Person holding a smartphone with GPS navigation while driving a car.

Nearly all fleets of a certain size use fleet tracking devices, and it's not hard to understand why. Company vehicles can be hugely expensive to run and maintain, especially when you start to sit down to add up the collective fuel, insurance and maintenance costs for all of your fleet vehicles. GPS vehicle tracking devices offer a number of money-saving advantages, plus they can help with security and efficiency too. After all, company vehicles and the employees who drive them are valuable company assets, so it's only natural that you'll want to keep tabs on them. Here are just a few of the reasons why businesses use GPS-tracking devices in their fleets:

Monitoring driver performance and integrity

Naturally, you want your drivers to be as efficient and productive as possible at all times, especially when off-site. GPS trackers can reassure you that your staff are where they are supposed to be, doing what they are supposed to be rather than parked up somewhere taking an unauthorised long lunch. This helps you get the most from your drivers and get the very best value for money on the salary you pay them.

Making journeys more efficient

By monitoring your vehicles in real-time using GPS tracking software and analysing the data afterwards, you can start to get a picture of the most efficient routes for them to change. You may spot, for example, the same patterns in traffic congestion during each journey and be able to work a way around it, saving the driver time and your company money. This can also reduce fuel costs.

Improving customer service

When it comes to boosting sales and customer loyalty, customer service is everything these days. Surprisingly, vehicle tracking can help here too, particularly when sending staff members to customers for deliveries or appointments. You will have access to up-to-the-minute data on where each vehicle is, so you can provide customers with extremely accurate information on when the vehicle will arrive, all from your head office.  This is an impressive service and not one that all of your rivals will be able to offer.

Keeping track of mileage

Fuel costs are any fleet's biggest expense. In order to cut these costs down to size, you need hard data to work from. GPS tracking software, especially when it is designed for fleets, can help you produce reports on mileage and identify ways to make savings.

Locating stolen vehicles easily

Losing an expensive company vehicle (especially a really sizeable vehicle like an HGV or LGV) can be a real blow to the bank balance, especially for smaller businesses for whom managing cash flow can be more difficult. GPS trackers can be useful security devices, helping you locate stolen vehicles quickly and before any serious damage or the vehicle's resale can occur. These trackers can also help lower your fleet insurance premiums, depending on the insurer and the tracking device you use.