Did you know that vehicle tracking in the UK is legal?
Or that with consent, your employer can track your location, driving habits and other information about your driving abilities?
Yes, really.
In this guide, you’ll find out about the vehicle tracking laws in the UK, such as when it is illegal to track a car and how you can stay compliant.
Ready to get going? Let’s go!
What’s in this guide?
Vehicle Tracking Laws in the UK
Regardless of whether you drive for a living, or you are a business owner who runs a fleet of company vehicles, it’s essential to make sure that you stay within the confines of the law.
Especially when it comes to tracking your employees and your company property.
So, what exactly is vehicle tracking? What does it involve and when is it legal? As long as you keep reading, you’ll find out what you need to know.
What is vehicle tracking?
Vehicle tracking utilises either a device or software to track a specific vehicle or in some cases the GPS tracking which is available on almost every smartphone and gadget.
Sometimes, vehicle tracking will be as simple as tracking the movements of a vehicle from point A to point B, but in some cases, vehicle tracking can also tell you how fast the car is driving, whether the driver is a safety hazard or even tells you if your driver took the easiest route.
This means you can not only see where your vehicles are but also check how well you or your employee is driving.
That can help you with everything from your individual or business performance, to make sure you stay protected in the case of an accident or mistake.
What is GPS tracking?
GPS stands for Global Positioning System, and it is a built-in system to most smart devices which uses satellites to locate and track the movements of the device.
Some famous examples of when GPS is used is for Fitbit or activity watches, where your watch will track how far you have walked or jogged for your morning run, as well as the speed and how long it took you to go a certain distance.
Another example is when you use Google Maps to find a local restaurant using a SatNav, GPS will tell Google Maps where you are, and so which way you need to go to reach your destination.
The benefit of using GPS tracking is that you can find the exact location of your vehicle, and track where it is with precision.
Is tracking a car illegal?
This is where things can get complicated.
First of all, it’s important to point out that personal vehicle tracking will have different rules for tracking a vehicle for your business, and all of the following is relevant to business vehicle tracking.
In general, tracking your business vehicle is legal as long as your employees are aware of it and have consented to the tracking.
You should also keep in mind that if you collect any personal data about your employee during tracking, it is illegal to misuse this information according to the Human Rights Act and Data Protection Act.
Another factor to consider is that you can only hold this information for as long as it’s strictly necessary.
So, as long as you are completely transparent with your employees, you can legally track company vehicles.
What are vehicle tracking laws?
The two primary laws that need to be considered in regards to vehicle tracking are the Human Rights Act and the Data Protection Act 1998.
The Human Rights Act
Article 8 of the Human Rights Act covers the right to privacy of an individual, so in this case, it would typically be the rights of your employee.
This essentially means that you can’t misuse the personal information acquired from vehicle tracking, due to your right of privacy and confidentiality for your personal information.
Data Protection Act of 1998
The Data Protection Act 1998 covers the data and its uses, which includes what data you collect as well as what you do with it, and how long you keep it.
This means that the data you collect must be relevant to the management of your business, it should be used only for business purposes and you keep it as long as strictly necessary.
When is tracking a car okay?
Tracking a car is only okay as long as your employee is fully aware, and consents to drive a vehicle which is being tracked.
Can my employer track my vehicle?
Your employer can track a company vehicle during office or business hours, but they can’t track your vehicle or a company vehicle used for personal purposes outside of company hours.
What kinds of vehicle trackers are there?
Generally speaking, there are often two types of vehicle trackers.
Software, and hardware.
Hardware will be a device which is attached physically to the vehicle, and tracks things like the location of the vehicle, how fast it is moving, the distance it has travelled and other relevant information.
This hardware will then usually send the information to a dashboard you can access via the internet or with software.
Usually, this information will give you data about your employees and your vehicles, to see performance and availability.
On the other hand, sometimes you might use the software in the form of an application on your employee’s phones or smart devices.
Instead of tracking the vehicle physically, it would track the movement of the phone in your pocket, using GPS technology.
Sometimes, you might have a combination of both hardware and software to track your company vehicles.
What are the best vehicle trackers?
The best vehicle trackers for you and your company might depend on several factors, including the following points:
- Your company’s budget
- How accurate you want the information to be
- If you want to be able to track the location of several vehicles at once and store the information in the same place
- How many vehicles you have
- If you want to be able to see how well your employees are driving your vehicles
- In some cases, you can use your tracker to recover any stolen company vehicles
Top 5 Vehicle Trackers
1. Quartix
Type: GPS fleet tracking
Pricing: Bespoke
Trustpilot score: 5/5
Quartix is a well known and highly rated provider of fleet tracking software and management systems, including real-time information and vehicle tracking.
Some of the advantages to choosing Quartix is that you can view your vehicles on a map with real-time information showing exactly where your vehicles are, and where they have been, as well as the time it takes to travel from point A to point B.
You can analyse your data and view reports to see where you are performing best and what you can do to improve.
Using their application, you can see a list of your vehicles, where they are and what they are doing, such as sitting at home or travelling.
✔ View daily report routes
✔ Check distance travelled and idling
✔ Track your vehicles from anywhere
✔ See which drivers are performing best
✔ Follow all of your vehicles on Google Maps
✔ View time sheets and quick data
✔ Make sure your drivers and vehicles are safe
2. Ram Tracking
Type: GPS fleet tracking
Pricing: Bespoke
Trustpilot score: 5/5
Ram Tracking boast an excellent five-star rating on Trustpilot and offer their customers single car and fleet tracking systems, such as those based on GPS and hardware.
You can either purchase a car tracker for your vehicle, or you could find a solution for fleets of 30 vehicles or more, so you know you won’t be limited to the size of your business and can quickly expand.
Their fleet management software allows you to track your vehicles, improve your driver’s efficiency, reduce your costs and even helps you to recover stolen property.
✔ Manage large fleets
✔ Check your driver’s safety
✔ Bill your customers accurately
✔ See which routes are most efficient
✔ Improve your response time
✔ Leverage your assets and satisfy customers
✔ Access real-time data for your records
✔ Save your significant business funds on fuel costs
3. Movolytics
Type: GPS fleet tracking
Pricing: Bespoke
Google score: 4.4/5
Movolytics is a highly rated company on review sites such as their Google page, which offers a range of software and services including fleet tracking, fuel management, driver safety as well as reports and dashboards.
Customers can benefit from being able to track your assets in real time via maps to show you exactly where your vehicles are, and other elements such as viewing your vehicle’s history.
This means tracking factors like fuel consumption, the time it takes to make a trip, the CO2 used and the total distance travelled.
You can access all the relevant data via applications which integrate with your smart devices, from anywhere at any time.
✔ Highly rated company
✔ Real-time information
✔ Access data remotely
✔ Track all of your assets
✔ Analyse your trips
✔ See how your drivers are performing
✔ Check your vehicles trip history
✔ Offers a range of other services too
4. Verizon Connect
Type: GPS fleet tracking
Pricing: £22 – £42 per vehicle per month
Trustpilot score: 2/5
Verizon Connect gives customers access to GPS fleet tracking technology, which can help you to manage an entire fleet of company vehicles with many benefits such as accessing your information from anywhere and maps which show you real-time activity.
This means staying up to date with your vehicles, where they are and how they are performing.
You can even record how each of your vehicles is being utilised, so you can easily manage every one of your assets to their full potential.
✔ Easy to use
✔ Access from anywhere
✔ Get real-time information
✔ Assess productivity
✔ Keep track of your vehicles
✔ Check your employee’s safety
✔ Prevent any breakdowns or theft
✔ Challenge your staff with competitions
✔ Reduce fuel costs
✔ Improve reaction and response times
5. ScorpionTrack
Type: GPS fleet tracking
Pricing: 23p per vehicle per day
Google score: 1/5
ScorpionTrack provides you with GPS fleet tracking and management which provides you with the ability to manage fleets as small as five, or as large as five thousand, with their easy to use the software.
Some of the benefits are that you can reduce your costs, optimise the use of your vehicles, lower your fuel expenses and perhaps most importantly, reduce your risk.
You can also take advantage of the fact that it helps your drivers to improve their general behaviour and their safety.
✔ Inexpensive solution
✔ Increase your response time
✔ Lower your fuel costs
✔ Track your vehicles
✔ See which drivers are performing best
✔ Improve productivity
✔ Reduce your administration time
✔ Help your business become more fuel efficient
Conclusion
In conclusion, there are some laws to consider when you are tracking your company vehicles, but as long as your employees consent and are aware of the tracking, it can help your business to thrive.
Have you learnt what you need to know about vehicle tracking laws?
Check out the ExpertSure guides to find out more about vehicle tracking now.
