22-07-2010

Telematics is the broad technical term which includes the process of vehicle tracking, which monitors the location, movements, status and behaviour of a single van or fleet of vehicles.

In a recent case study, the vehicle tracker helped a business with 123 vehicles in its fleet to improve its health and safety standards, as well as becoming more fuel-efficient. The good news for Van drivers and owners of commercial vehicles is that insurance providers are sitting up and taking note.

One company that fitted its vehicles with tracking software in a bid to minimise the costs of their operation, increase their health and safety record and maintain contact with their fleet, is David Webster Ltd.

According to Simon Haymen, head of procurement and logistics at the company, “the tracker helped the company maintain records of where their drivers were, as well as facilitating prompt action in case of an emergency”.

The move also helped monitor the driving techniques and behaviour of staff. The tracker report allowed the company to address speeding and other motoring issues to make drivers more aware of their fuel efficiency.

In America where, regarding telematics, they are a few years ahead, insurers are taking a great interest in the trackers, offering discounts correlated to each company’s level of risk in accordance with the results of the trackers. Many of the insurance benefits are simple to quantify, making it easy for business owners to track their ROI.

The ability to measure how safe drivers are in relation to each other seems to be a better predictor of risk than using some of the other proxies the insurance industry uses today. That being the case, telematics should continue to gain momentum as costs decline.

Safe drivers may be rewarded with cheaper van insurance cover as the use of vehicle trackers increases but money can still be saved today by using a van insurance comparison site. Contact Van Compare for low cost van insurance today.