No business owner wants to believe that valued and trusted employees would abuse or misuse the trust placed in them by taking advantage of business vehicles for personal profit, use, or abuse. Unfortunately, it happens frequently enough that it’s a big problem for businesses today.

Employees use company vehicles for a wide variety of reasons including for moonlighting, representing themselves as being authorized by your company while conducting work on the side (placing a great deal of liability, not to mention your good name, on your plate), or simply to do things they don’t want to use their own vehicles for like towing boats, or other things that add wear and tear to the vehicle at your expense.

That doesn’t even include the fuel costs of these nocturnal excursions. GPS fleet tracking can help you put an end to these types of activities for the sake of your business, your reputation, and for keeping fuel costs under control – which may very well be the reason you began looking into GPS fleet tracking services to begin with.

There are two primary ways GPS fleet tracking can help you audit personal use of your business vehicles. Read the rest of this entry »

GPS tracking devices help local police department track down stolen packages.

With the holiday season in full swing, there is unfortunately a higher risk of having packages stolen right off the doorsteps of unsuspecting residents. It is a growing problem that is affecting people all over the country.

Thieves are making it their business to follow delivery truck drivers around cities, hanging back when they drop off a package, then running to the doorstep to steal the package if nobody is around. Police know this and figured out a way to handle on the problem.

Unfortunately, an estimated 23 million people have had their packages stolen from their doorsteps. There was a couple in Delaware who were spotted backing into a driveway and taking two packages from the home, worth a total of $4,000. In California, a man drove to a nearby house while a passenger took two packages from the stoop before driving off. There are also homeowners who are using video surveillance in front of their home, including a man in INdianapolis. He caught the thief on surveillance and posted it to social media. WIthin a few hours, an arrest was made. Read the rest of this entry »

Fleet drivers always seem to be in their company vehicles driving their routes. Whether they are making a delivery or driving to a customer’s location for service, each week they are usually driving for miles and miles.

Although your company vehicles do need to be properly maintained and repaired periodically, changing the oil is probably the most crucial part of your fleet vehicle maintenance routine. It is very important that you remember this important step. But with everything that goes on in your fleet business, it can be simple to forget. The good news is that GPS fleet tracking can remind you of when it’s time to get an oil change for your vehicles.

Why Oil Changes are Important

Your fleet vehicle cannot run without oil. Oil keeps your engine’s components working efficiently and reduces carbon and varnish accumulation from collecting on the engine. The oil’s main job is to keep the heat away from the vehicle’s combustion chamber and prevent your engine from blowing up. Oil protects the engine and keeps it running smoothly by collecting varnish, heat and carbons which eventually turns your oil into sludge. It is at this time, that your vehicle is in a most desperate need of oil change.

But why wait until the performance of your oil damages your vehicle or makes it run less efficiently? Your fleet vehicles’ engines can begin having many problems if you don’t change the oil in them regularly. A common problem is your engine and its parts can get too hot, which causes it to run less efficiently and warp or wear out over time. These parts need to stay lubricated to avoid issues. Read the rest of this entry »

One local man turned into a crime fighter due to technology.

This year so far, over 2900 car thefts have been reported in St. Louis, according to the Police Department in St. Louis. John Remstedt, St. Charles Grease Masters Industrial Cleaning company business owner, was almost another victim; however, it was his technology that saved him.

One early morning, Remstedt’s employees were working at the Cardinal Glennon Hospital doing some industrial cleaning work. They were loading up a van when in a matter of seconds, a person hopped in it and drove off. The doors were still wide open when he drove off, said Remstedt. He had a wrist band on which makes it appear that he was a patient.

It only took Remstedt a few moments to track down his van as well as the equipment worth thousands of dollars inside of it thanks to his GPS tracking system. Read the rest of this entry »

In November, an employee brought his company car into BMW dealership to get the handbrake fixed. Come 3pm that afternoon, the employee’s managing director from the company Copymark called him asking him why he was driving along the highway going speeds in excess of 90mph.

Benford informed his boss that the car was getting repaired in the garage and that it couldn’t have been him.

Because Copymark installs GPS tracking devices on its company vehicles, the company manager received email alerts that the vehicle was being driven over the speed limit.

GPS or Global Positioning System is surveillance that tracks the location of an object or entity remotely. This technology can pinpoint ground speed, longitude, latitude and course of direction of the target. Many businesses use this technology to not just keep an eye on their employees, but to improve efficiency as well.

GPS trackers help businesses to cut down on unsafe driving habits and avoid poor fuel economy. It is an invaluable piece of technology for firefighters, police, large courier businesses, military personnel, and in this case for the company Copymark. Read the rest of this entry »