What is the difference between GPS tracking and fleet management?
In short
GPS tracking shows where the vehicle is. Fleet management also does the work of operating the fleet: it automatically keeps the logbook and records, monitors service and document deadlines, evaluates drivers objectively, analyses costs and sends reports. Tracking is a piece of data; fleet management is a working process.
What does fleet management add?
Data collection: a tracker provides position; a fleet management system also collects the vehicle's operating data from the CAN bus (odometer, operating hours, fuel consumption, events), every 1–10 seconds.
Records: with a tracker, service, documents, objects and tyres still live in Excel; in fleet management all of this is in the system, with automatic expiry monitoring.
Evaluation and analysis: fleet management calculates an objective driving-style and economy score per driver from 32+ parameters, and shows the costs per vehicle — and why they are what they are.
Processes: checklists, fault reporting and ticket tracking, documentation of handovers, tachograph download according to the 90/28-day deadlines, automatic daily/weekly/monthly reports.
When is tracking enough, and when do you need fleet management?
If you only want to see the location of a single vehicle, a simple tracker is enough. If operating the fleet — records, settlement, maintenance, evaluation — takes working time and carries a risk of error, you need fleet management. In practice the threshold is above 3–5 vehicles.
Frequently asked questions
Is FleetControl a tracker or fleet management?
It is a fleet management platform: its 55 service modules cover operations from tracking through records and driving analysis to reporting. Tracking is only the base layer.
Do I need a new device?
Not necessarily: for newer vehicles, the OEM factory data connection works without installing a device, and FleetControl also works with compatible devices from several European manufacturers. The full feature set is provided by our own in-house developed and manufactured UniTrack devices.