Telematics may be standard equipment for much of the fleet industry, but the picture looks different for the smallest operations.

Nearly 90% of fleets surveyed for SambaSafety’s 2026 Telematics Report use telematics. Yet fleets with 10 or fewer vehicles monitor only about 25% of their vehicles on average, according to the report. By comparison, fleets with 11 to 99 vehicles monitor about 90% of their operations.

That difference could be particularly relevant for small businesses managing a handful of company vehicles alongside everything else involved in running an operation.

The report found the typical fleet monitors 90% of its vehicles, while the average across telematics adopters is closer to 70%. SambaSafety said that difference reflects fleets being at different stages of deployment, with some still testing devices before expanding their programs.

The Challenge Is Becoming What to Do With the Data

Across fleets of all sizes, telematics adoption appears to be reaching maturity. Forty-six percent of fleet respondents have used telematics for at least six years, while only 5% adopted it during the past year.

The bigger challenge now is turning the information into something useful.

More than half of fleets, 53%, said interpreting or acting on their telematics data is a top challenge. Other issues included linking drivers to their data at 52%, manually manipulating data for reporting at 47%, and concerns about data accuracy at 39%.

Despite those challenges, fleets are putting telematics to work beyond basic vehicle tracking. Improving safety was cited by 83% of fleets as a telematics use case, followed by asset tracking at 74% and increasing operational efficiency at 45%. The average fleet now uses telematics for five different purposes.

Telematics Data Could Also Enter the Insurance Conversation

The report also points to a growing connection between fleet data and commercial auto insurance.

Thirty-five percent of fleet respondents said they share telematics data with an insurer or broker, up five percentage points from 2025. Better rates or pricing and help managing risk were among the primary reasons fleets reported sharing their data.

For fleets that are not sharing, the barrier often isn't distrust. Sixty-four percent said they had never been asked by an insurer or broker, while 31% said they did not see enough benefit from sharing.

Financial incentives could change that calculation. Sixty percent of fleets said a lower premium would make them willing to share telematics data, while 53% cited a lower deductible.

The findings suggest that for small businesses, the next telematics question may be less about whether to install the technology and more about how much of the operation it covers, what the business is doing with the information, and whether that data can deliver value beyond knowing where a vehicle is.