What Is a Vehicle Tracking System?
A vehicle tracking system lets you monitor your vehicle or fleet in real time. Favoured particularly by organisations and companies operating more than one vehicle, a vehicle tracking system allows vehicles to be monitored and managed 24/7 via GPS satellites from an internet-connected computer, smartphone or tablet. The technology used to establish a vehicle's position is the Global Positioning System
A vehicle tracking system lets you monitor your vehicle or fleet in real time.
Favoured particularly by organisations and companies operating more than one vehicle, a vehicle tracking system allows vehicles to be monitored and managed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week via GPS satellites from an internet-connected computer, smartphone or tablet.
The technology used to establish a vehicle's position is the Global Positioning System (GPS). The mobile data devices fitted to vehicles record a great deal of information live, including vehicle speeds,
the points where they stop and the routes they have followed. Thanks to both real-time and historical reports, every movement a vehicle makes can be recorded and monitored.
Vehicle tracking systems fall into two categories:
Active vehicle tracking: tracks the vehicle's GPS position, speed, route and engine on/off events live. All recorded information is sent to the data centre over cellular data or satellite networks.
Passive vehicle tracking: As with active tracking, all of the vehicle's movements are recorded. That data is then transferred to a computer or another device afterwards.
There are also systems that do both passive and active vehicle tracking, and these switch to passive tracking when there is no cellular data.
Why should you use a vehicle tracking system?
- A vehicle tracking system makes your journeys more efficient and reduces vehicle use, and with it your fuel costs.
- You can see where your vehicles are without wasting any time.
- You can make use of a vehicle tracking system for route planning and preparation.
- For customer visits, you can work out which vehicle is closer and reduce the time your vehicles spend in traffic.
- You can establish whether your vehicle has arrived safely at a point on its route.
- You can monitor driver behaviour and experience, and draw on that experience when training new drivers.
- You can compare drivers against one another and identify your best drivers.
What should you look out for when buying a vehicle tracking system?
- Coverage: does it cover the whole country, or are there blind spots?
- Who is responsible for technical support: does the company providing the vehicle tracking system also provide technical support?
- Contract terms: contract lengths can range from 1 to 5 years. In an era of changing technology, does the company update the software regularly?
- Hardware replacement: how often is hardware replaced, and is there a charge for it?
What do vehicle tracking systems cost?
Vehicle tracking system prices are generally set monthly. Pricing depends on the service offered: a price is quoted once budget items such as the device cost, the data line, mapping and the service fee have been calculated.
Is it possible to track a vehicle without a device?
If you work with Volt Lines you no longer need a vehicle tracking system for your vehicles, because Volt Lines technology turns drivers' mobile phones into a tracking device, and all the information you need reaches you through the data collected via the mobile app.
