Compare fleet tracking in Ireland

Fleet tracking, often referred to as telematics, is a complete solution that provides active monitoring of your fleet, drivers and all your rolling assets.

Fleet tracking in Ireland is meant to help fleet managers increase their fleet productivity, cut costs such as fuel and maintenance costs and improve fleet security.

A GPS fleet tracking system or fleet tracking device does not only transmit the location of your vehicles, but also collects a wide range of data from your vehicles to help you manage your business more efficiently.

This data is cloud-based, which means you can access it any time, from anywhere using the fleet tracking software or the GPS fleet tracking app. All you need is a device (be it a laptop, tablet or a mobile phone) and an internet connection.

There are many ways in which fleet tracking can help you optimise your business operations, including the following:

• You have real-time access to your vehicles location
• You can answer customer ETA questions immediately
• You get notified instantly about any breakdown or accidents
• You can monitor, spot and tackle inappropriate driving by your drivers
• You can plan more efficient routes

The best GPS fleet tracking systems are real stress relievers. The reassurance they provide lets you focus your energy to where your business needs it most and lets you focus your time and energy elsewhere.

Battery-wired GPS fleet trackers are installed on your vehicles and send data to the fleet tracking system. Using SIM cards, these devices transmit data continuously to a cloud-hosted flee tracking software platform, where fleet managers and business owners can check it from any internet-connected PC or mobile device.

They transmit the vehicle’s location by GPS from which the software can calculate the vehicle’s speed. You can check the vehicle’s live location on a map, its past movements, start and stop times, as well as locations and times where the vehicle went over the speed limit.

Sometimes, an accelerometer can be installed with the fleet tracking device. It allows you to identify possible collisions and aggressive behaviour demonstrated by your drivers. You can tackle these issues and train your drivers to decrease risk of accidents, wear and tear and fuel waste.

The fleet tracking cost depends on your needs and what features you want to add. Tracking systems can start from less than €10 a month for the most basic subscription and can go up to several hundred euros for fleets with detailed or unusual tracking needs. Fleet tracking companies usually have special offers available for fleets with a high number of vehicles.

The amount of hardware you have installed and the data volume you are collecting also influence the final price. As does the quality of hardware you choose and the number of other services you opt for. For example, if you have vehicle cameras you will pay for them as well.

We can understand how this is a high concern for fleet managers.

The short answer is that it’s very difficult to disable a GPS tracker. Any loss of power can trigger an immediate automatic alert to the vehicle owner or business manager, advising that the vehicle tracker has been tampered with, which allows you to act quickly and call the police.

You can also opt to have another anti-theft asset tracker with its own internal power supply installed. These can be hidden absolutely anywhere on or under the vehicle. They are used by national recovery teams who work with the police to track down stolen vehicles.

Apart from the GPS signal they transmit two other types of signal as well, which even work underground.

There are two types of fleet tracking devices you can get for your business, each with their pros and cons. It’s important to know the differences between them and make an informed choice.

First, you have self-install trackers, which are the cheaper option. They are simple to install and are powered automatically, without driver involvement. However, they don’t provide driver performance reports. Being that easy to install, they’re also easy to remove. We wouldn’t recommend these for a fleet.

Then, you have hard-wired tracking devices, which are the better fleet tracking option. They are installed by professionals, so they cannot be easily removed and tampered with.

These get you detailed reports based on which you can greatly improve the efficiency of your fleet and ease your admin work. Hard-wired trackers are slightly more expensive because they need to be installed by an engineer but offer increased reliability and are the more appropriate choice for a fleet.