Why Is Fleet Management Essential?
Saturday, February 27th, 2010Fleet management is all about operating and maintaining a fleet of cars or trucks with the objective of managing and controlling the cost affiliated with it. Organisations usually have fleets ranging from a few to thousands of vehicles to service the business. Fleet management can be established in-house or it can be outsourced to companies who specialise in Fleet management.
As business fleets grow larger, the cost to uphold them increases as well. The need for sufficient place to house and maintain a fleet increases as it grows bigger. With the growth and volume of the fleet, more labor will be needed to repair and maintain these vehicles. This will result in more expenses and higher operational cost employing them. Moderating overall cost is the most important reason to consider outsourcing fleet management.
Some fleet management functions include maintenance, tracking, diagnostics, fuel management and driver management. One of the major benefits of fleet management is business roadside assistance which offers fleet owners peace of mind. From the purchase of a company fleet vehicle to the disposal of it, fleet management can cover every facet and detail of each vehicle, including the driver.
Vehicles can be tracked using latest GPS and cellular triangulation technologies. Fleet owners can track the location, speed and route of every vehicle. Vehicles are fitted out with an onboard computer to gather data on mileage and fuel consumption to generate detailed reports. When vehicle tracking and onboard computer data are combined, the profile of the driver can be established. Tracking and diagnostics can reduce delays due to vehicle breakdowns by minimizing the time needed to locate the vehicle and dispatch roadside assistance.
In addition to that, fleet management also increases the security of the fleet. Offering business owners substantial peace of mind. Recent advances in management technology allow a vehicle to be remotely disabled while it’s in operation. These systems can slow a vehicle, stop a vehicle, prevent a vehicle from being moved, and even keep the vehicle from being started. This helps to prevent fleet vehicles from being stolen and assists in recovering them if they’re stolen. It helps to reduce the likelihood of cargo getting lost or stolen.