7 Essential Features to Look for in a Vehicle Tracking System

Vehicle tracking systems ensure cost-efficient operations and on-road safety. The global vehicle tracking system market size, which stood at USD 19.38 billion in 2021, is expected to grow at an exponential CAGR of 13.9% from 2022 to 2030. Large-scale acceptance of advanced technology and growing concern for vehicle safety and security are major growth factors, with other players increasing fleet operations across nations and government rules to install vehicle tracking in commercial vehicles.

Tech companies are investing resources to bring highly advanced vehicle tracking systems powered by the Internet of Things, Telematics, and artificial intelligence. And with each new entrant comes new features. So, here are the top 7 features to look out for in a vehicle tracking system:

Real-Time Location Tracking

Real-time vehicle monitoring is one of the most dominant features of today’s tracking devices for vehicles. By mapping vehicle locations as they move from one point to another, these systems help optimize routes quickly in case of last-minute changes or obstacles. Real-time vehicle updates further help fleet managers respond quickly to emergencies and recover goods or vehicles fast in the event of theft. This feature also helps companies improve customer service by informing customers of their package’s estimated arrival time.

The more advanced systems feature GeoFence alerts letting the users create geographical boundaries and set up alerts when a vehicle enters or exits the GeoFence. While real-time location tracking is the most basic feature of vehicle tracking systems, ensure the tracker you choose offers updates in real-time and not after an event.

Customizable Alerts

Besides real-time location tracking, your vehicle tracking system should also offer real-time, customizable alerts, like:

• Route deviation
• Vehicle maintenance
• Needless stoppages
• Over-speeding
• Odd-hours

These alerts help streamline operations, reduce operational expenses, and enhance business growth. Receiving notifications regarding commercial vehicle diagnostics and driving behavior can improve efficiency and reduce risk to a considerable extent. Similarly, tracking alerts about wasted fuel due to high idle times or poor driving habits can help you spot areas for improvement, while route deviation alerts can mitigate theft.

Tracking Vehicle Maintenance and Utilization

Fleet management is not just about tracking vehicles and monitoring the drivers but also ensuring proper vehicle maintenance. Vehicle downtime may impact your business severely, so it is critical to occasionally arrange vehicle servicing to prevent smaller issues from getting catastrophic. A good vehicle tracking system should monitor the health of your vehicles and spot new maintenance problems to improve their performance and prevent breakdowns. Real-time fault code alerts and on-time vehicle diagnostics are other important attributes to look out for.

Measuring fleet and commercial vehicle utilization is a significant indicator of the total cost of ownership and vehicle efficiency. In the fleet management business, knowing which vehicles and how often they are used is critical to determine whether you have the right kind and number of vehicles. Vehicle tracking systems offer detailed vehicle usage reports making informed decisions about improving vehicle efficiency or the need for fleet right-sizing. 

Trip History

A good quality vehicle tracking system should track all trips made by your vehicle, including unauthorized trips or route deviations, to attend to personal business by the driver. The system must offer records of the past 90 days, including distance covered by your vehicle, stoppages made, acceleration, vehicle maintenance and utilization, and excessive idling times. Such reports can help you save on fuel costs and keep tabs on driver activities. Modern vehicle tracking systems even feature dashboards letting the users view graphical reports that further help them make data-driven business decisions.

Driver Behavior Monitoring

Modern vehicle tracking systems offer insights into driving behaviors, like rapid acceleration, speeding, harsh braking, and average time spent at the job site. These reports can help you coach the drivers accordingly and enforce measures to enhance safety. Moreover, driver behavior monitoring can reduce road accidents by inculcating safe driving habits, helping your business run at maximum productivity and efficiency.

Route Optimization and Scheduling

Superior-grade vehicle tracking systems come with route optimization and scheduling features that help users plan and optimize routes as per traffic data and fuel consumption. This further reduces issues like overlapping routes, drivers taking longer routes, and the inability to send the closest vehicle for the next job. Route optimization helps to arrange routes cost-effectively and with details, such as unique delivery requirements and customer requests. This increases productivity, streamlines communication, and also brings in more revenue as the drivers complete more jobs every day.

Route optimization considers traffic patterns, bridge height, road work, and other factors impacting routes. Real-time details of current conditions can reduce fuel consumption and mileage, improve response time, and also help businesses make quick and informed decisions that meet customer expectations and maintain efficiency at the same time.

Mobile Fleet Tracking

People in this tech-centric era want solutions that help them work on the move or remotely. Dispatch managers in fleet management facilities want technology to track drivers and vehicles from their smartphones. Therefore, finding an all-inclusive vehicle GPS tracker that’s a mobile phone, computer, and software compatible is critical. Make sure it works with varied software applications, like inventory management, accounting, and dispatch, and double-check whether the system will offer reports on your smartphone, laptop, or computer. 

Conclusion

To conclude, vehicle tracking systems have come a long way recently. With increased integration and security levels, they also provide more potential than ever. But you will surely find some major differences if you go through different models across the market. So, doing your research is critical.