The Top Challenges Fleet Managers Face (And How to Solve Them)

Does anyone at the average heavy-duty shop face more difficulties than the humble fleet manager? If someone does, we’re going to ignore them, because that’s not what this article is about. And no matter what other people at your shop are dealing with, fleet managers still have to contend with everything from tech shortages and driver safety issues to growing fleets and fuel expenses.

The good news is that these challenges aren’t insurmountable. When you find the right fleet software and take other steps to improve your shop’s workflow, your fleet manager will be able to do their job efficiently, effectively, and…maybe one more positive word starting with “E”? “Excellently?” Yeah, let’s go with that.

Challenge #1: Rising Fuel Costs and Poor Fuel Efficiency

Unpredictable fuel costs can put a financial strain on any driver, and this is an even bigger problem when you’re in charge of an entire fleet. But even though you can’t control the cost of fuel, there are steps you can take to use fuel wisely.

If your fleet manager doesn’t think carefully about vehicle routing, your drivers could take inefficient paths from Point A to Point B, wasting valuable fuel in the process. Aggressive driving habits can also contribute to less-than-optimal fuel usage.

Fortunately, your fleet manager will have much less trouble planning smart routes when your software offers GPS tracking features. At the same time, today’s telematics equipment can help fleet managers monitor driver behavior and understand where these employees can improve in terms of efficiency. Between these capabilities and the revenues/expenses data provided by Fullbay Financials, fleet managers can manage fuel costs with ease.

Challenge #2: Technician Shortages and Workforce Gaps

Unfortunately, finding skilled heavy-duty and diesel technicians isn’t exactly easy at the moment. As of 2025, the industry continued to face a tech shortage, with an estimated 258,000-plus diesel/auto technicians needed by that year to meet demand.

If you’re having trouble finding skilled people to work in your shop, your fleet manager may struggle to keep up with scheduled maintenance and optimize vehicle uptime. That, in turn, could make it much harder to pass inspections and keep your customers happy. From that perspective, it’s not hard to see how an unfilled tech role can cost shops $5,000 to $10,000 each month in lost productivity.

In situations like these, your fleet manager will have to do more with less—and that’s where modern technology comes in. With Fullbay’s automated inventory management and workflow monitoring capabilities, you can reduce your fleet manager’s workload and improve their efficiency.

Challenge #3: Inconsistent Vehicle Maintenance and Inspection

As its name suggests, reactive maintenance is all about reacting to problems after they happen…and it works about as well as you’d expect. Since reactive maintenance only allows your fleet manager to deal with truck problems after the fact, your vehicles will be out of commission until the issues they’re dealing with are fixed.

Between that issue and the unexpected downtime that reactive maintenance can cause, focusing on this form of maintenance is never a good idea. Instead, your fleet manager should prioritize preventive maintenance—a strategy built around taking care of vehicles before they show clear signs of trouble. By performing regular vehicle inspections, your fleet manager can identify issues with your trucks right away and stop them before they have a chance to escalate. 

Even though keeping up with maintenance schedules across an entire fleet can be tricky, Fullbay’s automated service reminders and service history logs can make this process much simpler. At the same time, our software’s work order tracking features will help your fleet manager keep a close eye on any jobs your shop has in progress.

Challenge #4: Ensuring Driver Safety and Accountability

Among their other duties, your fleet manager is responsible for monitoring driver behavior and minimizing safety incidents. To do that, they’ll have to be fully aware of issues like improper seatbelt usage, distracted driving, speeding, and driver fatigue.

The key to controlling these issues is telematics equipment. When your trucks are equipped with telematics, your fleet manager will gain access to data on driver performance (assuming your fleet management software can integrate with this equipment). From there, they’ll have no trouble giving drivers the coaching they need to do their best on the road.

(Unrelated sidenote: can you believe we’re only halfway through the list of challenges fleet managers have to tackle? Man, these people deal with a lot.)

Challenge #5: Dealing with the Costs of EV Adoption

Electric and hybrid vehicles offer a ton of advantages for fleet use, including lower maintenance costs and reduced environmental impact. However, your fleet manager will also have to spend time and money helping you transition to an EV-based fleet. During this process, they’ll face issues such as:

• Higher purchase costs and limited options. Though electric trucks can help you save money over time, the upfront cost of these vehicles tends to be higher than that of diesel trucks. At the same time, many vehicles that fleets rely on today don’t have EV alternatives on the market yet.
• Technician retraining. Are your techs used to working with diesel vehicles? If so, they’ll need to get familiar with the ins and outs of electric trucks—which means you’ll have to spend time on training.
• Limited range/charging downtime. Electric vehicles’ range has improved over the years, but the average EV still won’t let your drivers travel as far as a diesel truck would. The fact that it takes more time to charge an EV than to fill a tank with fuel only adds to this issue.

A fleet management program can’t eliminate these problems, but it can help your fleet manager add electric vehicles to your fleet. With the right software, your fleet manager can effectively your vehicles without needing to switch between multiple platforms.

Challenge #6: Lack of Centralized Fleet Data and Reporting

Has it been a while since you upgraded the systems you use for fleet management? If so, your fleet manager is probably stuck dealing with spreadsheets, emails, and other outdated management methods. That could make it hard for them to deliver the results you’d expect (no matter how qualified they are).

This is a sharp contrast from the performance you’ll get when your fleet manager has access to a modern, centralized, cloud-based fleet management system. These systems track data points like engine hours, truck locations, and mileage in real time, giving fleet managers constant access to these vital metrics.

Fullbay’s reporting capabilities can make life even easier for your fleet manager by presenting data in the most convenient way imaginable: at a glance. While using Fullbay, fleet managers can instantly view fleet data collected across multiple locations and make informed decisions with ease.

Challenge #7: Managing a Growing Fleet With Limited Staff

Congratulations: your fleet is expanding! But even though this is an exciting situation to be in, it can present some unexpected challenges for your fleet manager—especially when it comes to workload management. 

When a fleet gets bigger, your fleet manager needs to be ready to handle more maintenance appointments and other demands (whether or not they have any extra staff members to help with this work). Of course, things can get even more confusing for fleet managers if they need to manage fleet vehicles across multiple regions or yards.

Fortunately, modern technology can simplify the process of managing larger fleets. Thanks to aforementioned Fullbay features like work order and maintenance tracking, fleet managers can easily monitor jobs in progress and stay on top of PMs. And with Fullbay’s support for multiple locations, your fleet manager will have no trouble completing their work no matter how many locations your fleet is divided across.

Challenge #8: Keeping Up With Compliance and Certification Requirements

Complying with regulations for your fleet might sound straightforward enough, but this is far from the case in practice. In fact, imagine if “this” was in the United States and “the case” was in Japan. That’s how far from the case this is.

To keep your fleet out of trouble, your fleet manager will have to keep up with regulations at the federal, state, and local levels. These regulations apply to everything from the qualifications of your drivers to the overall condition and environmental impact of your vehicles.

“Standard” tools won’t be enough for your fleet manager to keep up with modern regulatory demands. Instead, they’ll need a program that can help them keep your fleet inspection-ready year-round. Since Fullbay offers powerful logs, alert systems, and inspection checklists, it’s the perfect choice for helping your fleet manager keep up with this vital duty.

Make Life Easier for Your Fleet Manager

As you can see, being a fleet manager isn’t a walk in the park (unless it’s a really stressful park). Still, there are ways to lighten the load for these hard-working employees—and investing in high-quality fleet maintenance software can help.

When you start using Fullbay around your shop, your fleet manager will get access to automated PM reminders, telematics integration, work order tracking, and all sorts of other tools. Thanks to these capabilities, they’ll have no trouble dealing with the challenges described in this article (and any other obstacles they might face). If you’d like to learn more, schedule a demo today!