Precision Door Service uses dashcams to help protect their business and coach drivers

The owners of Precision Door Service have big goals: they want to double the amount of business they’re currently doing and become the biggest provider of garage door installation and service in the Twin Cities area. With the help of Verizon Connect Reveal and Integrated Video to run their fleet, they believe they can get there. After implementing the GPS fleet tracking and fleet dash cam system, they’ve been able to better manage driver behaviors, know that they can protect their business from false claims, and improve visibility into vehicle activities.

The challenge

Tom Hartmon and Craig Amundson are the owners of Precision Door Service, a franchise garage repair and installation company serving Minneapolis and St. Paul. In starting a business together, they’ve faced their share of challenges in finding skilled labor and having to navigate the liability of running a company.

Before adding a GPS fleet tracking system with dashcams, they weren’t certain that their employees were where they were supposed to be and whether they were driving safely. They had also heard horror stories from other franchises about accident liability. After a false claim almost turned into a lawsuit, they knew they needed a better way to protect their drivers and business. They turned to Verizon Connect first for their fleet tracking system and then for their Integrated Video dashcam solution.

The solution

Craig and Tom know that their business’s reputation isn’t just about the service they provide. Their company name is on every one of their nine vehicles driving around the cities they serve and the community they live in. They were getting calls from people claiming their vehicles were driving erratically. Now with Reveal, they can go and check if a vehicle was in the area, the date and time, and what the driving activity actually was, including the speed and who was driving.

Having this data at their fingertips, as well as historical reporting, has allowed them to implement a driver safety program. With the help of driver scorecard reports in Reveal, Craig and Tom can track their drivers’ behaviors and reward the best driver with a gift card. This small incentive helped one of their drivers reduce the number of speeding incidents in a week from 159 to the single digits.

Implementing Integrated Video dashcams has helped with peace of mind. As Craig put it, “Whenever you put a name on your truck, you become a target for folks to sue you.” Knowing they have video footage of any harsh driving event helps them feel more confident that they can combat a false accident claim if it occurs. Plus, Craig likes having more context around harsh driving events, even when they don’t result in a collision: “I like to look at the video clips—what was going on, were they paying attention.”

The results

In addition to lowering the number of speeding events for their drivers, they’ve used vehicle activity reports and alerts to see if vehicles are being used off the clock.

With the camera, I can eliminate those situations that aren’t my fault.

Craig Amundson, Owner of Precision Door Service

As Craig puts it, “Just knowing that I have the ability to see who starts up their trucks after hours or driving to places they shouldn’t be. Or if they’re stopped at a location that isn’t on our schedule.” Having this functionality helped them learn that one employee was at a casino instead of a job site and using a vehicle on the weekends for personal use. Now when new employees are hired, they are made aware of the system and Tom and Craig explain why it’s so important to protect the drivers and the business.

In addition to driver coaching and vehicle activities, they’ve used Reveal to help streamline all parts of their business. Tom explains how the live map helps improve productivity: “We use it to see where the guys are in case it makes sense for another guy to go help or get a part out of a truck instead of going all the way back to the office.” Their favorite features include alerts for idling and speeding, and the convenience of receiving text messages for those alerts. Adding the system has actually improved morale for the group, as it has brought on friendly banter at team meetings about who’s the best driver and shows their technicians that they care about the safety of their employees. Tom and Craig want to continue investing in their staff so they stay a long time and help them go after the growth they know they can achieve.