Behavioural inefficiencies can cost your business money without you even realising it. Without the clear visibility of in-vehicle monitoring across all of your drivers and all of your vehicles, you don’t know what you don’t know.
As one 2014 study demonstrates, 47% of those who use telematics systems, do so to monitor driver behaviour. And it seems this monitoring may be born from necessity, with some worrying statistics arising from a 2017 survey of Australian fleet owners:
- 70% say staff are using company vehicles for personal travel
- 53% acknowledge that staff are using company fuel cards to fill up their personal vehicle
Hopefully, intentional misuse of company vehicles and funds is not a key problem for your business. However, unintentional behaviours can also cause equally concerning damage and related costs. The same study found that:
- 55% recognised that unnecessary idling is diminishing their fleets’ productivity
- 61% cite that their staff are driving company vehicles carelessly or negligently
While these statistics may be alarming, thankfully they can largely be rectified by fleet management software.
Reduced idling
Idling unnecessarily can be a significant drain on your resources, as it burns fuel for no reason. What’s more, excessive idling can damage your engine’s components, including spark plugs and exhaust systems, as well as waste fuel unnecessarily. Gas consumed while idling does not equate to any miles driven.
Part of the problem is the lingering belief that trucks need time to ‘warm up’. In fact, modern engines do not need longer than a few seconds of idling before they can be driven safely. Another factor is that drivers may know idling is frowned upon, but think that they can ‘just duck in’ and complete a quick delivery.
Driver education can partially solve the problem; however, it’s often not until we’re shown a revealing metric that we feel the need to change our behaviour. By being able to demonstrate the drivers their own scores, pointing to exact times and places, as well as setting up in-vehicle real-time alerts for excessive idling, you’ll be able to help your fleet keep idling and the associated costs to a minimum.
Reduced avoidable wear and tear
Unsafe driving practices, such as harsh cornering and harsh braking, can damage your vehicles. If gone unnoticed, they may even lead to between-service accidents or part failures—no doubt a costly mistake. Fleet management software like Fleet Complete’s Fleet Tracker will not only identify these behaviours, but will also send real-time warnings to individual drivers.
Improved route selection
Drivers choosing a route other than the most efficient one can cost time, money, and labour unnecessarily.
Fleet Tracker’s ‘Trips Report’ feature will alert you to this issue, and you can review a trip in question using the ‘Trip Replay’ feature, allowing you to identify exactly where improvements can be made.
Better fleet optimisation
In order to make the best use of your available fleet, you must know what your vehicles are doing at all times. Let’s say, for example, during a period of growth you expanded to have 100 vehicles in your fleet. The orders have increased, and everything is smooth sailing—or so you think.
Closer monitoring using Fleet Tracker might actually alert you to the fact that you could comfortably get by with 85 vehicles, rather than 100. Despite some of your vehicles not being driven daily, they’re still costing you money in upkeep that could be better spent in other areas of the business.
