No matter how big your fleet is, it’s very likely that fuel is one of your biggest ongoing expenses. We recently published a guide to reducing your fleet fuel costs. In this post, we’ll outline how you can stay on top of your running costs with a fuel management strategy.
If you want to discuss any aspect of fleet management, our friendly team of commercial motor experts are here to help. Get in touch with us by emailing commercial.motor@anthonyjones.com, or call us on 020 8290 9099.
What is a Fuel Management Strategy?
A fuel management strategy involves monitoring your fuel usage. Through keeping tabs on your fuel use, you can find ways to avoid wasting fuel while making the most of every drop. In this way, a fuel management strategy can help your fleet improve efficiency while reducing your running costs.
Where Do You Start With a Fuel Management Strategy?
To begin with, consider investing in a fuel management system for your fleet. Specialist tech can give you real-time insights into how every vehicle in your fleet is using fuel, along with analytics that will help you identify areas for improvement.
Once you have a means of monitoring your fleet’s fuel consumption, you should focus on the following areas:
- Servicing and maintenance
- Improving driver behaviour
- Routing and scheduling optimisation
- Vehicle acquisition and upgrades
- Servicing and Maintenance
Regular servicing and maintenance won’t just help prevent expensive repairs. It will also ensure that every vehicle in your fleet is running at its best. Routine checks inluce:
- Engine checks
- Oil replacements
- Tyre pressure adjustments
Read our full guide to fleet maintenance schedules.
- Improving Driver Behaviour
Telematics can provide extensive data into how your drivers behave behind the wheel. With this, you can identify the sort of driving practices that could be burning through more fuel than necessary. This might include:
- Harsh braking and accelerating
- Excessive speeding
- Idling – Read our full guide to fighting idling in your fleet.
Once you identify such driver behaviour in your fleet, it’s time for an intervention. Invest in driver training and eventually your drivers can adopt smoother and more efficient driving practices.
The Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) found that just one minute of idling can cause an HGV to consume up to 21.7g of fuel and emit 68.64g of CO2. This amounts to a cost of about 3p per minute in fuel.
And as an added bonus, fuel efficient driving also happens to be safer driving.
Of course, any initiative to improve driver behaviour in your fleet will have a greater chance of success if you have an effective means of communicating with your drivers. So be sure to read our guide to establishing a good driver communication strategy.
- Routing and Scheduling Optimisation
As well as helping you keep tabs on fuel consumption and driver behaviour, a fleet management system can also help you optimise your routing and scheduling. You can:
- Plan more efficient routes
- Cut out any unnecessary miles.
- Avoid the rush hour, along with any excessively congested roads.
- Cut down on time spent idling
A strategic approach to scheduling can also make a difference to fuel consumption. This can help improve your delivery times while also helping your drivers cut down on any time spent idling – which, as we pointed out above, is a major cause of fuel wastage.
- Vehicle Acquisition and Upgrades
While it’s true that regular servicing and maintenance can keep your vehicles operating at maximum efficiency, there will come a time when you have to replace and upgrade your fleet vehicles. Vehicles of all types are getting safer and more efficient all the time. So, it’s likely that a fleet of brand new vehicles will consume less fuel overall than a fleet of older vehicles.
Read our guide to how you can effectively plan to upgrade your fleet vehicles.
You might be able to significantly reduce your fuel costs through upgrading to an electric fleet. Read our guide to designing and implementing a fleet electrification strategy.
At Anthony Jones, We Can Help You Make Savings Beyond Your Running Costs
If you want to discuss any aspect of fleet management, our friendly team of commercial motor experts are here to help.
John Donaghy, Senior Manager, Commercial Motor and Fleet Risks says:
“Along with servicing, maintenance, and fuel, another essential ongoing running costs for fleet managers is commercial motor insurance. And the question is, are you getting the best deal for your cover?
“This is where working with a broker can help. We can show you how evidencing your risk management can lead to lower premiums. We can then help you access the tailored cover you need at the best possible price. With our assistance, you can avoid paying excessively for cover you may not need, while also avoiding the risks of underinsurance.”
For more information about how we can help you, call us on 020 8290 9099 or email commercial.motor@anthonyjones.com.
