There are a lot of ELD providers on the market but not all will guarantee the best service. Therefore, there are a few more featuresto look for in the provider apart from the ELD compliance mandate. An ELD is a powerful device that provides information, insights and data, to the fleet administrators and trucking companies. These figures enable them to improve their fleet operations. If you have the right ELD solution you will get the right information to streamline your operations and reduce cost of it. It will even automate several tasks thereby minimizing administrative burdens and increase your profits significantly and more ROI.
The ELD Features
To avoid hefty fines due to non-compliance make sure that you know and look for the ELD features that should be there. It must have GPS tracking system to track vehicles in meterlevel precision real time and to see breadcrumb trails and location history. Other features top look for are log auditing to send alerts to fleet managers for HOS violations, messaging to stay in touch with the drivers, IFTA reporting to calculate miles traveled automatically in each jurisdiction, geo-fencing to create virtual parameters, idle time tracking, vehicle diagnostics, driver scorecards to get information about dangerous driving behaviors and much more.
The Connectivity Factor
This is an important aspect that you must surely look into. According to the FMCSA reports, ELDs that rely on cellular networks to synchronize data between the device and the mobile device of the drivers is a compliance risk and not dependable.The reason is that few areas may not have proper cellular coverage. In such areas the driver will be held guilty for noncompliance in case there is any roadside inspection.Therefore, check its connectivity and make sure that it has Bluetooth or USB connections to transferthe data.