6 mins to read

Fleets in the UK are decreasing costs with fleet management

By Verizon Connect Team February 7, 2024

Fleet operating costs, including both direct and indirect costs, significantly influence a company’s competitiveness. By effectively lowering these costs and enhancing operational efficiency, your company can gain a competitive advantage over other companies with higher operating costs.

For multi-vehicle companies using a fleet management solution, the impact of just being able to reduce fuel consumption by 10% can “result in a 31% increase in profitability for the business”. (1)

Now imagine not only reducing fuel consumption, but also making reductions in strategic areas such as labour costs, accident costs, maintenance costs, insurance costs, etc. In the long-term, this can be a game changer when it comes to a business’ bottom line and profitability.

The latest Fleet Technology Trends Report UK 2024 showed that business owners using fleet management solutions were able to reduce key operational costs and manage fleet costs better.

Let’s get started:

1. Improve business profitability with fuel efficiency

In recent years the volatility and high price of fuel put all companies operating with vehicles in a challenging situation.

Fuel costs can be a major financial burden for companies. To reduce fuel consumption effectively, a company needs the right technology and a culture that promotes efficiency.

The positive impact these technologies have on businesses has led to their growing popularity. In fact, our latest Fleet Technology Trends Report UK 2024 has revealed that companies decreased their fuel costs by an average of 25% in 2023, a 127% fuel cost reduction if we compare with 2022.

2. Promote safety for your team, vehicles and business

According to the latest report of Road Safety of the Department for Transport, it is estimated that 19.7% of all road fatalities are the direct result of speeding or inappropriate speed. (2)

Also, distraction plays a role in 22.3% of crashes in the UK. Looking away from the road and/or performing manual actions significantly increases the chances of a crash happening. (3)

With better visibility and control of your fleet you can identify unsafe driver behaviour. Analysing driving behaviour in the long-term can help tackle safety issues and enables you to take action to improve driver behaviour and mitigate accident risks.

Our latest Fleet Technology Trends Report UK 2024 reveals that British companies decreased their accident costs by an average of 28% in 2023, 86% more than the previous year when they were able to reduce accident costs by an average of 15%.

3. Calculate your labour costs more accurately

Better management of your team’s working hours and time can reduce labour costs and increase a business’ productivity.

The solution enables complete visibility of your team’s location, jobs performed, and time spent on them. This makes it possible to accurately track start times, end times, downtime, the number of services performed, and service times, meaning that the payroll can be calculated accordingly.

The information about the team members’ activities is stored in the fleet management platform. The software automates the team’s payroll calculations, facilitating the process as well as speeding it up. This also reduces manual errors and saves time for other activities.

Calculate your potential fleet cost savings

On this topic, our latest Fleet Technology Trends Report UK 2024 has shown that companies decreased their labour costs by an average of 22% in 2023, 57% more than the previous year, when they were able to reduce labour costs by an average of 14%.

4. Develop your own vehicle maintenance programme

With the assistance of a fleet management solution, you can create a maintenance schedule for all your vehicles, integrating both preventive and predictive maintenance approaches.

Scheduled maintenance can help you promote vehicle health, identify potential faults and avoid more complex and costly breakdowns.

Preventive maintenance is planned around vehicle usage. For example, it may take place every 3 months or every time the vehicle covers a certain number of miles. Preventive maintenance allows you to plan over time as maintenance checks are added to the calendar based on the vehicle’s use.

Predictive maintenance, on the other hand, is based on the current state of the vehicles or their parts. By monitoring vehicle activity, you can identify the most immediate needs, detect faults and errors and mitigate more costly repairs.

A fleet management solution can help you plan both types of maintenance and positively impacts your business by reducing maintenance costs.

In fact, our Fleet Technology Trends Report UK 2024 shows that companies decreased their vehicle fleet maintenance costs by an average of 21% in 2023, 61% more than the previous year when they were able to reduce their fleet maintenance costs by an average of 13%.

5. Receive better insurance deals for connected fleets

More and more insurance companies are offering premium insurance to businesses with fleet management systems, meaning they get a better deal.

According to our report data, companies with fleet management systems tend to reduce their accident costs. Insurers are aware of this and take it into account when offering their premiums.

In addition, businesses can prove that they are complying with regulations by showing tachograph evidence such as the number of driving hours completed or rest periods taken.

Or, in the case of false claims that can have a huge impact on businesses, it is essential to have evidence to help clarify and prove what happened.

With the help of technology, such as dashcams that record inside the cab and outside the vehicle, drivers can be exonerated in the event of a false claim and expenses associated with accidents can be reduced. You are simply required to download the AI dashcam video footage to provide evidence of the incident.

All these factors help insurers to offer better deals and benefits to companies that use fleet management solutions. In fact, our latest Fleet Technology Trends Report UK 2024 reveals that businesses decreased their vehicle insurance costs by an average of 22% last year.

Move your fleet and business forwards

Get an insight into the potential of these fleet management technologies for your business. The Fleet Technology Trends Report UK 2024 provides you with useful information from fleet professionals and fleet-based companies as they reveal their results of implementing one of these solutions.

Download the new Fleet Technology Trends Report UK 2024