Using your GPS tracking system to plan routes is an excellent way to reduce fuel costs, optimize your labor budget, and ensure that you provide the best possible customer service. But how do you know whether your planned routes are being followed? Look for a GPS provider that offers vehicle trail to route comparison to be sure that you are able to get the most from your technology investment.

Benefits of GPS Tracking with Route Comparison

Even the best-planned routes are not always followed. There are a number of reasons why a driver might deviate from a planned route:

• A dispatcher might re-route them to a customer with more urgent needs
• Traffic patterns might have changed
• The vehicle might need to be refueled
• The driver might have made an unauthorized stop or diverted for personal reasons

Regardless of the reasons for not following a planned route, you want to know about it. Comparing a vehicle’s actual route to the one that was planned has several benefits for fleet managers:

• Improve driver accountability – Although most drivers are honest and trustworthy, you may have to deal with the occasional bad seed. When drivers know that their behavior is being monitored, they are less likely to make personal detours or unscheduled stops, saving you money on both labor and fuel.
• Optimize future routes – GPS tracking technology can help you quickly create optimized routes for all of your required daily stops. However, a GPS system does not come with local knowledge. If you notice a regular deviation from planned routes, perhaps the driver knows something that the GPS unit does not. Maybe they are avoiding train tracks, a particularly congested intersection, or an unsafe part of town. Route comparison allows you to recognize these regular deviations so you can integrate them into future route planning if necessary.
• Prevent vehicle misuse – When drivers use your company vehicles for personal reasons, the result is not only lost profits, but also potential liability issues. Trail to route comparison allows you to prevent potentially costly situations that result from vehicle misuse.

GPSTrackIt offers vehicle trail to route comparison so you can see at a glance exactly where your drivers were and where they were supposed to be. The more knowledge you have about your fleet, the better you will be able to manage it. Contact us today to learn more about the many money-saving features of GPS tracking systems.

How would you use route comparison to manage your fleet better?