Mixed fleet visibility, improved efficiency and worker safety

Because Amerivet’s operations are spread across California, keeping track of all their vehicles and equipment without a fleet management solution was already proving to be challenging early on. Their fleet was growing fast, and with so many job sites and new pieces of equipment, it was easy to lose track of where they were at any given time. Due to their work in disaster services, being able to immediately locate a specific piece of equipment to send to a job is critical, but their team was spending a lot of time trying to track things down. In one instance, one of their refrigerated trailers, which didn’t yet have a Samsara Asset Gateway installed, was dropped off at the wrong location by a vendor, which resulted in lost revenue.

With Samsara Asset and Vehicle Gateways installed across their entire fleet, they no longer have to worry about being able to track down equipment or wasting time in the process. They now have real-time visibility into every piece of equipment, and can quickly locate and dispatch assets. This has allowed them to more easily scale the business, adding new equipment without increased logistics. They also are able to keep track of where their workers are, which provides peace of mind, knowing they’re able to keep everyone safe given the intense disaster environments like wildfires and floods they often find themselves in.

Samsara has also helped Amerivet reduce their costs and save money. Fuel makes up a large portion of their expenses, and with Samsara, the company has been able to track their fuel use in a way they couldn’t before—for example, with three trucks Amerivet recently purchased for fencing projects. “The trucks were getting 12.5 to 14 MPG initially, but with Samsara we saw that when they were fully loaded, that came down to less than 4 MPG. It was a well intentioned purchase, but when we actually looked at the work it was performing, it wasn’t efficient,” said Michael. “As a result, we’ve continued to invest in larger chassis vehicles that are able to keep us moving and keep that MPG at an industry standard instead of overloading certain vehicles.” Amerivet also uses Samsara’s integrations with WEX fuel cards to safeguard against fuel theft.

Amerivet has also seen savings on their insurance since deploying Samsara. Their insurance brokers were impressed by their implementation of Samsara’s safety solution, and Amerivet believes that their use of Samsara has made them a technology thought leader in their industry. In fact, when one of their $225,000 water trucks was caught in a flash flood, they were able to pull footage from the Samsara AI Dash Cam and turn it over to their insurance company for a damage claim to quickly get the vehicle repaired and back on the road.

Safety has been another integral component of Amerivet’s Samsara rollout. In a competitive industry like construction, building a robust culture of safety gives Amerivet a competitive edge to win more revenue. With an industry-leading safety team, Amerivet efficiently minimized preventable incidents through Samsara’s AI Dash Cams and driver coaching solution. While Amerivet's drivers are on the road, preventative AI helps detect risky behaviors in real time, while in-cab audio alerts and In-Cab Nudges empower drivers to self-correct risky behaviors before leaning on the safety team's resources for manager-led coaching. Even when risky behaviors are escalated for safety team intervention, safety managers are able to focus on coaching high-risk drivers that did not self-correct in a timely manner. In addition to the in-cab benefits, Samsara has also streamlined Amerivet’s entire coaching workflow, automatically assigning drivers to recorded risky behaviors, providing video-based coaching sessions, and surfacing actionable insights to help Amerivet grow their coaching impact.

A partner for safety, growth, and success

Samsara has enabled Amerivet to keep up with their fast-paced growth and scale effectively, execute their jobs more efficiently, reduce costs, and keep their workers safe along the way. “What Samsara offers us is a distinct advantage over our competitors,” said Tisinger. Samsara has enabled them to proactively address their workers’ safety, resulting in zero workplace incidents, moving violations, or accidents in the last 24 months. This is crucial, because it allows Amerivet to continue securing federal and state contracts, and any drop in safety score could jeopardize new business opportunities.

Another area where Samsara has proved critical is with fuel and preventative maintenance for Amerivet’s vehicles and equipment. Samsara’s fuel reporting has allowed them to save approximately $5,000 per month on fuel costs due to increased efficiency in driver routes and idling, and by integrating Samsara with Fleetio for maintenance, they can easily track and take action on any faults their equipment might have. With some equipment that can rent for up to $1,000 per day, being able to respond to engine fault codes before they snowball allows them to remove or reduce unplanned downtime. This ensures their equipment is in good working order, leading to repeat customer business and no break in rental operations due to downtime.

Amerivet also uses Samsara to provide their customers with service transparency. The Live Sharing function alerts their customers and partners of ETAs and vehicle locations during emergency response scenarios, which eliminates dozens of calls and texts in an already hectic environment, saving 2-3 hours a week. The location data has also allowed them to build trust with new agencies by providing proof of service. “If you can provide data to them that’s useful, that builds trust,” said Michael. “If they receive a complaint, they’ll dismiss it the next time because they trust you and trust your data. If you don’t have the data, it becomes a he said she said, and if you’re a new vendor, you might not get the benefit of the doubt. Samsara allows us to quickly build that trust.”

At the end of the day, Amerivet’s partnership with Samsara has provided them with the tools to continue their rapid growth, while keeping efficiency, safety, and savings ingrained in everything they do. By proactively deploying Samsara to connect their entire operation, Amerivet looks forward to continuing to grow in a rapid yet manageable way.