Blog

GPS Tracking

August 31, 2010 – 8:48 am

We had the opportunity last weekend to drive the Washington DC.  With that we notice a lot of vehicles on the road that had graphics on the side of their vans, trucks and even cars.  Owners spent hundreds, if not thousands of dollars on the graphics on their company trucks.  We know the purpose of this is to be noticed, to attract business.  But what if you drivers were speeding down the highway, wasting gas, saw it many of times, or sitting in a parking lot reading the newspaper with the engine running, wasting gas.  How would you know? See our Idle Calculator- it’s free. There are many numbers out there that say idling for one hour waste .75 gallons of gas.  How much is gas right now, $2.75/gallon?  Think about if your driver idles for 2 hours a day.  So, over a week’s time of work that’s 14 hours of idle, or about $28.80 per week.  Figure the rest out.

Continue to spend on the graphics, that helps business, but you can now save money with Fleet Tracking.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , |

Replacing your QUALCOMM AVL System

May 7, 2010 – 10:18 am

There has been an underlying question.  When is the ready time to replace the QUALCOMM System in your fleet? QUALCOMM offered the highest technology of its time, true Satellite tracking.

But now, with the advancements of cellular coverage and the new real-time fleet management system, the time might be right to look at converting over to a real-time GPS fleet tracking solution from Safety Track.

These systems have come a long way over the past 10 years.  Coverage is about 98% of America.  Features now include dispatch capabilities, true real-time messaging with your driver, truck routes for different weight classes of your fleet, Turn by Turn navigation, all at a fraction of the cost of the QUALCOMM system.  With a “0” down leasing option, now may be the time to look at replacing your old system and UPGRADING to a new system that can actually improve your response time and increase productivity.  In this economy, that is a good thing.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , |

Qualcomm is Exiting the AVL Space

May 3, 2010 – 11:31 am

Safety Track, a leader in the AVL industry, has received an announcement today from Norman Ellis with Qualcomm who sent out an internal e-mail today announcing that Qualcomm is exiting the AVL space. 

What does this mean to Qualcomm’s current users. Well, first they can change over over to an more affordable AVL system. One that includes dispatch and turn by turn Navigation.  Safety Track has been leading the way in changing over current Qualcomm users. With advance systems requirements, Safety Track can help curretn Qualcomm user select the right system for them.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , |

CSA 2010 Compliance

April 8, 2010 – 1:36 pm

Many Changes are coming this year for the fleet trucking industry. Safety Track’s Fleet Management System can give you the ability to track and maintain drivers moving hours. Stored for up to 6 months and having the ability to store into your tracking system, gives you the added advantage need to meet the tough  CSA 2010  requirements set forth by the U.S. Government. With the built in maintenance module, you can track DOT information and Safety Inspections, all in one convenient location. Track any infraction your driver may have or your fleet may have within the system. Along with these feature the Fleet Management System from Safety Track, a leader in Fleet Safety and Tracking, your will have a industry leading fleet tracking and routing solution. Track and dispatch your fleet to approved truck routes.

Safety Track

Promote Your Page Too

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , |

Deduct the Cost of Buying a GPS Tracking System!

April 6, 2010 – 8:20 am

Section 179 Provides BIG $$$ Incentives…

Businesses to deduct the full purchase price of qualifying equipment purchased or financed during the tax year

Invest in GPS and Fleet Management and receive a generous tax break designed specifically to help companies invest in technology and their business. Section 179 of the IRS tax code allows businesses to deduct the full purchase price of qualifying equipment purchased or financed during the tax year.

What is the Section 179 Deduction? Most people think the Section 179 Deduction is some arcane or complicated tax code. It really isn’t, as the following will show you. Essentially, Section 179 of the IRS tax code allows businesses to deduct the full purchase price of qualifying equipment purchased or financed during the tax year. That means that if you buy (or lease) a piece of qualifying equipment, you can deduct the FULL PURCHASE PRICE from your gross income. It’s an incentive created by the US Government to encourage businesses to buy equipment and invest in themselves.

Essentially, Section 179 works like this: When your business buys certain pieces of equipment, it typically gets to write them off a little at a time through depreciation. In other words, if your company spends $50,000 on a vehicle, it gets to write off (say) $10,000 a year for five years (these numbers are only meant to give you an example.)

Now, while it’s true that this is better than no write off at all, most business owners would really prefer to write off the entire equipment purchase price for the year they buy it.

In fact, if a business could write off the entire amount, they might add more equipment this year instead of waiting. That’s the whole purpose behind Section 179.

Limits of Section 179: Section 179 does come with limits – there are caps to the total amount written off ($250,000 in 2009), and limits to the total amount of the equipment purchased ($800,000 in 2009.) The deduction begins to phase out dollar for dollar after 800k, so this makes it a true small and medium-sized business deduction.

However, in 2009, businesses that exceed the $250k deduction limit can take a bonus depreciation of 50% on the amount that exceeds the limit. And then also take normal depreciation on the rest. Nice.

Who Qualifies for Section 179? All businesses that purchase or finance less than $800,000 in business equipment should qualify for the Section 179 Deduction. In addition, most tangible goods qualify for the Section 179 Deduction. Also, to qualify for the Section 179 Deduction; the equipment purchased must be placed into service between January 1, 2009 and December 31, 2009. The deduction begins to phase out if more than $800,000 of equipment is purchased – in fact, the deduction decreases on a dollar for dollar scale after that, making Section 179 a deduction specifically for small and medium-sized businesses.

Leasing and Section 179: Did you know that your company can lease equipment and still take full advantage of the Section 179 deduction? In fact, leasing equipment with the Section 179 deduction in mind is a preferred financial strategy for many businesses, as it can significantly help with not only cash flow, but with profits as well.

Non-Tax | Capital Lease: The main benefit of a non-tax capital lease is that you can still take full advantage of the Section 179 Deduction, yet make smaller payments. With a non-tax capital lease you can acquire and write off $250,000 worth of equipment this year, without actually spending $250,000 this year. A small business that is managing cash flow can leverage a non-tax capital lease and still take the Section 179 Deduction

Examples of non-tax capital leases include a $1.00 Buyout, and a 10% Purchase Upon Termination (PUT) Lease. In many cases, the amount you save in taxes will be MORE than the total of your first year’s payments.

Equipment Financing: You may also obtain an equipment loan using an Equipment Finance Agreement (EFA) and still take the Section 179 Deduction.Advantages of Leasing and Financing:

The obvious advantage to leasing or financing equipment and then taking the Section 179 Deduction is the fact that you can deduct the full amount of the equipment, without paying the full amount this year. The amount you save in taxes can actually exceed the payments, making this a very bottom-line friendly deduction (you are reading this correctly – in many cases, the deduction will actually be profit.)

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 has officially extended the Section 179 Deduction increases made available in the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008 through December 31, 2009

Economic Stimulus Act of 2008 and Section 179

In order to address concerns regarding a slowing economy, President Bush asked Congress to come up with an Economic Stimulus Plan that would benefit both consumers and businesses, and Congress responded with a comprehensive economic stimulus package.

On February 13, 2008, President Bush signed H.R. 5140, otherwise known as the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008. The Economic Stimulus Act immediately grabbed headlines because most Americans would receive a check for $600 from Uncle Sam. While the Economic Stimulus Act was a boon for consumers, there were significant benefits in the Economic Stimulus Act for businesses as well.

In fact, Small Business benefited a great deal from the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008. This is because the Section 179 Deduction limits were generously increased, and small businesses across the country reaped the rewards.

How your business will benefit from the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008
The Section 179 Deduction has been significantly enhanced by the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008, and now extended an additional year by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, giving businesses an incentive to invest in themselves by purchasing or leasing new equipment.

The specific impact the Economic Stimulus Act has had on the Section 179 deduction is related to the dollar limits of the deduction. The previous dollar limits were a $125,000 limit on the deduction and the total amount of equipment purchased could not exceed $500,000. The Economic Stimulus Act raised these limits significantly. The new deduction limits are $250,000 on the deduction, and the total amount of equipment purchased cannot exceed $800,000.

To recap the new limits:

2007 Deduction Limit: $125,000
2008 Deduction Limit: $250,000

2009 Deduction Limit: $250,000

2007 Total Amount of Equipment: $500,000
(deduction decreases dollar for dollar after reached)

2008 Total Amount of Equipment: $800,000
(deduction decreases dollar for dollar after reached)

2009 Total Amount of Equipment: $800,000
(deduction decreases dollar for dollar after reached)

Bonus Deduction: Another change that the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008 brought to Section 179 is it offers a one-time “bonus first year depreciation” of 50% on qualifying equipment. This is after the above deduction limit is reached. In other words, if you buy enough equipment to exceed the $250,000 deduction, you can take a “bonus” 50% depreciation on the rest – this is in addition to normal depreciation.

Everyone Benefits: Most small and medium-size businesses will find these new dollar limits generous indeed. The Economic Stimulus Act helped consumers, and it will also continue to significantly help most small businesses as well by lowering the cost of equipment that they need to purchase or lease to run their day-to-day operations.

Act Now: As of this writing, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 has extended the one-year increase through the end of 2009. Unless it is extended, the Section 179 Deduction phases out completely in 2010, so if you want to take advantage of the higher limits, you need to act before the end of this year.

Always consult your tax advisor regarding this or any tax item. No liability is accepted for errors or misinterpretation. We are not experts.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , |

GPS Fleet Solutions

January 4, 2010 – 11:06 am

One of the main problems with modern economics is, of course, management. It can be difficult to manage the portions of a business that have a lot of individual components – a hotel chain, for example, or a line of busses. That difficulty also applies to companies like taxi or limousine fleets, which is why good businessmen should consider buying technological tools to aid them in that task and to help them get the most money and profit out of their rather significant investments.

What is Fleet Tracking?

First, let’s talk about a specific section of the American economic scene – the transportation industry. More specifically, we’ll talk about the personal transportation industry. It’s not easy getting around these days, and becoming harder all the time. It’s for this reason that so many enterprising businessmen and women have caught onto the idea that people will pay good money to ferry passengers from one place to another. That, in a nutshell, is the goal of the modern taxi industry.

Now, there are a fair number of taxis out there. In some places, like New York City, they all operate under a single head – the famous Medallion or “yellow cabs” of the city. Sometimes, taxis are owned by individual drivers, and make money by picking up street fares. More common, though, especially in smaller communities, are the phone summon taxis that are run by taxi companies. The person needing a ride calls the taxi company, and the company dispatches a taxi to pick them up. These types of taxis – known as FHVs or For Hire Vehicles in the industry – are generally run under a single company manager and require a lot of management to be efficient.

That’s where fleet or vehicle tracking comes in. GPS fleet tracking solutions are available on the consumer marketplace for discerning businessmen and businesswomen to use for their own taxi fleets in order to determine what’s happening in their company and what happens where – important when it comes to doling out paychecks or dealing with insurance problems, things like broken down taxis or auto accidents may cause.

Why Use GPS Fleet Tracking Solutions?

The first step in good management is to know exactly what’s happening, how long it takes, how long it costs, and where it takes place. That’s especially difficult in a taxi fleet, as all those reports depend on individual drivers – whose personal interests may be at odds with your own. If you have a driver prone to laziness, for example, he or she may report more hours on their payroll than they are actually filling, thus depriving his or her fellow employees as well as the company as a whole of valuable profits. This can also give the company a bad name, which, again, hurts fellow employees as well as you or anyone else in upper management.

So what do GPS fleet tracking solutions do? Simple. They record and observe in an unobtrusive way. They mark times, fares, stops, fuel expenses, and even, if you choose, things like speed. Are you concerned that some of your employees may be using your vehicles to break traffic laws? GPS fleet tracking solutions let you keep an eye on locations and speed limits, letting you know how fast they’re going at all times. GPS systems can also help the driver, helping him or her get to where they need to be faster and more efficiently than simply relying on street maps and personal memory.

Different Types of Vehicle Tracking

There are two main varieties when it comes to good fleet management software. These depend specifically on the type of information you need and the type of technology you want to include in your vehicles. This can also make a big difference in cost, so make sure you research your options extensively before settling on one or the other. Ask yourself if the extra features of any specific system are really worth the extra cost you’ll be paying for them.

In fact, educating yourself about the details of these systems is probably a good idea. Good GPS fleet tracking solutions or fleet maintenance software can cost a lot of money, and it shouldn’t be a bill lightly looked at. With luck, these systems will last a long time and be used for a lot of solutions, so you should treat them with utter seriousness when it comes time to buy – make sure you educate yourself about all your options and know beforehand what you want, and you’ll end up with the best possible solution for your money in the end.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , |

Five Ways GPS Fleet Tracking Save (and Make) You Money

August 17, 2009 – 10:39 am

Saving money is making money, and Safety Track saves fleet companies hundreds, even thousands of dollars per year. These GPS Fleet Tracking units sport numerous features that make tracking vehicles and streamlining operations simple.

1. Use less fuel and stop speeding drivers
The EPA estimates that reducing speed by 10MPH increases fuel efficiency by 20%. Our HVAC customers report $150 savings per 10 vehicles in one month by keeping their drivers at a maximum of 65MPH. The owner of a towing company saved $4000 over two months just in fuel costs. Do the math for your business and add up your savings. The dollars add up fast-here’s a simple example with a very conservative estimate: 50 vehicles reduce speed and save $10 each per week in gas costs. That’s $26,000 in a year. Slowing down a speeding driver can also limit tickets, accidents and litigation against your company.

2. Limit unnecessary trips and unauthorized use
Customers tell us their employees off-route driving completely ends once they know a GPS fleet tracking unit is installed in their vehicle. No more extended lunches, driving off-route to go home to eat, run errands, etc.

One customer reported that one driver was traveling home 60 miles per day when they should have been working. That’s a potential savings of $15-20 in fuel per day. And that’s just for one driver.

3. Ensure proper work hours, lunch breaks and overtime records
This is self explanatory, and another area where you can save thousands of dollars per year. Employees won’t likely record bogus work, lunch or overtime hours if they know their work vehicle is being tracked. If you can gain just 30 minutes of productivity each day you will save about $3,000 per employee each year.
The more your workers actually work and record correct information, the more your business is operating cost-efficiently. The immediate impact GPS fleet tracking units provide in this category is mentioned quite often by our satisfied customers.

4. Monitor company gas purchases/gas cards
Lets face the facts–gas will only get more expensive, and some employees try to cut corners and cut money out of your bottom line. Can you afford even one employee stealing $20 in fuel every week ($1040/year) from your gas account? That’s $1040 you could put in your own gas tank! This is another area where questionable purchases can be tracked and verified with our easy-to-use GPS fleet tracking software.

5. Theft prevention
Track all your vehicles every two minutes and have alerts sent to your cell phone, email or PDA whenever your vehicle is started or moves outside of a designated area (geofence). This feature gives you peace of mind 24/7/365.

To summarize, below shows a standard cost savings by implementing a GPS fleet tracking system.

  • Reducing speed on a single vehicle by 10MPH increases fuel economy by 20%
    - 7 gallon weekly decrease in fuel usage
    - Weekly fuel savings of $20-30
    - Annual fuel savings of $1,000-$1,500
    (varies based on MPG, daily miles driven and fuel cost)
  • Eliminating unnecessary driving by 10 miles per day for a single vehicle
    - 4 gallons of fuel saved per week
    - Weekly fuel savings of $14
    - Annual fuel savings of more than $700
    (varies based on MPG and fuel cost)
  • Losing 15 minutes per day of productivity from a single employee
    - 65 hours per year in lost productivity
    - Approximate savings of $1,200-$2,000
    (varies based on hourly rate)
  • One employee uses a company gas card to fill their personal vehicle once a month
    - Monthly fuel savings of $70
    - Annual fuel savings of $840
    (varies based on fuel tank size and fuel cost)

The below sample cost savings and ROI is for a single employee. Your ROI will vary based on number of vehicles in your fleet, amount of miles driven and fuel consumption.

Gas savings

$2,200

Productivity gained

$2,000

Theft savings

$840

Total annual savings

$5,040
 

Safety Track’s first year cost

$587
 

First year ROI

9X
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , |

Why Track Your Fleet?

July 29, 2009 – 11:19 pm
  • Excessive idle times
  • Poor driver routing
  • Personal or unauthorized vehicle use
  • Late start to workdays or excessive lunch breaks
  • Gasoline theft
  • Moonlighting
  • Speeding and unsafe driving practices
  • False or exaggerated overtime timesheets
  • Theft of company assets
  • Liability risk
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , |

How GPS Tracking Can Help Your Company

July 28, 2009 – 5:37 pm

How GPS Tracking Can Help Your Company

Use digital GPS fleet tracking to see where your vehicles are every minute on your PC screen. Get instant alerts on your email or phone. Set geofences, speed limits and more. Lower your fuel costs and increase productivity. Our easy‐to‐use web interface let’s managers have all their critical fleet information with the click of the mouse. Companies realize an ROI within weeks of using the system simply by the positive change in driver behavior. Other uses and benefits included:

  • Monitor Gas Cards / Gas Purchases: Let’s face the facts‐‐fuel is an expensive business cost at any price, and some employees try to cut corners and cut money out of your bottom line. Can you afford even one employee stealing $20 in fuel every week ($1040/year) from your gas account. That’s $1040 you could put in your own gas tank! This is another area where questionable purchases can be tracked and verified with our easy‐to‐use GPS fleet tracking software.
  • Dispatch: The system allows dispatchers to send drivers to more jobs without the cost of more vehicles. Routing becomes easier and more efficient. The advantages to your dispatchers are valuable and immediate.
  • Driver Accountability: Drivers now have a way to verify customer visit times and work completed. This offers them a reliable way to track their progress and protects them (and you!) against customer complaints. Further, there won’t be anymore “gray area” when an employee or customer disputes time spent on the job.
  • Customer Service: Your customers will benefit from increased accuracy, faster status reporting, detailed billing information, and fewer delays in arrival time. These are just a few of the ways your customers and your employees will enjoy GPS tracking. “You can’t manage what you don’t measure”. Nothing is more true than when discussing a business with a commercial fleet. Waste and inefficiencies come in many forms.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , |

New Study Reports: Fleet Tracking Saves Money!

July 28, 2009 – 5:34 pm

“A study published in December 2007 by the Aberdeen Group noted that adopting location-based services results in the following improvements:”

 

  • 13.2% reduction in fuel costs
  • 19.2% decrease in miles traveled
  • 13.4% reduction in overtime costs
  • 27.4% improvement in fleet utilization
  • 26.1% improvement in workforce utilization
  • 23.8% improvement in service response times

 

Is it time you look closer at tracking your vehicles?

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , |

  • Twitter

  • Categories

  • Archives

    •