1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152 
Peter Hunt (above), a partner in Darrell Couriers, says: "We
Page 31
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
won the V-Sol system in a CM competition in March 2000 which gave us II the opportunity to analyse the new service and assess it for our company. We probably wouldn't have bought It otherwise. All but two of our 15 vehicles are now equipped with it, which was an additional spend of £15,000. It's definitely proving a worthwhile facility, especially on jobs that involve extra security. You Just log on and you can find out where a driver is, how fast he's going, how fast he's been. It's a good way to check timesheets so we know we're not being ripped off. It covers data going back a month and gives print-outs of all data.
"It's also useful for guiding drivers into awkward places if they're lost, so It's good for drivers too, as well as being a useful management tool. "We're also testing a vehicle navigation system in one of our vehicles, which will be added to all vehicles in the future. It's now a necessary part of our business, I don't know the exact running costs, but now we've got it we couldn't live without it."
Terry Paltry, managing director of Queens Motors in Penge, south-east London, runs a 24hour breakdown recovery service, operating 60 vehicles. He has the Siemens VDO NavComm system installed in 70% of his vehicles using motor trade software. Paltry says: "It makes us more efficient in what we do. It saves us money In fuel and time and has streamlined the business.
"The drivers are happy with it, too. If they're unsure of a location, they can simply type in the address and see the best routes on a screen in the vehicle. It also helps if they are caught up in traffic. The running costs are cheaper than when we used mobiles. With phones the driver would have to stop to make calls and possibly not get through. We want to get to the stage where we are totally reliant on satellite."
Fraser freight in Portsmouth operates a mixed fleet of 14 vehicles and specialises in a 24hour vehicle delivery service throughout Europe. It uses the Orchid system. Customer services manager Marcus Bazley says: "Orchid has In effect already paid for itself with the six months that it has been installed in our fleet, not just in terms of reducing insurance premiums but also through the increase in existing customer confidence and new business acquisition."
According to Bazley, the greatest impact has been on the reduction of the courier company's vehicle premiums: "Due to any stolen vehicle recovery times we've negotiated a 5% reduction in our insurance premium and it might come down further in the future."