Equipping company vehicles with GPS, pros and cons

Transportation is a big part of business. Whether you have employees making sales calls or deliveries, chances are you have a company vehicle (or two or three). One thing some companies are doing for their company cars is equipping them with GPS, or Global Positioning Systems.

GPS is, quite simply, a radio-navigation system based on satellites that allows anyone with a GPS receiver to figure out their location anywhere on the surface of the Earth. That means if you equip your company vehicles with a GPS system, you will always be able to tell where your employee vehicles are.

But before you equip your company vehicles with GPS, consider first the following pros and cons:

Pros
- Know where your employees are at all times. GPS allows you to pinpoint exactly where your employees are. This is beneficial for a number of reasons. For example, if you have a customer calling asking where a delivery is, you will be able to tell them precisely where they are and give a better estimation of how long it will take to get there. In addition, if you have your suspicions that employees are using their company vehicles for personal reasons, you can use the GPS to determine where they are and whether their use of the car is approved.
- Affordable. It used to be that GPS was very expensive. Now, it has gotten more affordable and will cost roughly $300 a vehicle, about the same price as a nice CD player.
- Encourages employees to drive better. If employees know their mileage, speed, and gas consumption is being monitored via GPS, they are more apt to be careful with what and how they are using company vehicles. This will end up saving money for you as well.
- Safety. GPS systems are good for safety in the event someone gets lost, hurt, or stranded on the road and doesn't know their exact location.
- Easy to use. GPS systems are not complicated to use and company vehicles are easily tracked. Most of the time, coordinates are accessed via the internet or even a cell phone.

Cons
Just as there are definite upsides to equipping your company vehicles with GPS, there are some downsides as well. Consider the following:
- Employees may not like it. If you suddenly tell your employees you are going to start tracking their movements, chances are they are not going to be pleased with it. They may feel like you don't trust them and feel it is an invasion of their privacy. However, regardless of your reasons for doing so, you can tell your employees that you are doing it for quality assurance or for safety purposes.
- Cost. While $300 is relatively inexpensive, considering, it might not be in the budget for a new company to install GPS on all their vehicles right away. However, if your primary business is delivery or transportation, it can be considered a business expense.

Equipping your company vehicles with GPS, if you have the resources to do so, is an excellent way to keep track of your vehicles as well as your employees and encourages safety and responsible handling of company property. However, there are downsides, so be sure to carefully weigh the pros and cons before making any decisions.