Flееt Fuеling Bеѕt Mаnаgеmеnt Prасtiсеѕ

Due to the fact it is essential to the operation of the business, fuel is a significant cost for any fleet. The price also increases as the number of cars in your fleet grows. Effective fleet fueling management methods are crucial for reducing operating costs and boosting profits for fleets.

While it’s true that you can’t control or predict the cost per gallon because crude oil prices are always fluctuating and your business must always maintain certain operational minimums, it’s also true that many of the factors that affect fleet expense management are within your control.

Management of Fleet Fuel and Its Significance

In addition to taking care of your cars and educating your drivers, fuel management also includes keeping track of how much gas your fleet uses with the help of modern technologies. It’s an important part of managing any fleet. After all, gasoline might account for as much as 25% of a fleet’s overall cost. To be sure, fuel management is about more than just cutting down on the distance a fleet travels. Proper fuel management strategies include safe driving practices, paying for gas at the right time, and keeping a vehicle in good working order.

Fleet Fueling Management Best Practices

Effective fleet management may be greatly aided by adopting and adhering to best practices when figuring out how to manage fuel consumption in a company. Which fleet management best practices are the most successful, and where should you start? They may lead to lower expenses, more revenue, better staff happiness, and enhanced customer service. The best methods for managing a fleet’s fuel supply are discussed here.

Rightsizing

The term “rightsizing” may seem like it was coined at a business conference, but it actually means reducing the size of your fleet if necessary. This comprises areas that are no longer needed, excess cars, or retired vehicles that have not been sold. A small fraction of them do, though, which increases the cost of fuel for the whole operation.

It’s important to double-check all of the fields to make sure the number of cars is in line with the number of workers. To make running errands and other tasks around the organization easier, satellite offices will occasionally store an extra car. Keep out of their way. The fleet manager’s responsibilities include keeping tabs on and controlling the costs of vehicle operating for the business, not micromanaging the amounts that employees around the office are compensated for doing things like making bank deposits and picking up office supplies. Throw away the extra cars. It’s not only the price of gas that adds up, though; unless they’re completely paid off, insurance premiums, a lease or financing payment, registration fees, and inspection fees are all necessary, too.

Hire Qualified Drivers

This may seem like a question for HR, but it’s essential for efficient fleet management to take into account the credentials of each driver. If your machinery, for instance, calls for operators with specific qualifications, then finding the right people to fill those roles is essential. It is important to train drivers within your fleet who are lacking in any required areas, as it’s important to find and hire qualified drivers to maximize their advantages. Educated drivers will save money on maintenance, gas, and co2 emission by making more efficient driving choices. You’ll end up saving a lot of money in the long run.

Purchase fleet management software.

Fleet managers are better able to make judgments based on hard data when they use an all-encompassing, inclusive method of solving problems. Modern technology has made it feasible to employ actionable fleet intelligence to enhance productivity with fleet management reports.

You can optimize fleet-related processes like asset usage, performance, and cost over the course of its entire lifecycle with the help of modern fleet management software.

Increased efficiency and productivity, decreased expenses, increased employee and customer satisfaction, and higher revenue and profit margins may all be achieved with a well-executed fleet and asset management strategy.

Pay attention to Cost Control

Cost management is essential for fleet operations. It’s impossible to know where you’re succeeding and where you’re falling short if you don’t have a firm grasp on operational and life-cycle costs, from the acquisition of an asset to its eventual resale.

The management of a fleet and the management of a company’s finances are remarkably similar. You can make educated, economical choices about vehicle and equipment purchase, upkeep, fuel, and staff by taking a realistic view of these and other costs.

Monitor Driver Behavior

If a fleet manager is serious about cutting down on gasoline costs, there’s nothing more important than influencing driver habits. Edmunds.com, a car information website, conducted tests on various gas-saving strategies and found that driver behavior accounted for as much as 37% of overall fuel use. Several good driving habits need special attention here:

• The music “Jackrabbit” starts and stops. While the light turns green, when passing slower traffic, or when first setting off on a journey, drivers frequently floor the throttle pedal. When stopping, they’ll apply the same force to the brake pedal. Both are inefficient and may lead to fines and mechanical failure in the vehicle’s engine and transmission. Smooth acceleration and safe following distances will reduce the need for sudden stops.
• Speeding. Drivers are aware that they should not exceed the speed limit stated on the road, although this is not always the case. Fuel consumption increases with increased speed; while exact numbers may vary from vehicle to vehicle, most will see a reduction in efficiency after 60 mph. Drivers should be required by law (albeit it’s simple sense) to respect posted speed limits. The waste and higher fuel costs are compounded when speeding causes unexpected stops.
• An old but true method of wasting gas is excessive idling. After all, a car’s fuel efficiency is at zero when it’s idle. It is recommended that drivers turn off their vehicles if they will be stationary for longer than a minute or two. In truck fleets, when making deliveries, loading, and unloading occur often, excessive idling is a serious problem.
• Put the car on cruise control. Setting the cruise control isn’t just for comfort; it also aids drivers in keeping a constant pace. In addition to the dangers they pose to other road users and the increased wear and tear they can cause, these and other driving practices can have a devastating effect on fuel economy. Aggressive driving, sudden stops and starts, and a casual approach to idling are all characteristics that drivers may and should modify.

Optimize Your Path

Drivers often adhere to set routes or territories in which they operate. Your drivers should maximize the effectiveness of their time on the road. Any delay costs money due to lost productivity as well as wasted gas. We’ve discussed how inefficient it is for vehicles to idle, so obviously you don’t want your drivers waiting in traffic. Your drivers are squandering your money and time if they take the long way around or get lost trying to find their destinations. Careful journey planning can significantly reduce fuel use. Pack your salespeople’s travels as much as possible; don’t make them go 100 miles each way just to make one sale. Although there are times when this isn’t possible (such as when a “hot” lead is received; as the old adage goes, “time kills all transactions”), seasoned salespeople generally know how to make the most of each trip.

In addition, have your drivers avoid rush hours and congested locations if at all possible. Drive at odd hours and on non-peak routes to avoid traffic (midday, very early, or late evening). Because of the congestion, drivers will be forced to engage in inefficient behaviours such as rapid acceleration and deceleration, constant idling, and frequent stops. There is an increased chance of angry or irritated driving as a result. When sending drivers out on the road, use routing software to determine the most time- and fuel-efficient routes. When driving in an unfamiliar location or to a new destination, a global positioning system (GPS) can be a lifesaver. Cutting down on driving is a tried and reliable method for saving money on gas, as is avoiding or drastically reducing idling and stopping and starting.

Be Sure to Check Tire Pressure

Tire pressure monitoring is another crucial but often neglected part of efficient fuel management. Fleet cars perform better when their tires are properly inflated. Maximizing fuel efficiency, tire life, and safety all depend on having properly inflated tires. Tires that are under-inflated cause increased rolling resistance, which in turn causes the engine to consume more gasoline. A tire’s lifespan might potentially be cut short. Tires with low air pressure have trouble “getting out of their own way,” which means that the tread might bunch up because the wheel is being turned by the engine quicker than the tread can displace itself. Tires with the correct amount of air in them might see a 3 percent gain in mileage. Provide drivers with tire pressure gauges and enforce their use at each vehicle outing. (While under-inflation reduces fuel economy, over-inflation isn’t a solution either, since it leads to premature tire wear and even failure.)

Invest in Reliable Fleet Vehicles

The selection of corporate fleet cars is another critical matter to resolve. The priority of your equipment acquisitions should be determined by the industry you serve.

The dependability of vehicles is also very important. The success or failure of your fleet management programs depends on the decisions you make, which range from identifying the most cost-effective vehicle replacement cycles to fulfilling maintenance needs, remarketing vehicles, and disposing of old vehicles.

They Should Be Kept Tidy

Cars should be washed regularly. Not only can contaminants like dirt, filth, oil, grease, and especially salt harm the paint, but they also increase aerodynamic drag and decrease fuel economy. In the winter, this is especially true. After a snowfall, it’s imperative that drivers thoroughly clean and de-ice their cars. The accumulation of ice and snow on a vehicle can increase its weight by as much as 100 pounds and reduce vision, making the vehicle unsafe to drive. Don’t forget to stock up on ice scrapers and snow brushes, or make sure every car has access to them.

Preventive Maintenance

Establish a rigorous routine of preventative maintenance that includes oil changes, fluid checks, wheel alignments, cooling system flushes/fills, and transmission fluid changes. Maintain a record of each driver’s compliance and take prompt action against any who are found to be inattentive.

When a car isn’t maintained properly, it might lose some of its efficiency. The engine has to work more to circulate the oil, which causes additional wear as the oil grows older and dirtier. Using 10W-30 oil instead of 5W-30 oil, if specified by the manufacturer, can reduce fuel economy by as much as 1%-2%. This is especially true during the colder months, when an engine left outside overnight in the cold must work harder to circulate the oil because of its increased viscosity.

Be sure to replace filters as directed by the manufacturer. If your engine has to work harder to accomplish its job, you’ll use more petrol and spend more on fuel. Clogged filters restrict air and fuel flow, and neglecting the cooling system is another waste of energy and money.

Make use of a Fleet Fuel Card

The old adage goes something like, “You can’t manage what you don’t measure.” There are a variety of choices available from the gasoline vendors of today, and these vendors sell much more than simply fuel. Without some method of limiting in-vehicle fuel purchases, the cost of operating a fleet will continue to climb. Level III data is available through fleet gasoline card schemes, allowing for post-purchase expenditure management, and advanced controls aid in-transit management. You may adjust things like:

• Limits on the number of transactions allowed each time period or the total amount spent in a given period are called “velocity” restrictions.
• Tobacco, food, and other non-fuel items that are not sold in gas stations that sell just fuel.
• The hours or days of the week that a card can be used are examples of use constraints.
• Limits on the card’s geographic reach can be set by zip code or other ways for fleets that operate just inside a specific region.

A fleet manager may be specific about when, where, and what a driver can buy by using these and other controls. Critical odometer readings, fuel grade, self-/full-service, vehicle number, date, time, and merchant information are all captured by these programs at the pump, creating a database that may be mined for cost savings. The most effective weapon for a fleet manager to combat growing fuel costs is the ability to restrict purchases at the pump, act on behavior after the fact, and report on that activity in detail.

Lose The Excess Weight

Getting rid of the snow and ice on your car is a great way to shed pounds and save on petrol. But in the grand scheme of things, excess weight is the enemy of fuel efficiency, so it makes sense to slim down the whole fleet. Every extra hundred pounds equates to a 2% drop in fuel economy, so keeping your load light is essential. Make a list of everything (product, components, POS materials, etc.) that drivers must routinely transport. Do we really need to do all of these things, or can some of them be done since it’s been done that way in the past? It should be standard practice to not allow passengers to load or unload their own belongings into vehicles. Managers in the field and drivers should both be involved. Encourage everyone to make it a rule to never transport any personal items in corporate cars.

Compare prices and shop around to find the best deals

Within only a short distance, the cost of gasoline can fluctuate drastically. Compared to prices a mile or two away, gas near airports may be as much as a dollar more expensive per gallon. An integral part of most fleet fuel card schemes is a merchant finder that notifies drivers of the closest stations selling gasoline at the lowest price.

It’s worth it to find out whether the gas station near a branch or regional office would give you a discount if your firm agrees to buy fuel from them exclusively. Often, a single licensee or franchisee will own many stores that serve the same purpose. In many cases, the net amount billed by a fleet fuel card company is inclusive of reductions negotiated with the fleet’s gasoline supplier.

Advise motorists to avoid filling up with full-service, mid-grade, or premium fuels (unless the vehicle calls for them). You should expect to pay a few cents extra per gallon for both compared to self-service or normal unleaded. Prompt field offices to share information on where to get cheap fuel. Find and keep tabs on specific low-price businesses, as well as chains and oil corporations, with the help of the reporting tools given by the fuel card provider.

Conclusion

Fuel expense management might feel like a full-time job at times. This isn’t too far from the reality, and it’s time well spent, given that gasoline expense can account for as much as 80% of variable costs (depending on pump pricing). In spite of the importance of fuel, fleet managers shouldn’t just consider it when costs are high. When it comes to operating costs, which include fuel, fuel cost management should always take precedence. Rather of waiting for costs to skyrocket, you should make gasoline expenditure management an everyday part of your job.

Frequently Asked Questions