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48

HIRE AND RENTAL NEWS • NOVEMBER 2015

TRANSPORT, TRUCKS & TRAILERS

For any business, managing costs

can make all the difference to

the bottom line. But for a small

business with a fleet of vehicles,

managing fuel costs can be the

difference between flourishing and

just surviving. With this in mind,

Ira Friedman, Fleetmatics REVEAL’s

Director, shares his top five tips for

keeping fuel costs low – and profit

margins high.

1.

Encourage fuel-reducing behaviour.

Fuel usage is heavily impacted by driver

behaviour, with actions such as idling,

hard braking and corner swerving all

draining the petrol tank. Educating

your field, service workers about fuel-

wasting driving behaviours is one way to

reduce costs, however, education is most

effective when coupled with tools that

can alert you when these fuel-wasting

behaviours occur.

For example: some drivers are in the habit

of leaving their engines running while

eating their lunch in the car. While they

sit there, they are contributing to fuel

wastage costing you considerable money

in fuel bills. Simply educating your drivers

of the impact of this behaviour can

generate significant cost savings.

2.

Reduce unauthorised vehicle usage.

Another type of behavior that commonly

results in fuel waste and misuse of fleet

vehicles is unauthorised vehicle usage.

In many instances, employees who take

company vehicles home and use these

vehicles at night and on weekends,

are making personal trips. This adds to

wear and tear on the vehicles, increases

company liability and wastes fuel on non-

company business.

Top 5 tips to manage fuel costs in small business

Telematics enables business owners to

have a complete view of vehicle usage,

giving them the tools to alert workers to

the costs and encourage an honest and

transparent system of vehicle use.

3.

Eliminate fuel card abuse and

fraudulent behaviour.

Most fleet service vehicles operate on a

fuel card system, opening business up to

potential fuel card abuse. One common

method of fuel card abuse is the refilling

of a personal vehicle using the company’s

fuel card to make the purchase. These

occurrences are easily identified

when the fuel card is integrated into

a fleet management platform. A report

generated by the platform will show if

the company vehicle was present when

the fuel was purchased. If a fuel purchase

was made that exceeds the volume of the

company vehicle petrol tank, a red flag is

raised.

4.

Optimise and maintain the vehicles in

the fleet.

A vehicle not operating at its optimal

potential can be losing fuel in many ways

without the driver being aware. Regular

servicing can be a simple fix and help

identify leaking fuel injectors, faulty

ignition and exhaust systems and other

mechanical issues that drain the fuel

tank.

Tyre pressure is another factor that can

significantly affect fuel consumption. By

simply checking the air pressure regularly

when the vehicle is refilled at the pump

can be a simple but highly effective way

to minimise fuel loss.

5.

Manage driver work flow and dispatch.

Of course, one of the greatest drains of

fuel is simply driving too far or too often.

Intelligent and efficient routing can

reduce the distance a driver needs to

travel between jobs; saving time and fuel.

An effective fleet management platform

enables the business owner to submit

vehicle assignments and dispatch routes

with greater insight and efficiency.

This process can result in serious

cost-reductions through both fuel

minimisation and cost of labour.

Fleetmatics provides GPS tracking

and job management in simple to use

software platforms that can provide the

insight and analytics needed to take your

fleet service business to the next level.

Visit

fleetmatics.com.au

Fleetmatics provides GPS tracking and job

management in simple to use software platforms

Fleetmatics provides insight and analytics

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