FleetPal is working to bring out its new feature, FleetPal Connect, designed to help connect truckers and service providers who cater to their everyday needs on the road.
“We are primarily covering the problem between the repair shop and the customer," Mike Valnev, FleetPal CEO, said. "We are creating a network, which draws a lot of social elements into it. Through this feature, truckers can connect with service providers and the vice versa.”
And to facilitate a segment of this feature, FleetPal is partnering with Diesel Laptops to provide truckers with equipment spare parts and diagnostic tools that they might be looking to purchase – all at a considerable discount when compared to retail outlets. Diesel Laptops is an industry leader in diesel diagnostic tools for both truck and off-highway equipment, selling virtually every diagnostic tool that exists in the market.
“We surround our diagnostic tools with awesome stuff such as labor time guides, repair information, wiring diagrams, classroom training, mobile apps, and a ton more,” Leah Condell, Diesel Laptops marketing manager, said. “We go beyond just making sure software works and connects to vehicles. Our technical support department has experience and certified diesel technicians, so we can help troubleshoot codes, symptoms, and given our customers guidance on how to repair vehicles.”
In Diesel Laptops, FleetPal finds a synergy which can be symbiotically beneficial – the former has a wide customer base across the country, and the latter has created an application that lists a directory for truck repair, along with developing features like FleetPal Connect, that could help snowball the numbers.
“We love FleetPal, and it helps our customers,” Condell said. “Every professional diagnostic tool we sell to a customer enables them to a free 12-months of premium placement on FleetPal. For the customer, it is a great added bonus as it drives more business to their shop.”
For FleetPal, this association gives it the chance to earn repeat customers, and put the word out on the market. Diesel Laptops also sends out a FleetPal Welcome Pack to every member that signs up, who get signage and some marketing material that can help them in getting customers to return back to their door.
“The trucks, engines, and electronics are becoming more and more complex," Condell said. "We find that most shops are needing not only diesel technicians, but qualified ones. The independent shops and smaller fleets rarely get any training, and are pretty much left on their own to figure it out."
To help with this predicament, Diesel Laptops launched free training classes on how to work through basic truck electrical problems, and is going a bit further by starting out an after-treatment diagnostic class as well in the near future.
The company has done well for itself, growing at a furious pace and in the words of Condell, are “hiring a new employee every three days in 2018.” Diesel Laptops have either moved or expanded offices four times over the last two years, and also completed its first acquisition last month.
“We have an awesome team here of employees that really care about what we are doing, they believe in the vision, and work hard to keep pushing up forward,” Condell said.
