A Fleet Manager’s Guide to Dash Cams with GPS Tracking

What are dash cams with GPS tracking?

Dash cams (also known as dashboard cameras or dash cameras) are cameras that can be installed in a vehicle to capture footage of the road ahead and activity inside the cab. The best dash cams for fleets are paired with telematics to provide real-time GPS tracking, internet connectivity, and a g-sensor. This way, the system can automatically detect safety-related events—like harsh braking, harsh turning, and collisions—and upload incident footage to the cloud.

<br>

What are the benefits of dash cams with GPS tracking?

The NSTSCE found that when combined with driver coaching, dash cams can reduce safety-related events as much as 52%. Beyond improving driver safety, dash cams are a great way to lower costs and save money. Here are five main benefits of dash cams with GPS tracking:

1. Exonerate drivers from not-at-fault accidents and false claims: In car-truck accidents, trucks are only at fault about 26% of the time—but they get blamed far more often. Samsara AI Dash Cams can auto-upload high-resolution incident footage to the cloud within minutes, making it easy to exonerate innocent drivers on the spot, bypass lengthy insurance claims processes, and eliminate unnecessary payouts. Plus, with Samsara’s Proximity Search and Video Retrieval features, you can search by location and retrieve additional video evidence to exonerate drivers from false claims. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/D6c1XI5wzdY" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

2. Reduce accidents: With Samsara AI Dash Cams, safety managers can instantly review auto-uploaded incident footage—including near-misses, distracted driving, and more—enabling them to coach drivers with high-resolution footage of themselves. Combined with Samsara’s safety scorecards, trend analyses, and in-depth coaching tools, you can increase coaching consistency and accountability. Plus, Samsara AI Dash Cams offer real-time incident detection and preventative in-cab alerts, so drivers can adjust their behavior and prevent accidents in real time.

3. Decrease insurance-related costs: When it comes to insurance premiums, safety is a big factor. Because dash cams are proven to improve safety and mitigate risk, your insurance company may offer a premium discount, credit, or subsidy for installing dash cams and sharing safe driving data for each of your fleet vehicles.

4. Reduce vehicle wear and tear: Harsh braking wears out brake pads and causes unnecessary stress on vehicles. Dash cams can play in-cab alerts when safety-related events are detected, helping to discourage harsh driving and reduce physical damage and maintenance costs.

5. Retain more drivers and reduce labor costs: It may seem surprising, but dash cams can reduce labor costs in a few different ways. Your back-office team can build an effective fleet safety program and coach drivers more efficiently with digital driver safety scorecards and video-based coaching tools. Plus, data and footage from dash cams can help create a robust safety rewards program, which is proven to increase engagement and retention, leading to lower turnover and hiring costs.

<div class="align-mid-button end"><a id="blog-inline-1" href="/learn-more" title="Learn more about Samsara" class="btn primary-btn btn--blue">Learn more about Samsara</a></div>

<br>

Are dash cams with GPS tracking worth the investment for your fleet?

One of the biggest objections to investing in a fleet dash cam solution is the cost. Although the initial cost might seem expensive, dash cams with GPS tracking are proven to lower costs and pay for themselves, especially when it comes to exoneration.

Take Sprint Waste, for example, a waste transportation and container rental company operating in the Gulf Coast. After debating whether or not to implement dash cams for several years, Sprint Waste ultimately decided to make the investment because of the ability to utilize dash cam footage and GPS data to exonerate drivers, as well as an expectation that it would result in improved driver safety, fewer accidents, and reduced insurance and legal costs. They saw incredible results just one year after installing Samsara Dash Cams, including:

• 58% decrease in speeding

• 50% increase in miles per safety incident

• 52% exoneration rate from all accidents in 2019

• $500,000 saved in recent insurance renewal and estimated millions of dollars saved in avoided litigation costs

How was Sprint Waste able to exonerate their drivers from more than half of all accidents in 2019? As soon as a crash occurs, Samsara sends a real-time email alert to their operation managers. Within minutes, footage from the incident is auto-uploaded to their Samsara dashboard, and they can easily send the video to the driver to share with law enforcement at the scene.

“The ability to get HD incident footage almost immediately was very important to us, and it has paid off,” said President of Sprint Waste Dave Nelson. “In previous years, a lot of those accidents would be inconclusive, and we would get sued. Now, we can exonerate our drivers on the spot. No lawsuit, no insurance claim. We have saved potentially millions of dollars by avoiding lawsuits as a result of exonerating our drivers with Samsara Dash Cam footage.”

Of course, not all "he said, she said" situations are tied to crashes or harsh events. This is where GPS data comes in handy. Sometimes, Sprint Waste wants to pull extra footage that's not associated with an incident and not auto-uploaded to the Safety Inbox. For those situations, they use Samsara’s Proximity Search and Video Retrieval features—which allow you to search by GPS location to see which vehicles were nearby during a specific time frame and then pull footage from that time and place—to exonerate their drivers from false claims.

“We're picking up trash dumpsters from construction sites and personal homes, so it's not uncommon for someone to call up and say, ‘Hey, you damaged something on my property,” said Nelson. “With Proximity Search, we can go back and validate whether that did or didn't happen."

<div class="align-mid-button end"><a id="blog-inline-1" href="/learn-more" title="Learn more about Samsara" class="btn primary-btn btn--blue">Learn more about Samsara</a></div>

<br>

What features should you consider when evaluating the best dash cam for your fleet?

There are a lot of different dash cam options available for fleets in the United States. Here are a few features to consider when evaluating the best dash cam for your business needs:

What is the best dash cam with GPS tracking?

Trusted by more than 15,000 customers, Samsara is the number one fastest-growing video telematics vendor. 

Part of Samsara’s complete fleet management platform, Samsara AI Dash Cams offer advanced AI event detection, preventative in-cab alerts, and powerful coaching tools. Plus, with auto-uploaded full HD incident footage, real-time fleet tracking, and on-demand video retrieval, admins are fully empowered to exonerate innocent drivers from not-at-fault accidents and false claims. In fact, Samsara customers have saved an estimated $225 million dollars by using Samsara Dash Cam footage to defend against false claims.

Highlights of Samsara AI Dash Cams include:

• AI-powered platform that can detect high-risk behaviors (like tailgating and distracted driving) without a harsh event occurring

• Preventative in-cab coaching that can audibly alert drivers to high-risk behaviors and incidents in real time

• High-quality video recording, even in poor lighting conditions

• Internet-connected cameras that automatically upload full HD incident footage

• Plug-and-play configuration that gets you up and running in minutes, with a power cable that connects directly to Samsara's Vehicle Gateway, providing real-time GPS data

• On-demand video retrieval for a max of 100 hours of drive time

<div class="align-mid-button end"><a id="blog-inline-1" href="/learn-more" title="Learn more about Samsara" class="btn primary-btn btn--blue">Learn more about Samsara</a></div>