Fleet Vehicle Management Best Practices

Your approach to fleet vehicle management will largely determine whether or not your commercial fleet can succeed. When you take this duty seriously, you’ll spend less money on your vehicles, protect your drivers, and keep your customers satisfied. 

On the other hand, if you ignore fleet management for even one day, every truck in your fleet will instantly explode.

…Okay, we’re exaggerating. But a reliable fleet management strategy can definitely keep your fleet in good condition and as far from “explosion” territory as possible. Read on for a deep dive into fleet vehicle management (and how the right software can help).

What is Fleet Vehicle Management?

The term “fleet vehicle management” doesn’t describe just one job. Instead, this is an umbrella term covering all sorts of tasks, all of which are meant to keep your heavy-duty fleet fully functional (and ready to generate revenue).

These jobs (and many others) should be part of your fleet management strategy:

• Doing maintenance work.
• Tracking PMs.
• Regularly inspecting vehicles.
• Monitoring mileage/fuel usage.

To excel at fleet vehicle management, you’ll need administrative, shop equipment, and analytical know-how. This type of work calls for a dedicated fleet manager.

How Do You Manage a Fleet of Vehicles Effectively?

While thinking about how you should tackle fleet management, be sure to follow best practices like:

Centralizing Data

If you’re facing increased expenses, declining revenues, or trouble completing deliveries efficiently, you need to know about these problems right away. Data analysis can help you uncover issues and optimize your fleet’s operations (though you’ll need an easy way to review this data first).

Automating Maintenance Schedules

Have you ever forgotten to get an oil change for your personal vehicle? Well, it happens to the best of us. We hope your car is okay.

Needless to say, keeping up on maintenance across a whole fleet is even trickier than just the one vehicle. Using software that can track PMs and remind fleet managers when these appointments are coming up can simplify this process.

Using Vehicle Tracking Tools

Modern telecommunications technology can help you keep track of where your trucks are—and how your drivers are using them. You can access this powerful data with software capable of integrating with this tech.

Creating Consistent Inspection Reports

Do you want to keep your drivers and vehicles safe on the road? (FYI: there is a correct answer here.) In order to accomplish this goal, you’ll need to keep a close eye on the condition of your trucks. 

By requiring your drivers to complete Driver Vehicle Inspection Reports each day, you can understand your fleet’s condition and take steps to deal with any dangers you spot.

Oh, also: filling out these forms every day is very much required by law.

Vehicle fleet maintenance can be a lot. Fortunately, a good system will help you power through this work without missing vital maintenance work. When your fleet has the right software in place, you’ll have no trouble following these best practices, making smart decisions, and keeping your fleet in great shape.

Tools for the Discerning Fleet Manager

Before you can put this advice into action, you’ll have to get the right tools for the job. That includes:

Fleet Maintenance Software

We already touched on the importance of fleet maintenance software in the last section, and none of those points have changed since then. Still, it’s important to remember that some programs in this category are better than others. 

Because of that, you’ll want to know how to compare different fleet maintenance software options. As a first step, look for programs that offer powerful features like inventory tracking, customer communication, and estimate creation (the latter two are ultra-useful if you bill a parent company for repairs or take on outside customers!).

Driver Behavior Monitoring Tools

Next, you’ll need a way to keep an eye on driver behavior. You can do that by investing in telematics—i.e., any form of telecommunications equipment that can collect and send data about your vehicles. 

“Telematics” is a broad term that can cover a huge range of capabilities. Fullbay, for example, has a GPS integration that can give you insights into mileage, engine hours, and driver location. You can quickly see how many engine hours a vehicle has logged or how many miles that truck has driven since its last maintenance. 

Other telematics equipment on the market can dive in deep. Like, really deep. You can get alerts for behaviors like speeding, harsh braking, failure to wear a seatbelt, nose picking, and other less-than-ideal behaviors. If these issues arise, your fleet manager can put the kibosh on these tendencies with coaching and training sessions.

Fuel Management Systems

Unfortunately, fuel has a pesky habit of costing money. Because of that, you’ll want to do anything you can to keep this expense under control.

Telematics equipment can help you monitor fuel usage across your fleet. With the help of that information, your fleet manager will be able to identify areas where you could improve fuel efficiency.

Vehicle Maintenance/Diagnostics Platforms

Your fleet’s software solution should help your fleet manager track upcoming PMs, but that alone isn’t enough. You’ll also need access to diagnostic tools that can tell your techs exactly what issues these vehicles are dealing with.

What Does Fleet Vehicle Management Cost?

Well, it depends. According to the American Transportation Research Institute, the average cost of repair and maintenance for the typical truck is $0.198 per mile. But that’s just one piece of it. Your overall vehicle fleet management costs will depend on:

• • The number of vehicles in your fleet. The more vehicles you have to take care of, the more money you’ll have to spend on maintenance and repair work.
  • The type of service you focus on. Preventive maintenance can help you nip potential problems in the bud, reducing your need for expensive repairs. On the other hand, focusing on reactive maintenance will leave you playing catch-up (and spending more in the process). 

• Driver wages and benefits. Self-driving trucks probably won’t be a reality anytime soon, so take good care of your hard-working drivers.

• Tolls. These are highly regional, with higher tolls in the Northeast and lower tolls in the West. 

• Paperwork. All those fun places where you get to dot the i’s and cross the t’s. Permits, licenses, insurance, certifications, etc.
• Your software’s pricing model. Ideally, your fleet software systems will offer flexible pricing. If it doesn’t, you could end up paying for features you won’t use.
• Coffee. Seriously, you can’t leave this one out of the budget.

Key Metrics to Track in Fleet Vehicle Management

To make sure your vehicle fleet management strategy succeeds over the long term, you’ll need to track a few key metrics. That includes KPIs like:

• Cost per mile. This can help you understand exactly how much you’re spending on each vehicle in your fleet.
• Tech efficiency. With this stat, you’ll see how effective your workers are while doing their jobs.
• Downtime percentage. Knowing exactly how much downtime your fleet is facing can help your fleet manager optimize your operations.
• Fuel efficiency. If your trucks aren’t using fuel as efficiently as they could, you’ll need to know about this problem right away.

Fleet Maintenance Software for Your Fleet Management Strategy

So that’s that: everything you need to know about vehicle fleet management, all put together in one convenient article. You’ll never have to learn anything about this topic ever again! That must feel nice.

Well, there is one more thing we should touch on: how you can support your fleet management strategy with a tool that can handle the fleet maintenance side of things: Fullbay. 

Fullbay helps your fleet maximize efficiency, stay organized, and maintain communication no matter where you are. Even the moon. Probably. We haven’t tested it yet, but wi-fi is everywhere these days.

From tracking upcoming preventative maintenance to guiding your internal repair team through a thorough service order workflow, Fullbay includes a wide range of features with a flexible pricing model that can meet the needs of any fleet. Getting started is easy, too—just schedule a demo!