Operating a fleet of over 1,000 vehicles across the UK, Autoglass is the nation’s leading vehicle glass repair, replacement and recalibration company. As part of a drive to enhance driver safety and efficiency in its entire fleet, Autoglass partnered with technology solutions specialist Trakm8, to implement cohesive telematics solutions across its range of technician vans.
Autoglass teamed up with Trakm8 in 2018 in a drive to further pursue high quality service in its fleet of vehicles, which transverse the country twenty four hours a day, seven days a week in the course of attending to more than one million motorists every year.
Trakm8 provides market-leading telematics products that address the most common problems faced by fleet managers. Products, such as the Trakm8 Connect 330, help prevent expensive downtime by alerting managers to minor faults before they develop into major problems, encourages safer driving practices and can save dozens of work hours lost to byzantine route management systems and spreadsheets. Meanwhile, Trakm8’s discreet Roadhawk dashcam can help protect businesses from the reputational and financial damages resulting from road accidents.
For Autoglass, its technicians are the customer-facing representatives of the company, therefore driver behaviour and performance is directly linked to reputation. Telematics provides a simple and cost-effective way to help drivers drive more safely, thereby protecting the reputation held by Autoglass for excellence in every aspect of business.
Trakm8 telematics products offer Autoglass the data needed to achieve improvements in driver behaviour in a cost-effective package. Andrew Ertl, Fleet Manager at Autoglass, said: “It’s no exaggeration to say our collaboration with Trakm8 has been transformative for our fleet. Our technicians travel the country every day and as the customer-facing part of our business, it’s paramount that they maintain their great reputation for customer service while on the road, too.”
Enabled by Trakm8’s data, Autoglass designed a scheme to recognise and reward drivers that consistently achieve the best scores in driving behaviour, speed limit compliance and idling time, which has contributed to an even greater improvement in driver behaviour.
In the last three years Autoglass has reduced speeding incidents across its fleet to achieve speed limit compliance of 98%, cut idling time per vehicle by a half, markedly improved driver behaviour and improved insurance claim handling thanks to the use of dash cam evidence.
These results were achieved through the use of two Trakm8 products – the Connect 330 and the RoadHawk Dash Cam.
The Connect 330 is a device that fits into the palm of the hand, but one that also packs a powerful technological punch.
Designed and manufactured in the UK by Trakm8, the plug-in device is easily fitted into a vehicle’s OBD (on board diagnostics) port, and streams tracking, CANbus and driver behaviour data to enable fleet managers to consistently act quickly.
It also enables Autoglass to ensure that only drivers authorised to drive certain vehicles do so.
The RoadHawk meanwhile, has led to a 20% cut in the rate of at-fault accidents and a 10% reduction in insurance premiums.
The last word goes to Ertl: “The Trakm8 Connect 330 has helped our fleet make gains in many areas. We’ve improved our fleets’ overall driving score to an industry-leading level, while reducing costs accrued from accidents, insurance claims and vehicle idle time.”
Highly Commended: Runyourfleet
A common issue with telematics services is the amount of data they produce, and the need to decipher the relevant data and take action when required.
The team at Runyourfleet constantly monitors the vehicle fault data being received from the connect service and makes interventions if there is a risk that a vehicle could break down or miss a service interval. This maximises up-time and reduces costs by avoiding major unit failures through timely contact with drivers and fleet managers when issues are detected. The Runyourfleet connect service provides asset level data only (vehicle faults, service countdowns, fuelling events, odometer readings etc.) and this can be upgraded to connect plus at any time, which then includes full GPS data including location, and full driver behaviour reporting.