Category: Blog

The Best Hiring Practices For Hiring Fleet Drivers

Posted on | by Devin Johnson

Hiring Best Practices For Fleet Drivers

When you are hiring a new employee that will be responsible for driving one of your fleet vehicles, it is crucial that you make sure that person is a safe driver. Every business should have a clear and consistent hiring process for drivers, from interviewing the potential driver to employment requirements. The following are fleet driver hiring best practices:

Establish A Hiring Policy

The first step to hiring a driver is to establish a hiring policy based on any federal or state rules that involve interviewing and hiring. Even small fleets should make sure that a hiring policy is in place. Instituting a hiring policy ensures all of your drivers are properly vetted before they are hired. Every state has different rules so you must check with your specific state. Even if your business is not required to follow Department of Transportation guidelines, it is a good idea to use them as a guideline especially if you are close to the requirement threshold.

Don’t Rush The Hiring Process

When you are ready to hire a new driver, you must take your time with the hiring process. In order to keep your standards consistent, you need to go through the hiring process by narrowing down job applicants. Once the best candidate is chosen, the job should be offered contingent on the results of a criminal background test, pre-employment drug test and Motor Vehicle Report. Remember, you should not rush the hiring process because you are ultimately liable for the driver when he or she is behind the wheel of your company’s vehicle.

Drug Test

The driver you are going to hire is going to be behind the wheel of an expensive asset; therefore, you may want to have them take a pre-employment drug test. After the driver is hired, you can then make the decision whether or not they are drug tested randomly on an ongoing basis.

Department Of Transportation and State Guidelines

Businesses that operate certain types of vehicles in interstate commerce are required to comply with applicable DOT regulations. Regulations include: drivers must have a commercial driver’s license; business must test drivers for alcohol and controlled substances; hours of service; and medical exams. Check with the Department of Transportation to see if your business must comply with these safety guidelines.

In addition, business operating exclusively within their state must comply with any applicable local and state regulations.

Computerized Maintenance Management System: Reduce Fleet Maintenance Costs

Posted on | by Devin Johnson

 

Reduce Fleet Maintenance Costs With GoFleet’s Computerized Maintenance Management System

 

Were you aware that emergency fleet repairs cost 3-9 times more than planned vehicle maintenance? It’s true. You can reduce your fleet’s maintenance costs with a computerized maintenance management system. GoFleet in partnership with Maintenance Assistant, offers a computerized maintenance management system as an add-on to our GPS fleet management solution.

Your vehicle meters will stay up to date with convenient automated meter readings. Work orders are intelligently triggered by the API and real-time computerized maintenance management system using user defined triggers. The best part is the fleet manager or business owner can build as many different triggers for any preventive maintenance schedule you want. The work order system in the computerized maintenance management system is the easiest system yet. GoFleet and Maintenance Assistant understand how important work orders are to your business. That is why they have put extra time into making it as easy as possible for you to prepare and complete your work orders in a timely manner.

A computerized maintenance management system will improve your fleet’s performance by helping you follow the best practices regarding vehicle maintenance. It will help you improve your business’ overall performance while saving you money. Your workers will be empowered with simple self-service computerized maintenance management system applications for their mobile phone and the web. With a computerized maintenance management system, you will now be able to fully manage your assets’ life-cycles with a view of all assets and equipment.

The software also has an easy to use dashboard. All scheduled maintenance will now be conveniently located in one place, making it much easier for fleet managers to maintain the vehicles properly. In addition to helping you maintain your vehicles, the computerized maintenance management system has an easy source for you to search for parts. You can locate parts and supplies at the lowest prices by searching multiple sites at one time.

GPS Fleet Technology Increases Fleet Productivity

Posted on | by Devin Johnson

Increase Fleet Productivity With GPS Fleet Technology

Business owners are under constant pressure to manage the most efficient fleets when they are expected to provide services to their customers or deliver goods. While this can seem like a highly difficult task, new fleet management technology has evolved to improve efficiency and productivity. This new technology is the key factor in increasing productivity.

Many Fleet Management Options Available
There are various fleet management options available to businesses with fleet operations. All fleet management companies are not good at everything. That is why business owners need to find the GPS fleet technology provider that is the perfect fit for their specific company. Look for a company with high quality GPS hardware, custom telematics reports and full integration with other industry specific software.

Real-Time GPS Monitoring
With real-time GPS monitoring, fleet managers are able to provide drivers with immediate feedback. Monitoring where the fleet vehicles are being driven and the vehicles’ locations makes the GPS a fleet efficiency and safety monitoring device. If a driver is working inefficiently or driving in an unsafe manner, the at-risk behavior is immediately identified so that can be addressed on-the-spot. The best way to increase efficiency, productivity and safety is to tackle the issue the first time it happens, when it happens.

Efficient Routing And Scheduling
GPS fleet technology increases a fleet operation’s productivity with automatic efficient routing and scheduling. Drivers are able to save time and distance by driving the most efficient routes from job site to job site. If a customer places an emergency service call, the dispatcher will be able to send the closest vehicle to their location. Instead of making the customer wait hours for a driver to reach their location from another city, the vehicle that is only two miles away can be assigned that emergency job. In addition to making a business’ fleet operations more productive, their customers will be highly satisfied with the level of service that they received.

in car camera system

In Car Camera System: Helping To Protect Fleets

Posted on | by Devin Johnson

Help Protect Your Fleet With A GoFleet In Car Camera System

GoFleet offers an in car camera system by Zone Defense as an add-on to their GPS fleet management solution. You will be able to capture what happens both outside and inside of the vehicle in high resolution and real-time. Fleet owners are using the in car camera system to protect their vehicles and their drivers. For example, many taxi companies require an in car dash camera be installed in all of their taxicabs. This decreases liability in the case of an accident and increases the taxi drivers’ safety from passengers behaving in an unlawful manner. Regardless of the fleet owner’s industry, installing an in car camera system can provide many valuable benefits.

In Car Camera System Packages And Options

GoFleet has a wide array of in car camera system packages and options for fleet owners to choose from including night vision cameras, heated cameras and license plate cameras.  Some of the packages and options from GoFleet include:

License Plate Camera: The license plate camera can be easily connected to the vehicle’s license plate using the license plate’s existing screws. There are four infrared emitters with a super wide 180° view.

Digital Video Recorders: Zone Defense provides all of the same features that you expect from the expensive and large in car camera system DVRs, however, their DVRs are small, easy to use, simple to install and affordable.

DVR Monitor: The in car camera system DVR monitor is a one-piece solution for fleet owners. There are multiple features in the DVD monitor that are necessary for the efficiency and safety of your fleet.

LCD Monitor Plus Cameras: GoFleet has two in car camera system LCD monitor and camera options available. The 5” LCD monitor has a built in trigger switch to side or reverse camera views with 3 camera inputs. The 7” LCD monitor and camera has all the same features as the 5” monitor but it has 4 camera inputs.

How Your Fleet Can Avoid Traffic Violations

Posted on | by Devin Johnson

Traffic Violations: How Your Fleet Can Avoid Them

Operating a fleet of vehicles involves fuel, maintenance, repair and insurance costs. It should not have to include traffic violation costs such as speeding tickets, parking tickets or photo enforcement tickets. However, some businesses just add these unnecessary expenses as part of the cost of doing business. Other companies make the drivers responsible for any of these violation costs. What all business owners seem to agree on is that traffic violations are a burdensome and costly problem for fleet operations.

As there are more advances in traffic violation practices by law enforcement, driven by photo enforced tickets, the issue of traffic violations has become a more visible topic in the world of operating fleets. These technological advancements are making it less costly and easier for law enforcement to cite vehicles which, in turn, increases the potential amount of traffic violations a business’ fleet could receive. Using a GPS fleet management system can help businesses save money and avoid traffic violations.

When a business uses a GPS fleet management system, they can keep track of where each vehicle is at all times. Automatic alerts can be set up to notify fleet managers if their drivers are speeding or driving aggressively. These alerts can be sent to the fleet managers even when they are offline via email or SMS text messaging. Fleet managers are able to contact the driver to have them immediately correct their driving behavior avoiding an unnecessary traffic violation.

GPS fleet management systems are also helpful because reports can be created based on the drivers’ driving habits. This allows business owners and fleet managers to identify issues with specific drivers that are consistently demonstrating poor driving habits. Those drivers might need additional training or long-term corrective action.

Businesses can avoid traffic violations by establishing a safety policy, tracking drivers and taking immediate action for violations. Tracking their drivers’ behavior and identifying high-risk drivers using a GPS fleet management system are both essential to reduce the risk of traffic violations. If a driver violates the business’ safety policy, immediate action must be taken such as mandatory training. Businesses find utilizing all of the features of a GPS fleet management system and establishing a culture of safety can prevent traffic accidents, traffic violations and costly traffic violation costs.

Fuel Management System: Prevent Fuel Theft

Posted on | by Devin Johnson

Prevent Employee Fuel Theft With A Fuel Management System

When you run a business with fleet operations and you use a corporate credit card for fuel purchases, you run the risk of your employees abusing your card for their personal gain. It is unfortunate but fuel theft can occur at any business. Using a fuel management system with fuel cards can prevent fuel theft.

When you add-on a fuel management system to a GoFleet GPS fleet tracking system, you can track fuel purchases and make the smartest fuel purchase decisions. In addition to the many benefits of a GPS fleet tracking system, fuel cards allow fleet managers to be able to view and confirm daily fuel card expenditures. A fuel management system helps business owners and fleet managers to better understand their fuel costs.

Fleet managers are able to use the GoFleet fleet management system to spot inconsistencies in fuel purchases. The GPS fleet tracking system can be used to provide the vehicles’ specific location and it can be compared to the fuel purchase location and the amount of fuel purchased. If the vehicle is not in the location of the fuel purchase, this would indicate that your driver is participating in unsavory activities that should be investigated.

A fuel management system gives fleet managers and business owners a deeper insight into their fleet operating costs. Fuel card transactions are processed every day so they always have fuel information that is up-to-date. The fuel management system is fully integrated with GoFleet’s My.Geotab so no additional software is needed. There are many customized reports and configurable alerts that can be set up to monitor fuel metrics. Being able to spot fuel trends early will help prevent employee fuel theft.

Integrating fuel cards with a GPS fleet tracking system provides you with the true cost per gallon of fuel and miles per gallon. In addition, you will find out the true cost of idling when your drivers idle for climate control. Knowledge of your fleet’s true fuel usage is important to save costs and reduce the risk of theft.

Go Green With A GPS Fleet Management System

Posted on | by Devin Johnson

GPS Fleet Management Tracking Device Helps Businesses Go Green

Many businesses are feeling pressure to adopt “green” business practices and to reduce their carbon footprint. Some feel, however, that it is too big of a job to tackle and going “green” would not be worth the effort. In fact, having “green” fleet operations helps both businesses and the earth.

Reducing a business’ carbon footprint is easy with GPS fleet management. Fleet management software optimizes routes and dispatching to make the most efficient use of a fleet’s fuel consumption. Dispatchers are able to send the closest vehicles to job sites, reducing the amount of miles driven. Using fleet maintenance reports and alerts, businesses can ensure their vehicles are all efficiently operating. By controlling drivers speeding habits, excessive idling and aggressive driving, businesses can reduce their fleet’s emissions and the amount of fuel that is wasted.

Go Green By Reducing Fuel Consumption

GPS fleet management provides efficient routing for the drivers. They will have the most direct route from one location to another. The faster and shorter the route, the higher a business’ productivity is and the less money that will have to be spent in fuel costs. In addition, reducing the amount of miles driven reduces greenhouse gas pollution. This translates into a significant amount of carbon reductions plus a savings of thousands of dollars per vehicle.

Go Green With GPS Fleet Management Maintenance Reports

GPS green fleet management software allows businesses to remotely monitor important fleet information such as engine fault codes, status of the emissions control system and motor oil life. Business owners or fleet managers are able to set up reminders that can be sent via email or SMS text message for vehicle tune-ups, tire rotation and oil changes. These service alerts can be used to immensely decrease fuel usage and help businesses to maintain a “green” fleet. According to the Department of Transportation, it is estimated that over 5 million gallons of fuel are wasted each day because of low tire pressure. Furthermore, the United States Environmental Protection Agency reports that an engine that is poorly tuned can produce 50% more emissions and use 50% more fuel than an engine that is properly tuned-up.

GPS fleet management helps businesses run efficient fleet operations, reduces operating costs and helps save our planet by reducing greenhouse emissions.

Route Planning Software: Reliable Fleet Management

Posted on | by Devin Johnson

Reliable Fleet Management With GoFleet’s Route Planning Software.

Managing fleet vehicles and drivers is next to impossible without using reliable real time GPS tracking with route management software. Luckily, GoFleet has a fleet management software integration that was developed to manage all parts of fleet management including vehicle maintenance, labor, driver management, routing and driver dispatching.

GoFleet’s route planning software integration is web-based and can be accessed using any computer or mobile devices with an internet connection. This convenient software makes real time fleet management easy for fleet managers in any location. They are not stuck working at the office where the route planning software is installed on a local computer.

Dynamic Route Planning

GoFleet’s route planning software simplifies and automates fleet routing and scheduling. Dispatchers have a real-time view of the fleet operations. Drivers can be provided with the fastest and most efficient route to job-sites. In addition, job scheduling and dispatching can be done quickly in response to real-time events. This is especially important in businesses that have narrow fulfillment windows or when late deliveries have high penalties. GoFleet’s route planning software can automatically re-plan routes in the event of traffic, breakdowns or emergency service orders.

Fleet Tracking

One major benefit of GPS fleet tracking and route planning software is that it allows fleet managers to see exactly where drivers are located and where they have previously been. All location information is easy to access on real-time live maps.

Reminders and Alerts for Vehicle Service and Management Issues

Fleet managers and business owners have the ability to set up reminders for vehicle service and alerts for management issues such as driver speeding, driving out of the authorized area and idling excessively.

Management Reports and Histories

When all fleet operation data is stored in the route planning software, it is simple to compile management reports and vehicle/driver histories that can help a business improve efficiency and reduce costs. Reports can be created for fuel usage, routes driven, driver’s habits and much more.

GoFleet’s route management software can enhance a business’ fleet operations by increasing productivity, improving customer service and reducing costs. Businesses will see their return on investment within a matter of months of implementing the system. For more information speak with one of our fleet consultants at 1-888-998-1122.

Fleet Management GPS Technology Increases Fuel Efficiency

Posted on | by Devin Johnson

Increase Fuel Efficiency With Fleet Management GPS Technology

The cost of operating and owning a vehicle in the U.S. has increased by approximately 2% in the past year, according to “Your Driving Costs” study by AAA. In addition, the cost of fuel has also increased by almost 2% a year since 2013, on top of the 15% increase in 2012. For businesses with fleet operations, these increased costs can significantly affect the company’s financial outlook. Eliminating excessive fuel costs by reducing fuel usage can considerably impact a business’ bottom line. Fleet management GPS technology can help business owners run their business more efficiently and reduce unnecessary fuel usage.

When a business implements fleet management GPS technology, they are able to eliminate excessive fuel usage using the fleet management software. When the vehicles are driven off-route, they are wasting fuel. With a fleet management solution, fleet managers and business owners will be able to make sure their drivers are where they are supposed to be and that they are driving the most efficient routes. Drivers will no longer be able to drive miles out of the way just to get a cappuccino from their favorite coffee shop. Drivers making a few off route personal stops can add up to hundreds of miles over a year.

Fleet management GPS technology also can be used to eliminate drivers’ bad habits including excessively idling for climate control. This will reduce fuel costs as well as reduce wear and tear on the vehicles. As a matter of fact, when a vehicle idles excessively, for 5 minutes or more, fuel consumption can increase by approximately 5%. This results in reduced profits and has the potential of damaging the vehicles’ engines.

Another factor in fuel wastage is driver speeding. When drivers are speeding, business owners and fleet managers can be alerted in real-time via SMS text message or email message. In addition to reducing fuel usage, managing drivers’ poor driving habits increases the safety of a business’ drivers and the safety of other drivers on the road.

An Overview of Geofencing and Routing in MyGeotab

Posted on | by Courtney redwell

Routing & Geofencing in MyGeotab GPS Fleet Management Software

A geofence is a virtual perimeter (or fence) around a geographical real-world area of interest. Geofencing allows users to draw virtual perimeters around places of work, gas stations, customers’ sites, homes, entire states, airports and more. It can also be a critical component for analyzing fleet behavior when combined with notifications and exception reporting. There are multiple benefits that can be gained through making use of geofencing, some of which include:

  • Increasing productivity
  • Establishing driver accountability
  • Tracking high value assets

 

Geofencing within MyGeotab
GPS Fleet Management Software

 

In the MyGeotab software, provided by Geotab and GoFleet, geofences are referred to as zones and the software provides easy-to-use tools for the user to create them. It is not necessary to be tech-savvy in order to understand how to create zones within MyGeotab. Also, you can create a large number of zones at once by importing a bulk list of latitude and longitude information prepared through a spreadsheet application, such as Microsoft Excel, or by defining the boundaries of the zone through the map.

routing mygeotab gps fleet management software

Example of creating a zone on the map within MyGeotab
One unique aspect of the MyGeotab GPS fleet management software is that it allows for zones to be combined with exception reporting. This results in the zone-based exceptions that are generated by drivers can provide information about which zones the drivers were close to throughout their work day and the duration spent around these set zones. This then allows for the following potential scenarios:

  • Send an email when drivers leave or arrive in a certain zone
  • Alert drivers who have left a certain zone early with an in-vehicle sound
  • When a delivery truck is about to arrive a notification sent to a shipping department
  • Notify managers if a driver has entered an unauthorized zone
  • Notify managers if a driver is spending too much time in a certain zone
  • Special cases of zone use with MyGeotab

Exception reporting in the MyGeotab GPS fleet management software is usually used to report when a vehicle is breaking a rule and may not typically be related to zones. The fact that MyGeotab has the ability to combine regular exception reporting with zones allows for some uniquely useful scenarios. Take a look at the following examples:

Example 1:
An oil and gas company located in Australia normally has to send their fleets to the outskirts of town to work on different projects. Most places these fleets need to go are off-roads and may not have speed limits. What this company has done with MyGeotab is create speed limit zones in these areas so that the fleet manager gets a notification if a driver is surpassing a certain speed. This allows fleet managers to create their own custom speed limits and to help ensure the safety of the drivers.

Example 2:
A taxi company located in Nova Scotia has combined the use of zones with auxiliaries. The company has attached auxiliaries to the taxi fare meters so that they are able to receive reports through MyGeotab whenever the fare meters are in use. In addition, the taxi company has placed different zones in the area where the taxi company operates. As a result, the company is able to receive reports on what areas their taxis are picking up customers and they are able to gain useful insight into where to allocate their taxis to get the most business.

 

Routing within MyGeotab

 

MyGeotab GPS fleet management software allows for the option to create routes based on zone locations. Some benefits that result from routing include increased organization operational efficiencies as well as reduced fuel consumption, mileage and CO2 emissions. Users can create a zone in the software by connecting a sequence of zones together to create a path. The routes can be defined in any order the user wishes, and can alternatively begin and end at the same zone. Further to this, MyGeotab software offers users the option to optimize the order of zones in which the driver should visit once the route has been created in an effort to minimize fuel consumption. Routing is especially useful for fleets consisting of school buses, for example, because these vehicles have predefined locations they visit everyday.

For a more detailed look at how to create zones within the MyGeotab GPS fleet management software, check out this video tutorial:
Creating & Adding New Zones in MyGeotab

For more information on how zones and routing could potentially increase the productivity of your business, contact a fleet consultant today.

 

Original Article Written by: Dominic Loong, Technical Support Engineer at Geotab
http://www.geotab.com/blog/overview-geofencing-routing-mygeotab/