Service vehicles are a huge investment, right? The average price of a new vehicle is not exactly going down over time either. In today’s market, it is easy to spend $30,000 and up on your next fleet addition. And let’s not forget the thousands and thousands of dollars in equipment, tools, and supplies they carry around. Big cash signs is what they start to look like. Big…rolling…cash signs.
So given all of this, let me ask you a question…
Right now, if I asked you to tell me where all your vehicles and their drivers were, could you? What about where your service truck was last Sunday? How fast they are driving?
Could you tell me? If not, consider this…
Would you let an office employee load up $50,000 worth of company property into their car and take off without knowing exactly where they were? I didn’t think so. Yet so many of us have done this very thing, day and day, year after year with our fleet vehicles.
GPS based fleet tracking systems can solve this information vacuum by providing real-time information on location and driving habits for your entire fleet. It allows you to know where they are and what they are doing on a moment by moment basis.
The other bonus…the drivers know that you can see all of this too. Think of it like a small dose of “healthy paranoia”. It’s hard to use the company van to do a side job on Saturday when you know your boss might be watching you on his tablet.
Here is why keeping a tight control over those assets is crucial to your business success. It mostly all comes down to location, location, location. When you know your trucks and service techs location (definitively), you can do the following…
- Dispatch more efficiently: Knowing exactly who is where can greatly improve both your efficiency and customer service levels. Getting the closest qualified and available technician dispatched to your jobsite means fuel savings, faster arrival times, reduced mileage, and increased productivity for that unit.
- Safety: Knowing if your drivers are speeding, braking abruptly and are where they should be, all increases safety to the driver and those who are around him. Think lower insurance rates.
- Prevent Side-Jobs: We all want to believe that our employees are all honest, hard-working individuals that would never steal from or take advantage of us. The reality is a much different world though. Employee side jobs cost you thousands in mileage, fuel, truck supplies, and mostly, reputation.
- Tighter Payroll: If you pay your technicians based on their job activity, what better way to ensure you are only paying for work being done than actually seeing and logging where your service truck and tech are at that exact moment?
However you accomplish it, it is imperative that you, as a Fleet Manager, know the activity and whereabouts of your fleet at all time. They are your most valuable and costly assets. Care for them well and they will reward you well.
If you are ready to consider GPS tracking for your business, come check us out at www.fleetlog.com.au to see how we can deliver all of this for you.