Best Van Tracking Systems: Fleet Management for Vans

Van tracking for your business is a no-brainer. You can maximise efficiency, improve security and increase your profits. If you have a fleet of vans and don’t currently use a tracking device, you’re missing out – plain and simple.

Given the tech involved and the number of benefits they bring, you might expect van trackers to be an expensive piece of kit. In fact, it’s a really competitive market. You can get advanced tracking systems for as little as £7.49 per month. 

You can have a read of our guide of the leading van tracking system suppliers. Otherwise, skip ahead to our top 6 providers, or keep scrolling to get to grips with the basics of van fleet management.

✔ Van trackers cut costs, simplify van maintenance, and increase driver safety

✔ Van fleet management systems are available from £7.49 per month

✔ Verizon and Samsara are our top van fleet management picks

✔ Quartix, Movolytics, and RAM Tracking all offer low-cost van tracking options

What is van tracking?

Van trackers are small devices installed into a company’s fleet to track the whereabouts of each vehicle in real-time. You’d be forgiven for thinking this is their only purpose, but in reality, they can provide a wealth of useful data and information – from driver behaviour to fuel management. Best of all, vehicle tracker installation couldn’t be easier.

We’ve broken down their core benefits below.

Find out if a van fleet management solution is right for your business below

Which van tracking system is right for your business?

We compared the range of van tracking systems available in the UK, to find out which one is best placed to bring efficiency, safety, and simplicity to your van fleet management. It’s also best to understand the cost of vehicle tracking, which we’ll explain on this page.

Our research shows that Samsara is the best option for UK businesses, while Verizon Connect and Movolytics are also strong contenders. Making up the best of the rest are Quartix, RAM Tracking, and Teletrac Navman. Let’s find out why.

Samsara – Best van tracking system for fuel usage and route planning

Better still, its route optimisation functionality is quite simply stunning – you’ll know the exact time it’ll take your vans to get to a job before they’ve even left the garage, and you can easily mitigate the frustrating effects of traffic conditions on journey progress. Samara’s van tracking solution offers:

Pricing

Depending on your contract length and the van tracking product you choose, Samsara’s hardware will cost between £99 and £359, while a monthly licence for the software will set you back between £10.83 and £23.75. Samsara offers a free trial of up to 30 days.

Verizon Connect – Best van tracking system for monitoring driver behaviour

Consider its driver behaviour alerts, for instance. You can set up any and all alerts you want – from late starts and long stops to speeding and harsh braking, it’s easy to keep tabs on the individual performance of all your drivers. And, through a highly customisable reporting dashboard, you’ll get 360-degree access to all the data you need to grow your van fleet into a van empire.

Verizon Connect is ideal for you if you require:

Pricing

Sadly, Verizon Connect is tight-lipped when it comes to its fees. But don’t fret – because where there’s a will, there’s a way. In this case, that way is taking a moment to complete our free webform. We’ll ask a couple of questions about the amount of vans you’re looking to track, and the industry you work in.

Then, you’ll receive quotes tailored specifically to the unique needs of your business. These will come only from the UK’s leading van fleet management companies (Verizon included), handpicked to help your business thrive and grow.

Movolytics – Best van tracking system for quick and simple live reporting

Movolytics is also unique in that it’s the only supplier of its kind that doesn’t use GPS to gather location data. Instead, it pulls data directly from your vans themselves. Far from being a disadvantage, this actually means you’ll get faster, more accurate data from your vehicles. Plus, its smart mobile app allows you to stay on top of movements out on the tarmac, from wherever you are in the world.

Here are a few benefits that Movolytics promises to bring to your business:

Pricing

For a standard, self-installed van tracking device from Movolytics, you’ll pay just £7.49 per month. For a hard-wired solution, though, you can expect to pay around £14.49 per vehicle over a 36-month period.

Quartix – Best van tracking system on a shoestring

Plus, Quartix won’t tie you into a long contract, or petrify you with small print. Whereas providers such as Samsara and Verizon tend to set up their customers in three year blocks, Quartix’s contracts are a refreshingly brief 12 months. As well as this, Quartix offers:

Pricing

The pricing we mentioned above of £9.90 per month is for Quartix’s most basic plan, Infopoint. For a step up, you can opt for Infoplus at £11.90 per month, while the most advanced plan, Infofleet, will set you back a monthly fee of £16.90.

If you’d like to experience the full force of Quartix’s functionality, though, you’ll need to pay extra. Fuel card reporting, driver ID, auxiliary input and panic buttons are all features only available as add-ons, at a charge of £1 per month.

RAM Tracking – Best van tracking system for small fleets

Price point aside, RAM Tracking has a couple of other unique selling points. It’s the only brand in the UK, for example, to provide a specific cost savings report. RAM Tracking is also the only van tracking system to provide direct crash report data – though its lack of fuel card integration and driver messaging will be enough to deter managers of larger van fleets.

RAM Tracking’s key selling points are:

Pricing

With RAM Tracking, you’ll save when you opt for a lengthier deal – 5-year contracts are £8.99 per month, while 4-year contracts are priced at a competitive monthly charge of £9.99. In the shorter-term, a 36-month contract comes at a monthly cost of £10.99, while you’ll pay a highly reasonable £14 per month with a 12-month deal.

Teletrac Navman – Best van tracking system for customisable reporting

On top of this, Teletrac Navman offers integrated dash cam capability for vans. That means you’ll have video replays of any incidents instantly at your disposal, saving you time and money when it comes to settling insurance claims. Teletrac Navman is flexible, too – like Quartix, it offers contracts as brief as 12 months – though if you’re seeking longer-term stability, deals for up to five years are available.

Choose Teletrac Navman if you want:

Pricing

Exact pricing for Teletrac Navman’s solution isn’t available, though we can tell you that it offers three tiered plans.

Essential, the cheapest, includes timesheels, idle time monitoring, and real-time tracking. For safety and driver behaviour analytics you’ll need to opt for the Professional plan, while the most expensive plan, Enterprise, adds API support, compliance features, and connected camera solutions.

What are the benefits of van tracking?

1. Cut costs

Increased efficiency = increased profits. A van tracking system can:

• Monitor driver behaviour and reduce idle time
• Make dispatch processes more efficient by easily matching the closest driver with the target destination
• Calculate the quickest and most efficient routes
• Track and optimise petrol usage through fuel tracking
• Integrate fuel cards into your van tracking system
• Lower your insurance premium (provided the tracker is insurance-approved), due to reduced risk of theft

2. Simplify van maintenance

Advanced van tracking systems not only send automated alerts to fleet managers for vehicle MOT renewals, they also ensure that vehicles are generally fit and healthy. Any business that relies on a working fleet of vans will understand the stress of a broken-down vehicle, and a good vehicle tracker can help prevent this.

3. Increase security

Many insurance-approved van trackers are also supported by the UK police. If a van fitted with such a tracker is stolen, the tracker will relay real-time location data, enabling you to work with the police to find your stolen vehicle.

Van tracker systems: buy or rent?

It’s possible to buy a vehicle tracking system outright, but most businesses prefer to rent. There are a number of reasons for this – you’ll get constant support from the van tracking supplier, and you won’t need to fork over a big chunk of cash at the outset. 

When you rent a van tracking system, you’ll also get access to updated versions, meaning your hardware and software will always be the most advanced. And trust us – with the speed that the van tracking system industry is moving at, you won’t want to settle for anything less than the most recent technology on the market.

Plus, though you can buy the hardware (the devices, or tachographs) outright, the van tracking software powering it can’t be purchased. You’ll still pay a monthly fee to lease the software – so it makes sense to just lease the whole system.

How much do van trackers cost?

Entry-level van tracking systems start from around £7.49 per month, though how much you pay will depend on the specific solution you choose – the provider, the type, and the level of features you require.

Hardware (the actual trackers that go in your vans) is often billed separately, with costs reaching up to £359 to purchase, or around £10 to rent on a monthly basis. Some providers offer additional features as ‘add-ons’, available at an extra cost, while others market value-enhancing ‘bundles’ that include extra technology, such as dash cams.

What are the different types of van trackers, and which do you need?

RFID or GPS? Active or passive? Read on to find out what kind of tracker you need

There are two different types of van fleet management technology: RFID and GPS. These power two different types of van tracking systems – ‘active’ and ‘passive’. Let’s unpack what this all means for your business. 

RFID trackers for vans

RFID technology is ideal for vans in warehouse conditions. It works by fitting ‘tags’ onto cargo or vehicles, that can be read when passing RFID scanners. This automates the whole process, and allows for vehicles and their cargo to be easily tracked.

GPS trackers for vans

GPS stands for ‘Global Positioning Systems’. GPS tracking systems give you the exact position of your vehicles through the use of satellite technology. It’s the same technology that you have on your phone or sat nav. A big advantage of GPS trackers for vans is that the information can be updated in real-time.

Passive van tracker systems

Passive van tracking systems collect data throughout the day, but in order to see it, you must manually upload it to the system once the van has returned to HQ. Passive van tracking systems also collect information related to driver behaviour, fuel usage, cargo, inventory data and many other intricate parts of running a fleet.

Passive van tracker systems will just about do the job for small fleets. But to really start crunching the numbers that matter most to your business – and driving quicker growth – you’ll need to think about the benefits of…

Active van tracker systems

Active van tracking systems update information in real-time, so you can interact with your whole fleet as developments unfold. This allows your business to remain agile in the event of an unforeseen issue or change of plan, and helps you sidestep the problems that adverse traffic or weather conditions can have on a job.

Active van tracking systems give you a birds-eye view of what’s happening out on the tarmac, as it happens. Some van trackers, such as Samsara, boast data refresh times as low as every 30 seconds (the quickest on the market), while providers such as Teletrac Navman take up to five minutes (depending on the plan you choose).

Having live data at your fingertips via your van tracking mobile app, offers a whole host of benefits. You can improve customer service by keeping clients in the loop about a delivery’s status and ETA, reduce the risk of theft, and encourage better driver behaviours in real-time. All in a day’s work!

Next steps

How to get your van tracker 

As we’ve already discussed, van tracking is a competitive market – as such, it’s well worth shopping around to make sure you get the best deal for your business. With so many variables involved, it’s hard to table an accurate price for your fleet without some basic information about what you’re looking for. 

With that in mind, simply fill in this short form to help us get a sense of your requirements. You’ll receive tailored quotes from Expert Market-approved suppliers – and will be reaping the rewards of an effective van tracking system in no time at all.