Wrong fleet management assumptions can dominate the decision making of your operation. And this is not usually down to a lack of expertise, but rather is caused by a lack of reliable data to back up your decisions or from being forced into guesswork. Wrong fleet management assumptions can seriously harm the wellbeing of your fleet and need to be eliminated.
So which guesswork based on incorrect assumptions can negatively impact your fleet operation? Here we provide some examples, but feel free to add yours!
1. The more vehicles, the better
Vehicles are an asset for a company, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that having more is better. The size of your fleet should match expectations and workload; it needs to be downsized if some vehicles are unused and there should be available solutions if vehicles are lacking. Unused vehicles cost and need to be fully compliant, and the absence of vehicles can result in your company missing important opportunities.
2. Fleet policy is shared by anyone and do not need updating
Fleet policies do help in organizing the activity of fleets and most of them provide a clear and comprehensive set of rules for everyone. But if a fleet policy is perfect from a manager point of view, it doesn’t mean it is equally shared by the whole team or does not need to be adapted in response to new fleet requirements. This type of work is always ongoing and this document should be live and constantly readapted.
3. "We’ve always done it like this"
Times, technology and business change, and if something no longer seems to meet requirements or causes issues, you should be ready to investigate new solutions for your fleet and not get stuck into your routine. Change and innovation breathe fresh air into your company, improve efficiency and help you gain the edge over competitors.
4. Reaction over prevention
Some managers assume policies of any type of company are based on how the business should react after something occurs—this can apply to safety measures or even maintenance schedules, for example. Implementing proactive practices is, rather, the way to go: for safety, include training; and for maintenance, implement a proactive and regular maintenance system.
