“We implemented a GPS tracking system for the same reason many other companies do, to keep a close eye on our fleet. What I didn’t realize was how crucial gps vehicle tracking would become to running our business.“

“The process we quickly developed with our GPS tracking system is to run a side-by-side comparison of the daily stop report with our time stamped fuel statement. During our routine audit of fuel purchases, we noticed a couple of charges that made no sense. We keep a fuel card at a gas station nearest our office, and the technicians fuel up as they come and go from the office.  During the audit, we noticed that several vehicle numbers were used on different days, within a general time frame, but those vehicles were never in the area.  We spoke to the gas station manager and asked him to please always confirm that a company vehicle was at a pump before running the card. The next statement reflected a drastic increase of the occurrences, exceeding $1000!“

“After compiling the list of dates and times, we then approached the gas station manager again, expecting to find out that a current employee of ours was bringing in personal vehicles for fuel and car washes, or that a gas station employee was selling our gas to their friends.  The manager was very cooperative and used the time stamps from our fuel statement to pull a couple of the security videos.  To our dismay, we found out that a recently terminated employee, who knew the procedures and company vehicle numbers, was coming in 2-3 times per week and filling up his vehicles and getting car washes!“

“If it wasn’t for our GPS tracking system’s easy to run and extremely accurate Stop Time Reports, we never would have been able to run this audit and catch the thief, and who knows how many others would have gotten away with this for a very long time! For this reason alone, besides the several other benefits we have experienced with our gps tracking system, I will never go back to running my fleet without gps vehicle tracking installed.“

To help maintain a high level of customer satisfaction, Papalia implemented the FleetMatics GPS fleet tracking system to better monitor their technicians. “It keeps them honest, and efficient,” says Vicki Laake, office manager at Papalia. “We are able to zoom in if they are lost to help them find the customer’s home faster. It also helps us schedule jobs in a manner that keeps the travel time between jobs to a minimum.”

Papalia uses FleetMatics primarily for tracking purposes, “to ensure techs are on the job on time,” says Laake. “It works with our dispatching program, so we are always looking to see what time they arrived and what time they left a job. “We also track startup and shut down times for the guys that get paid hourly.”

Improved dispatching has been one of the biggest benefits of the FleetMatics system. “It’s just helpful knowing where the techs are, so if customers call we can use that information to determine who is closest to a particular job site,” she adds. “That’s always a plus when dealing with last-minute emergency calls.”

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As it turns out, green initiatives have proven to be very economically advantageous for the organizations that implement them. By streamlining operations and reducing redundancies, fleet-based businesses generally enjoy lower costs, which happen to go hand in hand with lower emissions.

GPS fleet tracking is one such solution that can have widespread effects throughout an organization, resulting in a solid green rating.

(Click the graphic for larger version)

In order to stay continually informed of his drivers’ locations, Carmon implemented the FleetMatics GPS fleet tracking solution in 2007. “I looked into three GPS tracking systems and FleetMatics had the best system hands down,” he says. “The system was much easier to use, and the cost benefit is amazing.”

Immediate Results

Larry’s Limos has taken advantage of several features of the FleetMatics system to monitor its vehicles. “I always use the Weekly Report,” says Carmon. “I’ve got that set to run automatically.” This detailed report provides comprehensive details of the movement of all seven vehicles in his fleet, including ignition on- and off-time, location arrival and departure, idling time, drive time and distance traveled.

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ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, IL (1/4/2012) – FleetMatics, a leading global provider of fleet management solutions for commercial vehicles, announced today that the company received what is believed to be outstanding customer satisfaction ratings.  The accomplishment was received through a recent customer satisfaction survey that utilized the calculations of the Net Promoter Score (NPS)®.  It is believed that the NPS model is a useful and practical method for measuring customer loyalty.

In a recent customer satisfaction study, FleetMatics earned an NPS ranking of 54 which is believed to be outstanding, as scores of over 50 are considered excellent.  FleetMatics NPS scores also improved year-over-year, another sign of continuous improvement in meeting customer needs.

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The most popular blog posts ended up being a mix of fleet management tips, interesting GPS tracking stories, and some good old FleetMatics humor.

So, without further ado, the top ten posts of 2011 are:

1. 5 Big Mistakes to Avoid When Choosing a Vehicle Tracking System
    
2. The 5 Worst Excuses for NOT Investing in Fleet Tracking
    
3. The 5 Biggest Misconceptions About GPS Tracking
    
4. 5 Reasons to Look at GPS Tracking for 2012
    
5. 5 More Strange Places our Customers Have Found Their Employees
    
6. 5 More Big Mistakes to Avoid When Choosing a Vehicle Tracking System
    
7. GPS Vehicle Tracking Saves Lives?
    
8. 5 Ridiculous Alternatives to GPS Vehicle Tracking
    
9. 5 Strange Places our Customers Have Found Their Employees
    
10. Honesty is the Best Policy and Fleet Tracking Never Lies

Do you agree with this list or have any suggestions for future posts?   
 

1. Fuel prices: Analysts expect record prices for gas in 2012. Without GPS tracking you could be paying for more gas than you actually need due to excessive idling, ineffective routing, speeding and more.
2. You’re Doing More with Less: Most businesses have had to trim expenses and sometimes that means trimming drivers/technicians. GPS tracking can help you make your people more productive.
3. Moonlighting: In a down economy, your drivers/technicians are more likely to seek alternate sources of income. Sometimes that means side jobs with your vehicles and equipment. GPS tracking can help you identify these situations before they become an insurance liability.
4. Vehicle Theft: Another unfortunate side effect of a down economy is higher rates of vehicle theft. GPS tracking gives you the security of knowing that if someone drives off with your vehicles, you can get them back.
5. Knowing Where You Stand: More than ever, businesses like yours are fighting for customers. You need an edge on the competition. With FleetMatics Benchmarking you can see how your fleet’s performance compares to others in your industry and what you need to do to get an edge.

DUBLIN, IRELAND (13 December 2011) – FleetMatics, a leading global provider of fleet management solutions for commercial fleet vehicles, announced today that The City Bin Co., based in Dublin, Ireland, has selected FleetMatics to deliver GPS monitoring solutions to improve operational efficiency while reducing costs.

The City Bin Co. was founded with the concept of providing “cheaper, greener and easier” waste management and recycling services.  “With 28 vehicles, the reasons for implementing a vehicle tracking system were simple,” says City Bin Operations Director Niamh Bray. “I wanted to know where certain trucks were going and be able to plan routes to prevent any overlap.”

The City Bin Co. began tracking their fleet with another GPS-based system in 2001, but when Bray saw the flexibility and customisable capabilities offered by the FleetMatics vehicle tracking system, City Bin made the switch. Since then, the difference has been profound. In addition to showing vehicle activity and real time locations, FleetMatics Live Fleet has helped Bray make company operations more efficient.

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With the 40 vehicles in their fleet on the road at any time—and often being operated by trainees at the early end of the experience curve—it became apparent to Excel’s management that an accurate fleet tracking system was necessary for their operations.

“We teach individuals how to drive commercial motor vehicles for other companies,” says Matt Gartner, Safety Manager at Excel Driver Services. “The FleetMatics system helps us validate the amount of time that their employees are getting trained and how long they are behind the wheel. We have the ability to prove to our customers that their employees were getting the training that we said they had.”

Gartner says the company looked at other options before ultimately choosing FleetMatics. “One of them was a cheaper system, but it would only upload the data once a month and send an e-mail to my boss. Having real-time data is very important to him.”

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In addition to showing vehicle activity and location 24/7, the Live Fleet feature has helped Bray make The City Bin more efficient. “I can look at a certain area, see where all of my customers are and group accordingly,” says Bray. “This helps me schedule my routes. If I need to add another customer, I can look and see what truck would make the most sense to add that customer’s stop on their route.”

The City Bin began tracking their fleet with another GPS tracking system in 2001. But, when Bray saw the flexibility and customisable capabilities offered by the FleetMatics vehicle tracking system, The City Bin made the switch. Since then, the difference has been profound. “The other company did not offer the reports and dashboard that FleetMatics has,” says Bray.

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