- Start from the problem you need solved — theft, fuel, driver behaviour, customer visibility or licensing. It decides the hardware.
- Check the unglamorous parts: installation, tamper and power-cut alerts, update rate, and what happens when there is no signal.
- Make sure fuel sensors, cameras and cargo locks can join the same platform later.
- Compare cost per vehicle per year — device, installation, subscription and support — not the device price.
GPS tracking is now a standard tool for Tanzanian fleets, from a five-van courier business in Dar es Salaam to transporters running long-haul and cross-border routes. The basic product looks similar from one supplier to the next. What separates them is everything around the map: the hardware, how it is installed, how it is supported, and what you can do with the data.
Start with the problem, not the product
- Theft and recovery — you need tamper and power-cut alerts, a backup battery and a remote immobiliser.
- Fuel cost — the tracker must accept a fuel level sensor, and the reports must reconcile refuels.
- Driver behaviour and accidents — speeding and harsh-driving events, driver ID and, ideally, video.
- Customer visibility — a simple way to share live location or delivery reports with your clients.
- Licensing — buses and special-hire vehicles have regulatory tracking requirements (see point 9).
The checklist
1. Hardware and installation
Ask who installs the tracker, where it is hidden and how it is powered. You want a tamper or power-cut alert and an internal backup battery, so the last position still reaches you if someone disconnects it. A device in an obvious place, wired to a fuse anyone can pull, will be disconnected the first time it is inconvenient.
2. Update rate and coverage gaps
Positions every 30 seconds while moving give accurate routes, stops and speeds — that is the rate Ampenet's SiriTrack trackers report at. Also ask what happens where there is no mobile signal: does the device store positions and upload them when it reconnects, or are those hours simply missing? On long routes this matters more than any feature on the dashboard.
3. Alerts you will actually use
Geofence entry and exit, speeding, out-of-hours movement, ignition, power cut and towing. Check that alerts go out by SMS, email and app push, and that you can decide who gets which alert. Too many alerts are as useless as none.
4. Driver identification
RFID cards or iButtons tie every trip to a named driver. Without them, reports tell you what the truck did, not who was driving it.
5. Remote immobiliser — and its safeguards
Stopping an engine remotely is a strong anti-theft tool. Ask exactly how the system prevents immobilising a vehicle that is moving at speed, and who in your team is allowed to trigger it.
6. Room to grow: fuel, cameras and cargo locks
Most fleets add modules later. Check that the tracker accepts a fuel level sensor, and that cameras and cargo eLocks appear in the same platform — not in three separate logins.
7. Reports and access to your data
Look for scheduled trip, mileage, stop and fuel reports by email, separate logins for operations, management and finance, and a way to export your data. Ask who owns the data and how you get your history out if you change supplier. If you want to go further — predictive maintenance, driver-risk scores, cost per route — ask whether the supplier can analyse the raw data, not just display it.
8. Local installation and support
Devices fail, vehicles get sold and wiring gets damaged in workshops. Ask where the technicians are based, how quickly they can reach your depot or a vehicle on the road, and whether maintenance is included. Ampenet is headquartered in Dar es Salaam, with offices in Nairobi and Kigali.
9. Licensing and regulatory fit
LATRA requires buses and special-hire vehicles to carry a vehicle tracking system linked to its monitoring platform as a condition of licensing, and the regulator has been upgrading that system. Requirements change, so before you buy, confirm with LATRA and the supplier that the device is accepted for your licence category.
10. Total cost per vehicle per year
Compare offers on one number: cost per vehicle per year, including the device, installation, any sensors, SIM and airtime, the platform subscription, maintenance and replacements. A cheap device with a short life and expensive call-outs costs more over three years than a better one.
Questions to ask in the demo
- Show me a power-cut alert, and what the last recorded position looks like afterwards.
- Replay yesterday's trip for one vehicle, with every stop and speed.
- Show me what a fuel drain looks like if I add a sensor.
- How long from order to all vehicles live — and who does the installation?
- What happens to my data and history if I leave?
- Who do I call at 7 p.m. on a Saturday when a truck stops reporting?
Red flags
- No local technicians, or installation handed to whoever happens to be nearest.
- No tamper or power-cut alert.
- SIM and airtime costs that aren't stated upfront.
- No way to export your own data.
- Fuel or camera add-ons that need a separate platform.
What good looks like
A tracking system should pay for itself through lower fuel use, fewer unauthorised trips and faster recovery. Across SiriTrack deployments, clients see an average 20% reduction in fuel cost, typically within six months.