What Is KeepTruckin ELD Device?
An easy to implement and use driving log, useful for the management of fleet drivers and by the drivers themselves for monitoring of crucial driving statistics and vehicle health.
It is one of the most popular ELD devices on the market, being trusted by over 400000 drivers in the US and their associated fleets, where it is estimated to help improve efficiency by an average 15%.
Benefits
The KeepTruckin device is loved for the following reasons:
Features
Its best features include:
Compliance of ELD Mandate
This device complies with current DOT requirements and is FMCSA certified to adhere to the current mandate for ELD devices.
One of the most critical aspects of compliance is HOS or hours of service. As the name suggests, this is implemented to ensure that drivers do not work beyond the average hours and be subjected to dangerous effects of fatigue on the job.
HOS violations are taken very seriously and can result in you and your vehicle being pulled off of the road. Best of all, the device can alert you before you hit your weekly limits and supports several different cycle rules (for different areas) so that you err on the side of safety.
GPS Tracking
One of the essential tools of any effective ELD management setup is the ability to calculate the current position of trucks in a fleet accurately.
Location history proves to be an important tool not only for overall driver safety and reporting, but also to help optimize routes traveled and is also part of the ELD mandate.
Even if a driver decides to disconnect his app from the ELD, it is still of state GPS information, although not in real-time. Then all systems are go, GPS coordinates are transmitted approximately once every minute to give an accurate indication of the current location of all strokes within a fleet.
IFTA Fuel Tax Reporting
It is possible to generate mileage tax exemptions directly from your KeepTruckin dashboard, by quickly determining total distance covered by a particular vehicle in an area on a daily basis.
By calculating the distance traveled corresponding to purchasing fuel, an average of fuel consumption within a specific IFTA jurisdiction is easy.
Smart Dashcam
While standard vehicle dash cams record continuously over a prolonged duration of time, KeepTruckin’s ELD seeks to optimize the time spent recording after considering what typically happens around an incident.
For instance, the majority of accidents that truckers are involved in occur following incidences of rapid acceleration, hard braking, or fast cornering. The smart front-facing camera is only activated under such circumstances, recording 10 seconds after such an episode.
Given the fact that truck drivers are often held at fault in accidents involving them with a passenger vehicle, whether they are at fault or not, you can see why this feature is handy.
Vehicle Diagnostics
Monitoring the health of your truck is extremely important to minimize damages and time spent out of service, which, with the help of KeepTruckin’s monitoring device, can easily be accomplished.
The device easily connects to an OBDII or J-Bus connection, where it is then able to retrieve possible errors or fault codes to be displayed on the ELD dashboard or transmitted to a fleet manager. Repeat codes are normally stored in the tracking log and highlighted so that they can be addressed during maintenance visits.
Messaging
This is an essential feature available on all plans, allowing fleet managers and drivers to share information throughout their journey. Messages can be configured to be broadcast to all fleet drivers, or customized just for one specific driver.
In like manner, attachments in the form of images or documents may also be transmitted, as well as one-click location sharing for drivers.
Think of how important this can be for a fleet of drivers running a particular route, if a significant incident has blocked off traffic for miles, with a detour being required. This essential messaging feature can save vital time and money.
Driver Scorecards
Regardless of how hard you try, there is often one bad egg in every bunch. KeepTruckin driver scorecards function can help you determine who you may need to cut out of your fleet owing to the reckless driving patterns.
By utilizing an array of sensors naturally built into vehicles such as Gyro meters, accelerometers, GPS, and more, when coupled with tracking of reckless driving techniques such as hard braking, rapid acceleration and not slowing down around corners help to generate a comprehensive driving scoresheet of each driver.
This is one of the best features and lends itself to driving safety, allowing you to identify reckless drivers and either advise them of corrective measures or remove them from the fleet.
Pros
Cons
KeepTruckin Cost
The actual hardware is free. Yes, you read that correctly – it is absolutely free. This is in stark contrast to other competing brands, which may require a hefty deposit of several hundred dollars or more for the device and subsequent installation.
With the device in hand, you are, however, required to subscribe to an available plan to unlock its features.
There are three plans to choose from:
Each subscription plan usually includes an annual contract for fleets with 30 or fewer trucks, making the brand far more affordable than other ELD companies.
My Recommendation
KeepTruckin is one of the first ELD manufacturers to ensure full ELD compliance and makes it easy to assess driver compliance, safety, and of course, logging.
Its pricing is amongst the best in the market and is suitable for small and large truck fleets alike. There aren’t many negatives of the device, except the fact that occasionally logging misfires a bit, as anecdotal reports from drivers indicate that it may record them as being idle when they are actively driving, or vice versa. If you do not have an understanding fleet manager, you can see how this might be frustrating to the driver.
Overall, it remains one of the most affordable devices you can purchase and allows safe drivers to do what they do best – drive.