William Barnes of Harrison, NY-based Interstate Fire and Safety Equipment was no stranger to fleet management software. His 13- vehicle fleet had already been under the watchful eye of a fleet tracking system for 3 years before looking at Fleetmatics. However, he was unhappy with the level of detail the fleet’s safety service was providing. The company was seeking a solution that could provide real time GPS tracking and reporting so managers could make quick and informed decisions about safety.
Quicker Response Leads to a Safer Fleet
With the previous tracking system, Barnes had limited insight into the speeding habits of his drivers. For instance, he was able to set speeding alerts for any driver going over 55 mph. But, if the driver was speeding in a 35 mph zone, he wouldn’t get an alert because it was less than 55 mph. To add to that frustration, the alerts in the previous system were delayed about 15 minutes. This severely delayed his ability to address the speeding problem.
Fleetmatics is able to let Barnes know when his drivers are speeding over 5 mph, no matter what the posted speed limit is. In addition, Fleetmatics also alerts Barnes in real time, so that he can immediately call his driver and tell him to slow down. This gives Barnes peace of mind; he believes that Fleetmatics has reinforced safe driving practices in his fleet. “It goes against our mission statement to have a truck driving 75 mph on the Thruway when it’s supposed to be going 55,” he says. “I’m of the thought process of preventing the problem before it becomes a problem.”
Dazzling Customers with Accurate ETAs
Now that Barnes knows, through real time GPS tracking, where his drivers are at all times, he has been able to improve customer service. It’s reassuring to the customer when a fleet’s safety service is priority. “Now, if a customer calls, we can locate where the vehicle is and tell them the driver is 10 or 15 minutes out,” he says. “It shows the customer that we monitor our vehicles and that we’re on top of things.”
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