When choosing fleet monitoring, start by asking whether the supplier can solve the problems of all your vehicles and machines.
The supplier should explain what data they can obtain from your vehicles and machines, how they will obtain it and where additional sensors will be needed.
Simply installing a probe and seeing a chart appear in the app is not enough.
What matters most is whether, after reporting a problem, you have one partner who will see it through to the end.
Before a larger implementation, it is worth testing the system on equipment working in difficult conditions.
This material was written by people with thirty years of experience in telemetry. Here you will find things we check in practice when we install devices, measure fuel and solve customer problems. If you already use a GPS system, it is worth reading this and checking whether you are getting what you pay for.
Where to start
When choosing fleet monitoring, start by asking whether the supplier can solve the problems of all your vehicles and machines. Including those where fuel monitoring or remote tachograph reading is far from straightforward.
A map, a feature list and an attractive subscription are only part of the decision. The value of the system depends on whether you get reliable data and can use it to manage your entire fleet of machines.
This is especially important when one company uses passenger cars, trucks and construction machines. They all belong to one fleet, but each of these groups requires a different approach. In fact, even within one group, equipment is often so varied that a conversation with a salesperson is not enough. You need a specialist visit to inspect the vehicles and machines, understand their working conditions and only then select the right solution.
One company, different vehicles and different needs
A sales representative's passenger car, a truck transporting materials, a van carrying medicines and an excavator working on a construction site can all be visible on the same map. But location alone will not answer the most important questions about how they are used.
For passenger cars, you may need information about mileage, routes and vehicle availability. For trucks - fuel consumption, tachograph data and transport organization. For construction machines - working time, idling, refueling and suspicious fuel losses.
You want all of this in one place. Without switching between three apps just because one supports passenger cars, another trucks and a third machines. This is exactly how we understand Multiflot: different equipment, one fleet of machines and one team that knows how to take care of it.
All these groups also have one thing in common: wherever possible, you want to react before a problem appears. And if an event cannot be predicted, you want to find out about it in time. This requires the right choice of hardware, settings and an application that can use the collected data.
Let me give you an example: a truck
You have a truck with a tachograph. You want to download files remotely, know where the vehicle is, which driver is behind the wheel and what is happening with the fuel. At offer level, many suppliers declare the same features. The differences appear later, in everyday work.
The device has GSM for communication with the application. Does it use LTE, or does it rely only on older 2G technology, and will it have connectivity in the countries you drive to? The antenna, installation location and connection handling also matter. All of this determines whether the vehicle remains visible in the system and whether tachograph files can be downloaded on time.
It is similar with location. The word "GPS" in an offer says little. It is worth knowing what receiver is used, which satellite constellations it supports and where the antenna will be installed.
Then there is fuel. The option to connect a probe is only the beginning. Its technology must be matched to the tank, fuel type and specifics of the vehicle's operation, and then it must be correctly installed and calibrated.
If all the above works, let's move on to the application you have access to. With one truck, you can look at the map and create reports. With twenty, you will no longer notice every error, loss of connectivity or incorrect file downloaded from the tachograph. How the system works determines whether you receive information in time and manage to react.
An excavator or another construction machine
This is where the real technological rollercoaster begins. Each machine can have different operating specifics. One works in a fixed location but has a welding machine on board. Another stands at an angle because it works on a slope. A third keeps rocking while working in the forest.
Many such machines work far from buildings, in places with poor mobile coverage. Then there are fuel tanks. A nice rectangular tank would be convenient for measurement, but in practice we encounter tall, narrow tanks or irregularly shaped tanks squeezed under the excavator cab.
If someone fails to account for just one of these elements, the system starts showing data that is hard to trust. Either the excavator is not visible, or the fuel level jumps so much that you do not know what is really happening in the tank.
You stop trusting it. You change suppliers. Then another one. Eventually you conclude that this GPS monitoring is worthless and that everyone offers the same thing.
I assure you: not everyone offers the same thing. At Multiflot, we know these working conditions. We know that machines rock, work on slopes and end up in places with no coverage. We have been doing this for thirty years. We cannot eliminate a lack of network coverage, but we must account for it when designing the solution and explain to you what will be available in real time and what will be available after connectivity is restored.
In our opinion, simply buying a GPS device and writing an application is not enough to competently support a diverse fleet. There are plenty of suppliers. What matters to you is the one that can solve the problem and takes responsibility for it throughout the entire cooperation.
The supplier should explain what data they can obtain from your vehicles and machines, how they will obtain it and where additional sensors will be needed. Without such an explanation, the claim "we support every type of fleet" remains a cheap marketing trick.
Ask about experience with equipment like yours
Experience in monitoring passenger cars does not yet mean that someone can correctly measure fuel in construction machines. Similarly, an implementation in new trucks says little about how the supplier will handle an older machine working in the forest or far from the highway.
It is worth asking:
- Have they already supported similar vehicles and machines?
- How do they handle equipment from different generations?
- How do they verify data correctness after installation?
- What do they do when readings from a specific vehicle are unreliable?
- Who is responsible for diagnosing and fixing the problem?
We have been developing telemetry solutions for thirty years. We were on the market when digital CAN buses were becoming widespread, new generations of trucks were appearing and older construction machines were giving way to modern ones. Fuel tanks, access to data and measurement methods changed along with them.
This experience is useful precisely when something does not work as it should. We know what to look for and where to start the diagnosis.
Fuel measurement requires more than installing a probe
Fuel control is a good example of a feature whose quality is difficult to assess during a system presentation.
A single fleet can include trucks with two tanks and construction machines with irregularly shaped tanks. Ask who will install the probes: the supplier's own installer or a subcontractor. Who will check their work? Who will calibrate the measurement and come out if a problem appears?
Check whether the supplier has the team and equipment for calibration. One example is a specialist vehicle with a 1000-liter tank, a fuel pump, and a meter. With it, the installer can pump fuel out of a machine or truck, then pour it back in measured portions. This assigns probe readings to the actual amount of fuel in the tank.
Calibration done this way is one of the conditions for reliable measurement. Simply installing the probe and seeing a chart in the app is not enough.
Before implementation, also agree what happens if the data turns out to be wrong. The company will install the probe, make a hole in the tank - and what then if the solution does not work? Who will fix the installation? And if it needs to be removed, who is responsible for securing the tank?
Imagine a fleet of seventy machines. In sixty-six, the measurement works correctly, while in four, the readings raise doubts. Those four machines still need the problem solved. Especially if that is where you have the biggest losses or the least control over fuel.
At Multiflota, we check the cause: installation, calibration, configuration, and the operating conditions of the machine or vehicle. The fact that a device sends data does not yet mean that the whole system is doing its job.
Check who is responsible for the entire solution
Fleet monitoring is the device, installation, communication, software, and customer support. It is worth knowing who is responsible for each of these elements, and above all - who will see the problem through to a solution.
Ask whether the supplier designs its own devices and develops its own software. Do they have their own installers? If they use products from other companies, which ones? Can they make a needed change, or do they have to wait for the manufacturer's decision?
No specific answer, or the popular "we'll manage", is a red flag.
What matters most is whether, after reporting a problem, you have one partner who will see the case through to the end. Will someone check the cause, or will you only hear that "it works for others", so the problem must be on your side?
At Multiflota, we design our own telemetry devices and develop our own software. We have our own R&D department. This means we can look for the cause both in the device and in how data is processed and presented. We will calibrate fuel measurement ourselves, check incorrect readings, and work with you to make fleet monitoring a system you actually want to use.
Assess how much attention the system will need
During a presentation, it is easy to be impressed by the number of charts. In everyday work, however, it is worth asking: how much time do you need to spend to find out what requires your response?
If you review dozens of vehicles every day and search for irregularities yourself, such a system becomes a burden. Every day it reminds you how much is still left to check.
See how it handles events. Does every suspicious reading become an alert? Does the system analyze its context on its own? Do you get information you can use to make a decision?
At Multiflota, we are developing an approach where the system works in the background, and you deal with the fleet when your attention is needed. For a suspicious fuel loss, we check the event, its scale, and its context. We want to give you specific information: whether the loss was confirmed and how much fuel may have disappeared.
You can also ask an AI assistant about your fleet, for example via ChatGPT: "What's going on in my fleet?", "How many machines are offline?", "Does any machine have low fuel?" or "Which machine is consuming more than the assumed standard?".
However, reliable data must stand behind these answers. That is why we come back to hardware, installation, calibration, and the competence of the people responsible for the whole solution.
Before a larger implementation, test the system in difficult conditions
If you have passenger cars, trucks, and excavators, choose representatives of each group for the test. Choose the equipment that, from your point of view, is the most difficult: the oldest car, a machine with an unusual tank, or an excavator working in the toughest conditions.
Set demanding expectations and say directly what you want to check. A good supplier will treat an old excavator as a problem to solve. They will inspect it, explain the possibilities and limitations, and then propose a course of action.
Before the trial, agree what will be assessed: data accuracy, usefulness of reports, quality of alerts, ease of work, and ticket handling.
Record red flags. If something worries you at the beginning, clarify it right away. After three months, the same problem may become - to put it mildly - very annoying.
Also check who has access to the data, how you grant permissions to employees, whether you can export your history, and on what terms you will end the cooperation. This matters if your entire machine fleet is to be in one place.
You choose fleet monitoring for years. So look closely at how the supplier responds to difficult cases. Do they ask about the specifics of the equipment? Can they explain the limitations? Do they look for the cause of incorrect data and take responsibility for the solution?
Remember the red flags. You do not have to wait until three appear before you start paying attention. Any unexplained doubt can later become another burden.
If we do not meet at Multiflota now, I hope this material helps you reject offers that are mainly backed by promises and avoid problems. And maybe one day you will come back to us. We will be happy to take care of your fleet, including the one your competitors do not want to hear about.
See you at Multiflota.pl :)