Over the last couple of years, fleet management has become a very frequently discussed topic. Sure, we always knew that keeping our vehicles tight and lowering expenses benefit the company. But, in the contemporary economy, that has become incredibly harsh; every extra mile and every lost second can increase expenses astronomically.
In order to survive the competition, your company needs to be nimble, fast, and able to offer top customer experience. So, let’s delve into ways you can lower the expenses of your company’s fleet and make your organization more competitive.
Expand your fleet with Hybrids and EVs
If we take a look at other business sectors, innovation was always the key to success. This practice can be successfully emulated while managing your fleet as well. In this case, you should look in the direction of EVs and hybrid vehicles. Switching to alternative fuel sources like propane, biodiesel, and electricity offers you greater freedom. The freedom ranges from choice, adaptability to current market conditions, and overall higher efficiency. This move requires some upfront investments, but they do pay off long-term. Ideally, all of your vehicles should, at some point, move to green fuels.
Enforce strict driving policies
Economical driving can go a long way in lowering fuel consumption and keeping vehicles in tighter shape. And then, there is the possibility of traffic accidents that result in massive repair costs. Imagine the same in the worst-case scenario, serious injuries. For example in Australia, the most common causes of car accidents are driver fatigue and speeding. So, compile the driving guidelines that will prevent these problems. Also, if your fleet features bikes, your workers need to know how to ride safely during the rain and what other safety measures they need to take.
Keep the vehicles in top shape
Of course, your drivers can be only as safe as the vehicles allow them. That is why you should make sure that all of your cars and bikes are in pristine shape before they hit the road. Be as thorough as possible. If we once again go Down Under for an example, we can see that drivers travelling across the continent pick up a lot of debris that causes damage to the windshield. These scratches may seem minor, but they can obstruct the vision and prevent the drivers from acting quickly enough. No wonder more and more drivers look for quality windscreen replacement in Sydney and other metropolitan areas.
Optimize fuel management
A lot of drivers out there believe that it takes far more fuel to restart the vehicle than to simply leave it idling while you are waiting for the green light or making some other stop. This may be true if you stop for a couple of seconds. But, in the case of modern driving, sometimes you will need to wait for a good 10 to 15 minutes before you are able to hit the open road. Looking at the things from this perspective, restarting the vehicle eats only a fraction of the fuel you would otherwise spend while waiting for the traffic jam to clear. Keep this in mind and communicate it to the drivers.
Start using fleet management software
To put it simply, the benefits are too good to ignore. For instance, the fleet management platforms can monitor driver behaviour and provide you with data you need to assess the guideline compliance. Self-driving cars have their pros and cons, but AI is definitely far more efficient than humans in finding the optimal routes, time management, scheduling, calculating fuel expenditure, and other tasks that include complex math operations. Last but not least, we have to mention the topic of car theft that can cause a lot of issues to the enterprise. Route planning and tracking effectively eliminate this problem.
We hope these few tips gave you some general idea about the methods you can use to make your fleet faster, leaner, and overall more efficient. We are living in the times when every dollar counts. The more you spend on mundane tasks like going from point A to point B, you will have fewer resources to invest in other vital business sectors. So, do your best to address this problem as soon as possible.
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