Determining when exactly to cycle your vehicles is a fine balance among many factors, from acquisition, through operation, and resale or asset disposal. Here are nine questions to answer when you’re deciding when and how to best cycle your trucks.
Do you know how to keep an eye on creeping expenses? Here are eight tips to help reduce a variety of fleet-related costs.
A great fleet manager constantly conceptualizes new initiatives, is creative in problem-solving, motivates staff and suppliers to excel, and is willing to experiment by implementing new technology-based fleet solutions.
Running a well-managed fleet is a complex task that requires supervision by someone with deep subject-matter expertise. As a result, a fleet manager’s capabilities and expertise can be easily overlooked by executive management not versed in the intricacies of fleet management.
Total cost of ownership for vocational truck fleets is trending upward, primarily due to higher fuel prices, increased maintenance costs due to higher labor rates and parts prices, and commodity-driven increases in tire prices.
A fleet cost reduction program goes straight to the corporate bottom line. If a company operates at a 10% annual net profit margin, reducing annual fleet expenses by $100,000 is the equivalent of generating $1 million in sales. Although fleet managers manage hundreds of thousands to tens of millions of dollars in corporate assets, only half are incentivized to achieve targeted performance goals. I advocate incentivization should be a universal best practice extended to all fleet managers.
One of the easiest ways a fleet manager can reduce truck acquisition costs is not over-spec’ing for fleet needs. But, there are a few out-of-the-box ways of thinking to further reduce costs.
The City of Muscatine, Iowa, repurposed two old trucks to build a new dump truck. The completed vehicle was inspected by the Iowa Department Transportation and approved for over-the-road use.
Senior management exerts intense pressure on fleet managers to control and/or reduce vehicle acquisition and operating expenses. To accomplish this, a fleet managers can pursue three different cost-control strategies — cost savings, cost deferral, or cost avoidance. In order to implement a successful cost-control strategy you need to institutionalize the mechanisms to curb money-wasting behaviors.
Fleet cost-reduction programs typically focus on the asset; however, there’s a limit to how much a fleet manager can modify truck specs without impacting the fleet mission. True cost savings are to be found in areas beyond the asset.
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