Telematics
How Vehicle Telematics Are Improving Fleet Management in Every Field
From a management perspective, few things have been better for working fleets than the introduction of vehicle telematics. Utilizing smartphones, tablets, and other devices, these systems can hook directly into the computer systems of a vehicle. They then monitor and capture vast amounts of data, more than a human driver could ever keep track of while making it instantly available for analysis and reporting.
If your fleet doesn’t have telematics systems in every vehicle, you’re almost certainly missing out on opportunities to optimize your fleet, save money, improve safety, and reduce avoidable downtime.
Four Ways Vehicle Telematics Improve Your Fleet Management
1 – Spot maintenance problems early
Typically, maintenance problems on vehicles start small and become more troublesome as time passes. Truly “out of nowhere” breakdowns are extremely rare. By monitoring, analyzing, and tracking your vehicles’ performance, you’ll be able to spot the small red flags that something’s wrong (like sudden drops in gas mileage) and fix them before they turn into big costly problems.
2 – Encourage better driver behavior
There are numerous ways that your drivers can help improve efficiency, reduce fuel costs, and avoid legal violations – but it’s often hard for drivers to self-coach and analyze their driving patterns. By having detailed information about every mile of the journey, you can spot wasteful activity – like accelerating and braking too hard – or be warned if a driver is violating the law too often. This leads to excellent coaching opportunities that improve efficiency.
3 – Increase accuracy in vehicle reporting, compliance, etc
Bureaucracy and regulations are an unfortunate fact of life when managing a working fleet – and you want to make sure your paperwork is as accurate as possible. With telematics systems, you’ll have highly accurate and detailed information for all your filings. This prevents costly errors or – worse – fines from incorrect reports.
4 – Proactively replace parts before breakdowns
How many miles do a truck’s tires still have on them? What’s the expected lifespan of the spark plugs? These details are almost impossible to keep track of manually, but with telematics paired with fleet management software, you’ll be able to know whenever any component on a vehicle is nearing its expected end-of-life. This allows you to proactively schedule replacements before any accidents or breakdowns happen – improving driver safety as well!
Vehicle Licensing Consultants offers the software solutions that make the most of your telematics. Contact us to learn more about your options.
Telematics
Smart Vehicle Telematics Can Significantly Improve Your Fuel Efficiency
Some of the best new fleet management technologies come from the field of vehicle telematics. It’s now possible to monitor almost every aspect of a vehicle’s performance while on the road, in real-time. This additional level of oversight can improve numerous aspects of fleet management, but it’s especially useful for reducing fuel costs.
With fuel continuing to become more expensive, it’s more important than ever to focus on fuel efficiency if you want your fleet to be cost-effective. Vehicle telematics makes this easier to accomplish and offers several different ways to improve efficiency.
Four Ways Vehicle Telematics Systems Create A Highly Fuel-Efficient Fleet
1 – Proactive maintenance keeps vehicles running at peak performance
Today’s fleet management systems can track every individual component, including its maintenance history and expected lifespan. This allows you to proactively replace components – such as spark plugs or tires – before they lose effectiveness, maintaining peak efficiency for the vehicle.
2 – Monitor emissions and DEF levels
If a vehicle suddenly diverges from expected emissions levels, that usually indicates a problem in the engine or the fuel system. It might simply be low Diesel Exhaust Fuel levels or a deeper problem. Either way, you’ll be alerted whenever there seems to be an issue with the vehicle’s emissions. Fixing it will improve fuel efficiency, and also avoid any regulatory problems.
3 – Monitor driver performance
Vehicle telematics monitors your drivers, as well as the vehicles. You’ll get a lot of real-time data on your drivers’ on-road behavior, such as how often they speed, or how aggressively they accelerate. In turn, this opens up opportunities to coach them on smarter driving strategies that minimize fuel waste. You could even use this data to directly incentivize fuel-smart driving.
In addition, you can use routing software to further improve routes and reduce fuel waste. For example: avoiding left turns across traffic is a highly efficient strategy that most courier companies utilize. Going around a block to avoid a left turn actually uses less fuel than idling at stoplights.
4 – Prevent fuel theft
Sadly, as fuel prices have gone up, instances of fuel being stolen from vehicles have gone up as well. Telematic systems monitor fuel levels, as well as expected fuel use in a vehicle. If the fuel level decreases too quickly, you’ll be notified and can investigate the problem.
VLC creates the software and tools your fleet needs for maximum efficiency. With over 50 years of experience, we bring a wealth of knowledge to the industry. Click here to learn more about our products!
Telematics
How You Benefit from Vehicle Telematics in Your Trucks
If you’re looking to improve your fleet operations, increase efficiency, or prevent unnecessary breakdowns, there are few upgrades that will bring more benefits than vehicle telematics. Chances are you already, at least, have GPS trackers in all your trucks – but modern telematic solutions can provide you with so much more data, especially when they’re combined with modern fleet management software.
In short, modern vehicle telematic systems can take every bit of data generated by your trucks’ onboard computers and sensors and send it to a central software hub for analysis. You don’t just monitor the trucks as a whole; you monitor them at a component level. This brings huge cost-saving benefits which are particularly important right now, as operating costs continue to rise.
For example…
Engage In Better Preventative Maintenance
When a vehicle breaks down, the total costs to your operation are much higher than just the cost of repairs. Shipments will be delayed, customers could be upset, and any other areas of your business that rely on that vehicle will also suffer.
With better vehicle telematics, you can track the efficiency of every component on the vehicle. You’ll also have access to servicing information via your software, and even expected lifespans for each component. This allows you to engage in smart targeted preventative maintenance which can significantly reduce unnecessary repairs.
Cut Fuel Costs
Fuel prices are surging due to a wide variety of factors, and there’s very little that an individual fleet manager can do to reduce those fuel costs. So, the best option is to make your fleet as well-optimized as possible, to reduce fuel use overall. With telematics, this can be achieved in two different ways:
First, those preventative maintenance features can also be used to monitor efficiency in systems such as the transmission and brakes, which can increase fuel use if they’re poorly maintained. Also, you’ll be able to directly monitor driver behaviors and coach them to reduce bad habits – such as accelerating or braking too quickly – which waste fuel.
Improve Regulatory Compliance
Are your trucks all fully within relevant regulations, such as anti-pollution regulations? Are your drivers properly following laws regarding on-road time and off-time? Better vehicle telematics make it easier to track such things and spot any problems before regulators or police notice. This can reduce money lost to preventable violations.
Vehicle Licensing Consultants specializes in helping trucking companies improve efficiency while reducing costs. Click here to learn more about our services.
