If you are considering hiring a GPS car tracker company to provide you with tracking and location data, you should sign a contract. In such a contract, you make an enforceable promise to honor everything written inside the agreement.
This is where it gets tricky. Some companies deceive innocent people into believing that they have the best service. However, you need to check the contract for what we have listed and explained in this article. There are some aspects of the GPS car tracking service that you should confirm before committing to any cost or making any investment.
The contract duration
Signing any contract imposes a winding obligation on you to comply with everything written in it. Many GPS car tracking system installation companies tend to offer and prefer long-term tracking contracts with their clients.
This provides them with a continuous stream of revenue. On most occasions, you must pay the whole or half of the contract amount in advance. It is a huge commitment for small businesses because it will impact the cash management system more than anything.
While your GPS car tracking system vendor asks you to sign up for a long-term plan, you should also ask him for other short-term plans. Once you have all the options, compare each and choose the one with the highest value. Many companies will provide you with monthly as well as yearly plans.
With monthly plans, you will get the flexibility to maintain an efficient cash management system. Moreover, these short-term commitments will let you switch to another vendor when required.
However, all this does not mean that long-term contracts are bad. You should check the company’s reputation, terms of contracts, and available funds before committing to a long-term contract.
The renewal process
Next, you need to ask your GPS car tracking system provider about the renewal procedure. Most companies have an automated renewal process where the previous plan is carried forward, and you will get billed for the car tracking service that you did not even need.
Other vendors will make you sign a new contract for new cars you purchase after signing the initial contract. Ask your vendor for the add-ons or discounts when adding more vehicles to the current tracking package.
It takes no guessing when choosing vendors with a better retention policy. You need to opt for a company with a reputation for asking their customers before renewing their contracts.
Putting the contract on hold
If your business is seasonal, the operation volume is expected to be saturated for a few months in the year. Your management might decide to keep the tracking contract on hold when the rate of business activity is low.
You should ask the GPS car tracking to guide you regarding whether you can hold your GPS car tracking contract during inactivity. Fleet management is much easier in the off-season when negligible car activities occur. If your car tracking vendor allows you to pause your contract, you can recontinue in the next season.
Customer support and troubleshooting
Technology is prone to malfunction. You can face issues with the GPS car tracking system at any time. The problem would never knock on your door and announce it has arrived. It is important to know what your vendor has to offer in this kind of situation.
We will recommend asking the vendors about what they can help you with when the issue arises. There are generally two methods involved in troubleshooting. You will either receive help from an internal team or an outsourced function.
No matter which method your supplier has on offer, make sure that the vendor has included the customer support aspect in the contract. You can read customer comments and reviews online to know what others say.
Customer review site
Companies tend to advertise themselves whenever they see a prospective client. It is not smart to trust everything that the representative from the car tracking company says. You are the client they are looking for, and will never show you the actual face.
However, the best you can do is ask the vendor to provide you with the link to the customer review site. Such a site has real comments from real customers. Read them and decide if the previous customers have liked the services provided to them.