Profit margins can be thin for private ambulance or transport companies. There are numerous costs, including fuel, labor, and vehicle maintenance. However, there is one cost that is hidden, billing errors. Maintaining accurate records is difficult to do. Incorrect and inefficient billing can cost a company thousands of dollars. Many people know that GPS tracking can be used to lower fuel costs. However, few know that it can also help improve billing by increasing accuracy and automating routine tasks.

The traditional methods of ensuring accuracy are time consuming and tedious. They often include paper logs and cell phones or radios. The driver usually records the arrival and departure times and the corresponding odometer in a log book. Sometimes the driver has to call the dispatcher to report his or her information.

There are several problems with this type of solution. The first one is accuracy. The driver and/or the dispatcher may record incorrect information. Once this happens there is very little that can be done to correct it. If a patient calls to complain there is no way to verify who is right. The second problem is the time it takes to record, compile, and store the information. These tasks take valuable time that could be used for something more productive.

How Does GPS Tracking Improve Billing

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• Automatically Record Exact Arrival and Departure Times
• Report Total Stop Time At Each Location
• Automatically Calculate Vehicle Mileage

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The GPS receiver automatically records the date and time of  every stop. The arrival and departure times are used to calculate the total stop time for each location. This information is useful in many ways. For example, it can be used to determine which drivers are more efficient by comparing stop times. It can also be used to improve customer support. If there is a dispute with a patient this information can be easily retrieved and used.

A GPS tracking system automatically calculates mileage by day, trip, and between stops. This can help determine the cost of each trip. The cost can be calculated by using an average MPG times the miles per trip. A more accurate cost will help ensure that the company is charging correctly for its services.

Welcome to our new blog, Our Customers. In this blog we are going to announce our new customers and profile existing ones. We want to share with you what our customers do and how they benefit from GPS tracking.

Please check back here often. We have some exciting things to say about our customers!

Cheers,

Michael Goldberg

Lower Your Speed And Your Fuel Bill

Reducing the speed of your fleet can significantly lower your fuel expenses. Did you know that when your fleet vehicles go above 60 MPH you could be wasting significant money? The gas mileage of most vehicles starts to decrease between speeds of 55 and 60 MPH. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, each 5 MPH you drive over 50 MPH is like paying an additional $0.25 per gallon of gas.

If you have vehicles that spend a lot of time on the highway this could add up very quickly. Fleets that are operating in the Eagle Ford Shale certainly understand this. The distances they have to cover are long no matter where they come from. Getting your drivers to slow down just a little bit could go a long way to reducing your fuel bill.

The Right Tools

Monitoring the speed of any vehicle is difficult to do from an office without the right tools. A GPS tracking system provides an easy to use way to monitor the speed of your entire fleet. A GPS receiver installed in your vehicle will report the speed and location (among other things) automatically to a tracking website. Speed alerts and reports can then help you identify the speeding habits of your drivers.

Alerts

A speed alert can be setup to record when a vehicle goes above a certain speed. For example, if you set the threshold to 65 MPH then every time the vehicle goes above that the GPS system will mark that location. Now as a manager you can easily identify when and for how long your vehicles were going above the limit.

Reports

Reports are a great way to identify the speeding habits of your drivers. They can display detailed information in a spreadsheet format or in charts and graphs. Reports are the best way to get a fleet wide view of speeding.

There are many reports that can be used to help identify speeding. A detailed activity report will identify the speed of each GPS record. A speed alert report will show all the locations where the vehicle was traveling above the speed alert threshold. The speed alert report is great for identifying where and when the vehicle was speeding.

To make reports easier to work with they can be delivered directly to your email on a regular schedule. A manager may want to receive a speed report on Friday for all of the week’s activities. This would give him or her the opportunity to correct any behavior the following week.

The Fleet Management System (FMS) can send reminders for several different items. The reminders are sent via email. They can be sent to multiple email addresses.

FMS Reminders:

• Driver Birthday
• Driver License Expiration
• Driver Insurance Expiration
• Vehicle Insurance Expiration
• Vehicle Tag Expiration
• Vehicle Maintenance

To setup a reminder follow the steps below. The setup is located in the Tools and Settings section of the FMS.

1. Click on Subscribe to Reminders.

2. Click on Add Reminder Subscription.

3. Select the reminder from the drop down menu.

4. Enter a subject into the Subject text box.

5. Enter an email address(s) into the To text box. Separate multiple emails by a comma.

6. Select the Group(s) that you want selected for this reminder. You will only receive a reminder for the vehicles or assets that are in the selected groups.

7. Click on Save.

Setting up a preventative maintenance schedule is a great way to help automate some of the routine tasks necessary in running an efficient fleet. The Fleet Management System provides an easy way to setup a maintenance schedule for all of your items. You can setup schedules for vehicles and powered equipment, such as generators and light towers.

1. From the Dashboard, click on the Vehicle link.

2. Click on the pencil next to a vehicle that you want to create a schedule for.

3. Click on Maintenance Schedule tab.

4. Click on Add New Maintenance Schedule.

5. Select the Operation from the drop down menu.

6. Click on Reoccurring Schedule checkbox if you want the schedule to run continuously based on the schedule selected.

7. Select how you want the schedule to be triggered. For example, by odometer, engine hours or time interval. For example, if you want to be reminded every 3,000 miles then select the Interval Odometer checkbox and enter 3,000 into the text box.

8. Click on Save.

Now you have a new maintenance schedule assigned to this vehicle. You can create as many maintenance schedules as you need for every vehicle.

Next Step: Setup a Maintenance Reminder to receive an email reminder.

You can add a maintenance operation for any task that you would like. There are no limits to how many operations you can have. There are three common tasks that are already created for you, oil change, tire rotation, and change air filter.

1. Go to Tools and Settings.

2. Click on Create and Manage Maintenance Item.

3. Click on Add New Maintenance Operation

4. Enter the name of the operation and click on Save. The description is optional.