GPS Tracking Device

By Greg Bartlett

If you own a company that uses drivers or owns a fleet of vehicles, then something that is probably of utmost concern to you is probably keeping your vehicle insurance premiums low and protecting your drivers and vehicles. Some statistics on speeding:

100,000 people receive speeding tickets every day in the United States.

• Speeding tickets (on average) cost $150. Some states actually charge $10 for every mile per hour over the speed limit—so depending on how much the individual is speeding, the ticket can cost even more.
• Individuals convicted of speeding will experience an increase in insurance premiums, up to $2,000 over 3-7 years.

Why do companies charge higher premiums after traffic citations? Because individuals who speed or otherwise violate traffic laws are more likely to be involved in car accidents. If you own a company that uses a fleet and drivers, the last thing you want is accidents happening to your drivers in company cars—both because of possible injury to your employees, damage to your vehicle, and costly insurance increases.

If you have GPS tracking, then you are already able to track where your vehicles and employees are throughout the day—making sure they don’t take extra time out to run personal errands “on the way” or things of that nature. The GPS tracking system consists of approximately 24 satellites in outer space work together in groups to determine the latitude and longitude of the individual or vehicle wearing the receiver. This information is downloaded to the internet or a mobile device, which you as the employer can access at any time.

Two features available through many GPS devices is the fastest speed report and the historical data report. What do these features do? They can give you a report on the speed that each employee was driving. If they are speeding habitually or even at all, you can address the situation before you experience an accident or costly premium increase.

The historical data feature keeps a record of vehicle data for up to 90 days. You can see which employees were the most productive through data such as who drove the most miles on any given day, etc. You can also track information such as whether the engine was left on while idle, how long the car was turned off at any given time, etc. You can also see where the employee currently is if you think of something mid-route that he can do on his way back to the company.

There are a host of things that GPS tracking and all the features can do to enhance your fleet management. An investment in this kind of system can help you save money and increase your profitability and productivity in the long term.