Vehicle Tracking System Tips: 10 Ways to Get Real Results in Your First 90 Days

A vehicle tracking system can do much more than show where your van is. It can help you answer customer questions, review journeys, manage alerts and make everyday decisions with better information.

But tracking can underdeliver when it is installed, opened once and then forgotten. The first 90 days are your chance to build a few useful habits, involve your drivers and turn location data into practical improvements.

What your vehicle tracking system can show you

Depending on your device and service, you may be able to see live vehicle locations, journey history, geofences, alerts and reports. DrivePro, for example, supports vehicle and journey tracking, geofence notifications and downloadable trip reports.

The aim isn’t to use every feature. It’s to choose the ones that solve a real problem for you.

10 tips for getting more from your system

1. Give every vehicle a clear name

Use a label people recognise, such as “Transit – Alex” or “Car 2 – Sales”. Avoid relying on registration numbers alone: they can be hard to remember when a customer is waiting or a driver needs help.

If you have several vehicles, group them by team or purpose. A six-van plumbing firm might create “North team” and “South team” groups, making it easier to find the right vehicle without scrolling through the whole fleet.

2. Spend the first week observing

Before changing routines or challenging drivers about individual journeys, check that the system is recording correctly. Compare a few known trips with the journey history and note what a normal working week looks like.

Treat the first week as a chance to learn, not to judge. You may find that an apparent detour was a road closure, a supplier stop or a job that changed during the day.

3. Set geofences around places that matter

A geofence is a virtual boundary around a location. Set one around your depot, regular customer sites or another place where knowing a vehicle has arrived or left would help.

Start with a small number of useful locations. Too many boundaries can create more notifications than you need. DrivePro’s geofencing feature can record when vehicles enter or leave an area and alert you.

Example: A courier business could create a geofence around its depot to check which vehicles have returned at the end of the day.

4. Tune alerts so someone acts on them

An alert is useful only if it reaches the right person and prompts a clear response. Review the alerts available in your system and decide which ones matter to you: for example, unexpected movement outside working hours or a vehicle leaving a defined area.

For each alert, agree:

• Who receives it?
• What should they check?
• When should they respond?

If a notification is not leading to a decision or follow-up, adjust it or turn it off. Keep the signal; reduce the noise.

5. Review journey history for repeat patterns

Journey history can help you identify regular backtracking, long waits or repeated depot returns. Look for patterns across several days rather than drawing conclusions from one unusual trip.

A small courier business might notice that a driver regularly crosses town twice during the afternoon round. Reviewing those journeys with the team could help the dispatcher arrange the next day’s jobs more practically.

Check idle time in context, too. Waiting may be part of a job. The useful question is whether a recurring pattern can be reduced without disrupting the work.

6. Agree a straightforward driver policy

If employees use tracked vehicles, explain what information is collected, why you use it and who can access it. Set out how you handle work and, where relevant, private use.

Keep the policy clear and proportionate. Make sure it reflects your actual tracking setup and is consistent with your responsibilities for staff privacy. The Information Commissioner’s Office guidance on monitoring workers is a useful place to start.

7. Use reports to reduce routine admin

Trip reports can help you check dates, times, distances and journey details without relying on memory. You may be able to export records or schedule them for regular review through your system.

Use reports as supporting information for tasks such as expense checks, customer queries or internal records. For VAT or tax reporting, confirm with your accountant that your records meet the requirements that apply to your business. If an insurer asks about tracking, ask them directly what they recognise; it does not guarantee a discount.

For customer queries, journey records may help you check when a vehicle reached an area. They do not, on their own, prove that goods were handed over or a job was completed.

DrivePro’s reporting tools include trip reports and downloadable records.

“It used to take me 1 hour a week to do my expenses, its now a 1 click job!”
Customer testimonial published on DrivePro’s reporting page

8. Check the installation and device health

If a vehicle is missing from the system or showing an old location, check the basics before relying on the data. Confirm the tracker is powered, correctly installed and reporting as expected. Follow the device instructions and use an installer if the fitting requires electrical work you are not comfortable doing.

Make it a quick monthly routine to check that each vehicle has reported recently. If readings look wrong or updates stop, contact your supplier for help rather than assuming the vehicle has not moved.

For more information about van tracking and fitting options, visit DrivePro’s van tracker page.

9. Show drivers how the system helps them

A quick demonstration can help drivers understand how tracking records journeys and how the business uses that information. Show them the practical benefits too: quicker responses to customer calls, less time spent recalling journeys and a clearer record when plans change.

Example: A sole trader could use trip history to check a work journey at the end of the week instead of trying to reconstruct it from memory. Explain what the tracker can and cannot show, and make it easy for drivers to raise questions.

10. Review progress at 30 and 90 days

A short review keeps the system useful and helps you spot issues before they become habits.

At day 30:

• Check that every vehicle is named and reporting.
• Remove alerts that create noise.
• Ask drivers what is unclear or getting in the way.
• Note any useful changes you have already made.

At day 90:

• Compare journey, admin or response-time records with your starting point.
• Record what improved, what did not and what needs a different approach.
• Keep only the reports and alerts that lead to action.

A tracker records activity; your routines turn that information into results.

What results should you expect?

There is no guaranteed saving or single result that fits every fleet. Your starting point, vehicle use and working routines all matter. Treat the figures below as planning targets to test, not promised outcomes:

• Admin time: If you currently check journey details manually, try measuring whether you can reclaim 30–60 minutes a week across a small fleet. Record the time before and after so you can see whether the change is real.
• Unauthorised use: Set a process to review every out-of-hours movement alert by the next working day. Then check whether the number of unexplained journeys changes over time.
• Customer ETAs: Aim to answer straightforward “where is the vehicle?” questions using the live view, rather than calling the driver each time. Track how quickly your team can respond.
• Routing and idle time: Establish a baseline first. Then choose one recurring pattern to improve, such as avoidable backtracking or unnecessary waiting, and check the journey records again after a few weeks.

The most useful result is one you can explain: what you changed, what happened afterwards and how you know. If you’re planning a setup or want to see what your system can do, explore DrivePro.

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