Category: Blog

Truck TPMS Made Simple with Drop & Hook

Truck TPMS Made Simple with Drop & Hook

Posted on | by Devin Johnson

Drop & Hook Makes Truck TPMS Simple

Finding the right truck TPMS can be a challenge when different trailers are constantly hooked up on the truck. It often creates extra work for the driver and the fleet to ensure all tires on the trailer are being properly monitored. With GoFleet’s true automatic drop & hook, the trailer sensors and the tractor are paired automatically and wirelessly through the transceiver.

Our true, automatic drop and hook system was designed for the trucking industry specifically to overcome the tire monitoring challenge. The driver does not have to do anything except the normal trailer changing procedure. The tractor recognizes the new trailer automatically as soon as the trailer is attached.

Your tractors can be paired with any trailer in your fleet and the truck TPMS will recognize it automatically. The tire pressure monitoring system sensors will send immediate alerts to the fleet manager if the tire pressure is high or low, there is a fast or slow leak and if the temperatures are high. The alerts can be sent via SMS text message, email or posted on the dashboard. This allows for proactive truck TPMS management.

The drop and hook saves your company time and money. Since your tires will be automatically monitored with the truck TPMS, your drivers will not have to manually inspect their vehicle’s tire pressure. You will also not have to rely on the driver to report any issues with their tire pressure or temperature. Receiving instant alerts will notify you of potentially dangerous and costly tire issues before they become a problem.

The best part about GoFleet’s truck TPMS add-on is that it is fully integrated with our GPS fleet management software. The fleet manager is able to proactively monitor tire pressure and temperatures in the same place they manage their fleet operations.

For more information about our true drop and hook truck TPMS add-on, Contact Us.

GPS Fleet Management Solutions Make Life Easier

Posted on | by Devin Johnson

Make Life Easier With GPS Fleet Management Solutions

A fleet manager’s job is usually stressful and complex. When the fleet is large, holds valuable cargo or is a critical component of the company’s operations, the task of managing the fleet is even more stressful. Regardless of the size of the fleet, GoFleet’s GPS fleet management solutions can make a fleet managers life easier through vehicle tracking, route planning, improved dispatching, Garmin integration, etc.

Vehicle Tracking

When people think about GPS fleet management solutions, they usually think about vehicle tracking. Fleet managers will be able to instantly see where each and every company vehicle is located from the convenience of their computer or mobile device with an internet connection. Not only are fleet managers able to see where each vehicle is, they can see were each vehicle has been, and the speed they are going.

Vehicle tracking also allows the fleet managers to see how their employees drive on the road. For example, they can see if their employees are driving aggressively, idling excessively, driving out of the authorized zone, deviating from the given route or making long stops. Instant alerts can be set up to notify the fleet manager or customized reports can be run at the manager’s convenience. These features help fleet managers improve productivity, save money and even improve customer service.

Improved Route Planning and Dispatching

With GoFleet’s fleet management solutions, automatic and efficient routes are created based on your drivers’ destinations. The routes are planned in a manner that reduces the amount of time the driver spends on the road and the total miles traveled. Drivers will be able to visit more customers in the same amount of working hours. In addition, efficient routing reduces the amount of overtime required by your drivers and the amount of fuel used.

Dispatchers will be able to see where each vehicle is when a customer calls for service. They will be able to send the closest driver to an urgent service call. Customers will no longer have to be given long service windows. Your dispatchers will be able to provide accurate estimated times of arrivals that your customers will really appreciate.

Garmin Integration

If your drivers are already using Garmin GPS devices for navigation, you can integrate them with your GoFleet GPS fleet management to improve your company’s efficiencies even further. It allows your drivers to get more done in less time and respond better to service calls. Garmin integration streamlines dispatching and communications, increases driver productivity, and boosts efficiency. Fleet managers love that it is simple to use, affordable and helps make their life easier.

For more information about how GoFleet solutions can make your life easier, Contact Us today.

Fleet Maintenance Software: 4 Important Benefits

Posted on | by Devin Johnson

4 Important Benefits Of Fleet Maintenance Software

Businesses with fleet operations can benefit greatly from utilizing fleet maintenance software. That is why GoFleet offers Maintenance Assistant CMMS as an add-on to their quality GPS fleet management solution.

1. Manage Your Vehicles

In addition to being able to manage and track all of your vehicles with GoFleet’s GPS fleet management system, you will be able to keep up with the critical preventative maintenance of your vehicles. The fleet maintenance software automatically tracks insurance and licenses information, warranty information, past work orders, vehicle usage and manufacturer reports. Automatically tracking this information will save you time as well as money.

2. Work Orders

With the Maintenance Assistant add-on, you can instantly create work orders for vehicle service and repairs. You can set up multiple triggers for any vehicle maintenance activity based on vehicle mileage, engine hours or time. Once the trigger is hit, the software will automatically create the work order on the maintenance task. You will never forget a preventative maintenance activity on one of your vehicles ever again.

3. Tire Management

When you are maintaining a healthy fleet, properly maintaining your vehicles’ tires and using a TPMS is a critical aspect. Our unique software add-ons will allow you to track PSI, tire history, tread depth, tire size, cost per mile, purchasing information, warranties and leasing information. In addition, it provides vital information including predictive failure analysis so you can take care of issues before they occur. This saves time, money and improves driver safety.

4. Improve Performance

Using fleet maintenance software will help your business adhere to the best maintenance practices for your fleet. This will help you improve your company’s performance because it will mean your drivers and vehicles will spend more time on the road and less time in the shop. It also improves driver and vehicle safety. When your vehicles are properly maintained, they will be less likely to break down or need service when your drivers are behind the wheel.

For more information on our GPS fleet tracking and management systems, and our Maintenance Assistant add-on, contact a fleet optimization specialist today.

Should Fleet Managers Repair Or Replace Damaged Vehicles

Posted on | by Devin Johnson

Damaged Vehicles: Should Fleet Managers Repair Or Replace?

When a fleet vehicle gets in an accident, the fleet manager must decide if the vehicle should be repaired or replaced. Unfortunately, this can often occur several times during the year. Although getting a call from the driver saying he was in an accident is a dreaded call for all fleet managers, they must be ready to get the situation taken care of quickly. If the fleet manager knows the value of the asset and collects the right data, the decision can be simple.

Of course, the first thing the fleet manager needs to do is make sure that nobody has been injured. Next the manager must begin gathering information about the parties involved, physical damage to the vehicle and what has to be done to get their driver back on the road. Once that information is obtained, the fleet manager must make the critical decision of whether the vehicle should be repaired or replaced.

Know The Basics

Fleet managers must know the market value of their mobile assets. Once the vehicle is in an accident, the damage will reduce its market value. If the vehicle is leased by the company, the unamortized principle balance is the remaining company investment in the vehicle. If the vehicle is owned by the company, the balance is the undepreciated value on the balance sheet.

Fleet managers must ask themselves, “If we repair the vehicle, will the investment value be greater, less than or equal to the value of the vehicle if it was not involved in the crash?”

Gather Critical Information

The next step for the fleet manager is to gather all information that is necessary to make the decision including:

– Repair estimates

– Book value

– Salvage value

– Used vehicle value

Calculate Your Options

The basic financial consequences must be determined for both options. Remember, if you choose to repair the vehicle, the investment in the vehicle will be increased by the amount of the repairs. If you replace the vehicle, you company would have to declare a total loss of the damaged vehicle.

It is important to move quickly and make the decision as soon as you have all of the data. Your goal is to keep your fleet moving. The decision should be treated more as an investment decision than a “car decision”.

New Fleet Management Technology Options

Posted on | by Devin Johnson

Technology Options For Fleet Management

Fleets today are constantly under pressure to be as efficient as possible when they are delivering services or products to the customer. While this can be difficult, there are many new technological options that can be used to keep a fleet productive and efficient.

Web-Based Analytics

Fleet managers can monitor where the vehicle is driven and how it is being driven using web-based analytics. The data derived from the web-based analytics can be used to monitor safety as well as efficiency. Fleet managers can provide feedback to the driver using customized reports or automatic alerts to monitor the drivers’ behaviors such as speeding, excessive idling, deviating from the authorized route, aggressive driving, and long stops. Additionally, a beeping alert can be set up in the vehicle to warn the driver that they are driving unsafely or inefficiently. This helps identify at-risk behavior and helps to coach the drivers.

Fleet managers get instant insight on how drivers are behaving when they are on the road. Each driver can be scored so the managers will know immediately which drivers performing well and which drivers need more training.

Preventive Maintenance Monitoring

When you have a large fleet of vehicles, it can be complex and difficult to perform the proper preventive maintenance on each vehicle. With preventive maintenance monitoring, fleet managers can set up reminders for each vehicle for all maintenance activities based on engine hours, time and mileage. The maintenance activities can be customized based on the companies individual needs for their vehicles.

One of the most recent innovations is a vehicle diagnostic tool. The goal for this tool is to predict engine failure or major maintenance before it occurs. This way the vehicle can be serviced before the vehicle is down for an extended period of time. This not only can save time and money, it can improve the safety of the vehicle because the maintenance issue will not occur when your driver is behind the wheel.

Vehicle Fleet Management Software: Forestry Industry

Posted on | by Devin Johnson

Using Vehicle Fleet Management Software Benefits Companies In The Forestry Industry

The forestry industry produces over $200 billion in sales each year in the United States alone. Companies in this industry have many trucks and heavy equipment to produce forest products. These companies can benefit greatly from GoFleet’s vehicle fleet management software.

Reduced Operating Expenses

Companies in the forestry industry can reduce many unnecessary overhead costs by eliminating unnecessary overtime, unauthorized vehicle usage, excessive fuel consumption and discrepancies with billing.

Maximize Labor Costs

With GoFleet’s vehicle fleet management software, you can increase efficiency and employee productivity with improved routing, reduced downtime, prevented dispatch inaccuracy and reduced tardiness.

Efficient Routing

Automated efficient route planning provides predictable schedules allowing you to reduce costs, reduce fuel consumption, increase driver productivity and stay competitive.

User Friendly Dashboard

GoFleet’s vehicle fleet management software has a user friendly dashboard that is extremely easy to use. The data can be accessed from any computer or mobile device with an internet connection. Customized reports and alerts can be set up based on your individual business needs.

Improve Driver Safety

Vehicle fleet management software allows you to closely monitor your drivers’ behaviors even when they are away from the office. You can set up customized alerts to be notified if your drivers are speeding, driving aggressively, breaking hard, accelerating fast or idling excessively. This gives you the opportunity to contact the driver immediately to correct the behavior.

Asset Location

When you use GoFleet’s vehicle fleet management software, you will always know where all of your assets are. You will not have to waste valuable time calling your drivers to find out their location or waiting for them to check in.

Maximize Vehicle Usage

Eliminate authorized use of vehicles and excessive idling to get the most from your fleet. Making sure your vehicles are only used on the job will increase their useful life.

For more information about how GoFleet can help your business’ fleet operations, Contact Us.

Better Time Management For Fleet Managers Part 2

Posted on | by Devin Johnson

Time Management Techniques For Fleet Managers

Yesterday, we addressed how managers can manage their time better using technology and prioritizing in “ Better Time Management For Fleet Managers ”. Today, we will go over other helpful time management techniques fleet managers can use to control their time.

Delegate

If you are fortunate enough to have staff to assist you, you need to make sure you take advantage of them by delegating tasks and authority. Most fleet managers feel that they have to do everything themselves but this is simply not the case. That is a sure-fire way to get stuck working weekends and late nights trying to catch up on your long list of tasks. There is no reason to be involved in every driver call. Your staff can handle many issues without involving you. If there is a problem that needs your attention, your staff can let you know. This way you can attend to the most important work during the day.

Do Not Put Things Off

Although many things are unpleasant, complex and/or difficult, do not put them off. Use a priority system to get all things done even if you are not looking forward to them. When faced with a problem, research the issue and resolve it. Putting something off is not an option.

Keep A Schedule

To improve your productivity, keep a schedule and stick to it. Understand that there are going to be events that will arise to disrupt your schedule and that is okay. Keeping a schedule ensures that you will not be scrambling around trying to accomplish everything that needs to get done. You can keep a schedule in an old-fashioned datebook, on your mobile device or in the computer. Use whatever is easiest for you.

Write It Down

Fleet managers are faced with many issues throughout a day. Whether you use a notebook, computer or mobile device, you can organize your records by writing it down. Many issues may not be high priority; however, you will need to follow up on them. If you do not write it down, you will most likely forget about it.

Better Time Management For Fleet Managers

Posted on | by Devin Johnson

Better Time Management for Fleet Managers through Technology and Prioritizing

For fleet managers, they are usually busy with no extra time on their hands. With the internet, mobile devices and cell phones, fleet management has become a 24/7 job. There is no such thing as in their “free time” or “spare time”. This means they have to manage the time they do have.

Since much of a fleet manager’s job is reactive, they are constantly responding to inquiries and reacting to crises. This can often take up the majority of the day without the fleet manager getting to regularly scheduled requirements, forecasting and planning which is also required. The pressure can become unbearable if the fleet manager is unable to manage his or her time.

Technology

One of the best tools for fleet managers to help them better manage their time is a GPS tracking system for fleet management. Having vehicle locations, vehicle histories, automatic notification for issues with drivers’ behaviors and maintenance reminders can help free up fleet managers’ time so they are able to focus on other aspects of the business.

Before GPS tracking systems, fleet managers had to try to keep track of all of their fleet vehicles wherever they were located. This is extremely time consuming and complex. With a GPS tracking system for fleet management, fleet managers can easily access the web based software from any computer or mobile device with an internet connection to see every move their fleet makes.

Prioritize

A good manager knows he or she needs to prioritize activities. Any activity that requires direct interaction should be top priority including senior management interactions, meetings, reporting, communications, and follow-ups.

Remember, every driver with an issue thinks it needs to be addressed immediately. Ask yourself “Will the driver be able to conduct business if I do not respond to him immediately?” If the answer is no, then you need to respond immediately.

True emergencies will require your immediate attention such as accidents and breakdowns. If a driver just has a question about company policy or general vehicle information, that driver can wait until your top priorities are met. Sticking to your priorities can help your day run smoothly.

fleet fuel management systems

Fuel Management Systems: Make Smarter Fuel Purchases

Posted on | by Devin Johnson

Make Smarter Fuel Purchases Using Fuel Management Systems

Fuel management systems are a great way to track your fuel purchases and make the smartest decisions regarding fuel purchases. Using a fuel card integration helps business owners and fleet managers understand their fleet expenses better. Using GoFleet’s technology and fuel management systems, you can increase your return on investment significantly.

With GoFleet’s fuel management systems, there is no additional software needed. The fuel management system is an add-on to your GoFleet GPS fleet management software. In addition to managing your fleet, driver behavior, idle time, safety violations and maintenance requirements, fleet managers can also confirm, track and view fuel card purchases each day. The fuel data is processed daily so you always have information that is up to date.

GoFleet’s fuel management systems have a fully customizable dashboard. The dashboard can be set up with customized charts, fuel metrics or notification. Your fleet managers can configure alerts for fuel purchased, fuel usage and inefficient driving practices to keep track of all fuel information. Alerts can be sent by email or be displayed on the dashboard daily, weekly or monthly.

Fleet managers will be able to eliminate driver fuel theft with GoFleet’s fuel management systems. Most business do not realize how much fuel theft is actually occurring before they implement a fuel management system. When employees steal fuel, they are taking money right from your bottom line. If fuel theft is occurring at your business, you will be able to save money immediately upon implementing the fuel management systems by eliminating the theft.

With GoFleet’s fuel management systems, your fleet managers will be able to view the exact location of the merchant and the vehicle at the time of fueling up to ensure your drivers are getting gas at an authorized location. It will also ensure that the drivers are fueling up your fleet vehicle and not their own personal vehicles.

How To Reduce Fuel Consumption In Your Fleet

Posted on | by Devin Johnson

Tips on How to Reduce Your Fleet’s Fuel Consumption

Companies with fleet operations would love to reduce fuel costs; however, many do not know where they should start. Check out these tips you can do to reduce your fuel consumption:

Tires

Use a tire monitoring system.
Fleets using automatic tire monitoring systems reduce fuel consumption by approximately 1.4%.

Make sure your wheels and tires are balanced.
When wheels and tires are not properly balanced, it causes vibrations and irregular wear. This wastes energy and increases fuel usage. If you make sure your wheels and tires are balanced, you increase fuel efficiency.

Fuel Purchasing And Usage

Consider a fuel card program.
You should use a fuel card program is your drivers are responsible for fueling up when they are on the road. These programs not only help you control and track fuel purchases, they also offer additional discounts on fuel.

Make sure you review your fuel invoices.
Reviewing fuel invoices is a great way to catch billing errors and identify any unusual purchases. Make sure your employees are held accountable for the fuel they purchase (This can be done easily through a fuel card program as mentioned above).

Implement a GPS fleet management solution

GPS fleet management solutions gather various information about your fleet, driver behaviors, fuel consumption and diagnostics to help you make the best possible decisions about your fleet’s fuel consumption. This information can also be used to reduce fuel consumption by identifying and correcting inefficient activities that increase fuel usage.

Keep track of fuel data.
Make sure you keep track of important fuel data including miles per gallon, fuel consumption, idle times, road speed, and hard breaking. All of which can be monitored easily all in one place using a GPS fleet management solution.

Optimized routing.
When your routes are optimized and efficient, you will use less fuel.

Monitoring idling times.
If you use a GPS fleet management system, you can monitor your drivers idling times. Excessive idling wastes fuel, costing your company money. Alerts can be set up to notify you if a driver is idling for an extended period of time.