Fleet management, what is it and why is it important?

Published on July 15th, 2022 | by Sophie West

Fleet management is an administrative approach that allows you to organise and coordinate your work vehicles, including grey fleet, to improve efficiency and reduce costs. It also allows you to keep a log of any services, MOTs and maintenance needed for vehicles.

Why is fleet management important?

Fleet management is essential to a smooth operating fleet of vehicles, no matter the size. If you run your own fleet then the responsibility of maintenance, services and insurance lies with you as the employer. However, it can get a little hazy when it comes to grey fleet.

What is a grey fleet?

Grey fleet is the name given to personal vehicles which are being used for business purposes. This means that the employee owns the vehicle which is being used regularly for business travel. As the owner of the vehicle is the employee, the management of a grey fleet can have different time and cost implications compared to operating a regular fleet. If you operate a grey fleet, you might be surprised to learn that you have a duty of care to your employees who are travelling for work. This can include damage to the vehicle while driving for work, maintenance, etc. This duty of care can easily be neglected by a business and can cause legal issues along with damaging the relationship between an employee and employer.

Benefits of fleet management

Making sure your fleet is handled and managed effectively is important and can save you money as a business by allowing you to improve driver safety and increase vehicle reliability. Benefits include:

• Operational optimisation: This allows you to see historical and real-time information on the performance of your fleet. With this data, you will be able to gain clear insights into operations and make the necessary updates.
• Total cost reduction: This can be from fuel management, maintenance costs, insurance costs to operational costs, and where costs can be reduced while making sure everything is up to date.
• Vehicle acquisition: This will help with the purchase or leasing of new vehicles at a time that is indicated by the operational and cost reduction insights and reports. It will help keep your vehicles compliant and lower your environmental impact as new vehicle technologies become available.
• Better customer service: If you run a fleet that needs to be at a customer’s premises on time then having this fleet running efficiently will help with better customer service. The last thing you want is a vehicle breaking down or due maintenance when they’re meant to be on the road and helping customers.
• Improved health and safety: With better-maintained vehicles, the chances of accidents happening on the road are reduced, this is thanks to being on top of servicing and maintenance records for each vehicle. This will also help reduce insurance costs and lost employee hours due to an incident.

The role of a fleet manager is becoming increasingly important as their performance impacts on the wider business. They also need to stay up to date with the latest developments and ensure their skills are up to date. This can be costly for any business. So, what is the solution?

Outsource your fleet management with Agility Fleet!

By taking out our Fleet Management package, we can provide you with a comprehensive vehicle maintenance solution.  Whether you lease your vehicles through Agility Fleet, a third-party leasing company, whether you own your vehicles outright, or even operate a grey fleet, we can help manage your fleet more effectively, reduce administration and save you money.

As part of our Fleet Management package, we offer a vehicle service contract to support customers who outright purchase or have non-maintained contracts with external leased vehicles. It’s designed to protect you against unexpected costly repairs and to help provide efficiency in maintaining your fleet. You will also have access to our service platform, easing the administration workload too.

We understand just how important it is for you to keep your drivers on the road, keeping downtime to a minimum and letting you concentrate on your own business. Give us a call on 01527 571 605 or visit our dedicated fleet management page on our website here for more information on how we can help your business.