Volkswagen is offering a free plug-in telematics service aimed at fleet drivers between now and the end of the year.
The Connect telematics service lets drivers monitor fuel consumption, driving style and can link to an approved VW repairer to prompt alerts for servicing and issues relating to warning lights.
VW told Fleet News it has no plans to let fleet managers manage data from Connect across multiple drivers and the application is instead aimed at individual drivers.
Connect is not mandatory, so fleets running VWs are still free to choose their own telematics service.
This passenger car telematics offer is separate to what VW has previously offered with its partnership through RAC, for its commercial vehicle division, which does offer real-time telematics and fleet management data for a fee of £12.50 a month per vehicle.
David McMillan, VW’s digital service product manager, said: “The data used in Connect is already available from the car and so we wanted to push it to a smartphone app so customers can access it and make use of it.”
Connect is available now for all new cars, fleet and retail, as well as any of VW’s models already on the road built after 2008 (excluding Touareg and Phaeton due to compatibility issues).
Read more in next week’s Fleet News.
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Freelance writer for Fleet News, Tom Seymour has been a specialist B2B journalist covering the automotive sector for over 14 years. He started his freelance career in 2015 and currently writes for a variety of automotive, business and technology publications.
Steve - 11/08/2017 08:58
Having phoned my local dealer about it, as expected when manufacturers release these things, the dealers havent been told about it or the process..