The readiness playbook A guide to smarter police fleet maintenance with Geotab
Introduction Unreliable vehicles are a burden no police department can afford. An unexpected breakdown doesn't just mean a larger repair bill; it's a pivotal period of unwanted downtime that could put community and officer safety at risk. To keep your vehicles operations-ready and your community safe, you need a proactive approach to fleet maintenance. This playbook will show you how to transform your maintenance plan with Geotab's police fleet management solution. Learn how it can help you prevent costly breakdowns, extend vehicle lifespans and protect your people.
The readiness playbook: A guide to smarter police fleet maintenance with Geotab
Table of contents
CHAPTER 01 Why smarter maintenance is a must for police fleets
CHAPTER 02 Streamlining administrative maintenance tasks
CHAPTER 03 Extract the maintenance insights you need, faster, with Geotab Ace™
CHAPTER 04 Geotab’s relentless commitment to your success
The readiness playbook: A guide to smarter police fleet maintenance with Geotab
01 Why smarter
maintenance is a must for police fleets
CHAPTER 1 Why smarter maintenance is a must for police fleets
02 Streamlining administrative
maintenance tasks
03 Extract the
maintenance insights you need, faster, with Geotab Ace™
04 Geotab’s relentless commitment to your success
Your police vehicles are critical assets that often face unique stressors, from extended idling and high-speed pursuits to variable terrains. A reactive maintenance model leaves your fleet vulnerable. Our solution helps you move from a reactive to a predictive approach, allowing you to spot and fix minor issues before they cause larger headaches. With detailed insights and the ability to set custom rules, you can help prevent costlier repairs, maximize vehicle longevity and keep your vehicles on the road.
The readiness playbook: A guide to smarter police fleet maintenance with Geotab
1
01 Why smarter
maintenance is a must for police fleets
Prevent surprise breakdowns and keep your fleet operations-ready with predictive maintenance
02 Streamlining administrative
maintenance tasks
Has your department ever been blindsided by a major engine failure? Solve minor issues before they ever result in one with predictive maintenance. Our platform helps you predict maintenance needs by analyzing the connection between detected faults and breakdowns across all Geotab-tracked vehicles. You can catch and fix small issues before they worsen, so your frontline personnel have dependable vehicles to serve the community. Our integrated tools can even help you better understand fault histories, their persistence and which could result in simple breakdowns by correlating downtime detection to fault lifecycles. However, risk is just one half of the maintenance equation. You’ve also got to consider the potential impact of a breakdown. For your department, one less vehicle means an officer will likely need to use an older one from your vehicle pool. Even worse, a breakdown could strand an officer in a dangerous situation or limit their response capabilities. Geotab’s downtime metrics help you combat these effects by showing you how many vehicles are currently down in your fleet. And while engine faults are vital to monitor, breakdowns can also stem from other critical components of a vehicle. Thankfully, our predictive maintenance tools can address what’s inside and outside of the engine. Learn how they help keep your vehicles humming through data-driven battery health, tire pressure and oil life remaining indicators.
03 Extract the
maintenance insights you need, faster, with Geotab Ace™
04 Geotab’s relentless commitment to your success
The readiness playbook: A guide to smarter police fleet maintenance with Geotab
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01 Why smarter
maintenance is a must for police fleets
Vehicle battery health With essential equipment like sirens, lights and laptops all drawing power from a police vehicle’s battery, paying close attention to degradation is essential. Help prevent battery-related breakdowns with Geotab’s electrical system rating (ESR) model. This model examines sustained deviation away from normal cranking voltage patterns to accurately predict when batteries are likely to fail. Stay updated on your batteries’ health and get notified of critical voltages with custom alerts, so your team saves time and replaces batteries before failure.
02 Streamlining administrative
maintenance tasks
03 Extract the
maintenance insights you need, faster, with Geotab Ace™
04 Geotab’s relentless commitment to your success
A graphical example to illustrate how a vehicle's battery voltage naturally declines over time.
An ESR bell curve that indicates when vehicles are at the highest risk of battery failure.
The readiness playbook: A guide to smarter police fleet maintenance with Geotab
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01 Why smarter
maintenance is a must for police fleets
Tire pressure Are tire blowouts a recurring problem in your police fleet? Use our predictive insights to stay on top of air pressure needs and keep levels optimal. Our baseline of acceptable tire pressure levels account for normal climate- or environment-related changes. As a result, we reduce false alarms: You’re only notified when a tire is in a critical state . The solution pulls in data from original equipment manufacturer (OEM) sensors to help you identify when it’s time to refill tires or replace a leaking one. View the examples below for a detailed look.
02 Streamlining administrative
maintenance tasks
03 Extract the
maintenance insights you need, faster, with Geotab Ace™
Example 1: Continuously refilling a tire that has a leak*
Example 2: Driving with dangerous tire pressure for days on end*
04 Geotab’s relentless commitment to your success
*Examples created using anonymized data from MyGeotab. Actual report visuals may appear different in the platform.
The readiness playbook: A guide to smarter police fleet maintenance with Geotab
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01 Why smarter
maintenance is a must for police fleets
Oil life remaining Clean oil is imperative for a high-performing engine. But with the demanding utilization patterns police vehicles are often subjected to, a fixed oil change schedule isn’t enough. Estimate your vehicles’ remaining oil life based on real-time engine data and driving patterns to keep them well-lubricated:
02 Streamlining administrative
maintenance tasks
03 Extract the
maintenance insights you need, faster, with Geotab Ace™
04 Geotab’s relentless commitment to your success
We also suggest checking your vehicles’ warranties for oil scheduling best practices.
Learn more about Geotab’s maintenance tools for police fleets. Explore our infographic to see more about how we help police fleets stay healthier.
The readiness playbook: A guide to smarter police fleet maintenance with Geotab
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01 Why smarter
maintenance is a must for police fleets
Improve vehicle longevity with smarter maintenance scheduling Just like predictive maintenance, preventative maintenance is crucial for a peak-performing, longer-lasting police fleet. But scheduling service without considering vehicle utilization is like purposefully not checking your blind spots. Utilization insights promote smarter vehicle maintenance by allowing you to tailor service schedules to your vehicles’ specific needs. With these insights, you can base maintenance decisions on individual vehicle usage patterns, not guesstimations.
02 Streamlining administrative
Know precisely when it’s time for: Geotab helps you stay on top of preventative maintenance with custom rules.
maintenance tasks
03 Extract the
maintenance insights you need, faster, with Geotab Ace™
04 Geotab’s relentless commitment to your success
Geotab’s utilization insights provide a deeper context for maintenance by tracking:
Mileage and drive time
Oil changes
Tire rotations
Vehicle inspections
These metrics tell the main story of a vehicle's utilization, giving you core insights into how often and how far each vehicle is driven each week. Engine hours Engine hours offer deeper visibility into wear and tear. For example, squad cars that idle for multiple hours accrue extra engine wear that mileage alone won't capture.
... and more!
Want to learn more about Geotab’s maintenance tools for police fleets? Explore our interactive demo .
Did you know? Geotab’s maintenance tools helped the State of Utah decrease work order costs by 20% .
Help your budget go further by using these distinct utilization trends to optimize maintenance for each vehicle in your fleet.
The readiness playbook: A guide to smarter police fleet maintenance with Geotab
6
01 Why smarter
maintenance is a must for police fleets
02 Streamlining administrative
maintenance tasks
03 Extract the
maintenance insights you need, faster, with Geotab Ace™
04 Geotab’s relentless commitment to your success
Enhance road safety with real-time diagnostics
Real-time vehicle diagnostics complete the maintenance puzzle. When an issue arises, you need to know about it promptly and how severe it is. Geotab’s integrated solution provides you with detailed information to take quicker, more effective action.
Move beyond vague check engine lights
Prioritize repairs by severity
Monitor critical components
Identify exactly what’s wrong with a police vehicle’s engine by using Geotab to interpret diagnostic trouble codes ( DTCs ).
Get actionable insights into the nature and gravity of each issue. For example, you can study details on an engine cylinder misfire, the breakdown risk it poses and recommended actions, allowing you to prioritize repairs and limit downtime.
Stay updated on battery health with criticality alerts. Use these alerts in tandem with ESR modeling to avoid failures.
By studying all of your fleet’s vehicle diagnostics together, you can make faster, more informed decisions about whether a vehicle is safe to remain on the road.
The readiness playbook: A guide to smarter police fleet maintenance with Geotab
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01 Why smarter
maintenance is a must for police fleets
CHAPTER 2 Streamlining administrative maintenance tasks
02 Streamlining administrative
maintenance tasks
The perks of police fleet maintenance with Geotab even extend to administrative work. Learn how your mechanics and back-office team also benefit from our digital, data-driven approach. Simplify work order management through FMIS integration Streamline the process of scheduling, monitoring and reporting on maintenance tasks by importing data from MyGeotab into your fleet management information system (FMIS). Learn how connecting these systems optimizes the work order cycle: 1 Stage 1 2
03 Extract the
maintenance insights you need, faster, with Geotab Ace™
04 Geotab’s relentless commitment to your success
Stage 2 A battery alert automatically goes to the fleet manager.
A cruiser’s battery drops below a set cranking volt threshold.
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3
Stage 6 The work order is closed and the cruiser returns to service.
Stage 3 The FMIS system receives data from MyGeotab about the battery alert.
4
5
Stage 5 The work order is actioned and the battery is replaced.
Stage 4 A work order is generated for the maintenance team.
The readiness playbook: A guide to smarter police fleet maintenance with Geotab
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01 Why smarter
maintenance is a must for police fleets
Enhance efficiency by integrating with inventory management software Data from MyGeotab can also be pulled into other critical systems you might already rely on, like an inventory management solution. For example, if one of your police vehicles’ engines is consistently misfiring, data from MyGeotab can be brought into your inventory management system and used to create a work order. The misfire data could suggest a new timing belt is needed, prompting a faster inventory check. Avoid stockouts and prevent unnecessary downtime with the power of integration.
02 Streamlining administrative
maintenance tasks
03 Extract the
maintenance insights you need, faster, with Geotab Ace™
04 Geotab’s relentless commitment to your success
The readiness playbook: A guide to smarter police fleet maintenance with Geotab
9
01 Why smarter
maintenance is a must for police fleets
CHAPTER 3 Extract the maintenance insights you need, faster, with Geotab Ace™ We know that in the fast-paced world of law enforcement, finding the time to sift through all your maintenance insights can be daunting. Thankfully, Geotab Ace can free up your bandwidth by taking the data exploration reins for you. Through the power of conversation, use this generative AI assistant to cut through complexity and surface the fleet insights that truly matter.
02 Streamlining administrative
maintenance tasks
03 Extract the
maintenance insights you need, faster, with Geotab Ace™
04 Geotab’s relentless commitment to your success
Ask Geotab Ace maintenance questions like:
• Which vehicles currently have active or pending fault codes? • What vehicles have low cranking voltage? • What are the most common faults? • Can you show all engine faults from last week? Geotab Ace is available directly within MyGeotab and can be accessed at any time. Start simplifying how you retrieve and analyze your police fleet’s data.
The readiness playbook: A guide to smarter police fleet maintenance with Geotab
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01 Why smarter
maintenance is a must for police fleets
CHAPTER 4 Geotab’s relentless commitment to your success When you choose Geotab, you're choosing a fleet management partner that’s driven by innovation and keenly aligned to your department’s mission. We’ll stay with you at every step, from initial discovery to long after implementation. Your launchpad to value with Geotab
02 Streamlining administrative
maintenance tasks
03 Extract the
maintenance insights you need, faster, with Geotab Ace™
04 Geotab’s relentless commitment to your success
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4
1
3
Discovery and assessment Talk to us about your department’s specific challenges and objectives. We’ll work with you to find specific solutions that fit your needs.
Pilot program Try Geotab in a subset of your fleet first to prove its value and gather feedback.
Full implementation Roll Geotab out across the rest of your police vehicles and fully integrate it with compatible systems you already use.
Ongoing partnership Rely on our team for continued support, training and product guidance.
It's time to move past reactive maintenance and embrace a proactive, data-driven approach. With Geotab's technology and expert assistance, you can get more out of your police fleet and your budget. Consider us to be your trusted fleet management partner, so that vehicle problems don’t keep you from serving the public.
Book a demo today to see how Geotab can transform your approach to fleet maintenance.
The readiness playbook: A guide to smarter police fleet maintenance with Geotab
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01 Why smarter
maintenance is a must for police fleets
About Geotab Geotab is a global leader in connected vehicle and asset solutions, empowering fleet efficiency and management. We leverage advanced data analytics and AI to transform fleet performance, safety and sustainability, reducing costs and driving efficiency. Backed by top data scientists and engineers, we serve over 55,000 global customers, processing 80 billion data points daily from more than 4.7 million vehicle subscriptions. Geotab is trusted by Fortune 500 organizations, mid-sized fleets and the largest public sector fleets in the world, including the U.S. Federal Government. Committed to data security and privacy, we hold FIPS 140-3 and FedRAMP authorizations. Our open platform, ecosystem of outstanding partners and Marketplace deliver hundreds of fleet-ready third-party solutions. This year, we're celebrating 25 years of innovation. Learn more at www.geotab.com and follow us on LinkedIn or visit Geotab News and Views.
02 Streamlining administrative
maintenance tasks
03 Extract the
maintenance insights you need, faster, with Geotab Ace™
04 Geotab’s relentless commitment to your success
Learn more at www.geotab.com and follow @GEOTAB on social media.
This playbook is intended to provide information and encourage discussion on topics of interest to the telematics community. Geotab is not providing technical, professional or legal advice through this ebook. While every effort has been made to ensure that the information in this ebook is timely and accurate, errors and omissions may occur, and the information presented here may become out-of-date with the passage of time.
©2025 Geotab Inc. All rights reserved. Geotab and the Geotab logo are trademarks of Geotab Inc.
The readiness playbook: A guide to smarter police fleet maintenance with Geotab
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