Customer Success: Yarraville Club

Background

The Yarraville Club is a Not for Profit organisation in Yarraville, Victoria, founded in 1905 as a place to promote good fellowship and greater community connections. Since then, the Club has established itself as a family-friendly venue that offers dining and entertainment for members, guests and the local community. It has a strong focus on giving back to the local community through fundraising, events and services, including transportation.

Challenge

The Club owns courtesy vehicles which provide the community pick up services to and from the club or local school sporting events. They are also connected to the local RSL sub branch to transport former military personnel and their spouses as part of the community service.

The Yarraville community has faced some theft activity issues that targeted prestige vehicles by following them home, and then going back later in the evening, breaking into the house to steal the car.

“We needed a peace of mind if something did happen,” says Chris Byrne, CEO of the Yarraville Club.

“We can obviously trace the vehicle from an insurance perspective, because my car is insured as a prestige vehicle, but the insurer wanted higher level of security on the vehicle, and tracking was suggested, which they were keen for me to do.”

This is when Chris entered the Fleet Complete Facebook competition to win a 6-month free AT1 Asset Tracker device for the Yarraville Club – which he did!

The only caveat – AT1 is not meant for vehicles…so it was repurposed to look after a boat in storage, while Chris decided to invest in two Fleet Complete’s vehicle tracking devices. The GPS vehicle trackers were installed into the courtesy vehicles to keep track of them and provide a higher level of safety and security for the Club’s members and guests.

Safety and security is critical for members, guests and staff at the Yarraville Club

Solution

The Rollout

Chris was very happy with the implementation. The contract and the technicians were organised quickly to come out and install the equipment; it was a simple process of coordinating the vehicles to be in one spot at the scheduled time to have it all done at once. Minimal communication was required..

Training

Following the in-vehicle installation, Chris went through online training to learn about the Fleet Complete remote fleet management software.

“It was a 20 – 30 minute session over the phone, where they had their laptop open, I had my laptop open. We went through things to show me the basics of what we can do. Keep in mind, it’s not that we sit there every day, monitoring it. It’s what I call a “set and forget” type system. And the only time when we really log in and tap into it is if there’s an issue. A little bit like our security camera systems that we have throughout our facility. The only time you do use them is if there’s an issue you want an answer to.”

–  Chris Byrne

Results

Keeping Multi-Driver Logs

Chris sees a lot of value in linking back to one database with vehicle data tracking and driver data logging to keep things in check. Having multiple drivers per vehicle, today he has full visibility over who is driving it, at what time, where they are heading and how fast.

“We can now monitor the speed of a vehicle, where the vehicle is going, if there are issues with the vehicle…So, if we have issues with speeding fines and those sorts of things coming in, we are able to link that all back from a database perspective.”

“If employee A was driving the vehicle down Jim Smith street at 4:42pm last Wednesday and got a speeding fine, but says ‘I didn’t do it’, we can say our records say you did’. At the same time, conversely, if the police were to book them at that speed, we could also go back to the police and say that our records say that they weren’t doing that speed.”

Now that the Club can oversee asset utilisation and driver performance with the Fleet Complete tracking software, it started to unravel other revenue generating opportunities for its fleet, as well as some fuel savings.

“We are looking at other vehicles in the fleet, in addition to our courtesy vehicles. We currently use Uber Eats and looking to potentially expand to have our own drivers do that, whilst also using them as courtesy vehicles.”

“Our fuel spend has decreased. Maybe, previously, drivers were driving here, there, and everywhere, just around town. Whereas now, they are actually just going to and from point A to point B”

Having visibility of high valued assets is critical for the Not for Profit organisation.

Safety & Peace of Mind

Overall, Chris is impressed with the technology and the ability to modernise his business. He recognises it as a protective and preventative measure for his assets and employees, as well as an assurance that his vehicles are properly utilised on a daily basis.

“We have a sign in the vehicle that says our vehicles are GPS tracked. We do that from a twofold perspective – so that our drivers are aware and also, if someone was thinking of stealing a vehicle, they are also aware. Like that old adage: Do you rob the house that has roller shutters and security cameras, or do you rob the house next door that doesn’t have them? And I take that view with motor vehicles as well, if you’ve got an extra layer of security over your vehicle, not saying that your vehicle won’t get stolen or robbed, but it’s less likely.”

“We’ve only got a small fleet, but it’s a system and a tool that has been quite beneficial to us and its more preventative. In the event there is an issue, we’ve got the resource and the ability to go back and check, and our insurers are very impressed that we’ve got it as well.”

– Chris Byrne