Estes Services Announces Partnership with Cellcontrol
Cellcontrol, a provider of solutions that promote safe driving and stop distracted driving, and Atlanta-based Estes Services, a large HVAC business that also provides electrical and plumbing services, announced a partnership that is protecting Estes Services’ employees from mobile distractions behind the wheel. The technology from Cellcontrol will further enforce Estes Services’ fleet safety policies and help it retain its commercial insurance that was jeopardized by repeated auto policy claims caused in part by distracted driving. The HVAC business installed Cellcontrol’s platform in all its company-owned vehicles and on employee mobile devices to prevent distracted driving by disabling talk, text and browsing capabilities while an Estes Services’ work vehicle is in motion.
In 2016, Estes Services reported over 15 auto policy claims that jeopardized its ability to retain commercial insurance. Without insurance, it would essentially shutter the business that employs over 160 employees and operates 95 work vehicles. To retain its insurance, Estes Services’ insurance broker suggested Cellcontrol. The service was attractive because of its flexibility, allowing employers to enforce their safety policies by determining what their employees can and can’t do with their mobile phones in Estes Services’ company-owned vehicles. After nearly a year of deploying Cellcontrol’s technology, Estes Services at fault auto policy claims dropped to just one claim.
“At Estes Services, we know that distracted driving is a huge safety issue for everyone on Atlanta’s roadways and so our goal is to keep our employees and the communities we serve safe. We chose Cellcontrol because of its reliability, accuracy and value, including its ability to help us rein in our auto-policy claims that had jeopardized not just our commercial insurance, but also our ability to operate the business” – Vice President of Estes Services, Brian Estes.
The easy-to-use Cellcontrol solution takes less than a minute per vehicle to install and activate, is simple to administer, and provides real-time reporting to fleet managers in order to enforce a company’s cellphone policy.
Estes Services installed Cellcontrol’s fleet solution in each work vehicle and set a customized mobile device policy for its drivers. Now, Estes Services’ zero tolerance distracted driving policy can be properly enforced with Cellcontrol’s signaling technology, which will block email, messaging, social media and other unauthorized phone use once the vehicle is set in motion.
“By deploying Cellcontrol’s technology in its service fleet vehicles, Estes is truly leading the HVAC industry in the fight against device distraction. Auto-policy claims due to distracted driving have skyrocketed over the past few years, sometimes causing insurance companies to revoke coverage for commercial accounts. We’re very pleased that Estes Services was able to not only retain its commercial insurance, but also witness a significant savings from the reduction of claims associated with distracted driving” – CEO of Cellcontrol, Rob Guba.
