Evaluating Fleet GPS Vendors

By Neil Zawacki
Updated: August 16, 2011

Fleet GPS can offer numerous benefits to a growing business. You can use it to track hundreds of vehicles at the same time, improve fuel efficiency, and reduce unnecessary overtime. It also tends to be a substantial investment, so it’s important to choose the best vendor for your company.

You should start by determining if the vendor can meet your company’s needs. Ask the following questions:

How many vehicles will need to be tracked?
Do you want to restrict vehicles from specific locations?
How long do you need the data to be stored?
Do you want a messaging device built into the system?
Will you need turn-by-turn navigation for your drivers?

The vendor’s website should provide you the system specifications and other information that you need. If it doesn’t, you may have to contact the vendor directly, though you might not want to bother—a bad website reflects poorly on a company.

You should also see whether the vendor provides free training for the fleet GPS solution. Many of the systems can be pretty tricky to pick up, and the devices are going to be used by a large number of personnel. You can save yourself a lot of headaches if your employees understand how the software works and know how to use the different features.

Once you’ve gathered this information, you should contact the vendor for a list of references. You should then call them over the next few days and see how the fleet GPS solution worked out for them. Some of them may be too busy to talk, but most should be willing to answer some questions. This can also provide some insight into how the vendor tends to treat its customers.

You should also read a few consumer reviews of the product. You can find these on technology websites and discover how the fleet GPS solution performed in different situations (large number of vehicles, high traffic, and so forth). A negative review shouldn’t necessarily dissuade you, but if the same problems keep cropping up on different assessments there’s problem a reason.

Finally, you should ask for a free demonstration of the fleet GPS solution. Most vendors will travel to your company to answer your questions and show you how the system works. If they aren’t willing to provide this service you should probably move on to a different vendor—it’s a common sign that they are experiencing financial difficulty or don’t want you to see potential issues with the product.