One of the major problems businesses have is unauthorised usage of company vehicles. It can lead to some major expenses a company does not want to have. Besides the manpower and time lost with the vehicle out on non company time, there is also more maintenance and fuel costs to account for.
A solution to this problem many companies have decided to use is GPS vehicle tracking. It ensures employees are using the vehicles only when they have the authorisation to do so. High quality products offer alerts that tell the business owner or manager when a vehicle has moved without authorisation. For instance, when drivers meet at a destination during business hours the system can alert the management team that company time is being wasted. GPS systems can even alert owners when a vehicle has entered a certain location.
The alerts can help eliminate employee theft of the vehicle. For instance, Ingersoll-Rand found out that their employees were scrapping copper from the company to make a profit on their own simply by tracking where the employees went. The employees were supposed to bring back copper from the jobs, but instead they were exiting to a place to stash it and then sell it at the local scrap yard before coming back to the depot.
GPS vehicle tracking will track vehicles during off hours too. An owner can receive an alert if their company vehicle is taken off property without authorisation, which can lead to finding out employees are spending time working in their off hours at other companies. The alerts are typically set up for employers to learn about vehicle theft over catching their employees misbehaving with company property, but these systems can do both.
Police can use the vehicle tracking systems to monitor a stolen vehicle. The signal can be tracked as police close in on the stolen vehicle. The idea is for faster recovery of the vehicle and to stop loss at the company. The alerts can be set up for varying parameters meaning companies that allow vehicles to be driven home will allow the alerts to be set up for only workable hours or if the vehicle has been stolen from the employee’s house. Often employees using the vehicles for side jobs do so during working hours, which eliminates this problem since they are tracking with vehicle tracking devices.
GPS systems can also eliminate unauthorised vehicle usage into restricted areas with GeoFencing. An alert can be sent out if the vehicle leaves a geographic area, thus helping to improve day to day production and reduce driver liability during off work hours.
The type of system one purchases will determine the types of alerts one can set up. It will also speak to the options regarding flexibility of the programme and device. For more flexibility with the alerts one needs to purchase a system that provides more choices for the company owner or management team that is following the drivers on a daily basis.