Targa Telematics, one of the main global players in the field of IoT and the development of digital solutions and platforms for connected mobility, announces that the Italian subsidiary of Hertz, the largest car rental company in the world, has chosen to adopt its Smart Vehicle Protector solution to preserve the value of its fleet.

The adoption of the service has allowed Hertz Italia to significantly reduce the damage caused by theft and misappropriation, preserving the value of the individual vehicles in the fleet. In particular, the company has calculated that the implementation of the new Targa Telematics service has allowed it to obtain a recovery rate of stolen vehicles of up to 95%.

“We are extremely pleased with the collaboration with Targa Telematics, which celebrates ten years this year. The data speak for themselves, the services that Targa Telematics makes available to us are state-of-the-art, based on the latest technologies and are absolutely targeted. For companies like ours with large fleets, it is vital to protect assets from risks and in these ten years of collaboration we have learned a lot from each other” – said Massimo Scantamburlo, CEO and General Manager of Hertz Italy.

Smart Vehicle Protector is the evolution of the Stolen Vehicle Recovery solution, already successfully adopted by Hertz Italia within the framework of the ten-year partnership with Targa Telematics. Thanks to the adoption of increasingly advanced technologies based on Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, the asset protection service has been improved and enriched with predictive features that allow preventive and proactive intervention to prevent theft or misappropriation from occurring.

“The collaboration with Hertz Italia, which has been going on for over ten years, is a virtuous example of how a long-term technological partnership can generate tangible and lasting value” said Massimiliano Balbo di Vinadio, Vice President Sales LA of Targa Telematics. “Together we have built an evolutionary path that has allowed us not only to face new challenges, but also to anticipate them, developing increasingly advanced and tailor-made solutions. Giving continuity to this relationship means we stand side by side with Hertz Italia every day, contributing with innovation and competence to the protection and efficiency of their fleet.”

It is this long-term collaboration between the two companies which has allowed Targa Telematics to build a history on the data of the Hertz Italia fleet in order to be able to study behavioral patterns in continuous updating and to build numerous risk models that are the basis of the service.

Thanks to an advanced predictive analysis system, it is possible to prevent potential theft through intelligent monitoring of different risk factors. The system analyses and correlates a range of key information in real time, including:

• Detection of abnormal behaviour: through geofencing and analysis of usual routes, the system reports suspicious vehicle movements, such as entering unusual or sensitive areas (e.g. unauthorised workshops, self-demolitioners, key duplication points). The movements are compared with the historical behaviour and, in the event of anomalies or recurring patterns related to potential risks, an alert is sent to the operator.
• Customer reliability: the system takes into account any reports from the Security Manager relating to previous incidents, violations or abnormal behaviour of the drivers, without disclosing confidential information. In the presence of such reports, the rented vehicle is subject to proactive monitoring, with the aim of anticipating and coordinating any control interventions, reducing the risk of theft or misuse.
• Insolvency reports: the system also cross-references information relating to previous non-payments of rental fees, using them as an additional parameter for the identification of potential risks.

All this information is processed and transformed into immediate alerts for operators, allowing rapid and effective intervention in the prevention of vehicle theft.

The technological solution that Targa Telematics provides to Hertz Italia also includes the services of the 24/7 Operations Centre, which analyzes information and intervenes in the event of theft, collaborating with Law Enforcement for the timely recovery of the vehicle.