How Can GPS Tracking Help Vehicle Rental and Leasing Companies?
For a vehicle rental or leasing business, knowing where your vehicles are is only the beginning.
GPS vehicle tracking can give you visibility across your fleet from one account, helping you monitor vehicle locations, journeys, mileage, movement, geofences and other vehicle information depending on the tracker and configuration.
That can be useful whether you're managing a small local rental operation or hundreds of vehicles across different locations.
Global Trackers already supports established rental and leasing businesses with substantial tracked fleets, so we understand that the requirement isn't simply:
“Put a dot on a map.”
It's about making a large number of vehicles easier to manage.
Can I see all my rental or lease vehicles in one place?
Yes.
Each vehicle has its own GPS tracker, but multiple trackers can be managed within the same tracking account.
Instead of logging into a separate account for every vehicle, you can see your tracked fleet through one platform from a phone or computer.
That makes it much easier to answer everyday questions such as:
Where is this vehicle?
Has it been returned?
Which vehicles are at this branch?
Which vehicles are currently away?
Where did this vehicle travel yesterday?
For businesses managing large numbers of vehicles, having that information in one place can save a considerable amount of manual checking.
Can I track a rental vehicle while it's out with a customer?
A GPS tracker installed in the vehicle can continue reporting tracking information while the vehicle is away from your premises, subject to suitable satellite and mobile connectivity.
You don't need the customer's phone to provide the vehicle's location.
The tracker communicates independently with the tracking platform.
That means authorised users of the tracking account can access the vehicle information available through the platform remotely.
Businesses must, of course, ensure that their use of tracking complies with their contractual, privacy and data-protection responsibilities.
What if a rental vehicle isn't returned?
Tracking information can help establish the location and movement of a vehicle that hasn't been returned when expected.
That can be considerably more useful than relying solely on telephone calls or the last known information provided by the customer.
However, a late vehicle isn't automatically a stolen vehicle.
If you believe a vehicle has been stolen or unlawfully retained, follow the appropriate contractual and legal process and involve the police where necessary.
Don't attempt to recover a vehicle personally based solely on tracking information.
Can I get an alert if a vehicle moves unexpectedly?
Yes.
Movement alerts can help bring unexpected vehicle activity to your attention.
That can be useful for vehicles that are supposed to be parked at a branch, compound or storage location.
An alert doesn't automatically mean something is wrong, but it gives your team information they can investigate.
For a business managing many vehicles, that can be much more practical than expecting somebody to continually monitor a map.
Can I create geofences around rental branches or depots?
Yes.
A geofence is a virtual boundary created around a location.
For a rental or leasing company, that could be:
- A branch
- A depot
- A vehicle compound
- A storage facility
- A workshop
- Another operational location
The tracking platform can then generate events or alerts when vehicles enter or leave defined areas, depending on the configuration.
This can help businesses understand vehicle movements between locations without manually checking each vehicle.
Can I tell when a rental vehicle has returned?
Vehicle location and geofence information can help identify when a tracked vehicle enters a defined branch or depot area.
That can provide useful operational visibility, particularly across businesses where vehicles move between several locations.
It doesn't replace your normal vehicle check-in, inspection, damage or rental-closing procedures.
But it can give your team another useful piece of information about where the vehicle is.
Can I monitor vehicle mileage?
Depending on the vehicle, tracker and configuration, mileage and journey information can be available through the tracking platform.
For rental and leasing businesses, mileage can be particularly useful for understanding vehicle use.
It may help with:
- Reviewing vehicle utilisation
- Maintenance planning
- Understanding journey activity
- Identifying heavily or lightly used vehicles
- Supporting fleet-management decisions
Where mileage information is commercially or contractually important, speak to us about the appropriate device and configuration for your vehicles.
Can GPS tracking help with vehicle maintenance?
Yes.
The Global Trackers platform can help businesses manage maintenance and servicing information.
That becomes increasingly useful as the number of vehicles grows.
Instead of important requirements being scattered across spreadsheets, diaries and paperwork, vehicle information can form part of a more organised fleet-management process.
For rental and leasing businesses, where vehicle availability directly affects the operation, keeping on top of maintenance can be particularly important.
Can I monitor fuel use?
Where supported by the vehicle, tracker and configuration, the Global Trackers platform can provide fuel-consumption information.
This can help rental and leasing businesses understand how vehicles are being used and investigate unusual or inefficient consumption.
Fuel information can be considered alongside:
- Mileage
- Journey history
- Vehicle activity
- Idling
- Driver behaviour
- Routes
That creates a much more complete picture than simply knowing where the vehicle is.
Can I monitor idling and driver behaviour?
Where the required vehicle and tracker information is available, the Global Trackers platform can provide idling and driver-behaviour information.
For fleet operators, this can help identify patterns across vehicles rather than relying entirely on individual incidents or assumptions.
Depending on the use case, this information can support conversations around efficient vehicle use, operating costs and fleet management.
The exact information available depends on the vehicle, tracker and configuration, so these requirements are best discussed before deployment.
Can GPS tracking help me understand vehicle utilisation?
Yes — and this can be particularly valuable for rental and leasing fleets.
A business may own or manage a large number of vehicles, but that doesn't necessarily mean they're all being used equally.
Tracking information can help identify:
- Vehicles that are regularly active
- Vehicles that spend long periods stationary
- Patterns of movement between locations
- Differences in vehicle usage
- Mileage patterns
- Journey activity
That information can help management understand how the fleet is actually being used.
A vehicle sitting unused is still tying up capital.
So sometimes the most valuable question isn't:
“Where is this vehicle?”
It's:
“Are we making good use of the vehicles we already have?”
Can I track vehicles across several branches?
Yes.
Vehicles don't have to be physically located together to appear within the same tracking platform.
That means a rental or leasing business operating from several branches can have visibility across tracked vehicles in different locations.
How accounts, users and vehicle groups should be organised depends on the individual business.
For larger deployments, it's worth planning the account structure properly rather than simply adding devices one at a time without considering how staff will use the system.
Can different members of staff use the tracking system?
A business tracking platform needs to work for the people actually managing the vehicles.
Depending on the account setup, access can be organised so that authorised users can work with the tracking information they need.
For larger rental and leasing operations, we can discuss how the platform should be structured around your business rather than expecting your business to adapt itself around the tracker.
Can I track rental vehicles travelling into Europe?
Global Trackers' current service uses multi-network M2M connectivity across the UK and supported European networks.
That can be particularly relevant for rental and leasing vehicles that may travel outside the UK.
Coverage should always be checked for the countries in which you expect vehicles to operate.
For more information, see Will My GPS Tracker Work in Europe?
What if I manage hundreds of vehicles?
GPS tracking isn't limited to small fleets.
The same basic principle applies whether you're tracking five vehicles or hundreds:
Each vehicle has a compatible tracker, and the devices report information to the tracking platform.
But as fleets become larger, the way the service is configured becomes increasingly important.
You may need to consider:
- Vehicle groups
- Different branches
- User access
- Device configuration
- Alert requirements
- Reporting requirements
- Installation and rollout
- SIM and subscription management
- Adding and removing vehicles over time
This is where working with a tracking supplier who understands your operation becomes more important than simply ordering a box online.
Can trackers be moved when vehicles leave the fleet?
Yes.
An OBD tracker can be relatively straightforward to remove from a compatible vehicle and use elsewhere.
A hardwired tracker requires a more permanent installation and needs to be removed and reinstalled appropriately.
For rental and leasing fleets where vehicles regularly enter and leave the fleet, the expected vehicle lifecycle should be considered when choosing the tracker.
See Hardwired vs OBD GPS Trackers: Which Is Right for You?
How much does it cost to track a rental or leasing fleet?
The cost depends on the devices required and the number of trackers in the fleet.
Global Trackers' standard tracking subscription is currently £5.99 per tracker per month including VAT, including the multi-network M2M SIM and access to the tracking platform.
For larger fleets or a planned business rollout, talk to us about your requirements rather than simply ordering individual trackers one at a time.
We can look at:
- Number of vehicles
- Vehicle types
- Installation requirements
- Information you need from the platform
- How vehicles enter and leave the fleet
- How your team needs to access the system
That lets us recommend a setup around the operation rather than treating every business as though it has one car.
What about privacy and data protection?
Vehicle tracking involves location and potentially other vehicle or user-related information, so businesses need to consider their UK data-protection and privacy responsibilities.
Exactly what is required depends on how the vehicles are used, who drives them, what information is collected and why.
Rental and leasing businesses should make sure tracking is appropriately addressed within their contracts, privacy information and internal processes.
For organisation-specific requirements, appropriate legal or data-protection advice may be needed.
Why use Global Trackers for rental and leasing?
Global Trackers isn't approaching rental and leasing as a theoretical use case.
We already support established businesses managing substantial numbers of tracked vehicles.
That experience matters.
A large fleet needs more than a tracker arriving in a parcel.
It needs devices that suit the vehicles, reliable connectivity, a platform that can manage multiple assets and — importantly — support when something needs sorting.
Our approach is still the same whether we're helping somebody with one vehicle or a business managing hundreds:
Tracking made easy. Support that makes the difference.
So, can GPS tracking help a rental or leasing business?
Yes.
GPS tracking can give rental and leasing businesses much greater visibility over where vehicles are, where they've travelled and how they're being used.
Depending on the vehicle, tracker and configuration, the platform can also provide information around mileage, fuel consumption, idling, driver behaviour, maintenance, CO₂ and other fleet-management data.
For a rental or leasing operation, that can help with far more than vehicle security.
It can support fleet visibility, vehicle utilisation, operational efficiency, maintenance and cost control.
If you're looking to track a rental or leasing fleet, tell us how many vehicles you operate, what types of vehicles they are and what information you need.
We'll help you build the right setup rather than simply sell you a pile of trackers.