Vehicle Tracking
Hardwired or plug-in trackers?
Tracking is cheap per vehicle per month and sold on three-to-five year contracts. The term, not the monthly figure, is what you are actually agreeing to.
Both do the same core job: location, route history, idling and speeding reports, mileage capture. The difference is how they are fitted and how easily they come out.
Before either, note the thing that catches businesses out: tracking employees is processing their personal data. You need a lawful basis, a documented assessment, and to tell your drivers.
Side by side
| Hardwired | Plug-in (OBD) | |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly | £10 – £20 per vehicle | £8 – £15 per vehicle |
| Fitting | £20 – £60, engineer | Seconds, self-fit |
| Tamper resistance | High — concealed | Low — can be unplugged |
| Moves between vehicles | No | Yes |
| Works on all vehicles | Yes, including HGVs | Most post-2001 petrol / 2004 diesel |
| Ignition and PTO data | Yes | Limited |
| 5-year cost per vehicle | £600 – £1,200 | £480 – £900 |
Which to choose
Hardwired for owned vehicles you keep, for anything where tamper resistance matters, for HGVs, and where you need ignition, PTO or temperature data.
Plug-in for short-term leases, hire vehicles, grey fleet, a trial, or where you want to move units between vehicles as the fleet changes. The trade-off is that a driver who does not want to be tracked can unplug it, and you will need a policy about that.
Read the term, not the monthly price
Three to five years is the industry norm and the hardware is usually financed inside the monthly figure. A £12 unit over five years is £720 per vehicle, and leaving early means paying out the balance.
Ask for the early termination charge in writing. Ask who owns the hardware at the end, and whether the units can be re-monitored by a different provider or are locked to theirs — because a locked unit turns your renewal into a replacement.
Take the trial. Every provider offers one on two or three vehicles, and it is the only way to find out whether the reporting is usable and the coverage holds up on your routes.
The GDPR part, properly
Do this before you switch anything on. Write a driver privacy notice explaining what is tracked, why, and who sees it. Complete a data protection impact assessment. Set a retention period and stick to it.
Use legitimate interests as your lawful basis, properly assessed — consent is weak in an employment relationship, because an employee cannot freely refuse.
And decide about out-of-hours. Continuous monitoring of a van a driver takes home is difficult to defend; a privacy switch for personal use is the accepted approach. Covert tracking is very hard to justify at all.
What it is actually for
The routing and job-allocation gains usually dwarf the theft-recovery argument that gets used to sell it. If your fleet does reactive work, being able to send the nearest vehicle is where the money is.
Driver behaviour scoring can also reduce insurance premiums — ask your broker before you buy rather than assuming it will.
The short answer
Owned vehicles, long term, tamper resistance matters: hardwired.
Leased, hired, mixed or uncertain fleet: plug-in, accepting it can be removed.
Either way: price the full term, get the exit charge in writing, and complete the privacy paperwork before go-live rather than after.
Ready to compare vehicle tracking?
Compare Vehicle Tracking is our dedicated site for this category, with the detail, local coverage and a quote form.
Common questions
Is it legal to track employees' vehicles?
Yes, for a legitimate business purpose, provided you tell them, document your lawful basis, complete a data protection impact assessment and limit monitoring to what is necessary.
Can we track a van outside working hours?
Generally you should not. A privacy switch for personal use is the accepted approach; continuous out-of-hours monitoring is hard to defend.
Do plug-in trackers drain the battery?
Modern units draw very little and sleep when the ignition is off. On a vehicle left standing for weeks it can still matter — mention it if that applies to your fleet.
Before you request a quote
What this should cost, what moves the price, and the questions to put to any supplier.
Vehicle Tracking
Tracking is cheap per vehicle and sold on three-to-five year contracts. The contract term, not the monthly price, is what you are really agreeing to.
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