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9 Secrets to Reducing your Fleet Expenses
As a fleet owner, your day-to-day costs can quickly add up. What you don’t know is there are further hidden, expensive...
Read moreUnsurprisingly, fuel is often the biggest expense for reliant fleet businesses. And with fluctuating prices and drivers out on the road, up and down the country, it’s one that cannot be avoided.
However, there are many steps that can be taken to keep fuel consumption under control. Small but vital improvements in vehicle condition, driver behaviour, and more, can quickly add up to significant savings.
Such improvements are only possible with the help of fleet management technology. With a comprehensive solution in place, you can monitor inefficiencies, flag wasteful practices and potentially improve fuel economy. Here’s how.
Coach fuel-friendly driving
Driver behaviour and driving style can have a considerable impact on your fuel bill. Idling for just a minute here and there soon adds up across your fleet. And before you know it, your bottom line begins to suffer.
Harsh and reckless driving takes a toll on fuel economy too. Behaviours such as rapid acceleration and harsh braking can increase fuel consumption, and with it, your fuel spend.
Then, of course, there is the issue of speeding. Travelling just a few miles an hour faster may negatively impact your MPG, adding to the cost of every trip.
When you implement a comprehensive fleet management system, you can monitor the behaviours above to coach more fuel-friendly habits. Drivers can be issued with a scorecard based on metrics such as speed, idling, or safety. The less wasteful the driving style, the higher the score.
Best performing drivers can be rewarded while others incentivised to improve.
Smarter schedules, lower spend
Reducing miles travelled is a simple and effective way to bring down fuel consumption. With customers to serve and SLAs to meet, it may sound impossible. But with effective use of fleet tracking technology, it’s anything but.
With smart scheduling, your GPS solution will automatically plot the day’s jobs in an efficient order, taking into account a range of factors, including customer and load type and road conditions.
And that’s not all. With your days mapped in this manner, you may be able to fit more jobs into the working day – increasing the profitability of every route.
Finally, live location data allows you to reroute the nearest driver to any new jobs that arise and update routes to help avoid congestion and other potential delays.
Master vehicle maintenance
It may not be the first consideration when it comes to vehicle maintenance, but regular servicing and repairs can positively impact your fuel bill.
Replacing filters and fluids and ensuring correct tyre pressure are just some of the ways to improve fuel economy. And there are several ways you can ensure such tasks are carried out on a regular basis.
As well as instructing drivers to perform daily vehicle checks, you can also rely on your fleet management system to keep maintenance at the front of mind. Set alerts based on engine hours, mileage, or date to be informed whenever part replacement, servicing, or routine repairs are due.
This approach not only helps to lower your fuel spend. Proactive maintenance can help reduce your repair bills too.
Keep a closer eye on your vehicles
To put it simply, the more your vehicles are used, the higher your fuel bill is likely to be. So, it’s vital that you know exactly where your vehicles are and what they are doing at all times.
There are several ways that fleet management technology can help you to do this. For one, tracking near real-time location data and setting virtual geofences around authorised routes can help you ensure vehicles are always where they should be.
As soon as a vehicle is operated outside of these authorised areas, you will receive an alert, allowing you to contact the driver and take action.
Cross-referencing data from your fleet solution with each driver’s fuel card can also help you make sure that you are only paying for legitimate fuel purchases. Any discrepancy between fill price or volume and tank size or vehicle location can be quickly flagged and investigated.
Do more with Verizon Connect
Reducing fuel spend is just one of the many potential benefits of Verizon Connect’s fleet management solutions. Our suite of applications can also help you to prioritise the safety, efficiency and visibility of your mobile operation.
Want to see our solution in action? Book a free demo today.
