How Hunt and Sons LLC uses Geotab to protect drivers, fight lawsuits, and simplify compliance

For Hunt and Sons LLC, a Sacramento-based fuel supplier with a 100-vehicle fleet, Geotab has been more than just a platform—it’s been a seven-year safeguard for their operations. The results speak for themselves: they recovered a stolen fuel truck in under 30 minutes, saw a lawsuit dismissed within 24 hours thanks to the GPS tracking system, and successfully replaced their entire Electronic Logging Devices (ELDs)system in just two weeks to meet a sudden California mandate. Beyond the emergencies, Geotab simplified their daily grind by turning boxes of driver audit paperwork into a digital process completed with a single click.

“I love that the system is fully reportable, so every day I get emails based on how I want to design my dashboard and what is necessary for me to see. Geotab has set up a dashboard that's usable for me to look at either weekly or every single day.”

— Shannon Amaral, Transportation and Fleet Compliance Manager, Hunt and Sons LLC

These aren't projections. They are outcomes documented by Shannon Amaral, Transportation and Fleet Compliance Manager at Hunt and Sons, across nearly a decade of daily operations — managing drivers, fuel, compliance, and safety in one of the most regulated states in the country.

The challenge: growing a fuel fleet in a high-stakes environment

As one of Sacramento's leading fuel suppliers, Hunt and Sons services farms, card locks, and fueling stations across Northern California. Their  fleet of around 100 trucks, trailers, and bobtails handles both transport and bobtail fuel delivery — and with a growing focus on renewable diesel, the operational complexity only increased over time.
                                                                                                                                                
Running a fuel fleet in California means navigating strict regulations, high litigation exposure, and demanding compliance requirements. For years, Hunt and Sons managed all of it manually — hours-of-service logs, driver qualification files, maintenance records — generating stacks of  paperwork that became harder to manage with every passing quarter.

Real tracking, safety and compliance benefits:

Stolen truck. Recovered in under 30 minutes.

Fuel trucks are a theft target. When one of Hunt and Sons' vehicles was stolen, the response was immediate — Geotab's real-time GPS tracking pinpointed the truck's exact location.

The vehicle was found in a field. Thieves were actively draining the tank. Within 30 minutes of the theft, Hunt and Sons had their truck back. For a company that runs on fuel, that kind of recovery isn't just an operational win — it's a direct financial one.

How dashcam footage dropped a lawsuit in 24 hours

Litigation is one of the most significant financial risks in commercial trucking. False or exaggerated accident claims can cost companies hundreds of thousands of dollars, even when their drivers did nothing wrong.

Hunt and Sons has used Geotab's integrated dashcam footage to defend against multiple claims. In one case, a driver was sideswiped by another vehicle whose driver then attempted to place the blame on Hunt and Sons. Shannon submitted the camera footage to the opposing lawyers.

The lawsuit was dropped within 24 hours. The same dashcam system has gone further — helping the California Highway Patrol locate and prosecute drivers who fled accident scenes, using footage captured from Hunt and Sons vehicles during real road incidents.

Meeting the ELD deadline

California's Electronic Logging Device mandate required all commercial trucks to have ELDs installed by a fixed date. Hunt and Sons had already selected a provider. Two weeks before go-live, that provider fell through entirely. 

With no time to spare, Geotab and reseller Fleet Solutions stepped in — replacing the ELD hardware across the full fleet before the deadline, with no compliance gap and no disruption to operations.

For Shannon Amaral, that moment set the tone for everything that followed.

“Geotab combined with Fleet Solutions completely rose to the occasion. They ripped out all the old devices, put in all their devices, and got me up and running in a crunch. I absolutely fell in love with their tenacity to make it happen.”

Daily fleet visibility: from flying blind to data-driven decisions

Before Geotab, Hunt and Sons had no reliable way to monitor what was happening across their fleet. If a driver was speeding or braking aggressively, the company had no way to know until something went wrong. 

Geotab replaced that uncertainty with automated daily reporting. Shannon receives dashboard emails every morning covering driver scorecards, fuel usage, hours of service, and violations — configured exactly the way she needs to see them. Speeding, hard braking, hard cornering, seatbelt use: all tracked, all reportable, all usable for driver coaching before an incident ever occurs. Shannon mentions:

“I love that the system is fully reportable. Every day I get emails based on how I want to design my dashboard and what is necessary for me to see.”

This shift from reactive to proactive fleet management is one of the clearest differentiators Geotab delivers for commercial fleets operating in high-risk environments.

Compliance without the oaper: DQMConnect and One-Click audit

Managing driver qualification files used to mean physical folders, filing cabinets, and hours of preparation ahead of any audit. When a compliance officer arrived, proving that every driver's records were current and complete was a manual, time-consuming process.

With Geotab's integration with DQMConnect, Hunt and Sons digitized the entire workflow. Driver qualification files are stored, organized, and audit-ready at all times. When Shannon onboards a new driver into DQMConnect, the record automatically syncs to Geotab — no duplicate entry, no manual transfers between platforms. During audits, officers review everything digitally and sign off in minutes.

Results at a glance

Seven years of partnership — and still growing

Hunt and Sons attends Geotab Connect every year. Each time, Shannon returns with something new to implement. With California's evolving emissions and fleet regulations continuing to shape the industry, the company is already working with Geotab to stay ahead — turning compliance from a reactive challenge into a managed, continuous process.

Discover more about Geotab’s easy-to-use fleet management platform here