Quartix is launching a ‘pay as you go’ vehicle tracking service from £19.50 per month where fleet customers commit to the first three months rental after which they can cancel at any time with no notice.

The company has offered a similar product to a handful of customers on demand for a couple of years but will officially launch it on April 20 as part of its payment options.

Fleets can buy the package online via Quartix’s new website using Google Checkout.

Quartix now offers three funding options: outright purchase, which has just been cut in price from £500 to £295 including installation; lease finance (for the equipment only, not support); and pay as you go rental.

The rental option starts at £19.50 per month, plus £95 installation fee, for the InfoPoint package which includes vehicle tracker, driver time sheets and vehicle route.

InfoPlus, £25.50 per month, adds daily email reports, management reports and fleet management organiser.

Both products are suited more to sub-100 vehicle fleets.

The Corporate package, £29.50 per month, is aimed at larger fleets and adds management KPI organiser and export to sat-nav for route planning.

Andy Walters, Quartix managing director, believes that the lease model is in rapid decline.

It was the most popular payment method a couple of years ago, accounting for 60% of Quartix sales compared to 40% for outright purchase.

Those figures have now reversed.

By the end of the year he believes Quartix’s customers will be split 50-50 between pay as you go and outright purchase.

“Pay as you go is a no commitment solution – it’s what our customers want,” he said.

Walters is anticipating adding 500-700 customers this year, taking Quartix to 2,500-2,700, with vehicle installations rising from 20,000 to 28,000.

He estimates that a fleet with 100 vehicles could save £2,000 per year per vehicle by using a tracker system.

Savings come from reducing overtime payments by tracking hours, reducing private vehicle usage, which cuts fuel use, and increasing capacity because jobs can be allocated to drivers during the day.