4 Ways Businesses Can Reduce Costs For Their Car Fleet

A fleet of vehicles can be a huge financial burden on a business. Whether you’ve been running deliveries for years or are just dipping your toes into the water of handing out company cars, you quickly understand how much of a dent it can make in your yearly spend. 

Fortunately, it doesn’t have to be this way. Both the delivery sector and industries that use cars frequently have devised forward-thinking approaches to operating a fleet that can be applied to your business. 

If you’re looking to cut costs on your car fleet here are some great tips. 

Change your attitude towards fuel

Changing how your staff approach driving is a huge part of reducing the overall cost of your fleet. 

Fuel is one of the major expenses for a business running a fleet of vehicles. The need for it is constant, and the actual process of getting fuel can be an additional financial burden on your business. 

To make an immediate dent in your outgoings you need to drill into your staffs’ minds a new approach towards driving — one that emphasises a more economic mindset. 

Start by teaching your team about the importance of economic driving. Driving at a consistent and often slower speed can reduce the amount of fuel you’re using significantly — with a change as simple as dropping from 80mph to 70mph reducing your usage by 25% according to Money Advice Service. 

To further reduce the cost of fuel you should also look into equipping your drivers with fuel cards. Major fuel cards (which you can learn more about through iCompario) don’t just give you an easy way to pay at the pump, but offer businesses unique discounts of fuel every time they fill up. Combined with a more economic driving mindset this creates an easy way to start saving on your fleet. 

Reduce the size of your fleet

If you’re finding efforts to streamline the cost of your fleet are failing, it might be time to consider reducing the number of vehicles you have in-house. 

It’s quite obvious how getting rid of a few cars will affect your bottom line. However, it’s not just a case of having one less vehicle to spend money on maintenance, fuel and cleaning, but being able to run a tighter ship. 

Fewer vehicles mean less surveillance and guidance. With a smaller number of vehicles on the road, you need to plan fewer routes, hand out fewer fuel cards and reduce the size of your driving team. 

While this method may slow down your production, it does give you the opportunity to save up for newer, more economically-viable options in the future. See this as more of a temporary measure than a last-minute resort to save some cash. 

Streamline journeys

Much like a more economic attitude towards driving can help reduce costs, being proactive in how you prepare for a journey can be a significant money saver. 

Rather than letting drivers plot their own course and potentially spend more time and money on the journey, introduce a system of efficient route planning and monitoring to ensure your cars are always on the optimum path. 

This won’t just cut out fuel wastage and time between jobs, but reduce the overall usage of each vehicle, keeping them in better condition for longer. 

These kinds of attitudes don’t just make your business more profitable but introduce a more intelligent, problem-solving attitude to your workforce. To get started, consider looking at this list of top fleet monitoring and route planning software that Software Advice has collated. 

Increase resale value

We’ve spoken a lot about driving with a more economic mindset, and much of that will help you achieve this goal — making sure you get a good return when it comes time to sell your vehicles. 

Cars can depreciate in value quite significantly over time, especially considering the type of use a business puts them through. 

While it’s not uncommon for corporate fleets to sell vehicles on to employees, you want to make sure you’re keeping your cars in as good a condition as possible to attract outside buyers. 

Ensure that between each drive you’re properly cleaning and checking your vehicles for faults. While this might be a small-time and financial investment, it will be worth it in the long run. What would you rather do? Pay to have an unusable car destroyed or be paid for a model you’ve got years of service out of? 

Fleet management can be an extremely stressful job, especially when you’re doing so for a growing business. However, it’s easier than it looks to save money and keep your team driving economically. Follow these tips for a smoother, cheaper ride. 

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