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4 Ways to Effectively Manage Your Fleet

Managing a fleet of vehicles is not easy. You need to supervise, organise, and keep track of numerous aspects of your organisation’s fleet: from regularly checking in with your drivers, to sticking to designated vehicle maintenance schedules. This can be a lot for one person to handle. Fortunately, there are increasingly advanced technology solutions to make your job easier.

In fact, to manage your fleet well, you must effectively integrate new technology solutions in this day and age. Below, we’ll go through 4 different ways you can leverage technology to reduce fleet expenses, boost efficiency, and improve driver safety to more effectively manage your fleet.

Man sitting in front of a computer screen with Fleet Complete tracking map.

1. Reduce Operational Costs

Managing costs is a constant struggle for many fleet managers. To reduce unnecessary expenses, we recommend you take a proactive approach to cost management, including establishing policies and procedures that stop unnecessary spending. 

For example, fuel is generally the largest operating cost. According to the Australian Government Department of the Environment, the manner in which you drive and condition of your vehicle has an impact on the amount of fuel you use. As a fleet manager, it’s your responsibility to encourage smarter and more efficient use of your company’s assets to minimise wasteful habits. You need to prevent unnecessary idling and ensure drivers are safe and take the most efficient routes to their destinations. 

Telematics solutions can help establish better behavioural benchmarks by providing trip replay, driver dashboards and fleet-wide reports on key metrics, like harsh braking and cornering, idling time, mileage and more.

CarPass_V1.00_02_07_20.Still001Aggressive or drowsy driving not only impact fuel waste, but are also big safety concerns. According to the Sleep Health Foundation’s 2016 Health Survey, 29% of people drive while drowsy, 20% have nodded off while driving, and 5% have experienced an accident in the past year because they fell asleep at the wheel.

While most drivers want to do the right thing, it can be hard to follow a set schedule of limited driving hours consistently. That’s why having a policy and procedure is only the beginning. You need to communicate the policy, enforce and apply it daily, and ensure it’s updated annually. 

To apply these policies, consider using a GPS tracking tool that can track driving hours, assess idle time, recommend the fastest route to the destination, and provide reminder alerts for regular vehicle maintenance.

Fleet management software tracking map.

2. Use a Fleet Management System and Tracking Software

As a fleet manager, you’ve probably had to deal with a lot of uncertainty around vehicle locations, with scattered information at best. Not only is this experience frustrating, but it can also eat into your time and cause unnecessary spending. Avoid this experience by using a fleet management system.

A fleet management system helps you gain control of your daily activities. With fleet management software, you can track the location of your vehicles in real-time and receive live updates, monitoring all of your fleet’s activities from one place. 

You also gain a comprehensive outlook of your business operations by tracking fuel expenses, costly fleet maintenance repairs, and operational costs like wages. 

Fleet management systems make it significantly easier to run a fleet since they minimise human errors and speed up the decision-making process. 

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3. Check in on Your Drivers

To manage a fleet effectively, you’ll need the right systems and processes in place to ensure that your drivers are productive, safe, and compliant. However, having the systems and processes is only the start. You need to reinforce your expectations and ensure they are adhered to every day.

Fleet management software allows managers to check in on drivers to see if they’re following the established systems and processes. With Fleet Complete’s Vision driver coaching dash cam, you can also document the activities that happen on the road, seeing what happened as if you were there. For the more proactive drivers, Vision also provides real-time audio feedback and video replay so they can review each trip to see how they can improve. 

4. Service and Maintain Your Vehicles Regularly

Ensuring the overall health of your fleet means having proper oversight of fleet vehicle maintenance schedules. With proper data, you can find ways to save money, boost productivity, and increase fleet efficiency. Because every time your vehicles break down and are at the service shop, they are not on the road making money. It is simple as that.

To begin, you’ll need to have a system that can track key information regarding vehicle fleet maintenance. It’s necessary to know the last time a vehicle had its tires rotated, how many kilometres are on the vehicle, and when each vehicle last had an oil or filter change. This information will help you assess when and how often vehicle maintenance is required.

Laptop with FC Web Maintenance-01

To remain competitive in today’s business environment, fleets must be as productive and efficient as possible. Fleet managers have a key role in keeping costs low and ensuring that the company’s assets, both the drivers and vehicles, are meeting their full potential. It can be challenging for fleet managers to excel in all areas. However, technological solutions like telematics and GPS tracking make it much easier. 

According to Guy Steel, the Chief Financial Officer at WEX Australia, “Telematics or GPS tracking, is becoming part of everyday life. We use it for cycle computers and sports watches. So tracking vehicles is now more acceptable. We see greater acceptance and adoption of this technology in the US than Australia, and expect the local market to catch-up. Telematics will drive greater control, improve safety, reduce cost and fraud, then drive the next level of efficiency and performance.”

If you’re keen to reduce operational costs, ensure your drivers are staying productive, and maintain your organisation’s vehicles to a high standard, try our Fleet Complete demo today.  

 

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