Rancho Mesa's Alyssa Burley and Account Executive Kevin Howard talk about the insurance benefits of GPS systems in commercial vehicles.

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Director/Host: Alyssa Burley

Guest: Kevin Howard

Producer/Editor: Lauren Stumpf

Music: “Home” by JHS Pedals, “News Room News” by Spence

transcript

[Introduction Music]

Alyssa Burley: Hi! This is Alyssa Burley with Rancho Mesa’s Media Communications and Client Services Department. Thank you for listening to today’s top Rancho Mesa news brought to you by our safety and risk management network, StudioOne™. Welcome back, everyone. My guest is Kevin Howard, Account Executive with Rancho Mesa. He specializes in commercial insurance for the solar and roofing industry. Today, we're going to talk about the insurance benefits of GPS systems in commercial vehicles. Kevin, welcome to the show.

Kevin Howard: Thank you so much for having me.

AB: Of course. So, you are actually the inspiration for this first segment. We're going to do some “This or That” are you up for a couple of rapid fire questions?

KH: I'm ready. Let's go.

AB: Okay. Pancakes or toast?

KH: Pancakes all day.

AB: All right. Music or podcasts?

KH: Music. Music is really important.

AB: All right. Cardio or weights?

KH: Cardio. You got to get the endorphins going. You know, it's really, really key.

AB: All right. Cake or pie?

KH: Oh, wow. I'm going to go with pie. Not a big, big cake guy. Pies. Pies like Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. That's good.

AB: Okay. Instagram or TikTok?

KH: Instagram. I'm too old for TikTok.

AB: Me, too. All right. And this is a really important one. And I know everybody is going to want to know the answer.

KH: Okay.

AB: Harry Potter books or Harry Potter movies?

KH: Oh, man. Books all the way. There's so much more. They did a great job, but there's so much more in the books. It's just they're so good.

AB: All right.

KH: Yeah.

AB: Okay. Well, those are all the questions that I had for that.

KH: Nice, nice.

AB: So, now that we know a little bit about you, let's get into the insurance stuff.

KH: Let’s do it.

AB: So, for many businesses, they rely on a fleet of commercial vehicles to do their jobs. Like most of our construction clients and some of our human services clients, commercial auto insurance costs can be a significant expense. So, insurance carriers calculate premiums based on a variety of factors like the age and condition of the vehicles, the driver’s experience, and their individual driving records, and the frequency and distance of trips made in those company vehicles. So, one factor that can positively impact those insurance costs is the use of global positioning systems known as GPS. So, Kevin, if you're a business owner that has a fleet, what are some of the insurance benefits of installing GPS systems in your commercial vehicles?

KH: I got to start with probably the most important to all of our listeners, which is improve safety. When you install GPS, your drivers, your fleet safety program, there's controls in place that are going to help your employees drive safer in the form of monitoring their speed, seeing how they're braking, where are they and are they being efficient throughout their daily processes? And so safety really gets enhanced when you install GPS.

AB: Absolutely. And so, when an employer sees data that shows an employee is not driving safely, they can then assign driver training via our safety one app. And depending on the circumstances, they can assign distracted driving, defensive driving, or just a general driver safety online course. So, Kevin, what are some of the other benefits?

KH: You know, with the value of used vehicles just skyrocketing over the last five years. Another big factor is the reduced risk of theft.

AB: Okay.

KH: These GPS tracking systems are going to really come into play if a vehicle stolen. You know, and that turnaround time needs to be pretty quick. So, it'll be pretty easy for a business owner to say, okay, hey, we know where it is, we're tracking it, let's go get it or let's get the police involved. And then faster claim processing. You know, there's going to be a lot of data for the claim adjusters to use right at hand in regards to where the car accident happened, if there is a car accident. There's just a lot of data that's very useful for the insurance adjusters, which helps mitigate claims.

AB: Yeah, and that makes sense. If claim adjusters have all of the data from the GPS system, they’ll get a really good picture of what actually happened and who might be at fault. Kevin, how can utilizing GPS in a commercial vehicle lower an organization's insurance premium?

KH: Right. You know, with underwriters, when we go out to seek the best pricing, the more data that we disclose to the underwriters, the better chances of us getting their best price. And so if we're showing them that, hey, our client has invested in some technology that's not only going to make them safer, it's going to help avoid a stolen vehicle, right? It's going to create more controls as far as speeding. All of these things create less of a probability that they're going to have claims. I think it's a huge win/win for everybody in the form of lower premiums. On the carrier’s side, they're more comfortable offering that price that we're really shooting for. And then you're not going through the hassle of trying to replace a vehicle right now, because I don't know if the listeners out there have had to replace a truck in the last two or three years, but you can't find them. You can't.

AB: It's been hard.

KH: It's really hard to find a used vehicle if you do have a stolen truck or a totaled drive. The other factor would be improved business operations. I think all fleet managers out there that are listening, you're trying to find different ways to be efficient, to make sure that the trucks are ready to roll and a GPS system is going to help locate the vehicles. Where are they? What are we looking at as far as the overall health of the vehicle? It's just part of that entire scheme of making sure that that fleet is up to snuff and really at the top shape that it possibly can be. So, GPS is a huge part of that as well.

AB: Yeah, I think so. And installing GPS in your fleet has a lot of benefits, which you mentioned. And as long as the employer is monitoring the data and addressing issues that come up, these systems can save lives because drivers tend to be a little bit more cautious. They pay more attention to details when they're out driving and they can lower insurance premium costs, which can ultimately improve the return on investment that those companies are putting into their fleet. And of course, if the vehicle is stolen, it can much more easily be tracked. So, all of these things sound really important and they all sound like a good idea. Are there any issues to having GPS in a vehicle like if you're not going to be utilizing the data?

KH: I think there might be several hundreds of companies out there that have GPS and haven't really connected the dots to their insurance agency to say, hey, we have this system in place, we've made this investment, what can we do on the insurance side to either build credit or more comfort on the underwriting side? So, if you're listening and you have GPS and you've never really thought of, that might be a great idea to call your insurance agent, find out if there's credits available, or just merely find out if there's a way to get subjective credits added because you have a more safe fleet.

AB: So, Kevin, if listeners have questions about the benefits of using GPS in their commercial vehicles or their organization's just risk management altogether, what's the best way to get in touch with you?

KH: Yeah, and keep in mind, if you're a listener that doesn't work with Rancho Mesa and you have GPS, give me a call. Let's talk about what we might be able to do for you. You can reach me at 619-438-6874 or just shoot me an email at khoward@ranchomesa.com.

[Outro Music]

AB: Kevin, thank you for joining me in StudioOne™.

KH: Thank you so much. Signing off.

AB: This is Alyssa Burley with Rancho Mesa. Thanks for tuning in to our latest episode produced by StudioOne™. For more information, visit us at ranchomesa.com and subscribe to our weekly newsletter.