If you are an executive or owner of a fleet company, you may constantly be thinking of ways to improve your commercial fleet system’s efficiency. An increasing number of managers are moving towards technology to improve the management of their fleet company. One technological adoption that is gaining popularity is the installation of a fleet dash cam.
The National Transportation Safety Board itself has advised fleet companies to install dash cams onto their commercial vehicles as a road safety measure. Not only can dashcams provide you with better control over your commercial vehicle through integrated tracking systems, but they also prevent losses caused by potential lawsuits over accidents by ensuring that you possess enough evidence to protect your drivers. In addition, most managers who have already installed dash cams in their commercial fleet have noticed significant benefits to their commercial activity. It can be argued that dash cams are the need of the commercial fleet these days. Here are four powerful reasons why dash cams benefit your commercial activity of fleet:
1. Accident Recording
The biggest threat to a fleet is the risk of accidents, and this risk can be mitigated through the proper use of fleet dash cams in your vehicles.
Your entire business can undergo substantial financial and goodwill losses if one of your commercial vehicles is involved in an accident. Moreover, the frequency and severity of such accidents can also affect your company’s insurance premium facilities and can eventually cause high liability and lawsuits costs.
Newer fleet dash cams allow for a 360-degree view and provide enhanced recording experiences that can be used as robust pieces of evidence in case of potential lawsuits and insurance claims. Fleet managers who have already embraced this technology have found this a beneficial feature indeed.
Concrete recorded evidence can prove helpful when fighting for the innocence of your vehicles’ drivers against faulty claims. Contributing factors like weather or compromised safety conditions are highlighted in recordings. In addition, the video can be played repeatedly to extract minor details to strengthen your case and defend your employees.
2. Improved Rate of Insurance Claims
The insurance claim process can be lengthy and daunting for the commercial fleet, as insurance companies may try hard not to approve your claims. Having visual evidence like a video recording from the dashcam will speed up this lengthy process and strengthen your case. In addition, you can use this as a contributing factor while you are negotiating a potential settlement for your insurance claims and significantly reduce that expense.
It is estimated that over 1,300,000 road deaths occur each year worldwide. As America is getting more keen on security measures to prevent such accidents, insurance companies may start providing discounts to fleet companies that have dash cams installed as an incentive for taking preventive measures. Having this technology already integrated into your business will enable you to take the most advantage of these discounts at the right time. You can even claim higher security of your fleet vehicles to gain a competitive edge in your commercial activities by gaining consumer confidence.
3. Improved Driver Accountability
As a fleet manager or owner, you will have to be cautious about certain drivers exploiting the commercial vehicle for personal use or misuse in the form of criminal or illegal activities. These behaviors can cost your company, harm its reputation, and even reduce the lifespan of your costly vehicle due to increased unauthorized use.
When drivers know the presence of dash cams in the vehicle, they are more likely to be more cautious of their actions. Constant monitoring will ensure they refrain from making mistakes that can cost them their job. In addition, it will encourage drivers to move to defensive driving and drive only under speed limits, and GPS tracking will discourage them from using the vehicle for personal use and deteriorating the condition of the vehicle by unnecessary usage.
A dashcam system will enable you to review dash camera footage and data derived from the GPS tracking data and analyze problems associated with particular drivers’ driving styles and work ethic. It can help you identify specific mistakes of that particular driving and can help you understand and facilitate drivers who need additional driving training and prevent accidents beforehand. You take several driver training measures, limit individual high speeding instances, and equip them with accident avoidance techniques.
4. Reduced Risk of Fraud
Insurance frauds, scams from drivers, and liability scams are an increasing problem throughout the United States of America. These frauds are way more prevalent when accidents around commercial fleets are involved, and scammers are looking out for big companies to pay substantial fraudulent claims. Dashcams allow you to identify the exact person at fault, and the visual evidence derived can help fight these fraudulent claims.
A particular type of scam known as Crash for Cash has been increasingly popular. In it, the offending driver passes and tries to scam a large commercial vehicle by actively braking. The car pulls up in the lane in front of the truck and slams its brakes, trying to be rear-ended at a significantly slower speed. This way, the entire blame is placed on the company owning the commercial fleet. This accident has been brutal to defend, and in such a crash, trucks being the bigger vehicle are mostly assumed to be problematic.
With dash cams being installed, you can easily avoid these accidents and defeat the scammers without paying penalties or high settlement costs. This will also help you preserve the brand image and goodwill of your services as such fraudulent claims and frequent accidents can severely ruin the credibility of your company.
Endnote
With automation and digitalization taking over the world, all industries are integrating software and technology to improve security and efficiency; fleet companies are no different. Investing in dashcams pays for itself by protecting your company from accidents, frauds, and inefficiencies and allows you superior control over your commercial vehicles at all times.
When choosing a dashcam for your commercial vehicles, it is advised to do your extensive market research and only invest in ones that have GPS tracking and other advanced features. Such features allow real-time monitoring of vehicles and provide valuable insights and data altogether to let you gain the highest benefits on your investment.
