The first question fleet managers and owners tend to ask is “what is the cost of GPS tracking software?” Although an important question, it is more important to first learn about all of the money it will save you. Read our past Blog about the ROI from GPS tracking.
To address the pricing questions, there are some basic costs to consider and then there are some add-ons that more than likely come at an additional cost.
GPS Tracking Costs:
Purchase or Rental: First of all, you need to know if you would rather purchase the devices and just pay the monthly service fee or rent the devices, which eliminates the larger upfront cost by bundling the device and monthly service fee. Devices and sometimes service can be discounted based on volume (the more you buy, the less the unit/monthly service cost is per vehicle or asset).
Type of GPS Tracking Device: The type of device that you need will also adjust the cost. If you are purchasing a basic vehicle or asset tracking device, the cost is about the same, but the monthly service fee varies greatly between vehicles and assets. In most cases tracking vehicles costs more per month than tracking assets.
Update Frequency: Your monthly service cost can also vary based on how frequently you need your GPS tracking device to update (update the vehicle or asset’s location on a map or alert/report). Industry standard update frequencies for vehicles are typically every 2 or 5 minutes. For assets, it is much less frequent, which drives the monthly cost down. Update rates for assets are measured as pings (on-demand communication) instead of by time e.g. 2 minutes. The more pings per day that you want, the higher the cost per month.
Installation: Most GPS tracking companies use an installation network to complete customer installs of the GPS devices. This comes at an additional cost to the customer, typical per vehicle installation ranges from $75 – $100 depending on the vehicle type, how hidden the GPS device needs to be, and if there are any additional add-ons to install.
Add-ons That Typically Cost More:
Garmin Integration: If you want to utilize Garmin Integration, you can buy any Garmin nuvi device at your local Best Buy for each vehicle or go through the provider to have them sent to you. The FMI cable used to tether the Garmin to the GPS tracking device and the additional data used will also come at an additional cost.
Driver ID: If you would like your drivers to check in and out of the vehicles they are driving for Driver ID, you would have to purchase a keyfob and reader for each vehicle, which comes at an additional cost as well.
Keep in mind that these additional costs are minimal and are far outweighed by the savings your business will receive from GPS fleet tracking software.
For more information about the savings you will see from GPS tracking or about the cost of rolling out GPS tracking for your fleet contact us.
