How to Choose the Best Fleet Tracking Devices for Your Business in 2021?

Managing fleets are not easy, which is why it’s important that you invest in the right tools to help make your business more efficient. You have to not only make sure that your fleet drivers are operating as efficiently as possible, it’s also your responsibility to make sure that they are in compliance of regulations. To help you with this process, this article will help you learn about how to choose the best fleet tracking devices for your business.

How Fleet Tracking Devices Benefit Your Business

One of the first things to address here is that small fleet businesses tend to face a lot of the same issues that larger businesses struggle with. These issues include getting the most revenue per mile, turnover rates, and keeping up with the constantly changing regulations in the industry. The right devices and software can significantly benefit your business and make these challenges easier to overcome. These benefits include:

Real-Time Tracking Capabilities

With the right fleet tracking devices, you can get real-time location on where each of your fleet drivers are at any given moment. You also have the ability to setup geofencing with the tracker, which will let you know if the driver strayed from the path that they are supposed to be on. If they do, you get an alert so that you can check in to make sure everything is okay. This is especially useful to prevent the theft of any vehicle in your fleet, whether it’s because you get a geofencing alert about the car leaving the area when it shouldn’t or to get the real-time location to better track it down.

Better Customer Service

Customer service is a major part of any business, which is why you need to make sure that you offer the best customer service possible. One way to do this is by offering the customer the most accurate ETA possible. You may even be able to share the location information with your customers so that they can easily see the ETA rather than constantly calling you for this information. This allows the customer to know exactly when to expect their delivery and allow them to better plan their day.

Stay in Compliance with Hours of Service Regulations

Hours of Service (HoS) must be electronically tracked as mandated by the Department of Transportation. Device tracking helps you stay in compliance of these rules, allowing you to track your drivers in real-time, how many hours are left in their driving period, and how long until their next break. The drivers can get alerts to remind them of breaks so that it ensures they stay in compliance of these regulations. The dispatchers can also get this information to help them better route their drivers to avoid any violations.

Optimizing Fleet Routes

Do you need to dispatch drivers out as part of your fleet management job? With real-time location, you can see which of your drivers is closer to the location to get your driver their faster. You can also look back at the data from the routes to see if there was a faster way to get to a location. By optimizing routes, you can not only increase your efficiency but you can also reduce fuel costs.

These are just a few of the benefits that you can get from great fleet tracking devices.

Features to Look for in Fleet Tracking Devices for Your Business

Next, it’s time to look at the features that you should get with your fleet tracking devices. These are some of the most important features to look at when selecting a fleet tracking device:

Ease of Use

Handling the task of fleet management is difficult enough, you don’t want to make it harder by getting devices and software that are too complicated. You want something that is easy to use and gives you convenient mobile access so that you can monitor fleets wherever you are.

GPS Tracking

Ideally, you want to make sure that you get a device that offers real-time GPS tracking. This allows you to get the most accurate information possible so that you can better manage your fleet and plan routes. You can see if your drivers took an unauthorized trip while on the company dime or if they failed to comply with regulations. This is essential when it comes to fleet management.

Alerts

Getting alerts if the vehicle goes outside of the geofencing boundary can be great for your business, especially to stop the vehicle from being lost to theft. You can even get alerts that help you make sure that you never miss any necessary maintenance for the vehicle.

While there are several features to look for, these features can be essential for fleet management businesses.

Factors to Consider When Buying Fleet Tracking Devices

Once you have an idea of what you’re looking for in tracking devices, here are other things to consider that can help you decide on the best tracking device for your business.

Budget

Budget is always one of the most important considerations in any aspect of life. You need to not only consider how much these devices can save you money and increase profits in addition to the upfront cost of the device. There are plenty of options within any budget.

Needs of Your Business

Every business has their own needs, so you really need to think about what your business needs. Do you want to optimize routes and improve customer service? Are you looking for a device to stay in compliance of regulations? This is an important thing to consider because you want a tracking device that will really work with your needs.

Conclusion

Fleet tracking devices are the best option to help improve your fleet management. You want to run as efficiently as possible and these tools are the best way to do that. Think about what you need for your fleet management technology, then make sure that you get the tracking device that best works for your needs. The advice in this guide will help make selecting the best tracking device for your business a lot easier.