Efficient vehicle fleet management is important for a number of reasons. Not only does it reduce the costs involved in managing a fleet of vehicles, but it also reduces the risk of damage to vehicles, injury to drivers, and liabilities to your business. Despite this, fleet management is a difficult and complex task that comes with a lot of responsibilities. Here a just some of the tasks that need to be completed to ensure a fleet of vehicles meet compliance requirements.

Vehicle Maintenance

Perhaps one of the most obvious tasks of a fleet manager is to ensure that all vehicles are maintained properly and in a timely fashion. This is to ensure that they comply with health and safety and environmental standards. The FMCSA requires fleet managers to keep up to date with their driver vehicle inspection reports (DVIR). Having DVIR documentation confirms that vehicles are routinely inspected for any damage or health and safety issues. Furthermore, by carrying out these checks vehicle downtime and revenue loss is significantly reduced.

Fuel Management

Another significant responsibility of a fleet manager is finding ways to save money on everyday expenses, such as fuel. To ensure optimum fuel efficiency, fleet managers should optimize vehicle logistics by planning routes in advance. In addition, engine idling should be avoided as it wastes fuel, and the debris left behind can cause considerable damage to various vehicle components. The damage caused by engine idling to a vehicles’ cylinders, piston rings, and exhaust system can result in avoidance repair and replacement costs. Fuel management software can help fleet managers to track bad driver behaviours such as engine idling, excessive braking and buying higher priced fuel. Effective fuel management also reduces the likelihood of fines from engine idling due to the environmental and health hazards associated with exhaust fumes.

Customer Service

Providing great customer service is perhaps one of the most important tasks of a fleet manager. By managing a fleet effectively, a manager can be more confident that their vehicles will satisfy their customers and not cause any problems. Unorganized and untimely fleet management can result in dire consequences for your business such as injury or even death to drivers. Avoiding such instances is extremely important if you want to avoid liability and lawsuits for your business. Fortunately, technological innovations have seen the development of fleet management software to help managers complete each of their required tasks conveniently and in a timely matter.

Managing Operations

The day to day running of a fleet is a hefty responsibility in itself. Many fleet managers struggle to ensure vehicles are maintained consistently, fuel is always managed correctly, and customer service is constantly great, because they’re so busy with paperwork. Trying to ensure that the current fleet is maintained while trying to acquire new vehicles requires a lot of brain power. Using fleet management software can help to reduce some of the workload for fleet managers, by tracking vehicles consistently and producing reports and statistics to help keep records of what’s happening. Perhaps it’s time you implemented fleet management software to do all the hard work and deal with the nitty gritty for you, so that you can continue doing what you do best – running your business.