How to unlock fleet management ROI

Inflation, fuel price fluctuations, labor shortages and ongoing market uncertainty mean that organizations must make every penny count. For fleet managers, those challenges are compounded by the rising cost of vehicle accidents and claims. In this environment, decision-makers are under growing pressure to ensure every investment promotes operational improvements and supports the bottom line.

From boosting customer service to promoting driver safety, fleet management software can play an important role in streamlining operational efficiency. While they carry a price tag, these solutions also offer a measurable return on investment (ROI) relatively quickly.

In fact, the Verizon Connect 2025 Fleet Technology Trends Report, based on an independent survey of more than 500 fleet professionals across 10 diverse industries, found that many organizations using a fleet management software solution found it a worthwhile investment.

• About one-third of GPS fleet tracking users reported a positive ROI in less than six months.
• Roughly half of telematics users saw positive ROI in less than a year, across a variety of solutions including asset tracking, fleet service/workforce, video and GPS fleet tracking.
• Users also noted improvements in critical areas such as customer service, productivity and routing.

Fleets are achieving positive ROI primarily through cost savings across key categories. Users report that fleet management technology helped them decrease both fuel and labor costs by 16%, and accident costs by 22%.

Conducting a fleet management cost analysis and calculating fleet management ROI is key to identifying where value can be unlocked in today’s tough economic landscape.

Understanding fleet management cost analysis and ROI 

Fleet management ROI measures how much value a solution delivers compared to its cost. While the calculation is typically based on savings divided by investment, the outcome depends on several factors:

• Fleet size and structure: ROI can vary based on how solutions scale across different fleet sizes and vehicle types.
• Routing efficiency: Smarter route planning reduces mileage, fuel use and delays.
• Asset utilization: Making better use of vehicles and cutting idle time boosts productivity without adding new assets.
• Maintenance planning: Proactive service reduces downtime and repair costs.
• Compliance and safety: Avoiding fines and promoting safe driving protects your bottom line.
• Driver behavior: Coaching safer habits can cut fuel waste, violations and wear and tear.
• Insurance impact: Insurers may offer discounts for telematics use or verified safe driving.
• Technology adoption: The faster your team adopts the tools, the faster you’ll see value.

To make the fleet management cost analysis process easier and ROI easier to see, Verizon Connect offers a free ROI calculator. By entering your fleet size and cost estimates per vehicle or driver per month, you can generate a customized fleet management cost analysis and estimate potential savings.

There are more ways fleet management solutions can help you cut costs. See seven ways here.

How users achieve ROI: Benefits of fleet management

Fleet tracking technology includes several dashboards that offer data that can help fleet managers discover greater operational efficiency, fleet utilization and safety measures. These kinds of actionable insights include information on vehicle journeys, idle time, driver behavior, vehicle maintenance needs and asset location and overall utility.

Here are three specific ways fleet management solutions help improve ROI out in the field:

Provide visibility into asset use and vehicle location

Knowing the location of equipment and trailers is key to preventing the costs of replacing stolen or misplaced high-value assets. 

During the last three years, fleets have been increasingly adopting asset tracking solutions to help protect their vital assets and resources.¹ By using discreet asset trackers, fleet managers can remotely monitor the location of valuable items, as well as help law enforcement recover them in the event of theft. For example, Diamond Landscapes used asset tracking to recover over $500,000 in stolen trucks, demonstrating how powerful real-time visibility can be for protecting high-value equipment.

But asset tracking offers more than loss protection. It provides visibility into underutilized equipment so you can make better use of the assets you already have or sell what you don’t need. These tools also help managers reduce unnecessary miles, balance workloads and cut wear and tear on vehicles. 

Prioritize driver safety and reduce accident-related costs

Unsafe driving behavior like harsh braking or speeding can lead to accidents, claims, and higher insurance rates, as well as impacting fuel efficiency. By integrating AI-powered dual-lens dashcams with GPS fleet tracking, managers can detect and address risky behaviors in near real time. In-cab alerts and cloud-based video clips make coaching easier and more targeted — 60% of fleet technology users say in-cab video is extremely or very beneficial for improving driver coaching.¹

This not only improves safety accountability but also helps organizations lower accident-related costs and build a strong safety culture across teams. CJ Auto Parts leveraged dashcams to successfully dispute accident claims, including a road rage incident where another driver exited their vehicle and approached aggressively. The CJ Auto Parts driver stayed calm, pointed to the dashcam, and defused the situation. This footage helped the company de-escalate a potentially dangerous encounter and provide evidence that their driver didn’t behave recklessly, demonstrating the power of video technology to improve driver protection and reduce liability.

Reduce direct labor costs through field coordination

 In any fleet business, without visibility into your mobile workforce, inefficiencies inevitably crop up. GPS fleet tracking pulls back the curtain, enabling managers to see daily vehicle journeys, including all trips taken, stops, and idling events. This helps fleet managers see where time is being lost.

When combined with dispatch software, these insights can streamline communication between drivers, customers and the back office, reducing labor redundancies and lost time. DiPinto Brothers Transportation saw a 30% reduction in payroll costs after implementing GPS tracking to streamline workforce oversight — a clear example of how these tools help eliminate unnecessary labor expenses.

Find real value in your fleet management solutions

As economic pressures, customer expectations and competition grow, fleet managers must find solutions that truly drive value and efficiency. Fleet management software, including GPS fleet tracking, asset tracking and AI dashcams, helps improve fleet management ROI and simplify daily operations.

With the right strategy and tools in place, a thorough fleet management cost analysis can reveal opportunities to cut costs, prioritize safety, and increase efficiency — all while making life easier for your fleet’s team.

See for yourself: Determine how quickly your fleet can achieve ROI with our fleet management platform using our simple ROI calculator.

Sources: 

¹ 2025 Fleet Technology Trends Report