# GPS Tracker for Work Trucks and Company Vehicles: A Small Business Guide

A GPS tracker for work trucks shows where each company vehicle is, how it is driven and when it needs service. What to buy and what to tell employees.

Source: https://www.highpointgps.com/resources/gps-tracker-for-work-trucks-company-vehicles
By Max Karnaukh, VP of Sales, published 2026-10-14, updated 2026-10-14

## What Does a GPS Tracker for Work Trucks Do?

A GPS tracker for work trucks is a small device connected to the vehicle's diagnostic port that sends location, trips, speed, idling and engine data to fleet software over the cellular network. For a small business with a few company vehicles, it answers the questions that used to take a phone call: where the truck is, when the crew reached the job, and why the fuel bill went up.

The device is half of the system. The other half is the GPS fleet tracking software where you read the map, the trip history and the reports. When people search for employee GPS tracking, this is usually what a business needs: tracking of the company's vehicles during work, set up openly, and not an app hidden on someone's phone.

## What Does Company Vehicle Tracking Show You?

Company vehicle tracking software turns the device's data into a handful of views an owner or office manager can check in a few minutes. The views below are the ones that answer daily questions:

A live map of every truck and van, so you can send the closest crew and give a customer a real arrival time.

Trip history with stops, start and end times, useful for checking a timesheet or answering a billing question.

Driving events such as speeding, harsh braking and hard cornering, the starting point for a safety conversation.

Idling time per vehicle, which is often where fuel goes.

Engine fault codes and service reminders by distance or engine hours, so a repair is booked before a breakdown.

Zones around your yard and job sites (geofences), with alerts when a vehicle arrives, leaves or moves after hours.

## Which GPS Tracker Fits a Work Truck or Van?

For pickups, vans and work trucks, High Point GPS installs the GO10, a fleet GPS tracker made by Geotab, which we work with as a Geotab partner. According to Geotab's GO10 support document, it uses an LTE Cat 1 bis modem, reaches about 1.5 m accuracy in open sky, and supports a combination of up to 5 IOX add-ons for things like PTO inputs, extra sensors or a driver ID reader.

The GO10 connects at the OBD-II port (or the 9-pin port on heavy trucks) through a T-harness, with no wires cut; vehicles with no port use a 3-wire kit. A business can install it itself, but we always recommend a professional installer, and installation is part of the service: the device ends up out of sight and the harness is fitted to that vehicle. Trailers and equipment with no engine port take a battery-powered tracker instead.

## Should Work Trucks Also Have AI Dash Cams?

Add AI dash cams when the vehicles spend a lot of time in traffic, carry a crew, or have had disputed accidents. Geotab's GO Focus Plus has road and cabin lenses, detects distracted driving, tailgating and hard braking on the device, and gives the driver in-cab voice cues as it happens. For larger trucks, the GO Focus Pro supports up to 4 side or external rear cameras plus 1 additional rear camera, according to Geotab's product page.

Both connect to the same High Point GPS platform as the GO10, so video sits next to the trip and speed data from the same moment. You can start with tracking on every vehicle and add cameras later on the trucks with the most exposure.

## Is It Legal to Track Employees in Company Vehicles in Canada?

Tracking vehicles a business owns, during work, is common and generally permitted in Canada, but the rules on telling employees depend on the province and on whether the employer is federally regulated. This is general information, not legal advice; check the law that applies to your business with a lawyer or the regulator.

In Quebec, the private-sector privacy act updated by Law 25 says, in section 8.1, that anyone who collects personal information using technology with functions that can identify, locate or profile a person must first inform that person of the use of the technology and of the means to activate those functions. For a business in Quebec, that means telling drivers about the GPS tracker before it collects their data.

PIPEDA, the federal privacy law, applies to employee information in federal works, undertakings and businesses; the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada names banks, telecommunications and transportation companies as examples. The Commissioner's guidance says monitoring, including locating company vehicles, should be reasonable, proportionate and minimally intrusive, and that employers should tell employees the purpose, nature, extent and reasons for it.

In Ontario, the Employment Standards Act requires an employer with 25 or more employees on January 1 of a year to have a written electronic monitoring policy in place before March 1, and to give employees a copy within 30 calendar days. The ministry's own example is an employer that uses GPS to track an employee's delivery vehicle. The policy is about transparency: the ministry says it creates no new privacy rights.

## What Do US States Require Before You Track Employees?

In the United States, the rules are set mostly by each state, and only some address vehicle tracking directly. California's Penal Code section 637.7 forbids using an electronic tracking device on a vehicle to follow a person, except when the registered owner, lessor or lessee of the vehicle has consented. A business tracking its own trucks meets that test; an employee's personal car needs that owner's consent.

Connecticut requires employers that do any electronic monitoring to give affected employees prior written notice of the types of monitoring, and a notice posted where employees can see it counts as that notice. New York and Delaware require written notice, acknowledged by the employee, before monitoring phone, email or internet use; their text does not name GPS. If you run vehicles in several states, ask a lawyer which rules apply in each.

## How Should You Tell Employees About GPS Tracking?

A one-page written policy, signed by each driver, covers what all of these laws have in common: telling people before you collect the data. State what is collected (location, speed, trips, engine data, and video where a camera is installed), when it is collected, why, who can see it and how long it is kept. Say whether personal use of the vehicle is allowed and whether tracking continues during it.

Explain the reasons in plain terms when the trackers go in: faster dispatch, proof of when a job started, maintenance before breakdowns, and evidence that protects a driver after a crash they did not cause. Our guide on company vehicle GPS tracking policy lists the clauses drivers ask about most.

## What Should a Small Business Do Next?

Write down each vehicle's make, model and year, which ones go home at night, and the two or three questions you want answered first. That list tells a provider which harness each truck needs and which reports to set up on the first day.

High Point GPS is a Montreal fleet telematics company and Geotab partner, founded in 2013 and serving over 500 fleets in Canada and the United States, in English and French. We install the GO10 and AI dash cams with professional installers, set up the High Point GPS platform with you, and offer 3-year plans with free equipment. Use the free quote form on this page: select Get a free quote and tell us about your work trucks.

## FAQ

### Can a small business track employees in company vehicles?

Yes, a business can generally track vehicles it owns while they are used for work, in Canada and the United States. What changes from place to place is the notice owed to employees: Quebec requires informing them before collection, Ontario employers with 25 or more employees need a written policy, and some US states require written notice. Tell drivers first.

### Do I have to tell employees a work truck has a GPS tracker?

In many places, yes, and telling them is wise everywhere. Quebec's private-sector privacy act requires informing people before collecting data with technology that can locate them. Ontario requires a written electronic monitoring policy from employers with 25 or more employees, and Connecticut requires prior written notice. A signed one-page policy covers these cases.

### Can I install a GPS tracker in a work truck myself?

You can. The GO10 connects at the diagnostic port through a T-harness, with no wires cut, and vehicles with no port use a 3-wire kit. High Point GPS still recommends a professional installer, who hides the device, fits the correct harness for each vehicle and confirms it reports before the truck goes back to work.

### Can I track an employee's personal vehicle used for work?

Only with the vehicle owner's clear consent, and even then it calls for caution. California's Penal Code allows a tracking device on a vehicle when the registered owner, lessor or lessee consents, and privacy laws in Canada expect monitoring to be reasonable and proportionate. The simpler route is to track company vehicles only and pay mileage on personal ones.

## Sources

- [LégisQuébec, Act respecting the protection of personal information in the private sector (P-39.1), section 8.1](https://www.legisquebec.gouv.qc.ca/en/document/cs/P-39.1)
- [Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, Privacy in the workplace](https://www.priv.gc.ca/en/privacy-topics/employers-and-employees/02_05_d_17/)
- [Ontario, Your guide to the Employment Standards Act: Written policy on electronic monitoring of employees](https://www.ontario.ca/document/your-guide-employment-standards-act-0/written-policy-electronic-monitoring-employees)
- [California Legislative Information, Penal Code section 637.7](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=PEN&sectionNum=637.7)
- [Connecticut General Statutes, chapter 557, section 31-48d](https://www.cga.ct.gov/current/pub/chap_557.htm)
- [New York State Senate, Civil Rights Law section 52-C](https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/CVR/52-C*2)
- [Delaware Code, Title 19, section 705](https://delcode.delaware.gov/title19/c007/sc01/index.html)
- [Geotab Support Center, GO10 Support Document](https://support.geotab.com/go-devices/go10/doc/go10)
- [Geotab, GO Focus Plus](https://www.geotab.com/products/go-focus-plus/)
- [Geotab, GO Focus Pro](https://www.geotab.com/products/go-focus-pro/)