Fleet Management Guidelines

Vehicle Fleet Management | What is Fleet Management
Fleet Management Guidelines 1 | Fleet Management Guidelines 2

Vehicle Fleet Management

If any of your vehicles have fleet management software installed in them, you should be able to track that vehicle anywhere. Using a GPS, the fleet manager can find the location of the vehicle as well as the direction and speed it is travelling in. This satellite system, which has an computer onboard that collects information about the vehicle, has enabled fleet managers to work much more efficiently due to their effective and user friendly nature. How it works is that the vehicle is connected to the tracking device and signals are then sent to the main system from the satellite.

Because of these tracking systems, vehicle fleet management has become a relatively user friendly tool. Even in extreme circumstances like an accident or a robbery that a fleet vehicle is involved in, you can use a tracking devise to ascertain the vehicle’s location. The fleet manager can also get information about the driver of the fleet vehicle in terms of how much distance is travelled and how many stops have been made and for how long. Cross checking to avoid time wastage is crucial and a fleet management system can help dramatically improve on this. Thus well run fleet management is a very important thing for a company to run efficiently and cost effectively.

All kinds of vehicles such as ships, planes, trucks and cars can be included in a vehicle fleet management system and the fleet manager will be responsible for being in charge of all the relevant aspects of the vehicles’ management. Besides the obvious advantages of fleet management, the main one is that it improves productivity and reduces the risks that vehicles encounter on the road. Using a vehicle tracker or Global Positioning System (GPS) is by far one of the best and most popular ways of managing a company’s fleet of vehicles. The information that the fleet manager collects and stores on the fleet management computers about each of the fleet’s vehicles, is mostly used to gather information about how far the vehicle travels, its location, how fast it goes and how much petrol it uses.

The requirements that the fleet manager sets up for the fleet management software, varies greatly depending on what is required from the fleet vehicle. There are an assortment of activities that the vehicle does that can be tracked by vehicle tracking system. The fleet management software stores and saves the profile of the fleet vehicles’ drivers and uses this information to give security and safety to the business, to the driver and to the vehicle. It is advised to use fleet management for your company’s vehicles as it is a very effective tool in helping your company to save money and time.

What is Fleet Management

These days technology has enabled companies to manage their cars, ships, planes and trucks cost effectively and efficiently. This method of managing fleets is known as fleet management and it is driven by certain technologies. Different tools are used by the fleet service to enable the operations of the fleet to run according to the technology. Due to the highly effective nature of fleet management, it has gained huge popularity in recent years.

Fleet management is a very important aspect of a company and with the implementation of fleet management, there is the application of technologies such as vehicle location, communication systems and computer software. Using these applications for the management of fleets, allows the fleet manager to operate, plan and schedule for the fleet effectively. The fleet manager will also allocate resources for the fleet. All aspects of fleet management are overseen by a fleet manager.

In order to track the location of the fleet vehicles, the fleet manager will use tracking tools. GPS, or Global Positioning System, is one of the main technologies used by fleet managers; this system is easy to use and to install. In regards to mechanical diagnostics, this type of fleet management tool is also very useful. The systems used by the fleet manager will connect with the computer that is on board the vehicle, thereby enabling the fleet manager to collect all sorts of information about the vehicle, such as mileage, fuel consumption and how many stops the vehicle makes. By using fleet management tools, the security of the fleets’ vehicles can also be very well managed. The company can gain more productivity by using fleet management tools that can track the speed as well as the direction of the fleets’ vehicles. Using these systems, the fleet manager can also get a profile of the driver; doing so will enable the fleet manager to gather even more information about the fleet vehicle.

Fleet management nowadays is based on these technologies which enable a multitude of tools to be used by the fleet manager in accordance with the company’s needs. You can go online and research about fleet management and fleet services, there’s a lot of information that you can gather to get a better understanding of fleet management. Generally fleet management tools are easy to use and to manage.

Fleet Management Guidelines 1

The best ideas to efficiently and cost effectively manage a company’s valuable and critical corporate assets, are to be found on the front line of fleet management. These assets that are being referred to are of course a company’s fleet of vehicles, whether they be trucks, planes, cars or ships. In part 1 of ‘Fleet Management Guidelines’, we will give you guidelines on some of the best fleet management practices.

Some commercial fleets can have solutions applied to them that are generalized and standardized in the fleet management industry. But some fleet solutions may have to be adjusted according the specific fleet’s operations, as well as its corporate culture and business style.

The acquiring of vehicles for the fleet

Always match the required fleet vehicle closely to the function it is required for, the area/s it will drive in and the employee who will drive it.
When meeting with car manufacturer representatives to acquire fleet vehicles, always supply them with proper information in terms of exactly what you require of the fleet vehicle. This will save time for both parties.
In order to have accurate replacement scheduling of the fleet vehicles, it is necessary to track the vehicle’s condition as well as mileage carefully and thoroughly.
If any drivers need a vehicle out of the fleet replacement ordering time, try to pool cars or to use long-term rentals to avoid out-of-stock fleet purchases

Depreciation of Fleet Vehicles

It is advised to resell a fleet vehicle at the peak of its lifecycle, so it is essential for a fleet vehicle’s depreciation to be calculated accurately by using total lifecycle management.
Implement an internal system that can group the fleet vehicles into categories, such as mileage, in order to depreciate each vehicle individually. This system will enable the fleet manager to ascertain if a fleet vehicle is out of sequence and to alter lease terms in the midcycle of the vehicle if necessary. The fleet manager will monitor individual vehicle’s mileage using the internal systems monthly reports to do so.
Good fleet vehicle maintenance can be encouraged by implementing driver-targeted programs.

Fleet Management Maintenance

In order to make sure the drivers keep up to date with all servicing and maintenance of the fleets’ vehicles and to co-ordinate the actual scheduling of the services, us an online system to make sure that all compliance violations are conscientiously enforced in this regard.
One way of making sure that drivers comply with the maintenance schedules of their fleet vehicle, is to put an incentive program in place.
The best way to control a preventative maintenance program is to centralise it by implementing an in-house system. If however the fleet is managed by branch or is regional, it is advised to outsource that function.
In order for the fleet manager to be able to plan ahead for the replacement of tyres and parts and thereby avoiding unscheduled servicing of a fleet vehicle, the normal preventative maintenance (PM) tasks of a vehicle’s regular service could be extended to include looking at the history of the tyres and fluids etc.

Fleet Management Guidelines 2

The best ideas to efficiently and cost effectively manage a company’s valuable and critical corporate assets, are to be found on the front line of fleet management. These assets that are being referred to are of course a company’s fleet of vehicles, whether they be trucks, planes, cars or ships. In part 2 of ‘Fleet Management Guidelines’, we will give you guidelines on some of the best fleet management practices.

Some commercial fleets can have solutions applied to them that are generalized and standardized in the fleet management industry. But some fleet solutions may have to be adjusted according the specific fleet’s operations, as well as its corporate culture and business style.

The remarketing of fleet vehicles

Remarket the fleet vehicles before they come out of service. It is advised to always be truthful about the fleet vehicles condition and history, and to have the vehicles in a presentable condition and shape
Be aware of vehicle cost cycles and monitor this so that just before a cost cycle spike, you can sell the fleet vehicles.
To resell the fleet vehicles in-house, set up an employee sales program that is user-friendly. You can have an internal software program that can facilitate with the sales and also financing. To make it attractive for the employees to purchase these fleet vehicles, they should be priced reasonably somewhere between market value and wholesale value. The sale of the fleet vehicles can be promoted on many channels, such as email, flyers, brochures, posters and closed circuit TV. There are many companies who use these types of customised programs to sell the fleet vehicles.
In order to maximise fleet vehicle disposal, it’s important to monitor market and remarketing trends.
To lengthen the life cycle of the fleet trucks, the fleet manager can implement a system whereby he tracks the truck utilisation which will be based on time and mileage, and trucks are then shifted between drivers.

Management of fleet vehicles

Implement a system whereby the fleet capital spend is planned and managed efficiently.
To encourage internal support of fleet operations, instigate partnerships with departments such as HR, legal, admin etc.
To stay on top of ways of how to reduce costs and improve on fleet efficiency, the fleet manager must stay up to date with fleet technologies.
An efficient fleet management system is one that is standardised and centralised.
A valuable fleet monitoring tool is a dashboard program that has tiered access calculated according to management level. This method assists the fleet manager to highlight fleet vehicles that are under-utilised and maintenance costs that are over average.