5 Things Equipment Fleets Should Fix, According to Teletrac Navman’s 2026 Utilization Report

Teletrac Navman builds telematics and fleet management platforms that track equipment, vehicles, and jobsite activity. The company says it manages more than 700,000 vehicles and assets around the world. Teletrac Navman also has a construction-focused telematics offering. On occasion, the company will even share cool data it collects from clients. A good example of this is its latest report — Mobilizing the Future of Fleets: 2026 Equipment Utilization Edition. The data shows a complex reality where fleets are collecting more data than ever, but many still struggle to use it. From the press release:

Alain Samaha, Chief Executive Officer, Teletrac Navman said: “The role of telematics is rapidly evolving across our industry. Digital technology adoption across equipment fleets is widespread, but adoption alone is no longer the end goal — it’s integration. The challenge has evolved from simply collecting data to embedding it into everyday operations in a coordinated and efficient way.”

You can download the report right here (and we suggest that you do), but below are also five insights from the research that I think could help our fleet management readership.  

First, how did Teletrac Navman compile this info?

Good question. Here are the parameters of the report. This info comes from the last page on the downloaded report.  

“This report is based on a quantitative online survey of 600 respondents from companies operating commercial vehicle fleets in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand. The survey was managed and executed by Arlington Research, a specialist market-research agency, with responses collected via an online questionnaire in October 2025. All percentage estimates are reported at the 95% confidence level. For the full sample, the maximum sampling margin of error is ±4.0 percentage points.”

Yeah? OK. Let’s get to the interesting info nuggets with…

Five fixes for construction fleet managers

1. Your equipment is idle or unused right now  

This headline stat hits hard. According to the report, the fleets surveyed felt that about 40 to 50 percent of their equipment was underutilized or sat unused 50 percent of the time. Mid-range and compact equipment topped the list. When asked what percentage of their assets idled unnecessarily for more than 25 percent of total engine time, respondents noted 50 percent for heavy equipment. Doh. 

2. Data exists, but no one can seem to access it

Data is cool. Data can tell us so many things, but data takes work and it’s not always easy to integrate. According to the report, 74 percent of operators say data accessibility is their biggest barrier to better utilization. Construction fleets don’t lack data. They lack clean, connected, easy-to-use data. We all lack it, really. If your team can’t pull answers in seconds, the system might need to change.

3. No one can seem to find your machines

According to the report, 87 percent of fleets agree that improved location intelligence would enhance their equipment utilization. Well, that's because the percentage of respondents that rely on manual processes to track utilization for construction equipment was a whopping 75 percent for heavy equipment and 77 percent for mid-range and compact equipment. 

4. Maintenance is quietly killing productivity

The great game of balancing maintenance and utilization is still being mastered. About 32 percent of fleets say maintenance disrupts project timelines, according to the report. That leads to reactive decisions, of course. Roughly 27 percent of fleets rent or buy extra equipment just to cover downtime. That’s expensive and maybe avoidable (Teletrac Navman would say).

5. Equipment hoarding is real and costly. Fix it!

Some fleet managers like to keep machines just in case. According to the data, 67 percent of fleets report “that assets are held onsite but unused at least sometimes — a behavior which is most commonly driven by operational uncertainty and maintenance related delays, rather than deliberate over allocation.” Sounds like another item worth checking out at your equipment yard.