Take Charge Of Your Rental Assets With GPS Tracking

Having a vast amount of rental equipment and vehicles can be a head ache if un-managed properly. Many assets are underutilised, under serviced, and used harshly. All of this can lead to unnecessary costs, serious accidents, and profit taken away from your rental.

Achieving maximum asset utilisation in a rental fleet is something all rental managers aim to achieve. Having a GPS tracking system can inform you how long your rental was used for, when it’s left or back on site, when it’s due for maintenance, and if it’s being used as per your guidelines.

Here are four ways GPS tracking can help you take charge of your rental fleet:

1. Asset Recovery

We’ve all heard stories of stolen assets from building sites. This is hard to overcome without GPS tracking as sites are often unpatrolled by security throughout the night. GPS tracking can alert you as soon as an unauthorised event occurs. You’ll be able track exactly where your asset is going, and locate the people who are responsible.

Rigs and Things owner Merv Hooper noticed his truck was being operated when it shouldn’t have been. Merv was able track his stolen truck and give police the GPS data to arrest the criminals in the process. Merv gave the police a GPS report of exactly where the truck had been driven at the time it was stolen. It turned out that it was more than a vehicle theft, the truck was being used on a drug run which resulted in several people being convicted.

2. Incident Prevention

Improper use of your assets can result in serious incidents. Setting up live alerts for your vehicle as it crosses the safe operation boundary can give you more power to stress the terms of your contract or cancel the agreement. Speeding is a major hazard for companies, but without being in the vehicle when it happens, how do you enforce safe driving practices? A GPS tracking system can be used with live alerts being sent to the fleet manager as soon as an offence occurs. This will enable you to manage your rental fleet as if you’re sitting in the passenger seat.

With the updated Health and Safety Act 2015, your company may be liable if you are not seen as showing due diligence, particularly if an incident occurs due to your rental assets not being operated safely. GPS tracking can help you establish policies in your organisation that fall within the updated act. Download our ebook “Health and Safety at Work” to get up to speed and compliant with the law changes.

3. Driver Behaviour

The term “drive it like a rental” is often used, as people that rent vehicles may not treat their rental as it if was their own. Harsh braking, cornering, and accelerating can damage your asset and reduce its life. Rental agreements can be tailored to include harsh use of vehicles to be unacceptable. Data from your asset can be used to paint a picture on the person operating the vehicle, and can give you power to alert the driver of his/her behaviour.

4. Charging For unauthorised Hours

Construction equipment that’s left idling or over used can dig into your profit and add maintenance costs, as engine hours on your equipment will increase unnecessarily. Over use of engine hours outside of the rental agreement can be reported using GPS tracking. Extra hours can be charged accordingly which can help you claim back costs that would have otherwise been un accounted for.

Benefits from installing GPS tracking on rental fleet will give you peace of mind, especially considering that your equipment is being rented out to customers who may not treat your equipment or vehicles as well as you do. Having GPS tracking installed into your rental fleet will give you total visibility on the most harshly used type of asset in any industry.