“We just need a tracker” is how many fleet conversations start. Sometimes that’s true. Often, what the business really needs is what a tracker makes possible: knowing what every vehicle is doing without making a single phone call. That’s the difference between a car tracker and a fleet management platform.

What a car tracker does

A car tracker is a small GPS device fitted in a vehicle. It works out where the vehicle is from satellite signals and sends that position over the mobile network, usually to an app or a website. With one, you can:

  • see where the vehicle is now;
  • see where it has been;
  • often get an alert if it moves when it shouldn’t.

For one personal car, or a single vehicle you mostly worry about being stolen, that can be all you need.

What a fleet management platform adds

A fleet management platform takes the positions from trackers in every vehicle and turns them into a way of running the fleet:

  • One live map of every vehicle, with its speed and when it last reported.
  • Alerts that come to you: an engine starting, a vehicle leaving a zone, a vehicle sitting idle. Nobody has to sit and watch a map.
  • Geofences: zones around depots, customers’ sites or routes, with alerts when a vehicle crosses them. See geofences explained.
  • Trip reports: each journey written up, with distance, time, stops and top speed.
  • History you can search, for disputes, fuel questions and planning.
  • Several users, so dispatchers, managers and owners each see what they need.

How to choose

Ask yourself these questions:

  1. How many vehicles does the business depend on? One or two, a tracker may do. Several, and the time spent checking each one adds up fast.
  2. Who needs to know, and when? If the answer is “the manager, the moment something happens”, you need alerts, not just a map.
  3. Do you need records? Trip reports and history settle arguments about hours, routes and fuel.
  4. What happens when a vehicle is taken? Some platforms can immobilise a vehicle remotely, through a relay fitted with the tracker. Ask how it’s kept safe and who is allowed to use it.
  5. How will you check it? Most managers will use it on a phone, often on mobile data. Try it there.

Questions to ask any supplier

  • Which trackers does it work with, and who installs them?
  • What happens when a vehicle loses signal?
  • Can you export your data whenever you want?
  • What’s the full monthly cost per vehicle, including data and support?

Our longer guide on choosing a fleet tracking system in Nigeria goes through these in detail.

Selvion

Selvion is our fleet management and vehicle tracking platform for Nigerian businesses: a live map, ignition and geofence alerts on your phone, a report for every trip, and remote immobilisation for when a vehicle is taken. It’s in development; join the waitlist to be one of the first to use it.