When dealing with fleet costs, it is never enough to say that cutting costs is the consistent focus of the exercise. Some businesses are centred on lowering the price of their fleet suppliers, others have already understood the potential that a great maintenance and safety approach can offer in driving fleet costs down, or the help that telematics offers in disclosing spend decrease opportunities.
But after examining all of these, we can safely say that there are still ways for a fleet director to make savings. Curious to learn what they are? Read on and see how the pieces of the puzzle can be rearranged!
#1 - Break your fleet costs down—chances are that you have an agreement with a fleet management company for a flat fee that does not divide repair and labour costs. In the same way, you might have a fleet maintenance provider and might not know the differences between labour costs and spare parts. If you are able to break down costs, you can surely find opportunities to save money on some of those items.
#2 - Make sure the vehicle is appropriate—when you are managing a fleet it is very important to choose the most suitable vehicle that fits your company’s needs and tasks. This might mean you plan to use the same vehicle features and types. This should work in your favour as you can approach manufacturers, make bulk purchases and benefit from the discounts that usually come with it. Choosing the right vehicle also means saving on parts and optional extras that might not come as standard or are easily available (and are therefore more expensive).
#3 - Hire the best drivers—even if you have the best vehicles, it isn’t such an advantage if you do not have responsible drivers. The key here is improving your hiring process, retaining the best talent and training drivers regularly—the effort and investment surely pays off to the benefit of every single aspect of the fleet and business.
#4 – Cut out avoidable journeys—we are talking about the business ones of course but also those that are totally avoidable and about making sure everyone knows how and when they can use the vehicles. If you do not set up rules, you cannot expect anyone to automatically avoid these kinds of journeys.
#5 - Review every aspect on a regular basis—providers, rules, compliance, nothing is ever the same and being too late on a review might cost you money when you miss adopting the most appropriate measures for your fleet—a potential waste.
#6 - Getting valuable expertise—it doesn’t have to be extremely expensive; and it often makes sense to seek it out before taking an important decision on your fleet if you feel you do not have enough experience. Asking for the intervention of an expert might save you a lot.
