How Motor Pool Managers Monitor Driving Habits and Save on Insurance
Usage based insurance for vehicle and truck fleets has always been and easier sell than UBI and telematics for individual car owners. It is also more rewarding for agents since they end up signing on multiple vehicles at the same time. Owners of vehicle fleets have also used a variety of timing and telemetry devices in their vehicles for years, and the use of plug-in telematic tools and GPS trackers offers the most convenient way to keep track of drivers without making modifications to vehicles. The old days of "tattlers" have been replaced with sophisticated units that may be completely unobtrusive to the casual driver.
For fleets, time is money, and miles equal dollars. In the past, keeping drivers honest was difficult, and often fleet managers discovered to their dismay that workers were using vehicles after hours, using the company gas card to fill up personal vehicles, and that people were borrowing the company truck for decidedly non-business purposes. Even at a small business, tens of thousands of dollars a year could be lost to drivers who are not conscientious about their habits, or who think they are getting an off-the-books fringe benefit. An entire industry grew up around making sure drivers didn’t end up stopping off at various places for entertainment, renting out the vehicles for other uses, and wasting time that could be used to make more trips or service calls in a day. Essentially, GPS and "tattler" systems were designed to keep people from goofing off.
Prevent OSHA and DOT Fines, Avoid Lawsuits
The more serious side of the equation, and the one that affects insurance rates, involves monitoring driver safety. While you might think that fleets would appreciate the driver who puts the pedal to the metal and makes top dollar by moving more freight, the fact of the matter is that such driving is more likely to create claims that can cost millions of dollars. Bad driving habits such as speeding, hard braking, sudden acceleration, and wild steering or quick cornering are the things that cause accidents, OSHA claims, DOT fines, and bad publicity. Worse yet, if an audit shows a pattern of high speed driving and dangerous behavior, executives may find themselves facing jail time. The right usage-based insurance can solve a lot of problems at the same time, and often include fleet management software and purchasing cards that limit expenses to items a driver might actually need, as opposed to some of the odd stuff you come across in one of those mega truck stops out in the middle of nowhere.