Category Archives: GPS Fleet Tracking and Vehicle Theft

GPS Catches Robbery Suspect in Car He Had Just Bought

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There’s no end to stories about thieves who trip themselves up and wind up getting caught. There’s even a TV show about them.

This one caught our eye for obvious reasons: On August 10, A man who allegedly robbed a bank in Chesterfield County, South Carolina, picked up his daughter from daycare in his getaway car soon after the heist. He then traded in the vehicle at a local car dealership.

Employees at the dealership thought the man acted suspiciously, so they placed a GPS fleet tracking device in the car he bought from them. The employees notified the police, who were able to track the car in real-time, leading to the suspect’s arrest.

That’s the first time we’ve heard of a trade-out vehicle using GPS fleet tracking to help catch a suspect. But we get plenty of reports from clients who’ve found their stolen or missing car using the technology.

With GPS fleet tracking, the ability to instantly locate all of your fleet vehicles isn’t the only benefit you’ll enjoy. You’ll also qualify for an insurance discount for each vehicle in the fleet, depending on your carrier and state. In some cases, the discount can substantial, up to 33%. Discounts vary by state, but those insurance carriers and their approximate discounts are:

  • AAA Insurance: up to 18%
  • AIG Insurance: up to 15%
  • Allstate Insurance (CA, TX, NY, FL)
  • ALFA Insurance (AL): up to 10%
  • Farmers Insurance: up to 15%
  • Fireman’s Fund: up to 5%
  • Geico: up to 10%
  • Georgia Farm Bureau Insurance (GA): up to 15%
  • Mutual: up to 25%
  • Mercury Insurance: up to 30%
  • Nationwide Insurance (CA): up to 10%
  • Progressive Insurance: up to 15%
  • Safeco Insurance: up to 10%
  • USAA Insurance: up to 33%
  • 21st Century Insurance: up to 15%

Some states mandate an insurance discount for vehicles equipped with GPS fleet tracking devices. According to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, those states are:

  • Florida
  • Illinois
  • Kentucky
  • Louisiana
  • Massachusetts
  • Minnesota
  • New Jersey
  • New Mexico
  • New York
  • Pennsylvania
  • Rhode Island
  • Texas

It makes good sense for an insurance carrier to offer lower premiums on vehicles with GPS fleet tracking units installed. The devices greatly increase the odds that a lost or stolen vehicle will be recovered, thus saving the carrier significant sums of money for replacing or repairing those vehicles.

Because you’ll be able to see where each vehicle is in real time on a familiar Google Map, you’ll know immediately if one is somewhere it’s not supposed to be. You even can be alerted by text message or email if a vehicle strays outside a predetermined polyfence you create on your PC. At the very least, you’ll know the last place a vehicle was tracked by GPS if it is stolen.

Play it smart. Talk to your insurance agent before you install a GPS fleet tracking system across your fleet. Make sure to ask about even steeper discounts for multiple installations of GPS fleet tracking devices. You and your carrier have nothing to lose and everything to gain – including a better night’s sleep.

Windy City Might Use GPS Fleet Tracking to Clean Up Streets and Sanitation Department

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We’ve blogged before about how GPS fleet tracking has helped municipal governments improve accountability. After all, wouldn’t any department head responsible for a vehicle fleet want to know the whereabouts of each driver with the click of a mouse?

Now it looks like Chicago’s streets and sanitation department might be the next entity to use GPS fleet tracking to get a handle on what the Chicago Sun-Times calls “slackers.”

“We need to get guys to come to work,” said a former Chicago police officer who used GPS tracking devices to get employees back on track at the city’s Transportation Department.

Maybe the Chicagoans should look at what happened when the mayor of Bridgeport, Connecticut, decided to keep an eye on employee time-wasting. Bill Finch outfitted 85 city vehicles with GPS fleet tracking units in the first phase of a multiyear deployment. They include snowplows, sanitation and recycling trucks, and vehicles used by zoning and building department officials.

“When I took office, one of my goals was to professionalize city government, increase accountability, and realize cost-savings. The installation of GPS units is one more step in that process,” Finch said.

The issue of employee privacy had been raised prior to the installations. In 2008, six city fire inspectors were fired based on data from GPS tracking devices secretly placed in their vehicles. An investigation found the six had allegedly used the vehicles for personal purposes and were lying about their duties.

“Secretly” is the key word here. As several citizens noted, not telling the employees about the GPS devices could lead to lawsuits. But Finch was undeterred. He even planned to have a unit installed in his city vehicle in the second round of installations.

Any conscientious GPS tracking service provider will urge clients to engage drivers in a dialogue about the benefits of using such a system. This will help them see how GPS fleet tracking can help save fuel costs, reduce idle time and enforce speed limits. You don’t need to be a mayor to get your point across. Just don’t let it become a political issue.

Learn more about GPS fleet tracking and try an interactive demo.

Study Shows Mobile-Asset Thefts on Rise, but Affordable Protection Can Help

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Ever watch construction activities at a building site or on city streets? Chances are that a portion of the construction equipment being used is stolen property. And the equipment that isn’t “hot” has a good chance of being stolen.

Those are the conclusions of a recent study in Canada that found mobile-asset theft is a growing problem – but one that equipment owners can easily fight off with defenses such as GPS fleet tracking.

Some highlights of the study by Rogers Research Group:

  • 46% of those surveyed reported at least one equipment theft from their job site
  • 31% reported more than one theft
  • 63% reported their stolen equipment wasn’t recovered
  • 8% reported damage to recovered equipment
  • 43% of those damages cost a minimum of $5,000 to repair

Figures like that show that mobile-asset theft can be a major expense for companies, especially when figuring in variables such as lost income caused by downtime, reduced employee productivity, higher insurance premiums and additional security requirements. Fences and alarms won’t stop the most determined thieves. The survey reported only 6% of respondents had installed GPS fleet tracking or other recovery methods on their mobile assets.

Fortunately, affordable and easily installed solutions are available today to help contractors keep track of their mobile assets, including heavy equipment. For example, our new BAT50 battery-powered GPS asset-tracking device is a battery-operated device that doesn’t require a mechanic for installation. It mounts quickly in any inconspicuous place on mobile assets, so thieves aren’t likely to find it, much less disable it. The antenna is built in, so it won’t attract attention.

The BAT50 is will track any rarely moved or seldom-used mobile asset, such as crates, generators, containers and trailers. The power source is a long-lasting internal lithium-thionyl chloride battery. The BAT50 transmits its location once a day or once a week, depending on the service plan selected. The equipment’s location is shown in real time on a familiar Google Map on any Internet-connected computer.

Water- and dust-resistant, the BAT50 is an ideal GPS asset tracking unit for any mobile asset exposed to outdoor elements. It’s protected against dust and high-pressure water jets. It weighs less than 6 ounces, and is 5-3/4 inches long by 2-1/4 inches wide and 7/8-inch high.

If you don’t want your mobile assets to become statistics in the next study, check out the BAT50 and its one-page installation and user guide. To learn more about Vehiclepath GPS fleet tracking and try an interactive demo, visit www.vehiclepath.com.

Kids Can be Tracked by GPS and Low-Tech Solutions

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It’s summer vacation time – a time when parents are more concerned than usual about making sure their kids don’t stray out of sight. All that free time means children have more opportunities to evade the reach of Mom, Dad, relatives and friends.

In recent years, affordable solutions have come on the market that utilize the same technology found in GPS fleet tracking. While we’re partial to any product that employs GPS, it should be pointed out that even wristwatch-size trackers only report a child’s current or last-known location to within a few yards; so it’s not always possible to discover little Johnny standing next to the gorilla exhibit at the zoo. Furthermore, most of these devices mean that if Mom or Dad aren’t at home, they need access to an Internet-connected computer to get a fix on their child’s location. Some web-connected PDAs with browsers will do the trick when the family’s on an outing, however.

Some well-thought-out low-tech solutions to getting the kids back safely are mentioned in this Baltimore Sun article. Among them is the SafetyTat, a waterproof tattoo marketed as “The Tat That Brings Kids Back.” Its creator is a Baltimore-area mother who wanted to attach her phone number to her child. So far, more than 500,000 of the brightly colored tattoos have been sold.

The issue of tracking children is a growing concern. Some interesting statistics from the article: “The Boston-based Center to Prevent Lost Children says that 90 percent of families will momentarily lose track of a child in a public place; 20 percent have lost a child more than once. Forty-five percent of the children get separated from parents in malls and stores, and 27 percent in amusement parks, according to the center, which consults with employees at amusement parks, airports, beaches and similar areas.”

Keeping track of teens with driver’s license is a bit easier with GPS fleet tracking technology because you can monitor their whereabouts in real time on a familiar Google Map.

But for younger kids, the article notes, some common-sense tips can make it easier to track them down if they do get separated from adults, including:

  • Don’t announce your kids’ names around strangers, or put their names on the outside of clothes or personal items.
  • Teach kids at a young age to know their last names, home address and phone number; how to dial 911 in an emergency and how to place collect calls.
  • Keep small children in view at all times in public places. Teach them what to do if they become separated from their family.
  • Don’t allow kids to listen to music through headphones or play handheld electronic games while walking.

Here’s hoping you and your little ones have a safe, happy summer. And however you do it, keep on trackin!

Survey Finds GPS Fleet Tracking Helps Firms Thrive in Tough Economy

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There seems to be a recent surge in surveys about how fleet operators are faring in this tough economy. And all their conclusions are pretty much the same: GPS fleet tracking is helping companies maintain customer-satisfaction levels, optimize vehicle usage and control service-related costs.

Another new report, “Service Workforce and Fleet Management: Driving Utilization with Location Intelligence,” published by the Aberdeen Group, concludes that major firms are relying on GPS fleet tracking to “increase visibility into all service resources via GPS.”

Fleet operators who responded to the study report that they currently monitor and track the location of 35% of their workers and 47% of their vehicles. That’s an increase in averages of 23% for workers and 35% for vehicles in 2008. The respondents also said they plan further investments in GPS fleet tracking in 2010.

“These results are indicative of the value offered by GPS-enabled tracking, navigation and routing solutions in meeting cost containment and customer management pressures faced by today’s service and manufacturing organizations,” an Aberdeen senior research analyst said.

The survey said responding firms have realized the following average improvements in key service performance indicators since they installed a GPS fleet tracking system:

  • 25% reduction in idle times
  • 32% increase in fleet utilization
  • 22% decrease in fuel costs and a 31% drop in daily mileage
  • 23% boost in workforce productivity

According to the survey, responding firms are “significantly more likely than all others to actively integrate captured location information and intelligence into their field service scheduling and parts management systems to drive overall service delivery efficiency.”

The recent uptick in similar reports confirms for us what we’ve been saying all along: GPS fleet tracking is the best way to help fleet operators keep a lid on costs and boost employee productivity.

Two benefits the studies often fail to mention: A GPS tracking system almost always delivers a return on investment in just a few months. Plus a GPS system also can help you recover a stolen or missing vehicle in just seconds. You’ll be able to track it immediately on a PC to find its current or last known location on familiar Google Maps – really helpful information for law enforcement.

Those are just a few benefits you can expect from GPS fleet tracking. Find out what else it can do for your fleet.