How Southeastern Freight Lines gets new vehicles road-ready faster with Samsara’s PDI program

Enterprise fleets know that getting new vehicles ready for service can become a bottleneck—hardware installation, activation delays, and technician scheduling all create delays. To get ahead of these delays, Southeastern Freight Lines (SEFL) sought a faster, more consistent process for receiving their new vehicles pre-equipped and ready for deployment. “We wanted our trucks delivered with our safety equipment installed and near road-ready before any of our associates ever sit in the seat,” said Jim Jones, Assistant VP of Fleet Services at SEFL.  

In order to meet this goal, SEFL adopted Samsara’s Pre-Delivery Installation (PDI) program with Fontaine Modification. The result is a faster, seamless way for SEFL to receive their new vehicles consistently pre-equipped with Samsara hardware, enabling them to get on the road sooner.

The fast lane to deployment

Before PDI, SEFL technicians often spent a full day or more installing hardware on each new truck. They also had to deal with the time-consuming administrative task of ordering Samsara hardware and ensuring all the correct equipment arrived at Fontaine in time for the installs. With hundreds of vehicles entering the fleet, this created delays and pulled technicians away from core maintenance work. PDI changed that. 

Fontaine Modification works directly with Samsara to order, stage, and install hardware. This integrated ecosystem model reduces friction and gives large fleets a predictable, repeatable path for deploying new technology at scale. “For us to allow Fontaine to order the Samsara hardware needed makes it easier for all involved,” said Jones. “We can focus our time elsewhere, and Fontaine can order what’s needed to ensure they have it ready for installation before the trucks arrive from the factory.”

Another positive from this program is SEFL gaining visibility into units as they ship from Fontaine, helping teams plan and prepare more effectively. “Having a visual on our new equipment when they’re on the move from Fontaine to us is a big win,” said Jones.

Leading with safety

Safety is foundational to their operations, and consistent installs across their fleet are an important part of this. With Samsara Vehicle Gateways and AI Dash Cams pre-installed, SEFL reduces time-to-service and eliminates variability across locations. “Having the installs done before the truck arrives makes it quicker and easier for us to get them in service,” said Jones. “It also ensures that all installs are done the same.” 

The PDI program ensures every new tractor arrives with the right configuration from the start. By receiving vehicles that already meet SEFL’s safety specifications, the fleet reduces inconsistencies, simplifies compliance, and ensures each asset begins service fully prepared. Together, these improvements help SEFL put safer, road‑ready assets into service with confidence.

Safer vehicles ready on day one

For organizations evaluating PDI, SEFL’s experience provides straightforward guidance: By adopting PDI, your fleets can expect faster time to service, less downtime for technicians, standardized installs, immediate visibility on inbound assets, and safer vehicles ready on day one.

“We no longer need to spend a day or more installing equipment or making modifications to new vehicles, which gives our technicians time back to focus instead on maintaining our existing equipment. Having multiple modifications and equipment installations done to each truck before it arrives to us makes it quicker and easier for our team to get them on the road. It saves us time and has been seamless.”

As enterprise fleets scale and adopt more technology, upstream deployment models like PDI give them the ability to modernize without slowing down operations. By partnering with Samsara and Fontaine Modification, SEFL has established a more efficient, consistent, and safety-centered approach to onboarding new vehicles.

If you’re exploring ways to modernize fleet deployment as your operations scale, connect with our team to learn how Samsara’s PDI program supports faster, more consistent vehicle onboarding to the Samsara Connected Operations Platform.

Existing Samsara customers can reach out directly to their Samsara representative to learn more about activating the PDI program with Fontaine Modification.