Mistakes cost money and true for any business. For fleet owners, mistakes mean unnecessary expenses in vehicle operating costs. It is not easy to run an optimal fleet and do not ever think you have everything under control. It may sound easy to manage a fleet of vehicles – I mean it is just servicing and maintenance – right? Wrong! It is, operating a fleet at the lowest possible total cost of ownership. Your savings depend on access to information and if you are not tuned into the latest technological advances and fleet industry developments you are on the losing end. This is the single biggest reason why ‘in-house’ fleet managers do not realize how much money they are bleeding; the fact is they have nothing but their own data to benchmark against and are therefore oblivious to what optimal cost per km should be for their fleet.
Additional obstacles are found in outdated processes and fleet performance measurements. Historically these are written into company policy and passed on from one new employee to the next. As we all know, corporate policy changes tend to never change and if change is necessary it takes a long time to be evaluated and approved. Within a continuously evolving fleet industry, corporate fleet policy changes are outdated at the time of final approval, and it is obvious irrelevant once implemented.
Let us face it internal fleet policies exist to mitigate risk as companies that operate their own fleets take on the risk of accidents, vehicle maintenance, fine redirections, asset returns and supplier management amongst other. The odds are that administrative processes are neglected due to dual roles such as minimal access to expert resources with lack of information – the list goes on.
Outsourcing fleet management to expert fleet management companies is a terrific way to run a fleet with little to no risk at all, allowing business owners to focus core activities.
Internal fleet management is simply no longer the most cost-effective option. If you are serious about reducing fleet expenses and gaining access to preferential pricing structures, national support networks, accurate data interpretation and expert advice, you do not need policy changes you need a fleet partner.
If you wish to discuss this or for more information, please contact Hennie Botha at 031 713 3146 or at 074 331 1354