Top Five Telematics Tall Tales

Wednesday, April 19, 2017 - 12:45
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TomTom Telematics

Crewe-based Radius Payment Solutions has conducted a nationwide survey looking into attitudes towards telematics, which surprisingly finds that only 5% of users were negative towards the technology. It also finds a quarter of fleet owners (26%) have had issues with insurance costs, and a further quarter has had issues with driver behaviour prior to the installation.

With responses from business owners, finance managers and fleet managers from sectors including fleet, construction, courier, transport and property; the survey provides a comprehensive overview of attitudes from those managing business vehicles.  

Below are the top five telematics myths identified in the survey:

“Driver efficiency is fleet managers’ top priority”

Businesses using telematics might expect improvements in fuel efficiency to be the most important reason for installation. However, the research has found that almost a third of respondents stated the biggest motivation was in fact for fleet managers to know where vehicles are and to track location in real time.

“Telematics is too expensive”

Of the companies which haven’t installed telematics, a third put the hesitation down to concerns over cost. However, the research has found that of those who are using telematics, most introduced them as a cost saving measure (44%). Account Management systems such as Radius’ Kinesis, gives accurate MPG updates to ensure trips are as fuel efficient as possible.

“Big brother is watching you”

Following the installation of telematics, some fleet managers and drivers could have concerns they display a lack of trust. However, only 5% of those surveyed stated their drivers responded negatively to installation.

“Drivers don’t know they are being tracked”

You might expect that drivers are unsure they are being tracked and that their fleet bosses surreptitiously installed the technology; however our research found that over 90% of respondents made their drivers aware that telematics are installed in their vehicles.

“Telematics doesn’t help fleet performance”

Almost a third of fleets have had issues with monitoring where their vehicles are in real time before installing telematics, which has affected route planning, fuel consumption and cost effectiveness. As well as this, a quarter have had issues in the past with driver behaviour. Following the installation of telematics however, fleet managers can reroute drivers in real time, monitor their driving characteristics and find the most cost effective way to exact locations.

Director for Telematics at Radius Payment Solutions, Tom Pickles, said: “In the current climate, customers want an easy, affordable and holistic solution to manage their fleet. The stats reveal that the vast majority of drivers are happy with the technology, and fleet managers are enjoying the benefits of reduced fuel and increased productivity. Kinesis provides real time updates on fleets, enabling fleet managers to monitor the location, activity and behavior of their vehicles regardless of location or number of vehicles.”

Radius Payment Solutions offers Kinesis, a telematics, cloud-based fleet management solution. The telematics product enables fleet managers to monitor the location, activity and behavior of their vehicles with greater ease and in real time, regardless of location or number of vehicles.

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