How California Freight Cut Idling Costs 59% with Trucking Telematics from Geotab

California Freight was spending about $100,000 a month on idling and treating it as simply the cost of doing business. After moving its entire fleet onto Geotab, the company brought that down to $41,000 a month, a 59% reduction, while also improving driver safety, simplifying compliance and cutting emissions.

About California Freight

California Freight provides customized transportation services across industries, including brokerage, rail and port drayage, food-grade tankers and warehousing. It also offers logistics support for shipping refrigerated, dry and specialized equipment across the country and around the world.

• 300 Class A drivers and 35 hostlers

• Vehicles from Peterbilt, Freightliner and Kalmar Ottawa

• 40 dispatchers using MyGeotab every day

• 100% of the fleet on Geotab

The challenge: too many systems, too little visibility

California Freight knew data was the key to running a safe, efficient fleet, but it was juggling multiple systems every day. It wanted a single platform to pull everything together.

As a long-time AT&T mobile customer, the company learned that AT&T also supported Geotab, and it made the switch in 2019. Once the data started flowing, MyGeotab reports revealed three big opportunities:

• Idling: roughly $100,000 a month in idling costs that could be cut with a few small changes

• Safety: limited visibility into roadside incidents, plus Hours of Service and other driver violations that could be reduced

• Compliance: California smog checks were set to increase from two to four a year per vehicle, each one pulling trucks off the road

Building one platform with trucking telematics

With AT&T facilitating the relationship, California Freight integrated its internal website with Geotab, and the rollout turned out to be smoother than expected. Today its setup includes Geotab GO9 devices, Lat-Lon asset trackers, key fob readers, MyGeotab for dispatchers and Geotab APIs. It is also piloting add-on tools from Geotab Marketplace partners.

As Director of Logistics Nick Donahoe puts it, "Geotab sparked transformative ideas."

Documents in drivers' hands

Using Geotab APIs, California Freight connected its internal systems so drivers can pull up vehicle registration and other key documents from anywhere, at any time. Drivers rely less on head office, and citations have dropped because digital records are accepted in every state.

Safer drivers and faster incident response

• Proactive maintenance: vehicle data flags potential issues so repairs can be scheduled before a roadside breakdown.

• Targeted training: reports on driving infractions lead to one-on-one coaching, which has reduced violations.

• Accident response: drivers follow a procedure in Geotab that notifies headquarters of an accident and the driver's location, so dispatch can check on them and call emergency services if needed.

• Custom accident reports: the company is building an app on Geotab's open platform, integrated with Geotab Drive, that walks drivers through a minor accident report with photos.

• Accident reconstruction: speed and g-force data from the seconds around a collision has cleared California Freight drivers of fault and helped avoid legal proceedings.

Simpler compliance

Geotab ELDs log Hours of Service automatically, which is more reliable than self-reporting and gives context on each violation, such as whether it lasted two minutes or two hours. California Freight is also piloting a GO9 project to run smog checks while trucks are in transit, so the fleet can stay compliant without taking vehicles out of service.

The results

Result	Outcome
Idling costs	$100,000 a month down to $41,000, a 59% cut
First 30 days	Idling costs down 30%
Driver citations	Down, thanks to digital records
Driver violations	Down, through targeted training
Emissions	Reduced overall

California Freight set out to halve its idling costs to $50,000 a month. It cut them by 30% in the first 30 days and has now beaten that goal. The company has also added auxiliary power units to its sleeper trucks to reduce idling further, using reports to catch excess fuel use.

Geotab reporting also shows which assets are working and which are sitting idle, so the team can move equipment where it's needed and keep goods flowing.

What's next

After attending Geotab Connect 2023, California Freight came back with new goals. It is now using Geotab's Electric Vehicle Suitability Assessment (EVSA) to see which parts of its operation could move to electric vehicles.

Could trucking telematics cut your idling costs?

Idling often hides in plain sight as a cost of doing business. Can-Am Telematics and Wireless can help you put Geotab trucking telematics to work on idling, safety, ELD compliance and asset utilization. Contact our team to talk through your fleet.

Read the original success story and download the PDF on Geotab's site: California Freight: Using telematics to cut idling costs by 59%.