FLEET NewsNet has become one of the first British company car fleets to trial satellite tracking as an active vehicle management tool. This week, we have taken delivery of a Ford Cougar equipped with the same Data Collection Unit that GE Capital is fitting to all its new lease vehicles.

The DCU works in conjunction with satellite technology to track a vehicle every minute of the day and record its movements. It will record detailed journey information, such as time of travel, journey length, average speed, destination and duration of visit. The data will be downloaded automatically via satellite, and then analysed by Minorplanet software to provide valuable management information. Fleet NewsNet will carry regular reports.

These could include the identification of the quickest routes for regular journeys, an independent endorsement of drivers' hours for overtime claims, a practical measure of work journeys for P11D business mileage purposes, and exception reporting that indicates occasions when a driver exceeds the national speed limit. It will also be interesting to see how the fuel consumption of the same car changes, depending on who is driving it, and how any improvement or deterioration correlates with respective driving styles.