Key Fleet Metrics to Evaluate Year-End Performance

No matter what industry your business is in, a lack of visibility into equipment usage, fleet maintenance, driver behavior and all the associated costs can mean their major impact on your fleet is going unchecked. The first crucial step is gaining access to millions of data points that track business performance over time through an integrated GPS fleet tracking system.

Fleet management technology helps facilitate doing your job in less time while also increasing productivity for you, your drivers and employees—all while giving you the insights you need into overall business performance. Equipping fleet vehicles with telematics allows businesses to gather vehicle and driver behavior data automatically, including things like: 

• Fuel efficiency 
• Maintenance needs 
• Engine trouble codes 
• Unsafe driving 
• Hours of service 
• Engine hours/idling hours

A fleet management platform sorts, aggregates and analyzes this data to identify meaningful trends, allowing fleet managers to use these insights to make informed decisions that impact productivity, customer service and the bottom line.

But even with so much valuable data at your fingertips, you may still be uncertain how to evaluate your fleet and measure success. What fleet management metrics are the most important? As you look back at your year to date, here are some key areas to evaluate your performance and identify areas for improvement for next year.

Metric 1: Fuel consumption and waste

Less fuel used means more profit for your fleet. Though companies can’t change the always-fluctuating price of fuel, they can take steps to develop more fuel-efficient fleets that reduce gas consumption. Requiring technicians to log fuel costs for their dedicated vehicles daily helps encourage employees to be honest and track fuel expenses. 

With GPS fleet tracking, you can see the approximate amount of fuel used by each vehicle in gallons or dollars while viewing idle time per vehicle and fleetwide idle time averages. This allows you to take actions to help limit fuel usage, such as scheduling engine tune-ups or coaching drivers to reduce their speed on the road. Reports also can help reduce instances of fraud by reconciling fuel card expenditures with actual fuel consumption.

Fuel can be a significant yet ever-fluctuating cost, and properly tracking its use can help you cross-check your expense numbers, which means you can effectively make adjustments that can help you improve your fuel efficiencies all around, potentially saving money and time. 

Want more proactive tips on reducing fuel costs? Download our free eBook here.

Metric #2:Fleet maintenance time and costs

Preventative maintenance is the key to ensuring vehicles continually operate effectively—but to achieve this, fleet managers must have data on the state of all vehicle engines in real time. Telematics can track diagnostic data to extend the life of vehicles by ensuring they’re serviced before major repairs are needed or a breakdown occurs.

GPS tracking software that is part of an in-vehicle monitoring systems (IVMS) can help you keep your fleet vehicles in top condition, thanks to valuable features that:

• Provide automatic alerts the moment one of your vehicles suffers a maintenance issue 
• Offer instant access to the complete repair and maintenance history of each vehicle 
• Allow you to set proactive reminders for tune-ups, oil changes and other preventive maintenance 

Operators can automatically track vehicle service and date of completion, regardless of service provider, as well as set proactive reminders for oil changes, tune-ups and other routine upkeep. This allows for greater scheduling control and a better sense of maintenance intervals, ultimately helping to determine if certain services can be delayed or whether certain vehicles should be decommissioned for more extensive maintenance. 

Metric #3: Safe driving habits and risk mitigation

Tracking and monitoring fleet vehicles while noting accidents, harsh braking or speeding events or any repeated unsafe driving behaviors allows you as a manager to coach more effectively, and therefore help mitigate repair costs and negative effects on your bottom line. 

Monitoring driver behavior falls into two categories: how employees operate the vehicle and what they’re doing behind the wheel. 

• Operating the vehicle: With fleet vehicle tracking, managers can get reports on risky behaviors like speeding, hard braking or fast acceleration and can view video clips to understand the context of these events. 
• Behind the wheel: With an integrated video solution, AI-powered dashcams can detect distractions, like phone usage, falling asleep, smoking and looking away from the road, and can capture clips of these events, and flag them for manager review.

Customizable reports and dashboards summarize safety-related data and help develop trends and benchmarks that can assist in developing a driver coaching plan. Defining a benchmark (how many speeding incidents a worker tallies each month) and then setting a specific, reasonable and measurable goal (for example, reduce speeding incidents by 10% per worker per month) and then tracking the results is one way you can use data to encourage better driving behavior among your employees.

There’s more to learn. Download the eBook, “8 ways fleet technology helps save time and increase productivity” for time-saving solutions for easing your workload and streamline operations.

Calculating return on investment (ROI)

To measure your fleet's return on investment (ROI) potential, you can use our fleet savings calculator to estimate potential cost savings. 

By inputting key data, such as current fuel usage, vehicle maintenance costs and driver efficiency, the calculator provides a clear snapshot of potential savings. This allows you to make informed decisions that directly impact your bottom line, helping you identify areas for improvement.

You can only improve what you measure

With access to the right real-time data, you can make well-informed decisions that drive measurable improvements for your fleet. By regularly reviewing key performance metrics and identifying areas for growth, your fleet can operate at its best—helping your resources go further and helping you stay competitive in the long term.

Visit verizonconnect.com or call 866.844.2235 to schedule a free online demo to learn more.