Having critical information through telematics can provide fleets with a more competitive edge and that’s particularly true during market downturns.
However, according to Penske Transportation Solutions, it’s mostly smaller fleets that are staying on the sidelines instead of jumping into the growing and critical arena of real-time actionable data.
Penske’s 2022 Telematics Use and Trends report reveals that 54% of large fleets, 51% of medium fleets and 37% of small fleets use telematics. Large fleets continue to adopt telematics at a higher rate than small and medium fleets.
Samantha Thompson, Penske Transportation Solutions vice president of customer success and fleet telematics, said that while upfront costs can be intimidating and telematics offerings not as plentiful as they are for larger fleets, she believes that smaller carriers need to get off the sidelines and get in the game.
“They do [need to acquire telematics] but their margins are thin, right?” Thompson said. “Small fleets have to justify the cost, and many of them go in expecting an immediate ROI. In some cases they can get that, but often it takes a few months or even a year plus to actually get the full ROI from the system that you purchased.”
The Software as a Service (SaaS) model is making telematics more affordable and more appealing to fleets large and small, Thompson said.
