Building service provider Gratte Brothers has more than halved its accident rate by using telematics to tackle speeding.

Danny Alborough, deputy group facilities manager at Gratte Brothers, said: “We use the speeding reports to reduce speeding on motorways and in towns.

“The data provided by the Quartix system helped us bring our average top speeds down by 17%.”

As such, accident rates from the previous year decreased from 35 to 15.

“This has been hugely beneficial for us with regards to our drivers’ road safety, which we deem to be very important,” said Alborough .

“We were keen to inspire safer driving with the aid of telematics and the Quartix system allows us to do that. As a result, our drivers are now much more careful on the road.”

The system’s reports on utilisation and idling times let the group keep tabs on vehicle movement and fuel usage; and to allay vehicle theft and keep fleets secure, fleet managers can be notified of any signs of irregular activity using Geofencing alerts.

Certain departments within Gratte Brothers make use of engineer time sheets to know the duration of on-site visits and travelling times in order to better communicate with customers.

Initially, drivers were wary of vehicle tracking as a way to improve road performance, mainly citing the system as invasive to their work routines.

“We had some feedback issues because drivers thought we were just watching them," Alborough said.

"But I went around the country and explained to our drivers what we were actually hoping to achieve using tracking, and they became more receptive.”

Gratte Brothers previously used another tracking system with little success.

“Contractually, we were stuck for two years with a system we barely used.

"I tried countless times to contact them for training and got no answer. Needless to say, I knew we were going to change suppliers when we had the chance.”

Before deciding on Quartix as their telematics solution, Gratte Brothers looked into other options in the market.

Alborough said: “One of the reasons we picked Quartix tracking from several other candidates was due to the flexible contract terms – specifically the option allowing 12 months followed by one month rolling.”

Gratte Brothers have also been impressed with the customer service and support from the Quartix team.

“The service from Quartix has exceeded our expectations. Queries are dealt with the same day and the staff are all friendly, reliable and very experienced. The system ticks all of our boxes and we use it every day in our service departments.

“Overall, the online application is very easy to use and the daily reports emailed to us are second to none. Quartix tracking plays a very important role in our day-to-day management – it has become a vital tool for us to run the fleet effectively.”

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