5 tips for managing your vehicle fleet... without making a mistake!
Managing a vehicle fleet is vital to the smooth running of a company, whatever its size.
Depending on the needs of staff and employees, the fleet manager must be able to optimise costs, manage the storage and allocation of vehicles, have a precise overview of the fleet and ensure that it is running smoothly.
Managing a fleet effectively is no easy task.
Follow our guide to understand all the ins and outs of the business and stand out from the competition!
What is a vehicle fleet?
Definition of a vehicle fleet
A vehicle fleet is the set of vehicles belonging to a company, used for the organisation of employees and the smooth running of activities.
There are several types of vehicle, such as :
- company cars
- service cars
- trucks
- utility vehicles
- two-wheelers.
In short, all the vehicles needed for employees' business travel or to help your organisation carry out its missions.
Responsibilities of the fleet manager
Delegating responsibility for the vehicle fleet to a fleet manager can be useful when the size of your company requires it.
Their role? To improve a company's productivity by organising its vehicle fleet, including maintenance, taking out contracts, optimising resources and even managing drivers.
In short, its main activities can be summed up as follows
- administrative management
- financial management
- vehicle management
- driver management.
The challenges of optimal fleet management
In order to organise your vehicle fleet as effectively as possible, and thus save money and improve your company's productivity, you need to establish a strategy to optimise your company's transport costs.
You need to pay particular attention to
- the safety of your employees, by applying strict legal rules ;
- respect for the environment, with constraints on the emission of polluting gases;
- reducing costs in the short, medium and long term.
That said, here are our 5 tips for improving the management of your vehicle fleet.
Tip 1: Adapt your vehicle fleet to your needs
First and foremost, it's vital to determine the nature of your vehicle fleet. You can choose between an internal or external fleet.
The first option is to manage your fleet yourself. This is generally the method used when the company is small, with few vehicles within the organisation.
An external service provider is more advisable if your company starts to grow in terms of employees and turnover (and therefore an additional dedicated budget), or if the number of vehicles is likely to increase.
You also need to choose the right type of finance for your company's needs.
There are 5 different types of vehicle finance:
- short-term leasing
- medium-term leasing
- long-term leasing
- leasing with a purchase option
- purchase.
💡 Please note: select the make, model and equipment of your vehicles according to your car charter or car policy, i.e. the car policy that the CEO, human resources and other departments have chosen to regulate the use of vehicles.
Tip 2: Maintain your vehicles
You need to maintain your vehicles in order to comply with legal requirements, ensure that your employees have high-performance vehicles and avoid any breakages.
Certain procedures are compulsory, such as roadworthiness tests:
- every year or every two years,
- or every 15,000 km for petrol cars and up to 20,000 km for diesels.
It is also strongly recommended that you regularly check
- oil changes
- servicing
- tyres.
Tip 3: Educate drivers
Maintenance and fuel costs account for a significant proportion of the cost of a vehicle fleet.
By adopting the right behaviours, your employees can reduce the number of accidents and their fuel consumption through eco-responsible driving, as well as reducing the wear and tear on their vehicles.
Plan a prevention meeting with your employees before letting them use the vehicles. In particular, you can present fuel-saving driving methods, such as reducing speed or anticipating braking.
Tip 4: Deal with claims quickly
Insurance for your vehicles is compulsory, whether you drive them or not. You can be exempted from a reduction/bonus coefficient by taking out a dedicated contract (fleet insurance contract) or from having to pay an excess.
Fleet insurance covers all your vehicles under a single contract and, depending on the negotiations, you can obtain a number of advantages.
In the event of an accident, notify your insurance company immediately so that you can be compensated as quickly as possible. If you've taken the necessary steps, you'll even be able to borrow a replacement vehicle.
Tip 5: Choose the right fleet management tools
Turn to the right tools to save time and increase productivity.
These include GPS systems built directly into vehicles or integrated into fleet monitoring software, so that your employees can limit or optimise their travelling time. Geolocation is also an effective way of recording and analysing routes, and monitoring the behaviour of your employees at the wheel. Thanks to these tools, you can obtain useful and precise information to guide your decision-making and define the best strategy.
🛠️ Software example:
Reveal, from Verizon Connect, is geolocation software that lets you view the location of your vehicles on a map in real time, so you can optimise routes and monitor activities. With customisable dashboards, you can analyse trends to improve performance and reduce costs. Finally, the Eco-Buzzer audio assistant provides drivers with live support as they adopt safer, more energy-efficient driving habits.
So, are you ready to adopt these best practices and keep your fleet on the right track?
Article translated from French