The alerts your fleet management platform should include (or should at least have the capacity for) are SMS alerts, driver alerts, panic alerts, and accident alerts. You can gain even more value from your FMS if it includes fuel fraud alerts, cargo monitoring alerts, and idling alerts.
Consider these statistics from SA News. Light delivery vehicles made up around 20% of crashes in 2024. Trucks accounted for 6%. And besides what these accidents cost their respective fleet companies, the loss of life or resulting disability is immeasurable.
In this article we’ll cover a total of 8 fleet management alerts that you should have to avoid these kinds of events. First we’ll cover what the alert is and how it works. Then we’ll move on to the ROI benefits of the alert. Finally, we’ll show you how Cartrack has developed a system that makes these alerts possible, accessible, and highly functional.
The 8 alerts every fleet platform should offer are:
These alerts solve a range of issues from cargo protection to full-on accident prevention.
Let’s take a look at each one more closely.
An alert warning you about bad driver behaviour is an essential tool in any fleet management system. Not only do your drivers represent your brand, they also affect the safety of other motorists on the road. But most importantly, bad driving puts THEIR OWN SAFETY at risk, which is something you want to avoid.
Driver monitoring is somewhat multi-layered.
Layer 1: Monitor what the vehicle is doing and receive alerts when there’s speeding, harsh braking, or aggressive cornering.
Layer 2: Use AI vehicle cameras to watch drivers and make sure they’re not:
Layer 3: Use the above vehicle & driver data to coach each driver. Keep track of these training sessions and get alerted when agreed-to corrections aren’t being adhered to.
It’s a helpful system. You could be at home, in the office, or on the road yourself and STILL get alerted to what’s going on with your drivers hundreds of kilometres away!
Driver safety holds massive financial returns. If your drivers are keeping to sound driving habits, they’re protecting your vehicles, themselves, and other motorists.
The result? Your vehicles experience less wear & tear. Your use of fuel goes down. Fatality and accident risks go down. Your insurance premiums might even go down! It’s an all-round win for your fleet.
Cartrack offers all 3 of these layers. Speak to us about getting a CAN Bus reader attached to your vehicles so you can monitor vehicle behaviour.
Optional: Go a step further and ask us about free installation on our AI vehicle cameras where you can watch your drivers in real time and even get alerted to when they’re compromising their driving.
Also optional: Now go all out… and get Cartrack’s driver coaching setup, making sure your drivers stick to habits that save you money and minimise fleet risk.
Much of what you do as a fleet manager is based on the logistics and tasks of your drivers. It’s a big-picture job that can feel a bit ‘blind’ at times (since you're not there to direct your drivers on every aspect of their jobs). SMS alerts solve this issue.
SMS alerts give you small details on delivery processes. This is especially helpful with last-mile deliveries but can also benefit any fleet where the drivers complete “tasks” of any kind. SMS alerts give you updates at every stage of each process.
Stage 1: A parcel (or cargo) is being picked up (or loaded).
Stage 2: It’s on route. The ETA is approximated and sent to you. SMS Received… How convenient!
Stage 3: The driver has arrived. The package is delivered. The cargo has been offloaded. Signatures are recorded. Photos have been taken as proof. Services have been rendered. Done and dusted… Now on to the next one.
The ROI of getting SMS alerts is EFFICIENCY. The more efficient your drivers are, the better you manage them. The better (and quicker) you manage them, the more deliveries they accomplish in a day.
Simply put: Less time with blind management = more revenue for efficient deliveries!
Cartrack helps you crush the competition by offering a delivery and field service app where every driver is managed semi-automatically. You get a big-picture view of what’s going on with each driver and how they all fit together into your day’s schedule.
It’s workforce optimisation at its finest, and it costs less than you think. Ask us about it.
Keeping your drivers safe is an essential investment within your fleet. Why? Because a lot of South Africa’s crime happens on the roads. Theft. Hi-jacking. These are real threats—not just against your drivers & vehicles but to your bottom line as well.
A panic button is installed discreetly within each vehicle. Only the driver knows where it is, and pressing it alerts our control centre to danger. You also receive a panic alert, keeping you abreast of risks while your driver is on the road.
Don’t get security features that cost money unless they SAVE & MAKE you money in return. The return on investment for panic button alerts is obvious:
The point of panic alerts is ACTION. Cartrack has emergency teams and recovery teams on standby, and they’re always ready to spring into action when danger or breakdowns threaten your drivers and the logistics of your cargo.
Idling results in an obscene amount of money out of your fuel budget. Getting alerts to prolonged idling gives you more control, and the power to DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.
Once again, CAN Bus is the hero of this story. A clamp is attached to the ‘nervous system’ of your vehicle, detects idling, times how long idling occurs each time, and alerts you to it immediately.
Imagine the cumulative effects of less idling across your fleet. Those small idling sessions build up over time and can potentially result in thousands of rands over a 12-month period.
Saving this amount of money is a game changer for fleets, so wouldn’t you want to take control of it to lower your overheads?
Cartrack offers a comprehensive fuel monitoring platform that puts usage and waste into perspective. But we also give you the control of getting alerted to idling so you can take steps to curb it or make it less frequent.
Getting emergency help to your drivers when they’re far away from you as the fleet manager is an invaluable feature that every fleet management platform should include. Your vehicles are important, but your drivers even MORE so.
You’ll get alerted to any collision, whether severe or insignificant, and we will too. Coupling these alerts with an emergency reaction team gives you extra peace of mind while your drivers are out on the road. You’re prioritising their safety, and you’ll be aware of a collision event when it happens—not hours after.
Not enough is said about the ROI benefits of protecting fleet drivers. Keeping them safe plays into driver retention, giving you the ability to build a strong team of individuals who feel protected.
If a collision does occur, your drivers will get expert emergency services on the scene as quickly as possible!
Even with vehicle safety features, collisions can have devastating effects. Cartrack adds an extra layer of driver protection by alerting you to accidents so you can contact your driver to see if they’re okay. If they can’t be contacted, we’ll be there to investigate and help where we can.
Want to learn more about collision alerts? Contact one of our consultants, and we’ll show you how to implement this into your fleet—along with all the other alerts on this list.
With fuel prices on the rise, even the smallest wastage builds up over time, affecting your fleet budget negatively. Not to mention the larger fuel anomalies that take place like theft, fraud, or leaks. A fuel alert lets you know when any of these three things is happening.
Sensors are placed within the fuel tanks of your vehicles. These sensors give readings that are way more accurate than the standard tank sensors your vehicles are equipped with.
The readings are then fed to a fuel monitoring software platform, algorithms are run, and pertinent information is sent to you to analyse or investigate.
Detecting fuel waste comes with massive ROI benefits. The larger your fleet, the more cumulative these savings become. Fuel is expensive, but it’s likely to go up even more! Are you doing everything you can to use fuel sparingly?
Cartrack provides and installs state-of-the-art fuel sensors that connect to our fuel monitoring platform. Our system is also scalable, so it continues to save you money as your fleet grows!
If your cargo isn’t monitored as efficiently as your vehicles and your drivers, you run the risk of suffering loss from the compromise of your most valuable products. This isn’t just about keeping cargo contained for quality purposes; it’s also about protecting it from being tampered with or stolen.
Door sensors are great on their own, because they alert you every time your cargo doors are opened or closed.
But you can add even more security to this feature by seeing exactly what’s taking place every time the doors open—IN REAL TIME. Cameras can be coupled to door sensor alerts, so you can tune in to what’s occurring by watching it LIVE.
This system protects your cargo from theft, border patrol tampering, and he-said-she-said disputes. You’ll have a record of exactly what time the doors were opened, and with cameras you’ll have video evidence of what transpired.
Door sensors are a valuable installation provided by Cartrack. We’ll also advise you on cameras if you want those too. These only activate when the doors open, giving you a relevant series of footage that can be used if your cargo is compromised.
Got temperature-sensitive cargo? You could save on a lot of waste if you were monitoring cargo temperatures at all times. This goes beyond door sensors by checking and providing the real-time temperature of your containers. It’s perfect for food delivery, as well as medical supply cargo carriers.
If the temperature rises, you’ll know about it. You can set limits that reflect the bare minimum or maximum temperature your cargo needs to remain at. This works with specialised sensors that feed to a trigger alert, and that alert goes straight to you when something isn’t quite what it should be.
Having this alert might not be necessary for every fleet, but if you deal with perishable food or medical supplies, IT’S A MUST!
Tonnes of food is wasted in the delivery process every year in South Africa. Do you want to carry those costs, or are you prepared to put measures in place to prevent it?
Cartrack develops these sensors within South Africa, and our software and alerts system is compatible with your mobile device & PCs. We’re standing by to schedule a full temperature monitoring system for your containers that carry heat- or cold-sensitive cargo.
The main idea behind getting fleet alerts is AWARENESS. Being in the know about what’s going on with your drivers, your vehicles, and your cargo results in high ROI, more efficiency, and an overall stronger brand reputation.
Knowledge is POWER in the world of fleet management. Take control back and get the most essential alerts directly on your phone.
In today’s fleet arena, it’s the only way to REALLY manage effectively.
Stay aware of your fleet operations. Learn how these eight essential fleet alerts keep your drivers safe and stop you from wasting heaps of cash.
