The
digital revolution has irrevocably influenced everything we do; vehicle
tracking simply makes use of the technology that is available to us today in
order to improve and further our businesses. A vehicle tracking system
comprises a vehicle tracking unit which is installed into each of your vehicles
and generally uses GPS to determine their exact position. Along with
this, computer software enables you to track the location of your vehicles via
a web-enabled computer in real-time, 24 hours a day. Depending on the specific
vehicle tracking system, you also have access to a whole menu of other
information including vehicle speed and direction, fuel consumption and stop
and idle times.
What are
the benefits?
Regardless
of the size of your fleet, there are many advantages to installing a vehicle
tracking system:
- Reduced operational costs: Vehicle tracking allows you to monitor all vehicle and fuel usage, including fuel and mileage abuse, speeding, heavy breaking or extreme acceleration. It can also direct drivers to the most cost efficient routes and highlight times when vehicles are left running for no reason and burning unnecessary fuel, such as on a delivery. By managing your staff and their vehicles more effectively using vehicle tracking, you could see a marked reduction in operational costs and increased productivity.
- Better vehicle management: Because vehicle tracking allows you to see where each vehicle in your fleet is at any moment in time, you are able to despatch the closest available vehicle to a job. This will not only save fuel, once again reducing your costs, but also allow you to complete more jobs in less time, allowing increased productivity.
- Happy customers: Vehicle tracking enables you to be much more accurate on delivery times to customers. This not only means happier, better informed customers (who wants to wait in between 9am and 6pm for a delivery?!) but may also give you a competitive edge, which is not to be sniffed at in these current economic times. This increased control and better management of time will inevitably enhance your company's productivity.
- Reduced paperwork: Vehicle tracking can cut out the need for manual time sheets, overtime sheets and delivery records and make this kind of administration much more accurate. It means that admin staff can stop chasing the whereabouts of drivers, vehicles and paperwork and get on with other important tasks.
- Reduced insurance premiums: Car insurance companies have also recognised the benefits of vehicle tracking and by installing a vehicle tracking system you could reduce your insurance premiums by a significant amount. Also, if one of your vehicles is ever stolen, vehicle tracking will increase your likelihood of recovering it.
·
Since
the car tracking systems came into existence, it has become very easy for fleet
operators to comfortably manage their fleet of vehicles. With the advent of
this device, investing in transport, haulage and logistic business and even
ambulance services has become a profitable venture because the tracking device
helps keep the drivers under check, monitor the fuel consumption, distance
covered and also ensures safety of the vehicle.
·
The
fact that you can install GPS car tracking devices that trigger automated bus
stop announcements makes it easier to run a public transport service company.
Much more than buying insurance for personal cars, most people also choose to
buy and install car trackers in their cars to prevent theft. The truth is that
with car tracking devices, even if your car is stolen, it can easily be tracked
and recovered.
·
Global
statistics show that the need for car tracking systems in cars is on the
increase because of how efficient it has proven to be and as a matter of fact
most transport operating companies won’t allow their cars to start plying the
roads until they have installed a vehicle tracking system on it. If starting a
car tracking company is tops on your mind, then the tips below should guide you
to start from the scratch and build it to a profitable enterprise.
Getting Started
1. Conduct Your Research
The need to carry out a research
before investing your money into any business venture is always the right and
first step to take considering the rate at which investors who are not properly
guided lose their hard earned money. Before starting your car tracking company,
you are expected to carry out your research, to know where to locate the
company, how to get or design the car tracking device, the estimate of the
start-up capital required, how to maximize profits and lots of other factors
that you might want to research about.
2. Register Your Company
It is fact that no company or even
individual might want to buy your car tracking devices and get it installed in
their vehicles if they aren’t sure you are running a registered and legal
company. If an unregistered company could operate a car tracking service, then
the possibility of criminal elements leveraging on this form of business would
be high. You just have to register your company and if possible get the needed
operating license required to operate this kind of company.
3. Rent or Lease a Facility
When looking for a facility to rent to
start your car tracking company, you should look for a type that can
accommodate fleet of cars and at the same time have enough space for
administrative work and data capturing and processing unit. Although it might
cost you much to get this kind of facility in a commercial viable location, but
the truth remains that it would make it visible for people to access your
company. You can as well get an office location in the outskirt of town if it
is cheaper for you, but make sure you put machineries in place to help direct
traffic to your office.
4. Equip Your Facility
Having rented your office facility;
the next thing to do is to equip it with the necessary equipment needed to
start a car tracking company. You would need computers, car tracking software,
office tables and chairs, file shelf, GPS tracking server, and all other car
tracking components.
5. Learn the Technology and how it operates
If you are just an investor and want
to remain as a passive partner, you don’t have to learn the car tracking
technology. However, if you are starting out and you want to be involved in the
day to day running of your car tracking company, then it is advisable you learn
the technology even if you won’t be the one installing the car tracking device
for your clients. This is important because there might be need for you to help
install the tracking device for your client if you are short of staffs as is
common with start-ups. Learning the technology will enable you to easily market
you car tracking device to potential clients.
6. Hire Staffs
To a larger extent the car tracking
company falls under the security industry. Because of the nature of your
company, you should only hire staffs that are trustworthy and can keep peoples’
information intact. The truth is that the information generated via car
tracking device can aid criminals and even assassins to trace and track down
their targets. Conducting a comprehensive background check must be part of your
screening when looking for staffs to employ.
7. Adopt Efficient Marketing and Advertising Strategies
There are various ways that you can
advertise and market your car tracking device. The best approach to start with
is to work with auto insurance companies and become their vendors. As a matter
of fact, most countries’ security departments are making it compulsory for owners
of cars to install car tracking device on their cars because it helps in
fighting organized crimes and it also prevents car theft. You can enter a deal
with them that guarantee them some percentage on any deal they refer to you.
You can also enter into partnership with car dealers because they can easily
refer their clients to you as long as it is safe and it pays them. When it
comes to advertising your car tracking company, there shouldn’t be any limit to
how far you can go. You could start with
handbills and distribute them in car parks and public places. If you have cash
you can place advert spots on Newspapers, TV and Radio, and if you don’t have
enough cash you can start with the worldwide web. As a matter of fact the
internet has become one of the cheapest and most potent advertising platforms.
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