In some cases, if someone is caught doing something illegal, and 1) the GPS tracking system information was used to convict him or her and 2) the GPS tracking system was placed by law enforcement without a warrant, convictions are not possible or overturned. But in other cases, courts have upheld the use of evidence obtained by placing a GPS device on a suspect’s car without a warrant.
Environmentally conscious driving can be a cost-effective way for drivers to cut down on fuel costs and reduce greenhouse gas emissions without paying a premium for eco-friendly vehicles, says Business Driver Magazine. By making small changes in your driving habits, you can help to reduce these numbers and save money at the same time. By driving smarter, you can reduce your fuel costs and your “carbon footprint” as well.
Here are some smart, smooth safe driving techniques from FieldLogix Green GPS Fleet Management System that will reduce fuel costs by around 7 – 20%, depending on how you use the system and the size of your fleet.
When most people think about being a green driver, they think about driving a hybrid, which is a great way to drive green. Hybrids cut fuel costs and produce less greenhouse gas emissions. But what if you can’t afford a new hybrid? Or what if you already have one and are looking for more ways to reduce your carbon footprint?
Choosing a GPS vehicle tracking system can be challenging. There are dozens of products on the market with a very broad range of features. This article will help you determine which features your business really needs. It will also tell you what you should look for when researching options of a fleet GPS system.
Vehicle tracking is one of the fastest growing markets for GPS technology. Companies of all sizes are taking advantage of modern GPS devices. If you have more than one company vehicle, you have a fleet – and GPS fleet tracking saves businesses money!
The ability to track vehicles at all times can significantly reduce your business operating costs. To ensure your company is operating at maximum efficiency, necessary costs such as fuel and employee overtime can be closely monitored and verified by a GPS fleet management system. For example, excessive vehicle idling not only uses excess fuel, but it also causes unnecessary vehicle wear and tear, and produces harmful greenhouse gas emissions. By effectively utilizing the data and reports produced by a real-time vehicle fleet tracking system, fuel costs can be drastically reduced by over 20 percent.
If your company has more than two vehicles, you have a fleet. As with all components of a business, fleets need managing. Fleet management ensures that overall transportation costs are kept to a minimum. Fleet management is a challenging job and is much more than just knowing where drivers and vehicles are or occasionally checking the oil levels in the fleet vans. With the assistance of modern technology such as GPS devices and vehicle tracking systems, a fleet manager’s job can be much easier.
One of the most fundamental components in fleet management is vehicle tracking. Modern technology in the form of GPS tracking devices has made tracking and diagnostics much more efficient and easier, leading to far more efficient fleet management overall. GPS vehicle tracking systems allow a fleet manager to know exactly where every vehicle in the fleet is at any given time and gives them the opportunity to plan the most efficient routes and reduce waiting time for customers.
An important part of fleet management is duty of care. Fleet management should provide clear policies and guidance for employees who drive on company business. Vehicle tracking systems incorporate software that can build up a profile of a driver’s habits, enabling fleet managers to monitor behavior on the road so you can see exactly how safely company vehicles are being driven.
In today’s tough economy, many small businesses are trying to survive the recession and are not too keen on spending their cash. So the question arises of the ROI of GPS Fleet Tracking. Is investing in a Fleet Tracking System with GPS worth it?
The purpose of a fleet tracking system is to increase productivity and cut costs. Because most of the cost-savings results of implementing a fleet tracking system are immediate and long-lasting – it ends up costing a lot less than you may think. With a GPS enabled fleet tracking system, you can see exactly what is happening when your trucks leave your sight. It’s like being a fly on the wall. For example, you can see exactly how much fuel is being wasted from unnecessary idle time.
Here is a list of the best ways fleet managers can cut vehicle fuel costs.
mmediately Reduce Fleet Management Costs with the best GPS Fleet Management System
Modern fleet management tools and technology are changing the way fleet managers look at vehicle fuel consumption. Economic conditions, legal regulations, reduced margins and heavy competition have created a high level of urgency for all fleets to consume fuel in the most effective way possible. Regardless of size, every fleet must pay for fuel, and every penny counts.
All fleet owners and fleet managers seek cost-effective ways to optimize fleet fuel consumption. GPS fleet tracking technology can be one of the most cost effective means to optimize fuel consumption. You can immediately reduce fuel consumption by up to 20% by investing in and utilizing a fleet management system. The best fleet tracking systems, such as FieldLogix, can IMMEDIATELY REDUCE fleet operating costs and provide a positive return on investment (ROI) in less than 6 months.
The best GPS vehicle tracking systems are all user-friendly. Users with limited computer skills can easily learn how to master the systems and produce results quickly. There isn’t a one-size-fits-all GPS tracking solution. Depending on your situation, there are a number of things you should look for.
1) If you are going to be tracking a person or a small piece of property, ensure that you look for a small, inconspicuous, easy-to-install tracker.
2) For tracking a personal vehicle, you will want something that will track your vehicle both indoors and outdoors, and one that will run on the car’s battery so you don’t have to worry about replacing a dead battery.
3) If you are concerned with tracking a fleet of vehicles, you will need a tracker that will allow you to customize settings for different vehicles, that provides you with convenient text message and email alerts. Trackers like the FieldLogix GPS Fleet Management boast each of these features plus provides in-depth performance metrics, identifies problems such as excessive speeding and idling, inaccurate time-sheets, unauthorized vehicle stops and personal vehicle use. Fleet GPS tracking systems should always be integrated with Garmin navigation and Google Maps.
Real-time GPS vehicle tracking is becoming increasingly popular, especially in the business world. Smart business managers with employees and assets on the go use a GPS fleet vehicle tracking system to help reduce fuel usage, trim other operating costs, improve fleet productivity and maximize customer service. Whether you manage a fleet of one or hundred, managing vehicles and increasing operating efficiency while improving customer satisfaction can be easy if you have the right tools.
Access the GPS Tracking System Mobile Site From Your Cel Phone – Anytime, Anywhere. Giving you current fleet vehicle status and locations in real-time 24/7.
Real-time GPS vehicle tracking systems can help you to be a better fleet manager. With a Real-time GPS Vehicle Tracking System, you always know the fastest and cheapest way to get Driver A to Point B. You don’t have to spend valuable time guessing, the system knows where your fleet vehicles are located. It gives you the knowledge fleet managers to need to make the BEST Fleet Management Decisions.
Real-time GPS vehicle tracking systems keep fleet operations lean and GREEN. The best GPS fleet tracking systems use telematics technology to increase daily fleet deliveries and stops, dramatically reduce overtime costs, improve driver safety, and cut fuel costs. Plus it’s better for the environment.
GPS fleet tracking systems were installed last year in 300 school buses in St. Paul, MN. At first, drivers were not overly enthusiastic about the installation of the GPS fleet tracking devices. Until the drivers realized just how useful they could be. Not only have the GPS tracking devices help resolve heated disputes between parents and drivers, but in some cases, the GPS tracking devices have saved bus drivers from losing their jobs.
On a typical day, the public school system in St. Paul is responsible for transporting an average of 38,000 students. The school’s transportation department often receive dozens of calls a day from parents complaining that the bus never picked up their child. Until recently, before the
GPS systems were installed, it was the school bus driver’s word against the parent’s. That has all changed since the school district installed a GPS fleet tracking system in every one of the school district’s 300 buses.
GPS fleet tracking systems today enable fleet managers to to track their vehicles and monitor them remotely on a constant basis. Vehicle GPS fleet tracking systems relay important information about the real-time vehicle location with the help of the Global Positioning System (GPS) attached to a tracking device inside the vehicle. There are many benefits offered by GPS fleet management systems, including keeping a close watch on staff performance, lowering fuel consumption, navigating shorter or better routes for drivers, tracking stolen vehicles, obtaining discounts on insurance and making use of other features such as time sheet reporting and mileage claims to enhance customer service and satisfaction. Also GPS fleet tracking and fleet management systems can help companies go green because reducing mileage not only burns less fuel but it produces less vehicle pollution. All these benefits make vehicle GPS systems a worthwhile investment for thousands of companies nationwide.
GPS Fleet Tracking System and Green Fleet Management System, FieldLogix, can help fleet managers to reduce fuel consumption and increase operating efficiency right away. Most clients start seeing positive results from using the GPS fleet management system within 30 days. Because of this reason, FieldLogix offers a trial program so fleet managers can try out the fleet management system for for nominal fees and no obligation.
At first Keil Southworth of Albertina Kerr Centers was unsure whether the FieldLogix GPS fleet tracking and management system would really help him to cut costs. So he decided to start with a few trial units to evaluate the product. He quickly realized how valuable and useful the system would be for his fleet. Once the trial period was over, Mr. Southworth purchased 88 FieldLogix GPS fleet management devices for his entire fleet.
According to Keil Southworth of Albertina Kerr Centers, “Our fuel usage dropped by 1,100 gallons the first two weeks after installing the FieldLogix GPS units. The following two weeks our usage went back up 400 gallons but still was 700 gallons under our average.”
Taxi cabs are crucial to a city’s transportation system. I realized this recently after trying to get a cab after a Charger’s game in San Diego and during a taxi cab strike in Atlanta. Having access to cabs 24/7 is something that we all take for granted. Taxis are vital people movers and cities cannot function properly without them.
Taxi cab fleets in major cities range from approximately 5,000 – 10,000 vehicles. For example, the city of Chicago has a fleet of about 6000 cabs. Chances are, fleets this large owe their flow and easy operation to GPS fleet tracking systems. That is because without them, too much is left to chance. Drivers and consumers are wandering about rather aimlessly hoping to hook up at the right place and the right time.
GPS tracking is a preferred method of taxi cab fleet management. Companies dispatching taxi cabs know that a tracking system will tell them where their fleet is exactly, so they have better control of their resources, and as an extension of that, better control of their operating costs and profit margin. GPS tracking systems are used to: record on-duty trips; to keep an electronic record of mileage and location, eliminating the need for manual trip sheets; and to better dispatch the closest available vehicle to trip requests.
According to a recent study conducted by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI), funded by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), implementation of driving behavior management systems using in-vehicle telematics devices can result in a significant reduction in the number of risky driving behaviors. Based on this research, Travelers (TRV)is paying its customers in the form of insurance discounts of up to 15% to educate their employees in safe driving by using data obtained from fleet telematics devices.
Similar to global positioning systems (GPS), fleet vehicle telematics go beyond navigation and positioning by storing and sending data on how a vehicle is operated. Fleet telematics devices can help reduce fleet maintenance costs, improve vehicle efficiency and result in insurance discounts. Recently Travelers (NYSE: TRV) announced a potential discount of up to 15 percent on certain auto liability insurance premiums for qualifying businesses that effectively use vehicle telematics technology to monitor their company owned commercial fleet vehicles and driver behavior.
Travelers Insurance is one of the world’s largest insurance companies. Traveller’s Insurance announced this week that it is now paying fleets in the form of insurance discounts if the fleet installs fleet telematics systems. According the a TRV press release, the fleet must install vehicle telematics technology “in a sufficient number of their fleet vehicles and that they are actively incorporating safety information from the devices into their ongoing safety feedback to drivers, at least on a quarterly basis.”
According the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), there are three compelling reasons to adopt a green fleet management program for your fleet. Operating a cleaner, greener fleet means more than counting the number of hybrids or alternative fuel vehicles you put on the road. Successful management means actively measuring and reducing your fleet’s greenhouse gas emissions over time. There’s no need to wait. You can get started today with relatively minor changes— vehicle selection, maintenance schedules and driver education—that add up to significant improvements in fuel economy, operating costs and emissions.
1) Cut operating costs—By improving efficiency, a greener fleet can significantly reduce lifecycle costs and vulnerability to volatile fuel prices.
2) Reduce greenhouse gas emissions—Because vehicles are a primary source of greenhouse gas pollution, fleet vehicle emissions can represent a large slice of your company’s total emissions. Implementing a green fleet program is an immediate and meaningful way to reduce your company’s carbon footprint.
3) Improve corporate reputation—With public concerns about climate change reaching all-time highs, companies are under increasing pressure to set and achieve environmental goals. Green fleet management can provide measurable results—often within the first 12 months—to report to employees, customers and shareholders.
