5 tips for managing your fleet... without making a mistake!
Fleet management is essential to the smooth running of a company, whatever its size.
Depending on the needs of employees and collaborators, the fleet manager must be able to optimize costs, manage vehicle storage and allocation, have a precise vision of the fleet and ensure its smooth running.
Effective fleet management is no easy task.
Follow our guide to understand all the ins and outs of the business, and set yourself apart from the competition!
What is a fleet?
Definition of a fleet
A car fleet is the set of vehicles belonging to a company, which are useful for the organization 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 organization carry out its missions.
Responsibilities of the fleet manager
Delegating the task of fleet management to a fleet manager can be useful when the size of your company requires it.
Their role? To improve a company's productivity by organizing its vehicle fleet, including maintenance, contracting, resource optimization and even driver management.
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 optimize the organization of your fleet, and thus save you money and improve your company's productivity, you need to establish a strategy to optimize your company's transport costs.
This means paying particular attention to :
- the safety of your employees, with strict legal rules ;
- respect for the environment, with constraints on polluting gas emissions;
- reducing costs in the short, medium and long term.
That said, here are our 5 tips for improving your fleet management.
Tip 1: Adapt your fleet to your needs
First and foremost, you need to determine the nature of your 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 in the organization.
An external service provider is more advisable if your company starts to grow in terms of employees and sales (and therefore an additional dedicated budget), or if the number of vehicles is likely to increase.
It's also important to choose the financing method best suited to your company's needs.
There are 5 different types of vehicle financing:
- short-term leasing,
- medium-term leasing
- long-term leasing,
- leasing with 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 automotive policy chosen by the CEO, human resources and other departments to regulate vehicle use.
Tip 2: Maintain your vehicles
In order to comply with legal requirements, ensure the availability of high-performance vehicles for your employees, and avoid the possibility of vehicle breakdowns, you need to maintain your vehicles.
Certain procedures, such as roadworthiness tests, are mandatory and must be carried out :
- every year or every two years,
- or every 15,000 km for petrol cars and up to 20,000 km for diesels.
It's also highly recommended to check regularly :
- oil change,
- servicing,
- tires.
Tip no. 3: raise driver awareness
Maintenance and fuel costs represent a significant proportion of the cost of a vehicle fleet.
By adopting the right behaviors, your employees can limit accidents on the one hand, and their consumption through eco-responsible driving on the other, and will put less 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 promptly
It's compulsory to insure your vehicles, whether you drive them or not. If you take out a dedicated contract (fleet insurance), you may not have to pay a reduction/bonus coefficient, or a deductible.
Fleet insurance covers all your vehicles under a single contract, and depending on negotiations, you may be entitled to numerous 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 not only time, but also productivity.
These include GPS systems directly integrated into vehicles, or integrated into fleet tracking software, so that your employees can limit or optimize their travel time. Geolocation is also an effective way of recording and analyzing itineraries, and monitoring your employees' driving behavior. Thanks to these tools, you get useful and precise information to guide your decision-making and define the best strategy.
🛠️ Software example :
Reveal, from Verizon Connect, is a geolocation software that lets you view the location of your vehicles on a map in real time, so you can optimize routes and supervise activities. Customizable dashboards let you analyze trends to improve performance and reduce costs. Finally, the Eco-Buzzer audio assistant accompanies drivers live as they adopt safer, more energy-efficient driving.
So, are you ready to adopt these best practices and keep your fleet on the right track?
Article translated from French