GPS vehicle tracking can be used for more than just viewing fleet locations on a map. You can also run detailed reports that tell you when and where a driver was every minute of the day. While this might seem like a lot of information, there are compelling reasons to monitor driver behavior, not least of which are saving money and protecting your company.
Five Reasons to Track Driver Behavior with GPS Vehicle Tracking
- Safety – Bad driving behavior such as hard braking, rapid acceleration, and hard turns can have potentially negative effects on your business. In addition to putting your employees and other drivers at risk, unsafe driving can lead to incidents that will increase your insurance premiums.
- Excessive idling – Engine idling is sometimes inevitable, but it should be avoided whenever possible. When the engine idles you get zero miles per gallon and your driver gets paid to sit in one place. Using GPS vehicle tracking to monitor and reduce engine idling will save you money on both fuel and labor.
- Wasted labor – Every dollar you pay your drivers should be for time spent on the job. If they take personal detours, linger at lunch for too long, or simply say they were at a site when they were not, you need to know about it. Monitoring behavior is proven to increase driver accountability; just the simple act of running reports each week or month is sometimes enough to keep your drivers honest.
- Billing accuracy – Over or under-billing is problematic. If you bill customers for time that a driver was taking a break, you will potentially have a problem. On the other hand, you should account for every billable minute that you can. GPS vehicle tracking lets you bill for exactly the amount of time spent at a customer site and getting to and from the location.
- Asset abuse – As much as you would like to trust your drivers with your valuable assets, the fact is, sometimes they get used for personal reasons. Not only does this present potential liability issues, but it also costs you money. GPS vehicle tracking can tell you if a driver made a personal trip, or if they reported mileage for a non-company trip.
GPS vehicle tracking only tells you where the actual vehicle is, but not the driver. In most cases, the driver will be with the vehicle or parked onsite. However, if you are concerned that drivers are abandoning vehicles, you can use mobile tools for even higher level tracking. Some GPS vehicle tracking solutions with mobile apps allow you to ping devices to get their location so you can confirm whether a driver is with the vehicle or elsewhere.
GPSTrackIt can help you find the GPS vehicle tracking solution that makes the most sense for your business and show you how to use the features that are most important to you. Whether you want to monitor drivers, ensure timely maintenance, reduce billing time, or all of the above, we have a fleet GPS system to match your needs. Get in touch today to learn more.
What driver behavior do you most want to monitor?
