Fleet owners have experienced a lot of headwinds over the past few years, from recruiting drivers to rising insurance premiums. The good news is that new technologies are helping to ease some of these concerns and help fleets become more safe, efficient and profitable. In fact, these technologies may offer more benefits than many fleet owners appreciate.
Let’s look at some of the most common safety and productivity benefits of telematics and dash cams, as well as three unexpected benefits.
Telematics and dash cams offer a wide range of well-known benefits, but there are a few unexpected benefits that might surprise you. Share on XImproving Safety & Productivity
Telematics and dash cams provide a lot of obvious benefits, spanning both safety and productivity, which combine to create a fast payback period and a high return on investment. From route optimization to vehicle maintenance, the cumulative effect of these solutions can make a huge impact on a fleet’s growth and profitability.
Some of the most common benefits include:
- Fuel Efficiency: Telematics solutions that track driving habits can be used to encourage and enforce better driving behaviors. For instance, a driver that is consistently speeding or braking hard may require additional training to encourage more efficient driving.
- Better Maintenance: Telematics solutions go beyond vehicle miles to better predict when maintenance may be required. By being proactive with maintenance, trucking companies can avoid costly breakdowns on the road.
- Improved Scheduling: Telematics solutions provide real-time GPS locations for trucks, trailers and other fleet assets. Armed with these data points, fleets can better schedule assets in order to maximize efficiency and improve return on investment.
- Actionable Data: Telematics solutions generate a tremendous amount of data that can be leveraged to make data-driven decisions. For example, you can easily figure out the most profitable drivers or underutilized assets with just a few clicks.
While these benefits alone are enough to justify an investment in these technologies, there are many other unexpected benefits that come along with embracing them. Fleet owners should factor in these benefits when conducting a cost-benefit analysis or making the case for integrated telematics and dash cams into their fleets.
#1. Lower Insurance Premiums
Many auto insurance companies have begun offering discounts of up to 40% for drivers that agree to install monitoring technology that tracks their driving habits. While consumers can access significant cost savings, insurers can plug these statistics into their risk assessment models to fine-tune premiums across their entire customer base.
Telematics and dash cams could help lower insurance premiums for the same reasons. In addition to monitoring driver behavior, dash cams can be invaluable when proving who’s at-fault in accidents, which could potentially prevent nuclear verdicts. Trucking companies can also use the data from these solutions to proactively negotiate lower rates.
#2. Eliminate Fraud Claims
Every industry experiences different levels of fraud and the commercial trucking industry is no exception. From staged accidents to cash-for-crash schemes, some schemes can lead to large insurance payouts and higher insurance premiums. Abusing fuel cards and other schemes may not cost as much upfront, but they can quickly add up over time.
Telematics and dual-facing dash cams can help prevent fraud with hard evidence. In addition to speed, braking habits and other telematics data, video footage makes it crystal clear what happened before and after an impact to see who’s at fault. Fuel metrics can also help address fuel card abuse and other forms of fraud that can add up over time.
#3. Prevent Theft & Aid Recovery
Vehicle theft may not be common, but it can be extremely expensive. In addition to the vehicle cost, fleets must also grapple with the hit to productivity and the impact on relationships with customers. Only one-in-five vehicles are recovered and one-third of those that come back have significant damage that takes more than ten days to repair, on average.
Telematics solutions can play an important role in avoiding these rare incidents. For example, telematics with GPS can be used to quickly track down stolen assets (and catch the criminals responsible) while dash cams can provide valuable evidence in court. Door sensors and other technologies can also help prevent cargo theft through proactive monitoring.
Choosing the Right Telematics
There are many different companies that provide telematics solutions, but few have Powerfleet’s advanced technologies and expertise. From advanced ELDs to reefer monitoring solutions, we provide a wide range of solutions to unlock the benefits of telematics and dash cams across your fleet and drive a near-term return on investment.
- In-cab ELD compliance solutions go beyond regulatory compliance to provide real-time position reports, engine performance information, two-way communication with the driver and full TMS integration.
- Dry van solutions provide freight cameras and tags for visual and environmental conditions without the need for external power (e.g., solar powered).
- Reefer solutions work with all major refrigeration unit brands and optical sensors to allow for complete remote control—even if the trailer isn’t hitched.
- Chassis solutions put a stop to billing disputes with comprehensive data on billing start and stop times and advanced sensors to alert you of any movements.
- Container solutions provide full visibility in real-time for containers in order to help you increase utilization and reduce transit cycle time.
- Cargo solutions provide images, door sensors and cargo-area environmental sensors for true freight visibility to help with root cause analysis for claims.
Powerfleet’s powerful software consolidates all of this information into actionable insights that fleet owners can use to improve safety and efficiency.
Contact us to schedule a free consultation today!
The Bottom Line
Telematics and dash cams provide a lot of well-known benefits, but there are also some unexpected benefits along the way. From lowering insurance premiums to recovering stolen assets, these solutions can help your fleet avoid costly safety incidents, lower operating costs and improve overall efficiency to make your business more profitable.
In addition to bumper-to-bumper telematics solutions, Powerfleet’s software helps fleet owners make sense of the data. The platform provides you with a full set of key performance indicators to drive decisions while self-learning capabilities help increase accuracy over time to streamline your operations and grow your business.
Learn more about Powerfleet’s options or contact us today!
