January 4, 2023
Abby Nuttall
Articles
As we head into the new year, we wanted to give you our best practices that you will want to maintain or introduce in 2023 to make sure your fleet is managed as smoothly and efficiently as possible.
Five Best Practices to Take into 2023
1. Plan for the Future
It might sound silly but planning for the future is a key part of fleet management and can often get overlooked as managers are busy with the day to day administration and associated management of a company fleet.
You should have long term goals for your fleet, whether that’s reducing the amount of damage to vehicles, shifting towards electric vehicles (EVs) or reducing the number of fleet vehicles. Aligning your general fleet practices and habits with these goals is essential in achieving them and you might need to take extra steps to make sure that you achieve the future fleet of your dreams. For example, if you are wanting to shift to an electric fleet then you will likely need to publicise the benefits of driving an EV and you have support systems and charging solutions in place for drivers.
2. Know Your Dates
If you have multiple vehicles in your fleet then you’ll have multiple dates for the vehicle servicing, MOTs, taxation, insurance renewal (if not on a fleet policy), returning lease or hire vehicles and other key milestones for them. If you don’t already have these on the calendar with scheduled reminders beforehand then we recommend spending a day at the start of this year getting this organised. Having scheduled reminders will help you manage these dates and making the necessary appointments and payments and reduce the risk of any being missed.
3. Have Clear Communication Channels with Your Drivers
We find that having clear ways for your drivers to communicate with the fleet team will help improve relationships between them which in turn improves fleet condition and reduces damage.
We recommend sending out an updated contact list this new year to your staff with the best contact details for the fleet team, when to contact them and what they will be able to help them with.
4. Utilise Telematics
We recently wrote about the importance of telematics and if you do not use them yet then we recommend investing in telematics in 2023. Telematics can help you monitor and manage vehicle usage, detect problems with vehicles or driver habits and more efficiently run your fleet.
5. Electrify Your Fleet
If it’s not already in your long term fleet strategy you should look at how you can introduce electric vehicles into your fleet.
In 2030 the sale of new petrol, diesel and hybrid vehicles will be banned, so in less than 10 years you’ll only be able to get brand new zero emission vehicles, which at the minute is primarily electric powered ones. We think that it’s important to begin planning the transition now so that you and your drivers can get used to the changes that EVs bring, and effectively manage any transition issues before you have to and can’t use an alternatively fuelled vehicle.
Enjoyed this article? Read more of our latest blogs below:
- What’s In Store for Fleet Management in 2023
- 10 Tips for Looking After Your Fleet Drivers
- The Importance of Fleet Driving Licence Checks
- Why Telematics is Important for Fleet Management
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