Track Your Fleet Live with GPS Telematics

A rental fleet is only as manageable as your visibility into it. Telematics brings live vehicle location and usage data from connected GPS devices onto a single map, so your team can see where each vehicle is without switching between systems or calling a driver to ask. For owners and managers, that turns a scattered set of vehicles into a fleet you can actually watch over.

What the telematics module provides

Telematics is the VEVS module that connects your vehicle tracking hardware to your fleet screen. Instead of logging into a separate GPS provider portal, your staff open one page inside the rental system and see the positions of their vehicles plotted on a live map. The module is deliberately focused on operational visibility: it answers the everyday question of where a vehicle is right now, and it gives you a foundation for reviewing how vehicles are being used.

The source material describes the module as bringing live vehicle location and usage data from connected devices onto a single map. That single-map approach is the heart of the feature. It removes a step from the daily routine and makes location information part of the same environment where reservations, fleet records and vehicle status already live.

Enabling telematics before you begin

Telematics is an optional module, and the menu item is only visible when the module is enabled under Configurator → Business Modules. If a colleague cannot find the page, the first thing to check is not their permissions but whether the module has been switched on for the account. Once it is enabled, the page is reached through Fleet Operations → Telematics.

The live map

The page is laid out in two halves. A live map fills the left side, and a Tracking Hardware Integration panel sits on the right. The map is the working surface: each vehicle with a valid location is drawn as a marker, so the picture updates as the underlying data changes. Above the map, two counters summarise the situation at a glance – Total vehicles and Shown on map.

Those two numbers are more useful than they first appear. Total vehicles tells you how large the fleet is in the system. Shown on map tells you how many of those vehicles have reported a usable position. The gap between them is your visibility gap, and it is the quickest way to notice that something is not reporting as it should.

Filtering the fleet

A Vehicle filter dropdown lets you switch between All vehicles and a single vehicle. The list is grouped by category and identifies each vehicle by its license plate, make and model, which means you can find a specific car even when the fleet is large and several models look alike. When a customer calls about a particular reservation, filtering to that vehicle is faster than scanning a crowded map.

Filtering also helps during routine checks. If you suspect one vehicle has been parked for too long or has left an area it should not be in, selecting it directly gives you a clean view without the visual noise of the rest of the fleet.

Connecting your tracking hardware

The Tracking Hardware Integration panel explains that you can connect your vehicle tracking hardware so live telematics data flows directly into your fleet screen. Choose Connect hardware to begin the integration. This is the step that turns the page from an empty map into a working overview, because vehicle locations come from connected tracking hardware; positions are only shown once hardware is integrated.

What you can monitor

Once hardware is connected, the module is designed to help you with several related tasks:

• Track vehicle positions on the live map for day-to-day fleet oversight.
• Review mileage logs and fuel consumption for each vehicle.
• Set up geofence alerts for unauthorized vehicle movement.
• Export telemetry data for compliance and reporting.

Each of these supports a different part of the business. Position tracking is operational, mileage and fuel data is financial and maintenance-oriented, geofence alerts are about protecting the asset, and exports are about being able to answer questions from insurers, auditors or regulators with evidence rather than recollection.

How to use the page

1. Open Fleet Operations → Telematics.
2. Use the Vehicle filter to focus on one vehicle, or leave it on All vehicles.
3. View the live positions on the map.
4. To bring in live data from your GPS hardware, choose Connect hardware.

The routine is intentionally short. Most of the value comes from making the check part of a shift routine rather than from the page itself.

Operational benefits

Practical use cases

A rental manager starting the morning can open the map, confirm that the vehicles expected back at the branch are nearby, and spot any that are not reporting. A colleague handling a late return can filter to the vehicle in question and see whether it is on its way. A fleet supervisor reviewing fuel spend can combine position data with mileage logs to understand where the distance is coming from. And when a vehicle moves outside its expected area, a geofence alert gives the team a prompt to investigate rather than a surprise at the end of the month.

Considerations before you rely on the map

Two behaviours are worth building into your team's expectations. First, only vehicles with valid location coordinates appear on the map; the rest are still counted in Total vehicles. A lower Shown on map figure is therefore a signal about data, not about whether the vehicle exists. Second, positions come from connected hardware, so the map is only as current and complete as the integration behind it.

It also helps to decide in advance who is responsible for checking the counters, how often the check happens, and what a team member should do when a vehicle is missing from the map. A short written routine prevents the page from becoming a dashboard nobody opens.

Best practices

• Check the Shown on map count against Total vehicles to spot vehicles that are not reporting a location.
• Use the Vehicle filter to locate one specific vehicle quickly when you need to know where it is right now.
• Connect hardware for the whole fleet rather than a subset, so the map reflects reality.
• Review mileage and fuel data on a regular rhythm, not only when a problem appears.
• Keep exported telemetry reports in a consistent format so comparisons over time remain meaningful.

Conclusion

Telematics turns fleet oversight from a series of phone calls into a single screen. Positions, counters and a category-grouped filter make the map immediately useful, while hardware integration unlocks mileage, fuel, geofence and export capabilities that support both operations and compliance. Enable the module, connect your devices, and give your team a simple daily habit of checking what the map is telling them.