Spire Automotive has seen a decrease in accidents and greater visibility of dealer-owned vehicles while trialling the In-Car Cleverness (ICC) on-board platform.

Installed in 620 cars and vans across its 18 sites in London, Hertfordshire and Essex for a period of 20 months, Spire was able to monitor the location, condition, performance and driver inputs across all vehicles.

In one incident, a liability dispute was avoided when the account of a Spire employee was ratified by analysis of the ICC data, while post-accident claims decreased sharply across demo and courtesy fleets.

Managers reported an improvement in driving standards, with several staff members receiving cautions, and at least one member of the sales team being identified as the driver when the vehicle was caught speeding.

The dealer group, specialising in Audi, BMW, MINI, Peugeot, SEAT, Skoda, Jaguar and VW Van sales, is now seeking to use the technology on a longer-term basis.

Managing director of Spire Automotive Darren Guiver said: “In only a short period of time, we’ve seen a clear positive impact in terms of our owned vehicle operations. The benefits of a connected fleet is demonstrably superior to traditional methods alone.”

An In-Car Cleverness spokesperson, said: “Spire’s positive experience is similar to that of other dealers who’ve installed our leading-edge system. Given the size of its fleet and its professionalism, Spire is something of a benchmark and has provided invaluable feedback. We look forward to continuing our partnership.”

As well as the risk management afforded to the fleet, the ICC technology also enables users to calculate benefit in kind more accurately and easily, monitor the mechanical condition of vehicles, observe their location and ‘out of hours’ usage, set proximity controls and improve vehicle security and emergency management.