As your company grows, so does your fleet and understanding how to manage a growing fleet in 2021 will determine the continued success of your business. Fleet management is the control and coordination of your organisation’s vehicles, whether it uses cars, vans, trucks or lorries. Effective fleet management covers a range of functions from vehicle maintenance, financing, tracking and diagnostics to managing fuel consumption, drivers and health and safety. 

Efficiently managing your fleet will help your business mitigate risks associated with buying or renting vehicles, legislative compliance, traffic accidents and environmental impact. Many smaller companies choose to manage their fleets in-house. In contrast, their larger counterparts utilize a fleet management company to ensure the fleet is adequately managed to the benefit of the business.

Maintain Your Vehicles

Regular servicing is essential to ensuring that your fleet remains as safe, productive and efficient as it needs to be. The maintenance of your vehicles will keep them on the road, and a reputable garage should carry this out in order to stay in line with the warranties that cover your vehicles. 

Simple tasks and checks can be carried out by your in-house engineers, such as topping up the windscreen wash, checking the oil and coolant levels, tyre pressures, and cleaning the vehicles. For the larger engine checks or tyre rotations, you should ensure that the garage carries out these tasks when you schedule the maintenance on your fleet. Create a plan to keep track of your fleet maintenance and record any work that is carried out so that you can refer back to it if there are any problems with your fleet.

Vehicle Tracking & Fleet Management Software

When your fleet grows, it’s crucial to have the proper management software in place to help you keep track of your fleet. Installing GPS in your vehicles will help you track their movements and ensure that all drivers are complying with the company policies. 

Fleet management software like FleetWave offered by Chevin will ensure that maintenance milestones are met and allows you to create schedules, monitor costs, and mileage with ease. Software like FleetWave can scale in line with your business growth so that you can easily manage any changes in your business. You will be able to track your fleet when it’s out on the roads as well as monitor fuel consumption and driver performance, allowing you to streamline your processes and use the company budget effectively. This technology can also enable your to plan your driver’s routes more efficiently.

Driver Training

A common mistake that many businesses make is not offering regular driver training. How your employees drive and look after your vehicles when out on the road can significantly impact vehicle maintenance requirements and overall costs. Offering regular training will reduce the number of accidents your drivers encounter and any unnecessary wear and tear on your vehicles. 

Before any employee starts working as a driver for your company, they should undergo extensive training that focuses on driver behaviour as well as health and safety. Once they have had some experience driving for your company, ensure yearly refreshers are set up to ensure that standards don’t start to slip.