Teletrac Navman And The Case Of The Missing Van

Graham Smith, owner of Paneltech in Christchurch, an insulated panel design and installation company, got an immediate payback when he installed Teletrac Navman GPS tracking – his stolen van returned.

Graham takes up the story…..

“A vehicle of ours was due for a WOF, so one of my staff members took it out to Kaiapoi to get the warrant. It turned out that the trailer needed a wheel bearing before it could get the warrant, and as it was late on a Friday, the WOF staff took it back to my staff member’s house in Kaiapoi and parked it outside.

“On Monday morning, my staffer realised the van and trailer weren’t parked outside any more. We immediately looked it up on the DIRECTOR tracking software – the vehicle was out at Templeton. Using the GPS system, we located the exact property where our vehicle was located.

“I drove over to the property and parked outside. Then I rang the police. The policeman arrived and had a chat to me outside. They’d done their homework on the property and there was no way they were going in without backup. Eventually there were five police cars and 10 policemen, then in they all went.

“The next thing that happens is they give me a ring and tell me to come on to the property, and round into the back yard. They asked me, ‘Is that your van? Is that your trailer?’  It sure was, but all the sign writing had been stripped off the van already. Those jokers that stole it sure were quick workers!

“The police told me late that if I hadn’t found it using the GPS tracking system, I’d never have got the van, the trailer and the tools back at all. As it was, all the insurance had to cover was the sign writing and replacing the ignition which was wrecked. In fact, I might have to talk to my insurance company about dropping the premiums now that I have GPS tracking installed!”

Graham says that based on that experience, only a month after installing Teletrac Navman, he immediately booked the installation into his other three vehicles.

Beyond the break-in

After beating the thieves with Teletrac Navman, Graham and his wife Leonie have gone on to use lot of the other reporting features of the system to get a better handle on their business.

They are tracking kilometres driven to ensure maintenance happens on time, and have set up alerts so they know when WOFs and regos are due. Tracking RUC is also a big concern for Graham.

“There have been occasions when we’ve been 10,000km over what we’ve paid for, but now with Teletrac Navman, we’re on top of it.”

Graham is getting a lot of use out of the DIRECTOR app on his phone. “I can see where all our people are, so if something needs to be collected, I see who is closest. This saves us time and petrol cost.”

It’s early days yet, but Graham reckons Teletrac Navman has made a big difference to his business. “I can see we’re going to get more accurate with our invoicing and more profitable for the work we do.”