The Best Cheap Vehicle Tracking Systems

Based on our meticulous testing, the shining star on our cheap vehicle tracking leader board is Samsara. With its excellent efficiency features and solid tracking functionality, it scores a stellar 5/5 for both driver and vehicle management during our in-depth testing. We particularly like Samsara’s fuel management feature which, through customised reports, can help you obtain all the insights you need to avoid paying astronomical fuel fees.

Whether it’s because of inflation, rising fuel prices, or supply shocks caused by conflicts abroad, business fleet operational costs are climbing without a clear end in sight. With such costs to contend with, it’s vital that you keep your costs low. How can you navigate all of these cost-related headaches? A robust vehicle tracking system.

When you’re looking for your next vehicle tracking system, your wish list should include three key aspects. You’ll want a system that is affordable, that is filled with tons of features to help optimise your routes and keep your drivers safe, and that offers reliable customer support. If you’re feeling a bit disoriented, we’ve created a shortcut for you – use our free comparison tool and we’ll connect with providers that can meet your fleet’s needs!

The best low-cost vehicle tracking systems

We tested a range of cheap car tracking suppliers available to UK businesses, and we’ve found that the best cheap vehicle tracking systems are provided by Samsara, Teletrac Navman TN360, RAM, Radius Fleet Services, and Quartix. Let’s find out what makes them great.

The best cheap vehicle tracking suppliers for UK businesses:

1. Samsara: best for managing vehicles
2. Teletrac Navman TN360: best for managing drivers
3. RAM: best for affordability
4. Radius Fleet Services: best for smaller fleets
5. Quartix: best for managing fuel costs

Samsara – Best for managing vehicles

How does Samsara compare to other cheap vehicle tracking systems?

Compared with other vehicle tracking systems, Samsara definitely speeds ahead if you’re on the hunt for powerful functionality in the vehicle management arena. Scoring a perfect 5/5 for vehicle management features in our research, Samsara gives you valuable insights into fuel usage, helping you manage your gas expenses – which is crucial, considering how gas prices keep on climbing. It also comes equipped with advanced vehicle management features, like cargo and engine temperature, giving it an edge over other suppliers, such as RAM or Teletrac Navman TN360.

However, if we focus on just the price, Samsara isn’t the star student of the vehicle tracking class. Scoring an above-average 3.1/5 for price in our research, Samsara isn’t the best option for smaller fleets due to higher starting monthly prices and minimum contracts of three years. If you’re willing to forego the deeper vehicle management features to pay less, then we’d recommend looking at RAM, which scores a much healthier 4.6/5 for price.

Teletrac Navman TN360 – Best for managing drivers

How does Teletrac Navman TN360 compare to other cheap vehicle tracking systems?

If your fleet is on the larger end of the spectrum, and you’re looking for a system that is rich in driver management features, we’d say that Teletrac Navman TN360 performs admirably well compared with the rest of the crowd. Scoring an impressive 5/5 for driver management in our testing, Teletrac equips your fleet with driving history insights, driver messaging, driver behaviour management, driving style data, and driver performance. This will make you feel like you’re the co-pilot of your whole fleet, giving you all the control you need to keep on top of your operation.

Where Teletrac lags behind others – despite being relatively cheap overall – is price. Starting at roughly $25 per vehicle, per month (keep in mind prices will change depending on your fleet’s characteristics), Teletrac scores a 3.4/5 for price in our research, behind RAM’s 4.6/5 and Radius Fleet Service’s 4.3/5. Therefore, if price is your absolute priority and you’re willing to give up some driver management features, like driver messaging or ELD compliance, then RAM or Radius might be a better fit for you.

RAM Tracking – Best for affordability

How does RAM compare to other cheap vehicle tracking systems?

When it comes to finding an affordable vehicle tracking system, RAM is tough to beat. Offering you lots of flexibility in contract length, and with plans starting as low as £8.99 per vehicle, per month, RAM scores 4.6/5 for price in our testing – the highest score alongside Quartix. Keep in mind, the reason why RAM is superior to Quartix for affordability is because it gives users more contract flexibility, whereas Quartix only offers one-year contracts. When it comes to product features, RAM also gives a strong performance when compared with the other providers on this list. Scoring a 4.8/5 in this category, it shoots ahead of all of the suppliers thanks to its provision of weather updates and asset tracker.

However, RAM falls very short when it comes to vehicle management. Scoring a poor 1.9/5 for vehicle management in our test, RAM misses out on key features that include fuel management, vehicle diagnostics, fleet maintenance, and cargo and engine temperature. Considering how expensive fuel is getting, we empathise with you if you need a vehicle tracking system that has fuel management. If this sounds like you, we’d recommend looking at Quartix.

Radius Telematics – Best for smaller fleets

How does Radius Telematics compare to other cheap vehicle tracking systems?

When it comes to flexibility and affordability, our testing shows that Radius takes the cake. With pay-as-you-go arrangements available on a two-year basis, and low monthly prices starting at £7.20, it’s a very persuasive option for smaller fleets. This explains why Radius scores a very strong 4.3/5 for price in our research, above Samsara (3.1/5) and Teletrac Navman TN360 (3.4/5). If we focus on vehicle management features, Radius scores a superior 4.3/5 in this category in our testing. It comes equipped with fuel management, speed control, and cargo and engine temperature – outperforming RAM and Teletrac Navman.

However, Radius doesn’t offer very reliable customer support. Although it provides a contact number, it doesn’t advertise a 24-hour service. If this is a must for your fleet, we’d recommend steering your wheel towards Samsara, which does offer 24/7 support.

Quartix – Best for managing fuel costs

How does Quartix compare to other cheap vehicle tracking providers?

If saving fuel is at the top of your priority list, then we think Quartix is a very solid solution for your fleet. With advanced fuel management features that clue you in on your CO2 emissions, and syncs data with your fuel cards using Fleetcheck, Quartix can help you avoid fuel wastage and give you more confidence when facing future fuel price increases. Quartix is also exceptional if we focus on price, scoring 4.6/5 in our testing – the highest score (alongside RAM) of all the providers we look at! This is thanks to the low starting prices it offers as well as the flexibility you get with optional add-on purchases, which cost as little as £1.

However, where Quartix lags behind Samsara, Teletrac, and Radius is for driver management features. Scoring a marginally acceptable 3.5/5 in this category in our research, Quartix doesn’t offer crash reporting or driver messaging.

How did we find the best cheap vehicle tracking systems?

We rigorously tested seven of the most used and top-rated project management suppliers on the market. After compiling all the needed information, we then narrowed it down to the top five cheap vehicle tracking apps based on these factors:

• Price: the platforms with the most competitive prices score the highest
• Tracking: we look at how good the providers are at tracking, based on their offering of fleet summary reports, custom locations, scheduling and dispatching drivers, automatic route optimisation, and more
• Driver Management: we assess how easy it’s to manage drivers based on whether you can access driving history, driver messaging, driver ID, driver behaviour management, crash reporting, and more
• Vehicle Management: we find whether you have access to vehicle diagnostics, fleet maintenance records, speed control, distance travelled, engine temperature, cargo temperature, theft prevention, and more
• Features: whichever provider offers the widest range of features will rank above those with a thin offering
• Customer Support: we look at the type of features the providers offer to support their customers in case of a vehicle tracking SOS

After factoring in all of the individual scores from these categories, we calculated an overall score for each supplier to help guide your buying decisions.

How to choose the right low-cost fleet tracking system

Before you start counting out the pennies for a cheap vehicle tracking system, you need to compare your options and make sure you’ve picked the right one – cheapest isn’t always best, and every cheap car tracker is different.

To help you, we’ve put together three questions to ask to avoid the most common pitfalls for first-time vehicle tracking users:

1) Is it flexible?

Before you start leasing your cheap fleet tracking system, you’ll need to dive into the depths of the small print and examine how much wiggle room the contract will give you.

What do we mean by that? Well, if your fleet radically grows or shrinks, you’ll need to be able to adjust your system accordingly. Simply, it is to quickly acquire more devices and sign up more drivers, or send back devices and remove user accounts – with minimal hassle. Will your contract allow this?

There’s a whole variety of other things to consider, too. What if you want to upgrade or downgrade to a different payment tier – will that be easy for you? If you choose to change suppliers completely, will the contract length and cancellation policy make that difficult? Are there cancellation fees? Is there a buyout option?

2) Is it future-proof?

Forget how fun Marty McFly made it seem, when it comes to your business, you can’t afford to get stuck in the past.

Vehicle tracking tech is getting better – and cheaper – every year. Even though a deal might look good at first, low fees can sometimes come with long contracts that’ll saddle you with outdated, static technology for a number of years.

So, before you sign, make sure you’ll have the option to upgrade your software and devices if, and when, you need to. You might also choose to go for a supplier that can give you a short contract, which will offer more frequent opportunities to review or change the service you’re getting. 

3) Is it feature-rich?

It may seem like an obvious one, but it can actually be really easy to forget the features – especially if you’re preoccupied with price. As with many things, you get what you pay for – and the more features you want from your vehicle tracking system, the more it’ll cost you. For example, you’ll pay more if you want vehicle speed monitoring.

You should definitely only pay for the features you really need. On the flipside though, you shouldn’t forgo the features that could really help boost your operations in favour of a lower price.

4) Our bonus question: Is there a faster way to do all this research?

Yes! We can help you find the right cheap vehicle tracking system for you – and quickly.

Simply answer a few questions about your fleet, and we’ll match you with the UK suppliers that best fit the unique needs of your business. They’ll contact you with personalised, obligation-free quotes, and further information about what their service can offer you. This matchmaking service is fast, free, and easy – why not give it a go?