Eroad reviews: Is Eroad the right solution for you? [In-depth analysis]

Eroad is a fleet management platform available in New Zealand, Australia, and the USA.

A version of Eroad is also available in Europe, but it has a significantly smaller number of capabilities, which is a point worth mentioning for European-based businesses.

If you’re wondering whether Eroad is the right choice for your fleet and delivery management, you’ve come to the right spot because, in this blog, we’ll review Eroad’s:

• Overall ease of use
• Core functionality
• Pricing
• Best use case

And finally, in case you decide that Eroad simply cannot get the job done for you, we’ll offer an alternative solution.

TLDR

• Eroad is a fleet management platform that has the most to offer to businesses operating in Northern America, Australia, and New Zealand
• Some of Eroad’s strongest features include electronic IFTA recordkeeping and returns, cold chain transport assurance, asset tracking, and other safety-related functionality typical for fleet management systems
• Eroad suffers from the same drawbacks as many other fleet management solutions - it is rather complex to use and cannot take care of delivery management efficiently
• Eroad’s per-vehicle pricing only makes it a viable option for businesses with small to medium fleets
• eLogii is the best Eroad alternative for companies looking for a more flexible and easily scalable delivery management solution

Eroad reviews – Our research approach

We’ve done a couple of things to ensure that you’ll get first-rate information on all of Eroad’s essentials:

1. We’ve interviewed a number of past and present users to discern what they liked and disliked the most about Eroad, what compelled them to start, and why they stopped using it
2. We’ve read customer reviews on reputable SaaS rating websites such as Capterra, GetApp, and G2 to get an even better understanding of Eroad’s advantages and shortcomings

We’ll start at the beginning – by analysing Eroad’s ease of use.

Eroad reviews – User experience

As with most fleet management systems, Eroad is pretty complex to use.

Namely, Eroad has lots of different functionality and various pieces of hardware which need to be installed in every vehicle in your fleet (e.g., ELD, asset tracker, CoreHub Xtreme, etc.)

Moreover, its interface looks dated because it’s cluttered, messy, and pretty tricky to navigate.

Many users also complain that the ELD device’s screen is too tiny, has poor resolution, and is overall difficult to use.

Eroad does have a resource library and a help center with guides and video tutorials, but they are limited and not efficient enough to onboard new users.

As far as Eroad’s customer support goes, there are mixed reviews – some users claim that it’s unresponsive and more absent than not, while others have posted positive experiences.

The bottom line

Eroad’s vast functionality combined with its dated and cluttered interface results in an unsatisfactory user experience in general.

This is especially true for beginners in this space who’ve never used a similar system before.

More experienced users will perhaps be able to wrap their heads around Eroad more easily. Either way, if you opt for Eroad, be prepared to invest serious time in mastering all of its features, options, and capabilities.

Eroad reviews - Core functionality

1. Asset tracking capabilities

Having an asset tracker installed in every vehicle will make a fleet manager’s life much easier for several reasons:

• You’ll know where each vehicle is located at all times
• It helps you find lost or stolen vehicles, trailers, and loads
• It can provide info on your vehicle’s health (e.g., detect any ABS issues, monitor tire pressure and temperature, check if lights are working correctly, etc.)

2. Cold chain assurance device

Transportation of food (especially frozen goods), medicine, and other temperature-sensitive loads require maintaining optimal temperature and conditions the whole way through.

And if you deal with long-haul transportation, all of this becomes infinitely more complicated.

Eroad has a cold chain assurance device – CoreHub Xtreme – that can help you tackle these issues more easily.

CoreHub Xtreme enables fleet managers to monitor and control the safety and efficiency of cold chain transports from a single dashboard.

The device provides info on all the vitals, including:

• Constant temperature and humidity readings with alerts in case there are unwanted fluctuations

• Alerts in case the trailer’s door is opened

• Warnings in case there’s something wrong with the trailer or the vehicle itself, as the device also monitors things like ABS/EBS, engine fault codes, and tire pressure

3. Electronic IFTA recordkeeping

IFTA stands for International Fuel Tax Agreement – an arrangement between U.S. states and Canadian provinces regulating how motor fuel taxes are paid.

Thus, Canadian and USA-based businesses in particular will like this feature because it simplifies the process of recordkeeping and accounting.

Eroad has options for:

• Automatic capturing and processing of data on mileage, state line crossings, jurisdiction, and fuel consumption
• Generating IFTA-compliant files that enables seamless submission of IFTA returns

This way, Eroad ensures users pay only what they owe, by reporting exempt miles.

4. Reporting features

Eroad is generally strong on reports since it can track many different variables, factors, and essential stats.

Here, Eroad allows users to keep their finger on the pulse of each operation from one dashboard.

Some of the reports Eroad provides include:

• Overall distance traveled
• Idle time
• Overspeeding stats
• Fuel consumption and transaction
• IFTA-related reports

5. Safety & compliance

One of the essential tasks of every fleet manager is ensuring your fleet’s health and safety are on-point at all times. However, accomplishing this is nowhere near easy.

Eroad can give a hand in this respect as well, and in more ways than one:

• It keeps track of speeding, harsh braking, and other types of driving violations and notifies you in real-time
• Driver insight reports provide a summary of driver-specific data, highlighting critical areas for improvement, which makes it easier to encourage drivers to better their performance and consequently increases safety across-fleet

• It leads the drivers through a simple yet systematic inspection process for easy generation of paperless DVIRs (driver vehicle inspection reports)
• It includes a dual-face dashcam for monitoring drivers and events on the road in real-time, with an option for storing and reviewing videos

• There are options for setting custom speed limits around high-risk areas such as your yard or local schools and receiving notifications in real-time if a driver exceeds the set limit

The bottom line

As we’ve seen so far, Eroad has a solid set of core functions that provides comprehensive fleet management for various-sized fleets.

However, Eroad suffers from the same shortcomings as all fleet management systems — it’s simply not thorough and efficient enough for optimal delivery management.

Namely, Eroad lacks the features necessary for things like load optimization, customer satisfaction (e.g., ETA notifications, live-tracking orders, etc.), and comprehensive POD collection, among other things.

Moreover, Eroad has additional issues worth mentioning:

• It often glitches and lags, especially when it comes to tracking and syncing important data
• It’s pretty expensive and has only long-term contracts
• It’s complex to navigate

Eroad reviews - Pricing policy

When it comes to Eroad’s pricing plans, we cannot provide you with too much information, as Eroad doesn’t provide this off-the-peg.

What we do know for sure is that it charges users on a per-vehicle basis and that the plans can start at $25 per vehicle per month, provided you buy some of their hardware devices upfront. If not, the pricing starts at $35 per month.

Furthermore, there are 4 designated pricing plans for heavy vehicles and 2 for light vehicles.

The bottom line

Eroad’s per-vehicle pricing means that businesses with large or growing fleets will see their costs skyrocketing before they know it.

And don’t forget that you’ll have to pay additional fees to purchase Eroad’s hardware and its installation every time!

Eroad reviews - Best use cases

Eroad could be a fit for companies that:

1. Need a fleet management solution first and foremost
2. Are based in North America, Australia, or New Zealand
3. Have smallish fleets
4. Deal with long-haul transportation first and foremost

Eroad is not a viable option for European-based businesses since it cannot offer that many attractive features.

Furthermore, businesses with large fleets will find that Eroad isn’t the most economical solution due to its per-vehicle pricing and the fact they will have to make additional purchases of Eroad’s hardware.

Finally, companies looking for comprehensive delivery management, with a specific focus on last-mile delivery, will also be better off with a different kind of platform - such as eLogii.

Eroad reviews - Alternative solution

Businesses that need an actual delivery management and optimization platform will find that eLogii, with its numerous and versatile functionality, could be the best fit for their needs.

eLogii is a comprehensive delivery management and optimization platform that helps users tackle all the challenges of modern-day delivery and transportation logistics.

eLogii has a wide range of highly-customisable features that make it a perfect fit for a variety of businesses - from field service providers to retailers, pharmaceutical companies, restaurants, couriers, food & drink delivery services, etc.

Some of its features include:

• Various advanced routing options, including dynamic, multi-day, and multi-depot routing

• Several methods of ensuring customer satisfaction, such as real-time SMS and/or email notifications from every stage of the delivery process, live ETA notifications (with updated recalculations if something changes on the road), real-time tracking of each order, etc.

• Numerous highly customisable operational parameters that enable tasks such as automated matching of each load with the right type of vehicle, assigning more challenging routes to the most skilled agents, etc.

• Live tracking of drivers and vehicles in real-time so you can keep your finger on the pulse of your delivery process anytime, anywhere

• The widest range of POD methods on the market (including barcode and QR scanning, among others) – in addition, all of these methods are included even in eLogii’s lowest-tier plan

• A well-documented API that allows seamless integration with all the other tools and technologies you use to manage the rest of your supply chain and operations

Another one of eLogii’s great advantages is its pricing policy.

eLogii doesn’t have one-size-fits-all pricing packages, which makes it an ideal solution for small, medium, and large businesses alike.

eLogii comes with custom-tailored pricing plans based on your business’s particular configuration and needs, with the typical entry-level price starting at around $359 per month for 2500 tasks.

Each plan includes unlimited users, drivers, and vehicles - an excellent option for larger businesses or those aiming to scale.

You can compare each plan’s features on its webpage for a detailed overview of what each eLogii package includes.

Eroad reviews - The bottom line

Eroad is the right kind of solution for businesses dealing only with fleet management.

Its safety and compliance features, numerous detailed reports, and asset tracking capabilities make it an attractive option for companies that run their transportation operations in North America, Australia, and New Zealand.

However, businesses more interested in finding a last-mile delivery optimization solution won’t benefit much from Eroad’s functionality since it is designed only for fleet management.

eLogii is a much better fit for these businesses, as it helps them tackle all the challenges of contemporary last-mile delivery and logistics operations.

See how eLogii works in action!

eLogii is a cloud-based end-to-end delivery management platform. Our powerful solution solves the biggest challenges of modern distribution and field service businesses, including route optimization, planning, and execution.

BOOK YOUR DEMO in less than 2 minutes. Fill out a quick form, and one of our experts will get in touch to show you how eLogii works in action. The demo will be tailored specifically to your business needs, and you’ll get a pilot period to test out our expert’s bespoke configuration for yourself.

Start saving time and money in your delivery operations today!