VALENCIA, CA--April 26, 2012: You're on assignment in your tow truck. A bank has assigned you to repossess a vehicle for non-payment. You drive through heavy traffic and arrive at the address you were given, only to discover it's an empty lot. You've just wasted 20 minutes of expensive diesel fuel.
“Like many companies today, fuel is one of our major expenses, especially when it's around $4.50 a gallon”
This is a common occurrence for family-owned Key Auto Recovery, which has been operating in the San Fernando Valley north of Los Angeles since 1964.
Besides voluntary and involuntary repossessions, the company also offers field customer visits and skip locate services. Because Key Auto Recovery is also an impound specialist with a lot of impound retrieval requests, the company stores repossessed vehicles in their high-security fenced compound that's monitored 24/7 by state-of-the-art surveillance equipment, lighting and alarm systems.
Key Auto Recovery's fleet consists of nine trucks used for towing as well as transport and delivery, plus a Prius to locate vehicles. Because the San Fernando Valley is so large, fuel costs are a major operating expense. Therefore, one of company president Joe Scharlin's primary challenges is determining the most efficient deployment of his diesel-powered trucks.
One obvious solution is a GPS vehicle tracking system.
Adding to the bottom line
"Like many companies today, fuel is one of our major expenses, especially when it's around $4.50 a gallon," explained Scharlin. "Our Prius gets a combined average of 50 mpg running on regular gas, and our diesel trucks get maybe 12 mpg."
"Let's say an hour ago we got an assignment to pick up a vehicle within our coverage area. We download the address to a laptop in the Prius, and fifteen minutes later we get a phone call telling us the location is a UPS mail drop. This saves us the time and expense of sending one of our trucks on a wild goose chase."
In addition, the cost of three vehicles idling just an hour a day, whether it's in traffic or caused by driver behavior, would cost Key Auto Recover $4,320 a year based on gas costing $4 a gallon. Because the LiveViewGPS system displays all company vehicles in real time, managers can plot the most effective routes, avoiding heavy traffic and accidents.
As a result of all the savings, the LiveViewGPS Live Trac system easily pays for itself.
"Installing LiveViewGPS GPS Trackers in our vehicles is a win-win-win situation," says Scharlin. "The drivers make more money, we work more efficiently, and our clients are better served."
LiveViewGPS provides wireless GPS tracking products and services for Fortune 100 companies; small businesses; federal, state and local government agencies; law enforcement and family safety. Its GPS devices include vehicle and fleet tracking systems, asset trackers, trailer tracking systems, surveillance monitoring tools, people tracking devices and GPS asset protection equipment. For more information, for a free demo or to place an order, visit Live View GPS or telephone 888-544-0494.
