Nobody can price a fleet install from a phone call, and a flat per-vehicle number given before the vehicle list is a placeholder. What we can do is lay out what moves the number, give you the published ranges with their sources named, and explain why we ask for the list before we quote.
The published ranges
These are general industry figures, not our pricing. We do not publish prices; we quote each fleet within 48 hours from the vehicle list.
- GPS Insight's telematics cost guide puts professional installation at $50 to $200 per vehicle depending on complexity and location, which is the right band for a single hardwired GPS tracker or ELD gateway, with heavy-duty trucks at the top of it.
- SureCam's 2026 dash cam cost guide puts professional dash cam installation at $100 to $300 per vehicle; a dual-facing unit sits at the top of that band because there is a camera on the glass and a cable run to the gateway on top of the gateway itself. The same guide puts dual-facing camera hardware at $250 to $450 per unit.
- Plug-in OBD trackers are usually quoted at little or nothing to install, which is accurate right up until they get unplugged.
- Hardware and subscription are separate lines from the install, and monthly per-vehicle subscriptions across the major platforms generally land in the tens of dollars.
Install is the smallest of the three lines, and it is the one that determines whether the hardware and the subscription you are paying for actually produce data.
What moves the number
| Factor | Why it changes the price |
|---|---|
| Vehicle type and mix | A pickup with an OBD-II port under the dash is a different job from a Freightliner Cascadia with a 9-pin Deutsch connector, a school bus with a tall windshield, or a trailer that needs a solar tracker mounted where it will not get torn off at a dock. Forty identical Transits price lower per vehicle than forty vehicles of ten kinds. |
| Hardware type | Plug-in gateway alone; hardwired three-wire unit; gateway plus dual-facing camera; a four-lens Netradyne unit, or one with external cameras added. Each step adds wiring, routing, and verification time. |
| On-site vs. shop | We install at your yard so vehicles never leave service. Distance is one of the things the quote accounts for: a yard in Jessup or Columbia is a short drive from Laurel, and Carlisle, Richmond, or the Eastern Shore is a scheduled trip. |
| Count and scheduling | Twelve vehicles in one yard in one session is efficient. Twelve vehicles across five locations, or two at a time as they come off route, is the same hardware with a lot more setup and travel. |
| Condition of existing wiring | A clean dash is fast. A dash with a previous installer's scotch locks, a taped-up harness from the last platform, and a broken A-pillar clip is a repair before it is an install. |
| De-installs | Taking the old platform out properly, harness and all, adds time per vehicle. Leaving it in saves that time now and means the next installer has to work around it. |
| Site access | Secured sites with badge and escort rules, or yards where trucks are only free between 8 p.m. and 4 a.m., change how many vehicles fit in a session. |
Why the quote needs the vehicle list first
The vehicle list answers the questions that set the price. Year, make, and model tell us which diagnostic connector is on the truck, which decides which harness the vendor has to ship: 16-pin OBD-II for vans and pickups, green 9-pin for most tractors from about 2016 on, black 9-pin before that, 6-pin on the older day cabs still working the Port of Baltimore. It tells us how the dash and pillar trim come apart. It tells us how many vehicle types are in the fleet, which is the single biggest driver of time per vehicle.
The most useful list has one row per vehicle: unit number, year, make, model, VIN, which yard it lives at, what hardware is going in, and what hardware is coming out. The same list should go to your vendor rep so the vendor ships the cables that match the fleet, which is the difference between finishing a batch and standing in a yard in Hagerstown with the wrong Deutsch plug.
What a cheap install costs later
Every guide on our site comes back to the same point, and it belongs in a pricing post too. An install that saves fifty dollars a vehicle by skipping the meter, using scotch locks, and letting the gateway hang on its cable does not fail on install day. It fails by spring, and it fails in clusters. Forty trucks wired to the same bad spec is a second rollout you pay for twice, plus the ELD malfunction events and the camera that was not recording during the one incident the safety program was bought for. We wrote up the patterns in our guide on why telematics hardware fails if you want to check an existing fleet before pricing a new one.
What is included in ours
When we quote a Maryland fleet, or any fleet in our service area, the number covers the install on-site at your yard on your schedule, the correct harness sorted against your list before shipping, metered and fused power on every hardwired device, routing clear of pedals and airbags with strain relief, trim reinstalled with clips intact, and verification in the platform for every vehicle before we hand it back. Workmanship is guaranteed and we are fully insured, with a Certificate of Insurance on request. What it does not include is the hardware or the subscription, which come from the vendor, and we will say that on the first call rather than let you find it on the invoice.