At its core, fleet management is all about knowledge.
You want to know where your vehicles are, who is driving them, how well they're working, and their operating status.
This information is vital to making sure your fleet is safe and efficient.
Teletrac Navman Director (which begins at $30 per vehicle per month) does a fine job of all this and more.
A subscription to the software includes a diagnostic tracking device, which lets you automatically capture more detailed information about a vehicle than a mobile application can.
Not only that but Teletrac Navman Director has features that help you comply with government regulations.
It's expensive for a solution of this kind so most small to midsize businesses (SMBs) will want to take a look at Zubie or our Editors' Choice pick Fleetio.
Pricing and User Interface
The Teletrac Navman Director tool begins at $30 per vehicle per month.
Teletrac is mum on more detailed pricing info, but told us that the average price range of the tool is between $30 and $100 depending on the customer's fleet size.
We assume that a larger fleet would be able to negotiate a vehicle price on the low end, but you'll have to discuss the actual cost with Teletrac Navman's sales team.
Other fleet management providers are much more clear in their pricing structures.
Not having such information publicly available makes researching the right fleet management software difficult, and it would be nice if the pricing was made more clear.
That issue aside, Teletrac Navman Director is on the more expensive side of the fleet management tools we've tested.
Much like Zubie, it also comes with a diagnostic tracking device.
But Zubie costs $179.95 per year per device, and when you break that down monthly, it's still less than half of Teletrac Navman Director's $30 low point.
If the more granular data of Teletrac Navman Director is important to you, then you might have no problem with the cost.
Teletrac Navman Director is clearly designed to be a comprehensive tracking solution, but its cost can make it hard to bear for most SMBs.
With that in mind, it seems like a bargain compared to the likes of Onfleet, which starts at a whopping $149 per month.
Granted, that platform lets you theoretically use as many vehicles as you want, but it has a much higher barrier to entry than Teletrac Navman Director.
Teletrac Navman Director's user interface (UI) does a decent job of delivering all of your fleet information in a reasonably smooth interface.
Each page has different windows, where information is delivered in very plain looking lists.
One thinks of mid-2000s software when navigating the tool.
It's not the most attractive business app you'll use, but it makes use of clear, modern fonts, and it's laid out in a way that makes sense.
Up top, you have tabs for your home page, the Messaging module, Reports and Hours of Service (HOS), which helps you stay compliant with Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) regulations.
Pages loaded fast, which is impressive considering it was constantly updating data on our demo account of more than 100 vehicles.
Ultimately, we had no trouble navigating around the tool and finding the information we wanted.
It may not be the most striking design in fleet management (that would probably belong to Zubie), but we appreciate Teletrac Navman Director's no-nonsense approach to fleet management all the same.
Setup
If you want to add a new user, new carrier settings, or a new license class to the system, then all you need to do is click the "Show Me How" button at the top of the screen, and you will get a guided tour of how to do exactly that.
You may feel overwhelmed if you're new to fleet management software, so having this guide is extremely helpful and appreciated.
Because every vehicle is tied to a diagnostic device tracker, adding them to the fleet is more cumbersome.
You'll have to register every device individually through a company rep.
Setup is easy but not as easy as competitors such as our Editors' Choice Fleetio, which lets you add vehicles, drivers, and maintenance info simply by clicking an icon at the top of the screen.
The fact that Teletrac Navman Director comes bundled with a diagnostic tracker makes its setup pains easier to understand, but we wish it were just a bit more intuitive to add new drivers and vehicles to the system.
Vehicle Tracking and Communications
The home page is where the bulk of your time will be spent with Teletrac Navman Director.
Here, you will see your vehicle list, your map view, and information about the vehicle such as current messages, alerts, and maintenance information.
Things are pretty straightforward here: Click a vehicle on the list and the map view will go to that vehicle's last recorded location.
Click the vehicle on the map and you can see more detailed information, including its speed, current address, and even a Google Street View of its current location.
You can change the size of the various windows by dragging and dropping, and we had no trouble looking at all of the vehicles in our demo fleet.
One unique feature that Teletrac Navman Director has is that, if you have a compatible dashcam connected to the vehicle, you can sync that footage with events like hard braking or rapid acceleration.
Say, for example, you saw that one of your drivers slammed on the brakes during a trip.
If you want to know why this happened, you could pull up video from that time period.
When we sat through a demonstration of the software, we saw one case where the driver had to brake in order to avoid hitting a deer.
It's also very useful for determining responsibility in the event of an accident.
This functionality is optional, but it's a very helpful way of investigating issues and keeping drivers accountable in the field.
With a little work, you'll probably be able to export that data to another tracking tool, perhaps your human resource (HR) management platform, and use it to help manage employee performance.
In addition to looking at your fleet, Teletrac Navman Director also boasts a messaging module so you can reach out to drivers on the field in real time.
From the map view, you can click the envelope icon and send a text message directly to the driver.
There are canned messages available, such as "Return to Base" or "Call Home," or you can craft your own.
One possible use case for these messages would be you telling a driver to have the vehicle inspected or provide maintenance instructions.
If your drivers are doing something they aren't supposed to, this is a great way to be proactive about it and solve problems before they become severe.
Overall, the vehicle tracking functionality is on par with what we've seen in other solutions like Fleetio or Onfleet.
Reports
The Reports module is where you'll find all sorts of canned reports regarding driver activity, vehicle mileage, driver hours, and vehicle health information.
All you need to do is select the report you want, check the boxes of what drivers or vehicles you want information on, and click the "Generate Report" button.
From there, you can view an easily printable report.
You can even export the reports to CSV, PDF, XML, MHTML, XLS, TIFF, and Microsoft Word.
You can also find canned reports for things such as overall costs and the ecological impact of your fleet.
Generating reports was fast and easy.
When we wanted to pull up a ranking of all vehicles based on engine idling time, it took just a few seconds to retrieve an exhaustive list of every idling period a vehicle had that day.
While these reports are helpful, it would have been nice if the reports had charts and graphs to help create more customized data visualizations.
Teletrac Navman Director incorporates driver scorecards in which employees are ranked in areas like acceleration and braking, and those scorecards have visualization, but there were no other such reports.
Competitors Fleetio and Onfleet both offer data visualizations.
We hope we see Teletrac Navman Director follow suit in the future.
Compliance
Regulations set by the FMCSA dictate that drivers can only drive a maximum of 15 hours at a time to prevent fatigue and ensure safety on our roads.
Violating these regulations can come with heavy fines (or worse), so you want to avoid them whenever possible.
Teletrac Navman Director has a module that tracks working hours of all of your drivers.
On the HOS tab, you can see all of your drivers with a designated status.
Drivers who are near the time limit will appear in yellow, and those who have violated the time limit are shown in Red.
Again, this data can be invaluable when implementing long-term employee performance management.
This is the only solution we've tested to date that comes with this compliance-focused functionality.
It's easy to see this being useful if you have a lot of long-haul deliveries, and we're surprised this functionality isn't available in other solutions.
Violating regulations is always a concern for businesses, and if compliance is a priority for your company, Teletrac Navman Director seems to be one of the few answers you'll find from a software perspective.
The antiquated UI, as well as the high price, suggests that Teletrac Navman Director is designed for larger companies with the money to spend on software of this kind.
With that in mind, its detailed data capturing, compliance features, and video integration make it worth the cost to the right kind of customer.
That said, we still think Editors' Choice pick Fleetio is the better buy for the majority of businesses, but those looking to comply with FMCSA regulations will find Teletrac Navman Director to be the perfect choice for them.
Pros
Detailed vehicle tracking thanks to included diagnostic device.
Integrates with dashcam video.
Compliance features are rare in a solution of this kind.
Cons
Too expensive for many businesses.
Vague pricing structure.
User interface could be a bit smoother.
Reports not as visual as competitors'.
View More
The Bottom Line
Teletrac Navman Director is a powerful fleet management system that offers a full view of your fleet's operations.
However, all of its extra features come at a cost.
At its core, fleet management is all about knowledge.
You want to know where your vehicles are, who is driving them, how well they're working, and their operating status.
This information is vital to making sure your fleet is safe and efficient.
Teletrac Navman Director (which begins at $30 per vehicle per month) does a fine job of all this and more.
A subscription to the software includes a diagnostic tracking device, which lets you automatically capture more detailed information about a vehicle than a mobile application can.
Not only that but Teletrac Navman Director has features that help you comply with government regulations.
It's expensive for a solution of this kind so most small to midsize businesses (SMBs) will want to take a look at Zubie or our Editors' Choice pick Fleetio.
Pricing and User Interface
The Teletrac Navman Director tool begins at $30 per vehicle per month.
Teletrac is mum on more detailed pricing info, but told us that the average price range of the tool is between $30 and $100 depending on the customer's fleet size.
We assume that a larger fleet would be able to negotiate a vehicle price on the low end, but you'll have to discuss the actual cost with Teletrac Navman's sales team.
Other fleet management providers are much more clear in their pricing structures.
Not having such information publicly available makes researching the right fleet management software difficult, and it would be nice if the pricing was made more clear.
That issue aside, Teletrac Navman Director is on the more expensive side of the fleet management tools we've tested.
Much like Zubie, it also comes with a diagnostic tracking device.
But Zubie costs $179.95 per year per device, and when you break that down monthly, it's still less than half of Teletrac Navman Director's $30 low point.
If the more granular data of Teletrac Navman Director is important to you, then you might have no problem with the cost.
Teletrac Navman Director is clearly designed to be a comprehensive tracking solution, but its cost can make it hard to bear for most SMBs.
With that in mind, it seems like a bargain compared to the likes of Onfleet, which starts at a whopping $149 per month.
Granted, that platform lets you theoretically use as many vehicles as you want, but it has a much higher barrier to entry than Teletrac Navman Director.
Teletrac Navman Director's user interface (UI) does a decent job of delivering all of your fleet information in a reasonably smooth interface.
Each page has different windows, where information is delivered in very plain looking lists.
One thinks of mid-2000s software when navigating the tool.
It's not the most attractive business app you'll use, but it makes use of clear, modern fonts, and it's laid out in a way that makes sense.
Up top, you have tabs for your home page, the Messaging module, Reports and Hours of Service (HOS), which helps you stay compliant with Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) regulations.
Pages loaded fast, which is impressive considering it was constantly updating data on our demo account of more than 100 vehicles.
Ultimately, we had no trouble navigating around the tool and finding the information we wanted.
It may not be the most striking design in fleet management (that would probably belong to Zubie), but we appreciate Teletrac Navman Director's no-nonsense approach to fleet management all the same.
Setup
If you want to add a new user, new carrier settings, or a new license class to the system, then all you need to do is click the "Show Me How" button at the top of the screen, and you will get a guided tour of how to do exactly that.
You may feel overwhelmed if you're new to fleet management software, so having this guide is extremely helpful and appreciated.
Because every vehicle is tied to a diagnostic device tracker, adding them to the fleet is more cumbersome.
You'll have to register every device individually through a company rep.
Setup is easy but not as easy as competitors such as our Editors' Choice Fleetio, which lets you add vehicles, drivers, and maintenance info simply by clicking an icon at the top of the screen.
The fact that Teletrac Navman Director comes bundled with a diagnostic tracker makes its setup pains easier to understand, but we wish it were just a bit more intuitive to add new drivers and vehicles to the system.
Vehicle Tracking and Communications
The home page is where the bulk of your time will be spent with Teletrac Navman Director.
Here, you will see your vehicle list, your map view, and information about the vehicle such as current messages, alerts, and maintenance information.
Things are pretty straightforward here: Click a vehicle on the list and the map view will go to that vehicle's last recorded location.
Click the vehicle on the map and you can see more detailed information, including its speed, current address, and even a Google Street View of its current location.
You can change the size of the various windows by dragging and dropping, and we had no trouble looking at all of the vehicles in our demo fleet.
One unique feature that Teletrac Navman Director has is that, if you have a compatible dashcam connected to the vehicle, you can sync that footage with events like hard braking or rapid acceleration.
Say, for example, you saw that one of your drivers slammed on the brakes during a trip.
If you want to know why this happened, you could pull up video from that time period.
When we sat through a demonstration of the software, we saw one case where the driver had to brake in order to avoid hitting a deer.
It's also very useful for determining responsibility in the event of an accident.
This functionality is optional, but it's a very helpful way of investigating issues and keeping drivers accountable in the field.
With a little work, you'll probably be able to export that data to another tracking tool, perhaps your human resource (HR) management platform, and use it to help manage employee performance.
In addition to looking at your fleet, Teletrac Navman Director also boasts a messaging module so you can reach out to drivers on the field in real time.
From the map view, you can click the envelope icon and send a text message directly to the driver.
There are canned messages available, such as "Return to Base" or "Call Home," or you can craft your own.
One possible use case for these messages would be you telling a driver to have the vehicle inspected or provide maintenance instructions.
If your drivers are doing something they aren't supposed to, this is a great way to be proactive about it and solve problems before they become severe.
Overall, the vehicle tracking functionality is on par with what we've seen in other solutions like Fleetio or Onfleet.
Reports
The Reports module is where you'll find all sorts of canned reports regarding driver activity, vehicle mileage, driver hours, and vehicle health information.
All you need to do is select the report you want, check the boxes of what drivers or vehicles you want information on, and click the "Generate Report" button.
From there, you can view an easily printable report.
You can even export the reports to CSV, PDF, XML, MHTML, XLS, TIFF, and Microsoft Word.
You can also find canned reports for things such as overall costs and the ecological impact of your fleet.
Generating reports was fast and easy.
When we wanted to pull up a ranking of all vehicles based on engine idling time, it took just a few seconds to retrieve an exhaustive list of every idling period a vehicle had that day.
While these reports are helpful, it would have been nice if the reports had charts and graphs to help create more customized data visualizations.
Teletrac Navman Director incorporates driver scorecards in which employees are ranked in areas like acceleration and braking, and those scorecards have visualization, but there were no other such reports.
Competitors Fleetio and Onfleet both offer data visualizations.
We hope we see Teletrac Navman Director follow suit in the future.
Compliance
Regulations set by the FMCSA dictate that drivers can only drive a maximum of 15 hours at a time to prevent fatigue and ensure safety on our roads.
Violating these regulations can come with heavy fines (or worse), so you want to avoid them whenever possible.
Teletrac Navman Director has a module that tracks working hours of all of your drivers.
On the HOS tab, you can see all of your drivers with a designated status.
Drivers who are near the time limit will appear in yellow, and those who have violated the time limit are shown in Red.
Again, this data can be invaluable when implementing long-term employee performance management.
This is the only solution we've tested to date that comes with this compliance-focused functionality.
It's easy to see this being useful if you have a lot of long-haul deliveries, and we're surprised this functionality isn't available in other solutions.
Violating regulations is always a concern for businesses, and if compliance is a priority for your company, Teletrac Navman Director seems to be one of the few answers you'll find from a software perspective.
The antiquated UI, as well as the high price, suggests that Teletrac Navman Director is designed for larger companies with the money to spend on software of this kind.
With that in mind, its detailed data capturing, compliance features, and video integration make it worth the cost to the right kind of customer.
That said, we still think Editors' Choice pick Fleetio is the better buy for the majority of businesses, but those looking to comply with FMCSA regulations will find Teletrac Navman Director to be the perfect choice for them.
Pros
Detailed vehicle tracking thanks to included diagnostic device.
Integrates with dashcam video.
Compliance features are rare in a solution of this kind.
Cons
Too expensive for many businesses.
Vague pricing structure.
User interface could be a bit smoother.
Reports not as visual as competitors'.
View More
The Bottom Line
Teletrac Navman Director is a powerful fleet management system that offers a full view of your fleet's operations.
However, all of its extra features come at a cost.
