Balancing Act
Depreciation, fuel, and maintenance. These costs
can really cause a headache.
So, how do you keep control ?
Cost effective fleet
management may seem
like a simple enough
concept, but without the
right approach it can be complex to
implement. Fragmented data and lack
of consistent, reliable stats can make it
even harder to achieve the level of
control needed to run a truly cost
efficient fleet.
C
Do
Understanding your goals, and aligning
them to a well thought-out action plan
will help you focus on gathering the
exact information you need to measure
your progress. With the right tools,
metrics and data, you can increase the
productivity of your fleet against your
company's bottom line – and what’s
more you can prove it.
Know your fleet’s primary
costs.
Controlling your costs starts with
knowing their source. The primary cost
for most fleets is depreciation, closely
followed by fuel, maintenance,
accidents, insurance and incidental
expenses such as tolls and parking.
Explore your fleet; learn what your main
cost categories are. Invest more time
and energy in focusing on the significant
areas of expenditure first – it’s highly
likely that it’s here that you will uncover
the greatest cost saving opportunities.
Define some key indicators you would
like to measure and track. You could
categorise them like this:
Operating costs – unavoidable expenses
that are incurred by keeping vehicles on
the road and moving; fuel, maintenance,
accidents and tyres and so forth.
Parked up costs – expenditure that
occurs even when the vehicle is parked
or unused. These can be grouped into
two categories: those that you can
manage, such as depreciation, interest,
insurance premiums, motor vehicle
records, security and management
services; and those that you have little
control over, such MOT and Road Tax.
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