8 Vehicle Route Planning Software Benefits

If you plan your trips on paper without route planning software, you already know how time consuming it can be. And despite your best efforts, you still can’t guarantee 100 percent exact, optimized routes, and you risk receiving poor customer feedback if deliveries are late.

It’s possible that this is related to your drivers getting caught in traffic during peak hour or in unexpected adverse weather conditions.

Your customers, on the other hand, will not be persuaded by such arguments. As a result, they may choose your competitors over you in the future.

These are just a few of the problems you’ll face if you don’t have good vehicle route planning software in place. The list, however, does not end here.

Incorrect routes might also result in higher fuel costs, legal issues, and driver turnover. And, no matter how hard you try, you won’t be able to manually construct a great optimized path. This is due to the following reasons:

• There is no map view when using spreadsheets
• You have no way of knowing when your drivers will need to make a left or right turn
• You or your drivers have no way of knowing which roads are being worked on
• You won’t know about one-way roads, etc., if you’re unfamiliar with the area

When you use multi-stop route planning software, however, you won’t have to worry about the vehicle routing problem or the travelling salesperson problem.

According to a survey, such software can help you save 20% on planning time. In addition, it can save you up to 50% on logistics expenditures!

In this article, we’ll go over all you need to know about how such software may assist you in creating precise, optimized routes that your drivers would enjoy driving.

Table of Contents

• Plan an Optimized Route in Seconds
• Stay Away From Difficult Turns
• Ensure Drop-Offs are Made at Appropriate Locations
• Edit Routes After They’ve Been Created
• Use Up-To-Date Maps
• Use Delivery Constraints
• Other Advantages of Route Planning Software for Vehicles

Plan an Optimized Route in Seconds

Route planning with pen and paper, regardless of method, will take a long time. However, with route optimization software, you may do the task in less than a minute. In a matter of seconds, the software completes all of the essential difficult calculations.

It then generates a 100 percent efficient route for delivery drivers, complete with precise directions to work. As a result, you save a lot of time that you can use towards building your business. You won’t have to waste time creating and administering routes anymore

Furthermore, with better routes, your drivers can cover more routes at the same time as before. Your drivers will be thrilled as well, because they will have wonderful routes with no difficulties. This will increase production, resulting in on-time delivery.

As a result, your consumers will do more business with you and refer additional customers to you.

Stay Away From Difficult Turns

When drivers travel multiple routes each day, they will undoubtedly encounter a variety of turns. U-turns, left turns, and right turns are examples of these. And each move has its own set of difficulties.

Left-turn intersections, for example, account for 60% of all collisions. Furthermore, because the vehicle must first wait for approaching traffic to clear, these turns waste time. This means that gasoline use and costs will rise.

U-turns can also raise fuel expenditures because they are difficult to make in congested downtown regions. As a result, your drivers may need to take a different route to get to their location. This means that getting to your location will take longer. It will also result in higher fuel costs.

The issue is that you can’t include such turns while manually planning routes. You can’t, however, abandon them.

Fleet route planning software might be extremely helpful in this situation. A feature of such software is the ability to avoid left turns, U-turns, and right turns. All you have to do now is choose your preference. The software will then plan a route for you minus the turns you requested.

Could you have guessed how simple it would be to avoid certain types of turns?

Your drivers will also make on-time deliveries because they won’t get trapped. As a result, it will assist you in providing a better client experience.

Ensure Drop-Offs are Made at Appropriate Locations

It may be simple to deliver an item to a small business office. However, applying the same principles to a major institution, such as a hospital, could be a difficult task.

The hospital, for example, could have multiple entrances. As a result, identifying the one designated for delivery would be difficult.

Furthermore, Google Maps only provides one entrance, which may or may not be the correct one for your drivers. In addition, if your drivers are unsure of where to drop off an item, they will circle around.

This entails additional gasoline costs and lost time. Route optimization software, on the other hand, can eliminate this issue.

With good route planning software, you should be able to drop a pin to mark the location of the entrance your drivers should go to.

Your consumers will not have to wait for you, and you will be able to provide them with greater service.

Edit Routes After They’ve Been Created

Even if you plan a route ahead of time, you can never predict what will happen on the road. A vehicle, for example, may break down unexpectedly on a road distance from a client’s location. It could also be halted for inspections of trucks.

Both of these scenarios have the potential to derail your entire plan. As a result, your drivers may fall behind schedule and miss the delivery deadline.

Depending on the type of services you provide, this could have a significant influence. If you deliver food, for example, a single minute of delay could cost you money.

Furthermore, you’ll only find out about such situations if your consumers complain. It’s not just the drivers that can cause havoc with your planned routes. It’s also possible that your customers will make an unexpected request. As a result, they may request that a delivery be provided ahead of schedule due to an emergency.

Fortunately, vehicle route planning software like EasyRoutes makes it easy to add last minute stops to routes you’ve already created.

Use Up-To-Date Maps

Every manual route planning procedure requires the use of maps. However, it has the potential to harm your business.

It’s possible that the maps you’ve been using for the past five years are no longer useful. This is due to the fact that new roads are constructed every year. Old highways are also merged, renamed, extended, or even closed on a yearly basis.

You can still improve your routes if you stick to the same ones, but you can’t ensure accuracy.

As a result, there’s a good chance your drivers will become lost in the middle of the road. They may also find themselves on one-way or construction roads.

They might even be able to drive along a forbidden road. As a result, you’ll have to pay significant fines if your drivers disobey the law. Isn’t this something you wouldn’t want to happen to you?

Delivery route planning software, on the other hand, comes with maps that are automatically updated, so you and your drivers will never be stuck.

Use Delivery Constraints

Every customer is unique, as are their requirements and objectives. Some people favour early delivery, while others prefer afternoon deliveries. It’s also not straightforward to manage and ensure that delivery are made on schedule.

Manual planning takes a lot of time and work, and it may get complicated when dealing with clients’ unique needs. And it’s not just the clients who are unique.

It’s possible that not all of your automobiles are the same. Different volume capacity, traffic limitations, and maximum load weights may apply. Your drivers may also have varying levels of operator expertise. You may even require specific drivers to only visit specific customers on occasion. It could grow even worse if you had to arrange a route to visit a large number of venues in one day, such as 400 or 500.

Could you consider all of the above when planning ideal routes in a matter of seconds?

This isn’t possible with manual route planning, let’s face it. It is, however, an easy process with planning and routing software.

Route planning software will help you optimize for:

• The number of cars, the length of the route, and the maximum mileage per vehicle or route.
• The maximum number of products per route, the maximum weight per route, the maximum volume per route, and the maximum number of stops per route.

Could you have guessed how simple it would be to plan routes with these constraints?

These functions aren’t available in every route optimization program, though. As a result, you should inquire if they provide the same. To find the best fit for you, you must also consider a number of factors.

Other Advantages of Route Planning Software for Vehicles

The advantages of delivery management software described above are the most important ones. However, there are a number of other benefits, including:

• You have the option of planning your day ahead of time.
• Your smartphone can be used to plan routes.
• Routes can be planned on actual roads.
• It does not require any micromanagement.
• Tracking of drivers and vehicles is possible.
• You can see your customers on a map
• With only one click, you can dispatch a route to a driver

So, have you looked at any car route planning software yet, or do you intend to? We recommend EasyRoutes, a 2x Shopify Staff Pick.