Our Top 5 Tips To Cut Costs & Operate Your Fleet Efficiently
Fleet management is critical to improving business operations. Learning to maximize resources and reduce unnecessary costs can save your business thousands of dollars every year. By reevaluating current operations you can identify areas that need extra attention and implement new tactics and technologies to improve business operations.
Gain control of driver behavior, compliance, location and arrival status, fuel consumption, and asset utilization with fleet management tools. Check out our top 5 tips to better manage your fleet and maximize your resources. Invest in your fleet now to save time and money later.
1. Reduce Fuel Consumption
Fuel is one of the largest expenses for fleets. Idling times, long routes, and yard hunts increase fuel expenses greatly. As fuel prices fluctuate it is critical to monitor fuel usage. Staying within your allocated budget is difficult when you cannot accurately estimate fuel consumption. Using fleet management technology businesses can identify the causes of wasted fuel and correct it. 55% of fleets reported reduced fuel costs after implementing a telematics software. Routing telematics and devices can be used to gain real-time insight into your fleet. GPS trackers are also a great addition to help monitor and minimize yard hunts & idle time.
- Routing Telematics & Devices: Advanced telematics technology allows businesses to access their fleet statistics in real time. One of our most popular routing solutions is Omnitracs Roadnet Telematics (RNT). RNT is a GPS-based telematics solution that provides real-time detailed information about your fleet. Access maintenance reports, general reports (fuel, engine, etc), vehicle service history, and driver scorecards, to name a few. The device uses GPS tracking data to provide metrics such as stop status, actual vs planned route comparison, and missed time windows. Ensure your drivers and fleet as a whole is operating to their full capacity without exhausting resources such as fuel.
- Implement Advanced Dash Cams: Advanced technology has taken dash cams to the next level. With Cloud Cameras, fleet managers can not only view the real-time video but track vehicles, monitor driver behavior and statistics, and optimize fleet management. Cloud cameras enable fleet managers to see how drivers are performing in real time. Managers can easily detect high fuel-consuming behavior and provide coaching sessions on proper driving techniques.
2. Empower Your Drivers
Drivers are the backbone of a fleet. Supporting your drivers is one of the most important and easiest ways to improve fleet efficiency and retain your drivers long term. Successful fleets empower their drivers by providing them with the proper tools and training to ensure they feel supported. It is critical that drivers are taken into account when making decisions that directly impact them. Allowing your drivers to voice their opinion in the decision-making process will allow fleet managers to find the best solutions to make everyone happy. Transparency throughout the business will foster successful relationships.
- The Many Benefits of Supporting Your Drivers: Increase driver safety, reduce poor driver performance, improve CSA scores, retain drivers, mitigate the risk of accidents, and promote open communication between management.
- Driver-Facing Camera Covers: Some drivers do not want to drive for a company that uses driver-facing cameras. Some feel like they are a violation of their privacy or that the company doesn’t trust them. Whatever the reason, it is important to compromise with the driver where you can. Have open communication and listen to concerns. We offer multiple camera solutions that have covers for the camera, let you add on or take away a driver-facing camera or even disable the driver-facing camera. If you opt out of driver-facing cameras and notice certain drivers could benefit from extra coaching communicate the reasoning with the drivers before implementing them.
3. Automate Reports
Making sure you are in regulation can be an extra burden on fleet managers and drivers that they have to constantly be mindful of. Companies can end up paying tens of thousands of dollars for being out of compliance. Moving to digital reporting cuts down on the time managers have to complete reports allowing them to redirect their attention to other areas. Advanced fleet management solutions have the power to complete reports for you. Automated reporting will save your company lots of time and money.
- Choosing The Right Electronic Logging Device (ELD): With ELDs now being mandated, it is important to make sure you choose the best one for your fleet. ELDs help increases the efficiency of fleets. The Omnitracs XRS automatically completes your reports and sends them to the DOT, IFTA, and DVIR. The two types of ELDs are “Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) ELD where the data is transferred from a plug-n-play ELD device to the coordinating app on a driver’s mobile device. The other option – the most popular is an In-Cab ELD. The In-Cab ELD has the driver change their duty status and log information.
- Automated Tax System: Filing taxes with the IFTA can be a time-consuming process. Implementing a Tax Manager system can save hours and limit fuel tax deductions. With the addition of a Tax Manager, tax collection and filing are automated. This effective solution keeps the fleet’s taxes up to date with the regulations in place to prevent penalties and violations.
4. Implement Video Telematics
There is no better way to get insight into your fleet than with video telematics. With video telematics, managers are able to access what their drivers are seeing and what happens on the road in real time. Having record and proof of driver trips can improve a fleet’s CSA scores ensuring that your company is maintaining a good reputation. Another reason video telematics and dash cameras are a must is that dash cams can help exonerate drivers and reduce fraudulent accidents. With video evidence, you can prevent your company from being held responsible for accidents their drivers did not cause.
- Different Dash Cams: There are so many different dash cameras on the market today and it can be hard to pick one. Features you have to consider are:
- GPS Tracking
- Yard Check Tools
- Cloud vs SD Card
- Impact Recording
- Geofence Tracking
- Tamperproof Security
- Number of Cameras
- Breadcrumb Reports
- Critical Event Reports
- Monitor Driver Statistics
- Live Video vs Continuous Recording
5. Routine Maintenance Checks
Avoid extended periods of downtime by keeping up with preventative and routine maintenance. Maintenance is a critical component of advanced fleet operations and driver safety. Telematics technology can keep you up to date with your vehicle’s service needs. By keeping up with maintenance you can avoid vehicle downtime and keep repair costs to a minimum. Not only does routine maintenance and preventative maintenance keep your fleet operating efficiently but it also keeps you within federal regulation.
- Advanced Telematics: There are a lot of fleet management tools that can help you manage your fleet better, but not all of them can monitor the health of your vehicles. One of Omnitracs Roadnet Telematics (RNT) main features is maintenance. With RNT, you can navigate to the maintenance tab and view your vehicle’s health, and service history. This is an extremely viable feature that is an important component of telematics.
Whether you are an owner/operator or have a fleet of 500, reducing costs can benefit everyone. Use these tips to better optimize your fleet and lower your costs. Contact us today and speak with a specialist to customize a plan to help your fleet operate at its highest level. All of the solutions mentioned we carry. We are happy to help set you up with the best fleet management solutions for your business.
