July is Vehicle Theft Protection Month
18 Jul 2019July is the month well-known for celebrating Independence Day. It’s also one of the hottest months of the year, leading to many summer vacations and other festivities. However, not only is July a hot month in terms of temperature, but it’s also a hot month when it comes to vehicle theft in the U.S.
According to estimates by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), in 2017, the value of vehicles stolen was almost $6 million. Because summertime is a prime time for vehicle thieves, the NHTSA is designating July as the National Vehicle Theft Protection Month.
As part of their vehicle theft prevention outreach, the NHTSA works hard to educate vehicle owners about ways they can deter the theft of their vehicles and what precautionary measures they can take. The NHTSA provides infographics, fact sheets and other relevant information, helping to inform consumers about high-theft areas by state, the prominence of vehicle theft and who to contact and what to do if a vehicle theft occurs.
To keep your vehicle out of the hands of thieves, the NHTSA urges you take certain measures.
Understanding GPS Coordinates
16 Jul 2019Some people have a limited understanding of how GPS works. For the average user, it is enough that you turn on your GPS tracking device and it tells you roughly where you are and helps you find directions to get where you want to go. You don’t even fully comprehend, in a world of fancy interfaces, that what you’re seeing on the screen is literally a series of numbers, representing precise coordinates, behind the fancy user interface. Specifically, you’re seeing where two numbers intersect.
Longitude and Latitude
Your location, at any point on the earth, can be represented by pinpointing your latitude and longitude. The longitude refers to vertical lines that dissect the earth from the North to South Poles. Beginning with the Prime Meridian, which is represented as 0 degrees and moving east beginning and one degree and ending at 180 degrees and indicated with the letter E.
Those moving west of the Prime Meridian also begin with one degree and move on until reaching 180 degrees. These are indicated with the letter W.
The latitude, on the other hand, indicates the north/south location. These numbers begin with zero degrees at the Earth’s equator and increase by one degree moving north or south up to 90 degrees in either direction. Each one indicated by an N or S.
Appliance services businesses cover a lot of ground on any given day. Whether you are performing routine maintenance on appliances like dishwashers, hot water heaters, etc. or you’re repairing broken refrigerators and ovens, or even providing invaluable installation services for homeowners throughout your city, GPS fleet tracking can help your business.
These are just a few of the ways your appliance services business benefits with GPS fleet tracking services.
Accurate Appointment Windows
One of the biggest complaints customers have when dealing with appliance service businesses is the lack of accuracy when creating appointment windows. Or worse, the lack of specificity. With GPS fleet tracking, your accuracy improves greatly, allowing you to provide narrower appointment windows for your time-strapped customers. Think of the benefits of providing two-hour windows for appointments rather than eight! Your customers will love you for it.
