“Missed savings” is one word-pair that should never appear in the fleet manager’s vocabulary as well as “missing opportunity”, but as we all know, sometimes we talk the talk but don’t walk the walk.
It is a fact that costs caused by fleet management or by the use of vehicles are often managed in a very inaccurate way. It might seem surprising, as vehicles that are partly or totally relied upon by companies, in order to develop their business, generate huge costs, accounting for a large proportion of a company’s total expenditure. The good news is that this can be reduced. The not-so-good news is that this cannot happen until your mentality changes and your fleets start to be managed wisely.
So, who is responsible for that? First of all, let’s not point our finger at the fleet manager himself. Fleet managers per se very often do not exist. And herein lies the problem: in most businesses fleets are supporting the business but are not part of its core activity, though vehicle use is essential at some point in the business cycle (but not necessarily seen as part of it). The consequence is that fleet management itself often does not have the necessary resources, and is something relegated to “spare time” in any busy schedule.
When we talk about fleet managers not actually existing, we are certainly not saying vehicles automatically manage themselves, but rather that the role of a fleet manager solely dedicated to vehicle operations is uncommon. It is more like the opposite: people in the organigram of a specific company normally have the additional responsibility of managing the costs of a fleet, which depends on whatever time is left over after completing their principal job.
If you have originally been hired for a specific position and incidentally have started taking care of your fleet, or if you are the business owner or financial director and have progressively acquired the responsibilities that come under the remit of fleet manager, you probably don’t really have the expertise required for the role or maybe the resources or the knowledge needed in order to manage vehicles professionally. Nothing personal: managing a fleet demands tools and experience and not having them might lead to management inefficiencies and, therefore, missed savings or opportunities: you might easily be unaware of which measures to adopt in order to prevent vehicle damage, minimise wear and tear or decrease accidents (to mention just a few).
The consequence of a lack of experience and expertise in fleet management often means that a fleet is not managed using the adequate tools, or the optimal processes and global fleet data is not recorded on a regular basis. If anyone willing to make decisions on the fleet does not have such data handy or if the management is not furnished with adequate data, then how could you possibly detect opportunities for savings and business?
We know that these problems can be solved: we can offer the expertise needed to guide you and properly manage your fleet and its costs, providing you with savings and business opportunities. We can help you determine what the real costs impacting on your fleet are and how they can be influenced: there are a lot of potential savings waiting for you!
