case study - Business Fleet

COMMERCIAL
CASE STUDY
Anchor Pest Control, Sonora, CA
Pest Control Company
Exterminates Business Problem
Rapid growth of Don Wolf’s
pest control business
made managing his fleet of
15 vehicles a headache.
Anchor Pest Control owner and operator Don Wolf
had a problem. The rapid growth of his mobile pest
control business made managing his vehicles a
headache.
He installed GPS in the vehicles to monitor where
the vehicles had been but still had no information on
how the vehicles were performing or what his employees’ driving habits were. Most of the vehicle monitoring systems he researched suited larger commercial
vehicle fleets. They also required professional installation and monthly subscriber or service fees. Wolf
needed a vehicle tracking system that would allow a
small business owner to quickly gain insight into how
his vehicles and drivers were performing.
Small Business Budgets and
Ease of Installation
When Anchor Pest Control chose to start off with
a fleet management system, that system had to
meet four main criteria:
1. easy to afford on a limited budget
2. easy to install and unobtrusive to drivers
3. create easy-to-read driving and performance
reports
4. provide easy expansion
The company chose CarChip Pro from Davis
Instruments because it provided a better solution
than any other fleet management product for a smallto-midsize business for
every criterion specified.
Easy to Budget
Wolf didn’t “crunch the
numbers” to find out
how quickly a fleet management tool would pay
for itself. What he did
know, however, was that
with an expanding fleet
of 15 work vehicles, he
was spending more time
managing his drivers and
maintenance schedules
than his business. He
knew he needed to put a
vehicle management plan
in place, without breaking his bank account.
Wolf began looking at
various options. During
his evaluation, he came
800-678-3669 • [email protected] • 1
CASE STUDY
to the conclusion that he didn’t need real-time GPS,
especially when he added up the ongoing monthly fees
associated with the service.
He found that CarChip provided all the information he needed when he compared the reports
to his employees’ job logs for the day or week.
Easy to Install and Use
Anchor Pest Control
owner, Don Wolf, reviews
an employee’s daily
driving report.
2 • 800-678-3669 • [email protected]
“When I discovered that all I had to do was to plug
CarChip into the diagnostic port located under
the dashboard, it was exciting,” said Wolf. While
he enjoyed
CarChip’s easy
installation, he
also appreciated that it
didn’t require
cameras or obtrusive cables.
As with any
other small
to mid-sized
service business, it was
important for
Anchor Pest
Control to
have all its work vehicles on the job every day. One
or two vehicles out of commission would significantly reduce revenues for that period.
A smart business person, Wolf also knows that
customers with pest problems on a Monday don’t
want to hear that a technician won’t be available
until Friday. They have the phone book open and
will call the next pest control company on the page if
they’re not getting the kind of response they need.
Because quick service and referrals are so important to Wolf ’s business, keeping all his vehicles running smoothly is one of the most important things
he can do to keep his business successful.
Since installing CarChip, Wolf has been able to
diagnose vehicle problems and send his vehicles in
for routine servicing before more serious maintenance problems arise and his business suffers.
CarChip’s software provides both driving and
engine activity in graph or report forms. Users can
view individual trip or summary reports. As well as
being able to track 23 different engine parameters,
CarChip can track up to every second of a trip as well
as showing quick accelerations and braking. Business
owners can also manage fuel efficiency and safety by
setting a top-speed limit for each vehicle in CarChip’s
software where an audible alarm sounds when the
vehicle exceeds that speed.
Easy-to-Read Reports
“At first I was interested in investigating drivers’
mechanical complaints about vehicles but I found
that CarChip could also help with grievances about
our employees’ driving habits while they’re at customers’ homes and businesses.” For example, once
when a customer called with concerns over how
long the service technician was at her home, Wolf
used CarChip’s trip log to determine exactly how
long the employee spent out on the jobsite. It was
easy to gather driving information to correlate the
service records and driving habits of his employees.
“Now when I get a complaint from the community about an employee’s behavior or our service, I can remove the CarChip unit, download the
data and review an individual report for that day. I
can also compare that day with other days’ driving
reports to see if this behavior is part of an overall
trend or if the driver was just having a bad day.
Beyond tracking employees, I can determine how
long our service technicians are on-site performing
their pest control duties,” said Wolf.
“Our employees are like family members to us
and we let them know that they are the public face of
Anchor Pest Control. It’s very important for us to be
responsive and keep our vehicles performing at their
best too. Our drivers know that I will be uploading
the CarChip information to make sure both the
vehicle and they are working at their highest level.”
Easy to Expand
Wolf started with three CarChip units rotating
through his fleet of 15 service vehicles. He learned,
however, that it made sense to purchase CarChip for
every vehicle. Again, compared to other products,
the upfront cost of CarChip was small, and while he
had a pest control business to run, he knew that his
drivers’ new safety awareness and fewer repairs gave
him more control over his expanding fleet.
Easy to Justify
For Anchor Pest Control, CarChip Pro has become
a reliable tool for increasing driver safety awareness
and keeping its vehicles on the road. That means
reduced repair costs and greater profitability. ✇
CASE STUDY
1. Graph showing hard
accelerations in blue and
extreme braking in red helps
train drivers and indicates
pending vehicle wear and tear.
2. Select engine performance
parameters as a way of
monitoring engine performance
and possibly preempting costly
repairs. Users can choose to
monitor up to four out of 23
engine parameters at any given
time, including:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
1
2
Trouble codes
Fuel pressure
Intake manifold pressure
Engine coolant temperature
Calculated load value
Engine speed
Fuel trim status
Fuel system status
800-678-3669 • [email protected] • 3
CASE STUDY
3. Get individual and summary
trip info showing start and
end times, duration, idle
time, distance, average and
maximum speed, hard braking
and acceleration.
4. With CarChip Fleet Pro and
Fleet Management Software,
you can easily rank drivers
by speed or other selected
parameters and download
reports to Excel®.
3
4
®
CarChip is made by Davis Instruments • 800-678-3669 • [email protected]
3465 Diablo Ave., Hayward, CA 94545 USA • www.carchip.com
PR403 • 0801
COMMERCIAL
CASE STUDY
Battery Assist/ALJO Enterprises, Tucson, AZ
Roadside Aid Company
Gets Assist From CarChip
®
How do you help your drivers stay on the road where
their supposed to be and curb expenses at the same
time? This was a real problem facing one roadside
aid company.
Battery Assist of Tucson, Arizona, services drivers
whose cars have broken down with dead batteries, a
common problem in hot and arid climates. General
Manager Marv Kea started managing Battery Assist
three years ago. While his business was successful,
what hadn’t been successful was the beating his 15
service vans were taking.
Tucson’s Battery Assist
uses CarChip in all its
fleet vans.
Kea’s problem was a good problem, if there
is such a thing. His drivers prided themselves
on their fast response to roadside emergencies. The
problem was that in trying to hurry to customers in
the 100-degree-plus Arizona summer heat, drivers
were exceeding speed limits and driving so aggressively that his vehicles were breaking rear axles at an
increasing rate.
Kea didn’t want to fire his drivers and didn’t want
to punish them because of their good intentions—
trying to quickly reach stranded motorists. But, he
also didn’t want them breaking down company vehicles attempting to get to customers in record time.
Dedicated drivers all, he wanted to train his service
staff to respond to customers quickly, but not at
the expense of his own service van fleet. When Kea
found CarChip at a tradeshow, he knew he had
found the product that would both help train his
drivers and could be used to monitor engine performance in the harsh Tucson environment.
What Kea’s drivers didn’t seem to understand was
that their aggressive driving, combined with the variable road conditions of the Tucson area, put more
stress on Battery Assist’s vehicles.
Kea bought two CarChips to test on his vans.
When he saw how easily he
could track both driving
and engine performance,
he ordered 13 more
within six months, one
for each of his 15 vans.
Before installing
CarChip, Kea told his
drivers that he was
testing them as part
of driver training and
they wouldn’t be used as a punitive
device. This information made Kea’s
drivers more comfortable and helped lay
the ground rules for what he expected of them
while they answered distress calls. Kea showed his
drivers how the software reported data for driving
and engine parameters. This informed and “no
surprises” approach helped quiet what could have
become his drivers’ suspicions and fears.
For example, Kea installed CarChip and showed
his drivers how fast they were going, all their quick
accelerations and hard braking. Kea said, “When my
drivers saw how they were breaking the law, it woke
800-678-3669 • [email protected] • 1
CASE STUDY
Within months,
rear axles were
remaining intact,
and there was
a significant
decrease in
general service
van repairs.
some of them up. The CarChip has helped us to remind our drivers that sometimes you forget how fast
you are really traveling.”
CarChip takes advantage of the information
available through the OBDII port. OBDII stands for
On Board Diagnostics Two and has been installed in
every new vehicle sold in the U.S. since 1996.
All OBDII monitors work in the same way, using
electronic sensors and actuators that monitor timing, fuel, oxygen, and other parameters that report
CarChip plugs instantly and
unobtrusively into the OBDll
port in your car or truck.
to the Engine Control Unit (ECU), a microcontroller
installed in the car.
CarChip records a vehicle’s data when plugged into the
OBDII port for later download and review. CarChip’s easily
navigable software gives people access to this detailed data
on their vehicle through easily read reports and graphs.
2 • 800-678-3669 • [email protected]
CarChip logs 300 hours of driving information
before rolling over. A prime feature of CarChip’s
ability to monitor driving is that it highlights hard
accelerations and braking. And users can define
speed threshold notification. CarChip doesn’t limit
the speeds of the autos themselves, but it shows
— in easy-to-read graphs — when a specific speed
threshold is exceeded.
CarChip also provides instant driver behavior
modification. If a specified speed threshold is surpassed, a high-pitched alarm will immediately alert
the driver. The alarm will continue as long as the
driver is speeding over the set limit.
It’s in engine performance monitoring, however, that CarChip really shines. Users can choose
to monitor up to four out of 23 engine parameters
at any given time.
In addition, CarChip supplies generic diagnostic codes when the “check engine” light lights up in
a vehicle.
CarChip also comes in a version specifically designed to meet fleet owners’ needs. CarChip Fleet
Pro works with Davis’s DriveRight®. CarChip Fleet
Pro complements DriveRight making it easy to create driver rankings and safety reports.
With nearly 240,000 miles on some of his vans,
Kea credits CarChip with keeping his vehicles on
the road. Unlike many diagnostic
monitors, CarChip works while
the auto is being driven. When
auto problems occur, CarChip
records them.
Within weeks after using
CarChip, Kea noticed a dramatic
difference in his drivers’ behavior.
Within months, rear axles were
remaining intact, and there was
a significant decrease in general
service van repairs.
Kea was so impressed with
CarChip, he told his partners about
it in the auto repair business they
also own. They have gone on to use
CarChip to help diagnose customers’ auto problems.
When Marv Kea began looking for a product
that could help his fleet drivers and curb fleet expenses, he was unsure of what he’d find. Now that
he’s found CarChip, he is sure of its benefit to his
business and its use for years to come. ✇
CASE STUDY
1. Graph showing hard/extreme accelerations in blue and
hard/extreme braking in red
help you train drivers and give
you a “feel” for wear and tear.
2. Select engine performance
parameters as a way of monitoring engine performance and
possibly preempting costly
repairs. Users can choose to
monitor up to four out of 23
engine parameters at any given
time, including:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
1
2
RPM
Throttle position
Engine load
Fuel pressure
Fuel system status
Short-term fuel trim
Long-term fuel trim
Battery voltage
Timing advance
Coolant temperature
Air flow rate
Intake air temperature
Intake manifold pressure
Oxygen sensor output voltage
800-678-3669 • [email protected] • 3
CASE STUDY
3. Get individual and summary
trip info showing start and end
times, idle times, trip duration,
mileage and spotlights on
speeding and hard braking.
4. With CarChip Fleet Pro and
Fleet Management Software,
you can rank drivers by speed
or other selected parameters
and download reports to Excel®
3
4
®
CarChip is made by Davis Instruments • 510-732-9229 • [email protected]
3465 Diablo Ave., Hayward, CA 94545 USA • www.carchip.com
PR400 • 0707