in traffic. 

Make Driver Safety a Top Priority:

              When your employees spend most of their time on the road, you need to make sure they are driving safely. Aggressive driving not only puts your employees at risk, but the reputation of your business as well.  Fleet management technology can help you monitor aggressive driving behaviors such as speeding, harsh braking, harsh acceleration and sudden cornering. You can also use a distracted driving solution to prevent your employees from talking, texting, emailing and surfing the web while driving. 

Automate Your Maintenance Schedules: 

               When you have multiple vehicles in your fleet, keeping track of maintenance can be time-consuming and difficult. To help simplify the process and prolong the life of your vehicles, you can utilize automated maintenance schedules, logs and reports. You can view details of services performed from your computer or mobile device and receive instant alerts if needed repairs are overdue. This helps to keep your vehicles on the road and out of the shop.     

              Easy way to achieve all the above goals is by installing a GPS based Vehicle tracking system in your vehicle.