Company wants to install GPS in MY personal car!

[rocky246]

I know companies have GPS tracking devices in company cars. I understand that. They own the car! Do they have the right to put one in my car and track me? Working for the same company for almost 20 years and now they want me to do this!!! I'm really struggling with this! Do any of you have GPS tracking in your personal cars?

[copytechman]

I have a GPS but it's certainly not a tracking device! Wow..

Regards!
A.

[Ducttape n Glue]

Do you mean like one of those you can put in and take out that gives you directions, or an actual tracking device that reports back to the company? If it is the second kind, I would not allow it unless it was removable after work time.
Can they use this to hold your continued employment over your head?/ that could very well be a legal matter. Each state varies but I can see this as an invasion of privacy issue. I would ask them to provide a legal position paper from their corporate counsel or you can get one from your state attorney general or labor department. Good luck with this one.

[KenB]

While my company hasn't implemented it just yet, we carry hand held evices which can broadcast GPS signals so that we can be tracked.

I fear that as long as they aren't forcing you to actually mount (screws, tape, whatever), in your pearsonal vehicle, and they only track you during working hours, I doubt that there is much any of us can do about it.

I REALLY hope I'm wrong on this!

Any legal beagles out there? Please feel free to chime in!!

[JustManuals]

I would talk to an attorney if I were you.

[fixthecopier]

I think it is a matter of trust. I think they should trust the people they hire, this is a way of spying on you. My boss would never do this, but I know the largest company in town has them. Their techs have to clock out on payday if they pull into a bank to deposit their check. It can be scammed like anything else. Most techs would not want the boss to see too many 10 minute service calls, because they would expect you to do more and more calls. It is true that I can close a lot of tickets in 10 minutes, but like today, I may be somewhere for 2 and a half hours. My shop leaves you alone as long as you are taking care of your customers and noone complains. As far as your issue goes, I would refuse to put it in my car, I would insist they buy me a car!

[JustManuals]

Many years ago when I was still a Plumber, there was a company in the Philly burbs named Henry Ford. They had distinctive orange trucks. Every morning about a dozen trucks were parked at a local restaurant running. The trucks had meters in them that recorded when they were off. So the techs just parked their trucks and left them running all the time. It was pretty funny. There was even an article about it in the local paper.

Paul@justmanuals.com

[rocky246]

It is a portable device that were suppose to turn on in the morning when we leave home and off when we get home at the end of the day. Its just like a regular GPS, but its also a tracking device so they can see where we are at all times. It brings up a notification on the dispatchers and service manager's PC when your car starts to move! Its called the X5 copilot. There is a demo of it on youtube. Can't believe how percise this thing is. Its like god is watching! We were told that this would help dispatch make better decisions on calls and we can see where the other techs are on our systems, so we could get a part from them if we don't have one in car stock. Cell phone has worked pretty good for a number of years! Couple of our techs have been testing them for about a week. They still go about it just like they did before. I suggested that we swap the devices in the morning with each other. See how they like that! Having a meeting next week to discuss the whole thing. Should be a DOOZIE! Thanks for your thoughts.

[Mr Spock]

Their car their rules. My car my rules... No tracking of my car. Either give me a company car or keep the gps. I have the gps in my phones set to 911 calls only!!!

[prntrfxr]

I can see both sides of the issue. When I was a service manager we had issues with techs not being where they were supposed to be. I don't mind techs stopping somewhere for lunch or to pay a personal bill, but I objected to techs setting an appointment with a client for a certain time, telling me they're onsite, the client telling me they're not, and another tech seeing their car parked outside a stripper bar or Techs that were supposed to be at a client's site and instead they were answering a booty call. If they were on break or lunch (1 hour), I didn't question where they were, but don't piss on my leg and tell me it's raining. Stealing time is the same as stealing money from the boss. To me if you give a tech 1 hour lunch and 30 min break, that should be sufficient to get the job done and give them time to get things they need to do done.

On the other hand, the idea that you can't go anywhere without "big brother" watching, makes being a tech no longer the most fun job in the universe. I mean, one of the coolest things about the job is not being connected to the boss or feeling his breath on the back of your neck every minute. To me it would depend on how rigidly they are going to treat techs. If you go on lunch, can you turn off the unit? They wouldn't know where you are, but you couldn't take advantage of the time issue.

[banginbishop]

I all comes down to trust - and unfortunately it gets abused so we all suffer. I personally wouldn't allow a gps device on "my" car as it's my car and not the company's but mainly because it shows a lack of trust. I class myself as totally trustworthy and honest and I expect the company to treat me as such. However I do know of instances of techs going to their first call at about 11am when they should start at 8.30am and falsifying there start times but I believe that if your caught doing this then you should be the one disciplined and not everyone else.

[nmfaxman]

I would install a kill switch and mess with the system.
Keep them guessing if it is worth the hassle.

[MBT]

Unfortunately this is the way the future is going to be. With electronic surveillance becoming easier and cheaper, it's going to become very common. I can see in a few years them requiring employees to constantly carry a camera that allows the employer to see what the employee is doing at any time.

[jamesyboy]

gps!,mapping!optimisation! its all on its way
the company I work for has been using it at some level for years,evryone objected and had big brother paranoia to start but its actually improved things
no more endlesslytrying to get througth to call centre,driving around in circles lower phone costs, better response to calls I suppose its all down to the expectations of who you work for,we expect 3--4 good calls a day with minimum travelling,anymore than that and they are not doing a proper job no quick fix unjam and run
each engineer can see each others calls cherry picking was a problem that was shut down very qiuickly it has worked well for us and we are going further with it by inputing each guys training history in so the system picks the nearest eng to the request
its really a service tool to meet the quickest response and that means sending the closest eng the shortest distance its all from customer demands which are now massive on response everywhere so I think its here to stay gentlemen
theres allways ways around such things but nothing to hide nothing to worry about, the pda is being tracked not you eg. leave it in the machine cabinet and go and have a nice long lunch if thats youre thing

[albasoul06]

you may speak with attorneys and try different things but still as you say is a company car so is NOT YOURS ! if you want to save yourself just buy a gps for yourself and put it on the car ( but if they insist to use company gps this mean is a tracking device too ).
Companies tracking now from cel.phones to laptop, gps etc. Just read this ........

GPS seen as threat to privacy - Bangor Daily News

funny eh ?! and if you want to know the reasons here they are but still IS NOT RIGHT !

10 Reasons Fleets Like GPS Vehicle Tracking Systems | Fleet GPS - GPS Fleet Tracking System - GPS Fleet

good luck my friend !