Dave Meeker Auto is a 23 strong fleet of auto haulers based in Purcell, Oklahoma. For over 20 years, they have been transporting vehicles across the United States for manufacturers, dealers, and auction houses.
To keep business processes running smoothly, President Kevin Andrews has never shied away from employing technology to streamline operations. However, even though they are a relatively tech-friendly company, it never occurred to them that the paper logs their drivers used were an aspect of the business they could improve.
That was, until the day one of their drivers brought an electronic logging app to the attention of Kevin. Quickly realizing the potential value of the app, Kevin soon signed up for his own account to investigate the app further. Within a few days, they were introducing BigRoad’s electronic logs to their drivers and six months later, they were ready to abandon paper logs forever.
So what was this value that they quickly saw? Tonya Clevenger, Dave Meeker Auto’s Transportation Compliance Coordinator explains, “so many of the errors we deal with in respect to paper logs are form and manner related – poor handwriting, missing paperwork and other small mistakes that easily creep in through manual documentation. With BigRoad, all those form and manner errors simply vanish or are caught as soon as they occur so they can be corrected.”
Saying Goodbye to Paperwork!
Before adopting BigRoad’s electronic logs, Dave Meeker Auto had to rely on their drivers submitting paper logs. With drivers out for weeks at a time, paper logs were sent back to the office using mail or FedEx. Logs could often take weeks to arrive at the office before even being reviewed for mistakes. It was such a labour-intensive process, they had to bring in outside help to review, maintain and file paper logs.
Money savings were instant and huge with the switch over to the electronic logging system. They could reallocate all the hours lost to paper logs and there was no need to waste money on expensive courier services. All driver logs could now be reviewed in real time, with the office being able to alert drivers immediately if they were at risk of an hours of service violation. Instant access to all driver logs allowed problems to be spotted and remedied immediately. The new electronic system also meant they no longer needed to buy paper logbooks by the case.
Having their entire company’s driver logs in one centralized location, not only did Dave Meeker Auto save a lot of time and money, they now had a full hours of service compliance solution. They could now easily plan around a drivers availability and deliver an enhanced customer experience. Switching from an old paper system was a no-brainer for them.
BigRoad’s electronic log system has become such an important part of their business that it is now a part of their hiring process. In the past, it was presumed their drivers knew how to properly use paper logs, but today, new drivers are walked through installing and using the BigRoad electronic log app. If rookie drivers ever become stuck, the other drivers are always willing to help them out as everyone at Dave Meeker is well versed in the benefits of staying compliant with hours of service regulations.