GPS monitoring of passenger vehicles – how to control a company car fleet?

Why does a company need GPS in passenger vehicles?

The question is different from the one concerning trucks—passenger vehicles do not transport sensitive goods, do not have tachographs, and nobody requires them to report under SENT. But that is precisely why control is more difficult. A company-car driver usually has greater freedom, and every private kilometre is an expense for the employer.

Private journeys—the scale of the problem

Averages from ASNET SL data show that in fleets without GPS monitoring, private journeys account for 20–40% of a vehicle’s total mileage. After the system is implemented, this figure falls by 50–60%—solely because drivers know that the vehicle’s location is being recorded. This is not about repression, but about transparency that changes habits.

How does GPS affect insurance costs?

Insurance companies are increasingly offering fleet discounts to businesses with active GPS monitoring. The argument is simple: vehicles equipped with a tracker are found more quickly after theft—the recovery rate increases by more than 70%—while documented driving behaviour reduces the risk of road-traffic damage. Negotiating a third-party liability/comprehensive insurance policy for a fleet with a verified GPS history can bring savings of several per cent of the annual premium.

What does a fleet manager see after implementing GPS?

A web platform and mobile app display the entire passenger-car fleet in one view—without installing anything on the company’s server.

Real-time location

Refreshing every 6 seconds means that the vehicle’s location on the map corresponds to its actual position with minimal delay. The fleet manager can see which car is stationary, which is moving and at what speed—right now, not an hour later.

90-day route history

Every route is saved with its date, start and end times, distance travelled and stopping points. A 90-day history makes it possible to reconstruct any working day of a vehicle—both to settle business mileage and to verify whether the car was used outside working hours.

Driver identification—RFID and DALLAS keys

If several employees use the same car, the system identifies who is currently driving via an RFID card or a DALLAS key assigned to a specific person. Each route then has the driver’s name attached to it. The monthly report shows mileage per employee, not only per vehicle.

Speeding alerts and geofencing zones

The fleet manager sets speed thresholds and receives an SMS or email for every violation. Speeding fines in passenger-vehicle fleets are one of the less obvious costs; GPS monitoring can reduce them by up to 90%. Geofencing complements this control: the manager receives a notification when the car leaves a defined area or reaches a specific customer address.

GPS in passenger vehicles and the GDPR

GPS monitoring of company cars used by employees must comply with personal-data protection regulations. The employee must be informed that the vehicle is monitored—and for what purpose. Business monitoring is permitted when it concerns only working time and the employer’s property. Key principles include written information in the contract or an annex, disabling monitoring outside working hours (or documenting the legal basis for conducting it), and restricting access to the data to people managing the fleet.

GPS system providers, such as ASNET GPS, generally provide ready-made GDPR information templates and help configure the system in accordance with legal requirements.

Driving-style analysis—the ECODriving module for passenger fleets

The ECODriving module is not reserved exclusively for trucks. In a passenger-car fleet, it works in the same way: it records sudden acceleration, harsh braking and idling above the permitted norm. The driver receives a monthly driving-style score. Companies that have implemented ECODriving reports for company cars record a 10–15% reduction in fuel consumption at the same mileage.

Reports for the finance department

The system exports data to CSV or PDF—a monthly fleet report broken down by vehicles, drivers, routes and fuel costs. The finance department receives ready-to-use material for settlements and does not need to collect spreadsheets from drivers.

How many vehicles make GPS worthwhile in a passenger fleet?

A subscription for one vehicle starts at PLN 20 net per month. For 5 cars, that is PLN 100 per month. The savings on private journeys alone for 5 vehicles—assuming 1,000 private kilometres per month per car at a cost of PLN 0.40/km—amount to PLN 2,000 per month. The investment pays for itself in the first month.

Would you like to see how GPS monitoring can reduce the costs of your company-car fleet? Order an express quotation tailored to the number of vehicles.