All fleets companies are already familiar with these devices and now everybody in the sector is looking for more ways to extract more from them, in addition to just complying with ELD mandate. By using ELDs, companies can see direct benefits to their business, such as:

- Reducing fuel costs

There different options to maintain the fuel usage more controlled and reduce costs while using ELDs:

• Decrease Idling

When a truck is idling in excess more fuel is bu
t needlessly. If a truck is equipped with start and stop systems, the ELD is able to monitor usage parameters and gets to know when a truck is unnecessary idling and deliver to the fleet managers a report about it, so they can make relevant changes.

• More efficient routes

When the fleets assure that their vehicles are travelling by the best routes orientated by their ELDs, then the unplanned extra miles decrease and more fuel is saved.

- Focus on Drivers:

Having the information of each vehicle is not enough. It`s also important to understand and coach drivers regarding the company’s best practices. ELDs can help with that. Here’s how:

• By evaluating the performance of fleet drivers

Some ELD providers give the chance to gather information about fleet drivers, such as cruise control, shift patte
s, over-speeding, top gear and more and compare drivers results. Companies can use this function in a positive way by incentivizing their best performers to coach the ones with more worse results or bad driving habits. Thus, the general driver behavior in the company can be improved, having an important impact on the business.

• By enhancing driver productivity

The time spent by the drivers filling forms and doing paperwork is reduced by the correct use of the ELDs. This way, drivers can focus on what they do best: driving. The data gathered automatically from the ELDs can avoid human errors, improving driver and company productivity.

- Increasing safety

All the data provided by the ELDs, such speed, tire monitoring, critical event reporting, can be used in the companies favor. The correct use of this information along with efficient driver coaching, will increase the safety of company vehicles and drivers thanks to the accidents and incidents prevention.

- Improving the productivity of vehicles

Knowing the exact condition of the vehicle is essential for having the vehicles in good shape while they are far away from maintenance centers. There are ELD providers that offer the option to monitor the vehicle and receive notifications regarding any problems. That gives companies enough time to detect problems and fix them on time.