With so many vehicles passing through different hands, keeping track of your vehicles in this fast-paced industry can be challenging. Tracking technology is, therefore, crucial to your business. Knowing the location of your fleet allows you to keep track of availability, enhancing both customer satisfaction and your company’s operational efficiency.
A tracking solution offers even more benefits to your company, not least ensuring the security of your fleet, which reduces losses not only of the vehicle itself but also of the additional costs that come with vehicle loss.
Efficiency in tracking also contributes to excellent resource management, reducing downtime and optimising asset usage.
The Prohire tracking technology does this and so much more! To understand how to get the most out of Prohire’s trackers, we spoke to two members of our excellent team: Rhys Cozens, one of Prohire’s Service Desk Engineers, and Clare Eastop, a member of our Customer Success Team.
With their experience supporting our clients with the trackers, we decided to speak with them to ascertain why Prohire trackers are crucial and how they believe you can make the most of them.
Why Prohire’s Tracking Solution Excels
As Rhys points out, “Prohire Tracker gives Rental companies full control of their fleet with live tracking and detailed trip views,” improving their daily operations. Prohire trackers allow their users to keep track of the live location of their vehicles and their trip history, informing them of the exact whereabouts of their vehicles at any time. Adding geofences ensures that your car is kept exactly where you want it. This efficiency-driven geofencing capability offers protection and enhances operational control.
As Clare specifies, this last element has been particularly popular with our clients. “Customers have reported that the geofencing facility has helped them identify customers that try to take vehicles abroad without having had this agreed with the hire company. They have also seen customers trying to use a vehicle for uninsured activities – such as courier services.”
Yet Prohire’s tracking technology doesn’t stop at simply providing the location of your fleet. Prohire has some unique technical features that set it apart from its competitors. Rhys highlights that the trackers are an “integrated solution directly built within the Prohire desktop platform” for ease of use. Clare adds that this is an essential facet of the tracking technology. “With Prohire trackers, companies can view their fleet from their desktop or Companion app and see their whereabouts in real time – a great way to reliably track a company’s main assets.”
A digital system streamlines the workflow and reduces the burden of manual processes on your company. Rhys points out, “As the Tracker portal is integrated, it provides full scope on the fleet and who is currently driving that Vehicle due to its ability to link to the Booking in the desktop system.” This level of operational efficiency is key in fast-paced rental environments.
Rhys also believes that the “ability to set up custom notifications for alerts, such as speeding and impacts,” is very popular with our clients. The built-in alert system reflects how the vehicle is being driven, whether it’s speeding, a crash, or even the removal of the tracker. Prohire’s tracking technology ensures you’re constantly informed about your vehicle’s status.
This information must be kept private to protect not only your company but your customers, too. Prohire trackers, therefore, have specific security measures in place to protect the data collected. Rhys highlights the primary safety measure: “Each of our products/systems requires you to log in/have a user to access it. So the data is securely stored within a hosted database that you have to log into to access.”
Rhys told us that, in his experience, customers find that the alert system streamlines their daily operations. “Late Return Alerts are a great feature as they provide insight into how close or far a returning customer is, giving the Hire Company scope to re-jig Bookings to prevent delays.” This feature, along with real-time tracking, represents the pinnacle of tracking efficiency, reducing unnecessary wait times and ensuring prompt service.
Late return alerts are, in Clare’s experience, vital. “As a vehicle is tracked in real-time, a rental company can see whether the vehicle will be returned late. The rental company can then prep another vehicle or make arrangements for the late vehicle to be turned around quickly – ensuring a suitable vehicle is ready for their customer.”
More efficient operations allow our tracker users to serve their customers more effectively. In an industry based on customers’ needs, it is vital to improve customer service constantly.
For Rhys, the ease with which trackers can be used is crucial to customer satisfaction. “Tracker comes with an integrated portal system whereby a rental company can ‘invite’ a customer to view the Vehicles they have on hire. Some rental companies will email a report to the customer based on speeding, eco-driving alerts, etc. The portal system allows the customer to access this information and pull off reports from the tracker portal.”
Clare, too, believes that the Prohire tracking technology is accessible, mainly because it is an integrated system built into Prohire. “Our trackers are the only trackers integrated with Prohire. This allows a company to view them from their rental software—no need to use another tracker app/platform.”
Rhys also highlights how he’s received customer feedback showing how vehicle tracking has impacted tracker users’ fuel consumption and overall cost savings. He states that “built-in odometer readings and live trip mileages that sync back to the desktop platform help prevent disputes/discrepancies for mileage allowances. This allows the Hire Company to charge excess mileage if applicable appropriately.”
Prohire trackers are simple to use and implement. With the constant help of the dedicated Prohire support team, they are a simple solution that can offer several benefits, most notably streamlining operations and improving customer service, both anchored in maximising efficiency.
