The 5 Best Fleet Maintenance Software Systems

Software that helps with vehicle maintenance is crucial to keeping your fleet on the road. Most vehicle tracking suppliers offer maintenance tools, but our research has found Verizon Connect is steps above them all.

It has the most comprehensive maintenance features, pairing tracking vehicle maintenance histories and costs with preventative repair alerts – in a simple-to-use package according to our usability testing – so you can catch small issues before they require major repairs.

Still, it does cost more than other UK fleet software providers, meaning it won’t be for every business. Plus, other options specialise in different aspects of maintenance, like promoting safe driving habits to reduce vehicle wear and tear. Below we compare our top six picks so you can decide the best option for your team.

1. Verizon Connect Reveal: Best Overall Fleet Maintenance Software

Verizon Connect’s Reveal software very much deserves the ‘best overall‘ title for fleet maintenance. Here’s why, in short, before we discuss its specific maintenance features and potential downsides in detail.

What maintenance features does Verizon Connect Reveal offer?

Verizon Connect will help you schedule maintenance checks regularly to ensure all your vehicles are in tip-top shape before setting off. You simply select the vehicles you want to include in the service and what intervals you want to perform the service (based on time, distance travelled or engine hours).

When an interval is reached, you’ll receive a notification via your smartphone or the web app. The cycle then resets once you mark the service as complete. We think this makes it a great tool for enacting preventative maintenance of your fleet without needing a separate calendar app.

If you ever miss a check-up or scheduled maintenance, it will automatically reflect on your fleet maintenance records. All your records are synced and secure, and you’ll even be suggested nearby maintenance centres, while Verizon’s DVIR compliance saves you from the headache of complying with federal requirements for maintaining your fleet by providing an easy way for drivers to log vehicle inspection reports electronically.

Still, preventative alerts are something you can find on other fleet software, such as Samsara and Spireon. What you can’t get with other providers is the predictive maintenance of Verizon Connect. Using tracking equipment plugged into your vehicle’s OBD-II port, you can send near real-time diagnostic data to Reveal, such as engine health, battery voltage, and other critical metrics.

You’ll get instant alerts when defined parameters for these metrics are breached, as well as for diagnostic trouble codes like engine faults or low batteries. You can also view intuitive dashboards to give you a visual overview of all the data gathered from vehicle diagnostics, as shown below.

For a complete overview of maintenance data, you can also make custom vehicle maintenance reports through the Reports tab of Verizon Connect Reveal.

These reports can cover various timeframes, vehicles, or drivers depending on your preferences, and there are also other prebuilt reports you can run (or schedule) related to maintenance as you can see below, including fuel efficiency reports and harsh driving summaries. Overall, we found Verizon Connect has far more report options than other providers, allowing for great analytical insight into your fleet maintenance and management needs.

When you mark each maintenance task as complete, you can also input any associated costs such as replacement parts or labour costs. This allows you to track vehicle maintenance costs over time and analyze them via reports such as the Cost Analysis Report shown in the image above. This way, you can identify any high-value maintenance expenses or recurring issues with your fleet.

Are there any downsides to Verizon Connect Reveal?

While the extent of these maintenance features beats out all other providers we’ve tested, Verizon Connect isn’t the most cost-effective option. It has a reasonably low entry point at £20 per vehicle, per month, similar to Samsara, but Verizon’s custom pricing scheme for different packages can mean securing all these features can bring your total to a much higher amount.

Verizon will also tie you into a three-year contract. As such, we don’t recommend Verizon for small fleets that don’t cost a lot to manage or those who’d prefer short-term contracts.

2. Samsara: Best Fleet Maintenance Software for Managing Vehicles

Samsara also fares quite well in our research with an overall score of 4.6/5. In particular, we found it one of the best choices for managing vehicles. Read this quick summary before we get into exactly how Samsara shines.

What maintenance features does Samsara offer?

Armed with automatic maintenance scheduling, real-time vehicle diagnostics and alerts, and fleet maintenance record retention, Samsara has many of the same maintenance tools as Verizon Connect Reveal.

However, something that Samsara does that Verizon Connect doesn’t is its Inventory Report tool. Here, the software aggregates your assets by location for a clear, geographical view of your business if you have a lot of vehicle maintenance records to organise. You can use the search feature of this inventory report to specify a search radius from a specific address, too, allowing you to keep track of assets in specific areas, too.

Samsara also earns brownie points for its vehicle management due to its fuel monitoring system. It will give you a detailed input of your current fuel level, fuel efficiency, estimated fuel costs, engine run time, and idle time. These are all very helpful when it comes to minimizing fuel costs, which every fleet manager needs, as you’ll be able to identify drivers struggling to drive efficiently.

We have to applaud its journey optimization feature too, as it calculates every journey (at a maximum of 20 stops) to provide the most efficient route for your drivers. Verizon Connect and Azuga both have this too, with the latter being our favourite for this, but it highlights how complete Samsara is as an option for vehicle maintenance.

Lastly, its DVIR compliance report is also top-tier – you can customise your templates, and your drivers can easily navigate or resolve any defects on the vehicles if ever one arises.

Are there any downsides to Samsara?

Unfortunately, Samsara does not allow third-party integrations with satellite navigation (sat nav) devices, which can make journeys easier for your drivers. Plus, it does not offer hardwired devices, which are more difficult to tamper with – albeit, most businesses should like the flexibility provided by the easy installation of its OBD-II port devices.

Samsara’s pricing is another point of weakness. Starting at around £20 per vehicle, per month, it comes at a three-year minimum contract since you need to pay upfront.

3. Teletrac Navman TN360: Best Fleet Maintenance Software for Managing Drivers

When it comes to managing your fleet drivers, and coaching them into behaviours that should mean fewer maintenance issues for your vehicles, Teletrac Navman is an attractive choice that scored 4.5/5 overall in our research. Below is a summary as to why that is ahead of our in-depth discussion.

What maintenance features does Teletrac Navman offer?

Driver management is a valuable area to analyze when looking for the best fleet maintenance software. Your drivers contribute to your business, so if they’re driving aggressively, such as through harsh braking or rapid acceleration, you may have to shell out more money to fix mechanical faults – or worse, vehicles that have broken down – that arise more quickly from poor driving habits.

Our research tells us that Teletrac Navman is the top option to keep tabs on these features. It allows you to easily monitor your drivers’ performance, history, and routes, and get alerted if they drive harshly or get into unwanted incidents.

We especially love its easy-to-understand driving reports that highlight any live issues with a driver’s driving, whether critical alerts or simply around productivity. This benefits both fleet managers and drivers as it makes every task easier for them.

Are there any downsides to Teletrac Navman?

Teletrac’s flat tire comes with vehicle diagnostics. To know whether or not you have a faulty system or hardware, you have to do the work yourself as there aren’t automated alerts like with Verizon Connect’s Reveal software. Maintenance scheduling is also manual, so if this is a deal breaker for you, we recommend vying for other suppliers, such as Verizon and Samsara which automate this process.

How Did We Compare The Best Fleet Maintenance Software?