IMS has launched IMS Vehicle Security Solution, the industry’s only fully-managed, end-to-end vehicle security monitoring and recovery solution for fleet-based organisations, such as vehicle rental, car sharing, and leasing.
The product combines IMS’s expert security services with the all-new, ultra-covert IMS Sleeper device to significantly increase the chances of recovering stolen commercial vehicles.
According to new research conducted by Censuswide, personal and commercial vehicle theft is on the rise globally, due in large part to the increase in the number of keyless start vehicles and to the fact that less than 52 percent of commercial fleet vehicles have GPS tracking devices installed.
In addition, statistics from the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) indicate that of the more than 78,000 fleet vehicles stolen in the UK in 2020, only 45 per cent were recovered. This problem adds to the on-going challenges many fleet-based organisations, including rental companies and car-sharing businesses are currently experiencing, which are struggling to bounce back from the pandemic aftershocks of lower vehicle utilisation, lost revenue, and escalating costs.
Increased vehicle thefts leave businesses focusing on securing and monitoring vehicles and self-managing vehicle recovery efforts, a significant distraction at a time when customer service and growing revenue need to be front and centre. Prior to this launch, many companies were forced to develop vehicle security initiatives piecemeal in-house by procuring diverse hardware, hiring additional personnel, attempting to set up 24/7 monitoring, and then finding partnerships or self-managing vehicle recovery.
To support the wide variety of situations fleet-based companies are handling today, the IMS Vehicle Security Solution is a fully-managed offering which comes complete with 24/7 monitoring and alerts, recovery and repatriation services, access to a security monitoring portal, the ability to upgrade to other proven IMS telemetry solutions, including IMS Connected Claims and IMS Driver Behavior Analysis, and two hardware options:
1. All-new IMS Sleeper mini-GPS tracker: Low-cost, battery-powered, self-installable option for dedicated security monitoring and vehicle recovery.
2. IMS T7 Hardwired black box: Professionally-installed hardware option intended for organisations with business requirements beyond vehicle security, such as driver behaviour and advanced vehicle usage monitoring.
“The services and hardware options that comprise the IMS Vehicle Security Solution render the best overall value possible given the consumer and market challenges faced by our rental, car sharing, leasing and fleet-based customers,” said Leon Hurst, CEO, Mobility for IMS.
“The fact that our new IMS Sleeper device provides a very low-cost way to deploy a solution quickly and easily means customers have more flexibility and choice for the security hardware which is ultimately installed. With this launch, IMS can rapidly tailor solutions and combinations of hardware and services to fit any specific need.”
Vehicle security expertise is baked into the IMS Vehicle Security Solution, which includes more than a decade of direct vehicle security experience backed by a team of expert security professionals, as well as proven outcomes with major security customers, such as the car sharing marketplace, Turo.
“The IMS Vehicle Security Solution will reduce theft and fraud by combining expert-backed services, cutting-edge hardware options, and software which uses sophisticated predictive analytics and machine learning (ML),” said Hurst.
“Our solution ensures we are also well equipped to identify early-stage behaviours that suggest inappropriate usage and impending criminal activity, while providing successful outcomes for our customers in case of theft.”
