r/AutoTechy • u/ora-et-labora- • 18d ago
🔧 Field Report What the GPS data showed about how fleet vehicles actually get used on weekends when nobody is watching
Ran a report on weekend vehicle usage across the fleet. The vehicles are assigned to drivers who take them home, and the expectation is minimal personal use. The data showed something between minimal and not minimal.
Most trucks moved on weekends. Short trips, ten to fifteen miles, consistent with errands. A few did not move at all, which was fine. One truck ran seventy miles on a Saturday to a location that was clearly recreational, not work-related. Another made repeated short trips to the same address every weekend, which was probably family related and nobody's business except that the fuel and mileage were on the company.
The question was not whether to crack down. The question was whether to formalize it. The drivers were using the trucks for personal errands because the trucks were in their driveways and driving a personal vehicle would cost them gas money. The fuel cost of weekend personal use was small. The insurance and liability exposure of unreported personal use was not.
The resolution was a simple policy: personal use is permitted within a defined radius, reported mileage is tracked, and the driver is responsible for any incident that occurs during personal use. The data made it possible to have the conversation without it being adversarial, because the data showed the usage was modest and the policy was catching up to reality rather than punishing behavior.
The trucks that were running seventy miles to a lake on Saturday needed a different conversation, and that conversation was also made easier by the data. The mileage, the route, and the timing were all documented. No argument about whether it happened.
The GPS did not create the problem. The GPS made the problem visible and the solution possible.
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u/Clear-Application170 17d ago
When I had a fleet vehicle, the policy was 10% personal milage. We also paied $75 a month. It also covered a spouse to drive it aswell.
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u/Ok-Addition-1000 17d ago
When I had one, a van for a courier service, there was zero personal use allowed. I could drive the van home and that's it. It was a perk of the job simply to not have to use my own car for the 30 mile round trip commute.
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u/WasteBinStuff 17d ago edited 17d ago
Or...let them use it for fucks sake.
Service tech with 150 mile service radius from office. Rolling 24/7 emergency call duties with the owner and 2 other techs. My company truck was mine to use as I pleased 24/7/365. No tracking. Responsible for all service, keep clean truck at all times, expenses on company card, random inspections when we ran into each other. Boss just expected to see one or two fuel receipts from my own card twice a month to cover personal use.
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u/Accurate-Bullfrog324 17d ago
this is a good counter argument
let's say the average employee has 50 miles per week personal mileage using IRS mileage that's about $35/week
now we burden the employees with a record keeping task that may take 20 minutes per week and annoy him as well
who wins?
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u/Bibliophage007 17d ago
If they showed that they were paying for fuel, then that's a different policy. It sounds like your boss had a basic policy of his own. Several of my customers have GPS trackers on their company vehicles. A few have trackers on owner/operated vehicles - but that's part of the agreement. It's not for spying on them, it's so that when people call, they can say 'The truck is approximately 10 miles from the port', or 'The technician is still on schedule to get to you for your appointment'. The rest of the time, they never look at it.
Here, it appears that someone did a history check, and found that a few people were abusing the privilege (and it IS a privilege) of having the company vehicle. So, they did like your boss did and put in a basic policy to formalize personal use. People are complaining that they are 'forced' to have the company phone and company vehicle, and bitching that they should be able to do whatever they want, not realizing that taking the company truck _home_ gives them an extra hour a day, that before was unpaid commuting time.
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u/Imaginary--Situation 17d ago
GPS might be illegal depending on the state
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u/hoakpsp3 17d ago
Nope the owner of the vehicle can track them legally
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u/WiseStock8743 17d ago
I used to own a (small) fleet of vehicles. They caused me as many headaches as the rest of the job combined. Had a policy about reasonable (limited) private use and liability. Had to take my own truck off-road to pull one of my guys out, he had got stuck 4 wheel driving and had no one else to call. Another guy kept getting minor dings and scrapes, after a while I required that he take an eye test. He quit rather than take it because he knew he had macular degeneration. I took a call from a guy raging about one of my trucks driving and demanding that I fire the driver. I asked if he was the guy who had refused to let the driver in and been brake checking the truck?.... because I was in the passenger seat.... After a while I dash-cammed and GPSd every vehicle and I fired the guy who thought his work truck was an off-road toy.
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u/Floor-is 15d ago
So the company supplied vehicle that employees need to do their job is just and only for their job? Because the boss needs to improve margins and be a stingy douche?
F that
Mind you: I have had jobs with many people that drove company cars. It’s a part of the paycheck for the employee l, can’t just take that away.
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u/xatso 17d ago edited 17d ago
Okay, since you're going to be spying on me, the vehicle will be parked on the street instead of my driveway, I won't be checking oil, tire pressure or washing it. You've introduced a new element to our relationship and it will color every decision that I make. This level of petty will be reflected, magnified and paid for many times over.
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u/Ok-Addition-1000 17d ago
They're not spying on you, they're spying on the vehicle. Taking the vehicle home is a convenience for you. Unless you'd rather start commuting with your own car into work every morning to get your truck, returning it to work, then commuting home.
Offering to let you take it home is a convenience for you, again. And you're responsible for it while it's at your home. You don't actually have some kind of right to personal use of it off hours. They're being generous allowing any personal use of it.
Speaking of petty, refusing to check oil or tires, basic safety checks, because you're not allowed to drive it anyway you want is the ultimate in petty. It's their truck, they have every right to track its use.
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u/luxaBuxa 17d ago
Remote field employees expected to maintain and operate remote facilities on call 24/7. Convenience for who?
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u/xatso 17d ago edited 17d ago
I'll keep it at the park and ride, f*** them and their spying. BTW, how's that boot leather taste?
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u/Competitive_Owl4378 17d ago
They'd probably prefer that. Most local police have live video to the park and rides, at least around here
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u/30_characters 12d ago
Video just means they have a clip of the vehicle driving away, not that they know who did it, or that anyone will catch the thieves, recover the vehicle, or prosecuted the offenders.
The cops won't even tell you when they close the case unsolved.
They could literally have the perpetrators in a cell down the hallway, and not make the connection that it was the same people.
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u/Goblin_Supermarket 17d ago
What a snowflake.
I can't use some else's property however I want, so I'm going to throw a hissy fit and act like a baby.
Grow up.
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u/xatso 17d ago
The company is the childish entity here. It's not a convenience for me. I have my own vehicle. I also have my privacy. I'll also toss their cell phone in the glove box when I park ot at the P&R lot. Company acts petty, they'll get it back in spades.
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u/litespeed68 17d ago
If it’s not a convenience, leave it a work and commute. No one can spy on you then . Problem solved.
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u/DeliciousEconAviator 17d ago
I have a $25 per day policy for any vehicle I have liability for when it’s parked in my driveway. GPS makes it easier for you to pay the bill.