You probably already know how telematics solutions are helping you day-to-day—by tracking vehicle locations, monitoring their maintenance needs, and optimizing your routes. But did you know that telematics can do much more than that?
Top-performing fleets are using features that can help improve driver safety, boost fuel efficiency, ensure legal compliance, and even cut down on insurance costs.
1. Driver Scorecards
Telematics systems like GPS Trackit can monitor your drivers’ behavior and score them on their driving habits. By monitoring factors like speeding, harsh braking, and cornering, you can identify unsafe and inefficient behaviors and provide training and rewards for drivers that improve. When drivers are more mindful of their driving behaviors, they’re less likely to cause wear and tear on their vehicles or burn excess fuel. VidFleet even works with forward- and cab-facing cameras to provide AI-based behavior models that predict potentially distracted driving and warn drivers in time for them to avoid an incident.
2. Fuel Management
Fuel management goes beyond measuring how much fuel your vehicles are using. One of the advanced uses of telematics is optimizing the entire fuel cycle. By analyzing your vehicles’ fuel consumption rates, you can identify where they’re wasting fuel and adjust your routes and driving practices accordingly. You can also set alerts for when fuel levels are low, which can help you prevent drivers from running out of gas and wasting time and money on roadside assistance—and direct drivers to refuel at preferred vendors where you’ve secured a discounted price.
3. Regulatory Compliance
Keeping a fleet on the road means complying with a dizzying array of local, state, and federal rules and regulations. From ELD mandates to road use taxes to carbon emissions measurement, you’re required (or will be required) to keep careful track of many variables. Telematics systems make those jobs much easier to handle by eliminating manual errors and inaccurate reporting. With real-time data, managers can monitor hours-of-service status, road use, and sophisticated engine diagnostics related to emissions. The data you need for compliance is aggregated automatically and right at your fingertips.
4. Insurance Premium Reduction
Telematics systems can help you prove that your fleet is safe and responsible, which can lead to lower insurance premiums. Some insurers offer telematics-based insurance policies that calculate premiums based on actual driving behavior, rather than estimated risks. By having a telematics system in place, you can provide insurers with accurate and detailed driving data, which can help show that your fleet is low-risk and deserving of reduced premiums. Many fleets using telematics can see a reduction in premiums of more than 10 percent—along with the savings that come from decreasing incidents and less expensive incidents when they occur.
For more information and guidance on advanced uses of telematics, talk to a Fleet Advisor today.
