COMMERCIAL vehicle hire specialist Northgate has launched a web-based telematics service that will allow customers to track their vehicles 24-hours a day for a £2 per day charge.

Norfleet Vehicle Monitoring enables fleet operators to follow the route and speed of their vehicles online via digital street-level maps, and is available for both hired and fleets' own vehicles.

Norfleet has designed the system primarily to offer a historical record of where vehicles have been and when, generating management reports that include the daily distance, travel time, time stopped and location of the stop for each vehicle. The company claims this information, downloadable in report form from the internet, can help fleets identify where they can save fleet costs and improve the efficiency of their businesses.

The system costs £2 per vehicle per day and involves no up-front deposit for either the satellite-tracking system or its installation, or software, although customers must sign up for a minimum contract of 12 months. Additional charges apply if fleets track vehicles in live-time online.