Fleet management systems provide real-time visibility into trucking operations, enabling managers to streamline their tasks and find areas of opportunity to increase profitability. From handling drivers’ schedules to maintaining vehicles, managing a transportation business is challenging. However, technological advancements offer ways to make the job easier and more efficient.
So what is fleet management all about? How can your business benefit from it? And where can you find a one-stop solution to fulfill your requirements? This article will discuss the answers to these questions to help you find the best fleet management system for your company.
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What Are Fleet Management Systems?
Fleet management refers to the processes that help oversee trucking operations and handle relevant data regarding vehicles and other assets. Fleet management systems simplify these tasks to reduce costs, keep the fleet in shape and stay on top of compliance requirements. Some of the actions required to keep a fleet running efficiently and that can be automated are:
- Route planning.
- Overseeing vehicle maintenance.
- Overseeing fuel consumption and costs.
- Finding and tackling areas of opportunity.
- Driver management.
- Decreasing instances of waste.
- Asset utilization.
In sum, if your company depends on commercial vehicles, you are dealing with fleet management. While it might seem challenging to handle everything, a web based fleet management system can be of great help.
Advantages of Using an Online Fleet Management System
The returns for investing in a cloud fleet management system make it worthwhile. Amongst the multitude of benefits that help trucking businesses grow are:
- Simplified regulatory compliance. Drivers must ensure that they comply with regulatory laws. Fleet management technology can assist with electronic logs, log auditing, electronic driver vehicle inspection reports (eDVIR), tax reports, and more.
- Driver safety. Keeping your drivers safe must be a priority. Fleet management solutions assist with real-time locations, driving behavior, and vehicle conditions to prevent accidents and mechanical issues.
- Increased productivity. Fleet managers are informed about road conditions, get traffic updates, and can monitor drivers’ hours of service and locations. As a result, dispatch is more efficient. Operational and historical data are available to help supervisors find opportunities to minimize risks and increase productivity.
- Improved customer service. Tracking assets and driver statuses allows managers to inform clients more accurately about the status of their orders.
- Reduced costs. One of the best things about fleet management platforms is that it decreases transportation complexities, which helps cut costs. Idling monitoring, better routing, and proper vehicle maintenance mean less expenditure on fuel and repairs. Additionally, it can prevent the unauthorized use of the vehicle.
- Easier maintenance. Keeping track of maintenance needs for each vehicle in the fleet can be complex and time-consuming. Fleet management system features usually include preventative maintenance scheduling and fault code detection to make this task easier and keep vehicles running smoothly.
You can get these benefits from a dependable fleet management solution. A quick comparison of features and providers’ ratings on app distribution platforms will go a long way to make sure you choose the right system for your trucking business.
HOS247 Offers an All-In-One Web Based Fleet Management System
HOS247 is here to help. We are a one-stop solution for truckers that helps keep you compliant with federal laws and regulations and boost performance. Our fleet management system features include:
- ELD. Electronic logging devices are mandatory for commercial drivers to record hours of service. HOS247’s electronic logbook is designed to comply with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA) requirements with minimal effort.
- IFTA mileage calculations. Reduce the administrative burden of manually calculating mileage per jurisdiction and the risk of human error, which could result in being audited.
- GPS tracking. Our 4G GPS trackers provide real-time visibility of every truck in the fleet. Moreover, it helps with asset protection by preventing vehicle misuse and theft. It can also help recover stolen assets.
- Vehicle maintenance. Ensure proper vehicle upkeep and care to minimize issues on the road with preventative maintenance reminders. It also helps extend your vehicles’ useful lives.
- Fault code detection. Knowing about issues that can affect vehicle performance allows fleet managers to resolve them before they become a significant problem, saving time and money. HOS247’s Diagnostic Trouble Codes (DTC) increase driver safety and prevent downtime.
- Automated idle tracking. Idling leads to fuel wastage. Monitoring idling time is a way for fleet managers to identify this problem and help drivers keep it to a minimum.
These features help truckers comply with federal laws and utilize resources efficiently to increase profitability.
Benefits of HOS247 Services
At HOS247, we work hard to give our clients reliable services that contribute to their business. This work ethic is why we stand out from other providers. In addition to compliance and driver safety, our services come with the following benefits:
- Premium customer support. We have an efficient and responsive customer support team for your assistance. You can call any day of the week and we will help you troubleshoot in English, Spanish, Polish, or Russian.
- No contracts. With HOS247, customers are not tied to contracts. Our dependable service is the reason our clients decide to stay with us. If you don’t want to continue our service for any reason, you are free to do so without worrying about fines or penalties.
- Flexible plans. You can scale your plan up or down to accommodate the business’s needs.
- Two-week trial with hassle-free return. You can try out our services for two weeks to find out if we meet their fleet management system requirements. If you are not convinced, you’ll get a full hassle-free refund.
- Reliability and efficiency. Our hardware is durable, our software is dependable and our after-sale services are top-rated. HOS247 is a strategic partner for transportation businesses.
Book a free demo and get to know our driver-friendly system.
Who Needs ELDs According to the FMCSA?
The FMCSA makes it mandatory for drivers to have an electronic logging device if they operate a truck for commercial purposes, even if they reside in Mexico or Canada. However, there are a few cases where the FMCSA allows exemption from the ELD rule. In the following cases, drivers can manually record the hours of service:
- Pre-2000 vehicles. Vehicles with engines manufactured before the year 2000.
- Driveaway-towaway operations. If the truck is the product being delivered.
- 8-day RODS. Drivers that keep records of duty status (RODS) for 8-days during a thirty day period.
- Cases of ELD malfunction. Drivers experiencing issues with their elogs must notify their motor carrier and manually record their HOS until the device is fixed.
Additionally, short haul drivers—operators who only drive within 150 air-miles from their home terminal— are exempt from keeping RODS since they use time cards instead.
I’ve co-founded, built and managed several transportation-related businesses. Now, I’m a founder and CEO of HOS247 – an AI Transportation Platform for trucking companies, freight brokers and other logistics operations. We are transitioning old-style operations to technology-advanced logistics entities and help them to grow their businesses. ELDs (electronic logging devices), fleet tracking and management 2.0 combined with AI-powered dispatch tools.
HOS247 Is an Industry Leader Providing Electronic Logs Besides helping drivers and carriers meet e-log compliance with the rules set by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), HOS247 is a top-rated DOT electronic logbook provider and is highly trusted
In December of 2019, the United States Department of Transportation and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) updated its truck driver electronic log law. This update ruled out the use of Automatic On-board Recording Devices (AOBRD) and confirmed that
The ability to monitor vehicles in real time is a major benefit to fleet managers. When able to view location data, speed, a driver’s idle time and more, fleet managers can make real-time decisions that benefit the business as a