Fleets are missing out on opportunities to boost efficiency and safety using the latest technology.

Scott Hamilton-Cooper, chief commercial officer at AX

A new study by mobility and incident management specialist AX found that adoption of technology to help manage incidents is slower than expected and well-established technologies “are a long way from being universal”.

The company surveyed 200 commercial vehicle and car fleet decision-makers and found fewer than 60% use GPS trackers.

Uptake of other technologies, including fleet management software (43%) and telematics data to monitor driver behaviour (35%), was even lower.

Despite this, the study revealed 90% of respondents believe technology can reduce vehicle offroad time following an incident.

Over three-quarters of those surveyed (76%) said technology saves between one and four days of off-road time per incident – a significant cost and efficiency saving.

Nearly two-thirds (59%) of respondents said technology also reduces the frequency of incidents, yet the survey found that only 74% of respondents said that they have a driver safety programme in place.

AX said the results suggest there are opportunities for fleets to make considerable improvements to their operations.

Scott Hamilton-Cooper, chief commercial officer at AX, commented: “It’s an incredibly tough time in which to optimise and improve fleet operations but fleets aren’t fully capitalising on the technology available to them to the extent we expected. The upside is that there’s a huge opportunity for fleets to make significant efficiency gains without too much upheaval.

“GPS tracking technology has been available for some time now, so it is surprising that it is not utilised more widely. Every fleet, large or small, can benefit – but only if they act on the data or use technology to inform decision-making. If human resources are scarce, this is where an outsourced partner is essential.”

Nearly all respondents (95%) in the survey said they agree that having more information about fleet risk and incidents would help them take action to improve their fleet, suggesting that most fleets would benefit from improved oversight through more comprehensive, actionable data.

AX undertook the survey some 18 months after it launched its end-to-end motor claims and accident management service. The AX Motor Assist portfolio is based on an automated technology platform and provides a 360 suite of motoring incident services, from windscreen replacement to the whole repair process and total loss management.

To access the full white paper, please visit the AX website here.