Vehicle tracking provider admits to being Big Brother

Stephen Withers
Tuesday, 02 September 2008 13:18

IT Industry - Strategy

The choices are $599 upfront plus $49 per month, $549 plus $135 per quarter, or $499 plus $499 per year.

Not cheap, but "With Gofinder Reporter installed we believe small businesses can save around $750 per vehicle per month," said Gofinder founder Graham Thomas. An impressive claim, since that figure excludes costs due to vehicle misuse and fraud.

"With fuel costs rocketing, it is critical that small businesses now monitor company vehicle use far more carefully, and no longer turn a blind eye to employee misuse," he added.

Examples include failing to work agreed hours or exaggerating overtime hours, unauthorised use of company vehicles (eg 'doing a foreigner'), and speeding.

In addition to routine reporting, certain events can be set to trigger alerts via email or (at extra cost) SMS. These include vehicles going outside preset boundaries as well as start and end of journey notification.

"My company has increasingly been fielding enquiries from small business proprietors who suspect – but cannot prove -  they are being ripped off by dishonest employees driving company vehicles," said Thomas.