5 ways to reduce your fleet cost
Managing a fleet can be an expensive task, so taking down the cost is definitely something worth considering. When running a business, your fleet can often take up a large chunk of your time, effort and money. When you come to review your yearly costs and make adjustments, your fleet should be one of the first things you should consider – and there are a number of ways to cut your costs. Read our top tips to help you save money on your annual spend.
1) Track your fleet
Vehicle tracking is one of the best ways to manage your fleet effectively. Not only could you potentially lower your insurance premium by adding a tracker, you’re also able to look at more cost effective routes, idling, and duplicate journeys by multiple drivers. Tracking is going to give you the best opportunity to identify the changes that need to be made and can deliver a healthy return on the investment it requires.
2) Reduce the size of your fleet
Reducing the size of your fleet is going to substantially reduce the cost. If you’ve spent the year looking into idling and duplicate trips, you might be able to consolidate your journeys or make them all with fewer vehicles in the first place. Fleet Financials note that while reducing the fleet would save cost on the vehicle, it would also impact insurance, petrol and maintenance costs too.
3) Consider journey routes
Taking the wrong route can make all the difference to your journey, particularly if you’re stuck in traffic for hours. Monitoring routes will make a difference to how much work you can get done in one day, while ensuring the trip is most fuel efficient. Combining the two will reduce cost and increase productivity. Investing and using a good GPS system which updates you on traffic and road closures will be time – and money – saving. Use the tools at your disposal to analyse your travel and learn lessons will help, especially on common journeys.
4) Change your vehicles
The upkeep of your vehicles is likely to make a big difference to the cost of your fleet, so consider changing or upgrading them before they fall into disrepair. You don’t always need brand new, shiny vehicles – although given that these are sometimes a key way that people will see and remember your brand image doesmatter – but you do need a reliable fleet that doesn’t cost you time and money by needing regular repairs.
5) Encourage your drivers to be more efficient
There are many things that can make the drive more efficient, so it’s worth expressing the need for it to your drivers. The Vehicle Certification Agency encourages drivers to be more efficient, which includes being careful with their gears, drive slower and ensure their tyres are at the right pressure. Each small difference here can be transformative when replicated at scale. Pendragon claims that anyone who drives more than 12,000 miles a year can make savings of about £250 per year by improving their driving – given that your fleet is likely to be on the road for much more than that, the savings here could be massive.
If you follow this guide, you should be able to make simple adjustments to reduce the cost of your fleet.