What is fleet management?

Fleet management simply translates as the total management of a company's fleet of vehicles, covering every aspect of the life-cycle of a vehicle from procurement to disposal.

This option is one to be considered by any business that relies on transportation for their business to process, and for those who wish to remove or minimise the risks that are associated with vehicle investment, improving productivity, efficiency, reducing transportation and employee costs, and ensuring 100% compliance with government legislation and more.

However, this does not mean that a fleet manager has to undertake all actions required to keep each and every vehicle on the road, but they may take personal responsibility for the fleet.

Fleet manager & their responsibilities

Knowledge

The first duty of any fleet manager is to know what is actually in their fleet at any given time. This not only means that the fleet manager should have a record of all the serial numbers of the various key parts which relate to each of their vehicles. This will help to stop any fraudulent tampering with them.

Keep track of vehicles

Keeping track of vehicles can have two different meanings. The first is keeping accurate records of everything which concerns that vehicle, from fuel stops to any maintenance, whether it's a driver fitting a new fan belt on the road during an emergency or a full service.

The second meaning is as simple as knowing where the vehicles are, which can be done through vehicle tracking.

Using data efficiently

Gathering data on a fleet is relatively simple, the trick is knowing how to use it.

An example: Knowing the specific components of your vehicles you, as a fleet manager, can make an informed judgement about their life span. You will also have records of your scheduled service plans.

Managing users and suppliers

Not only will fleet managers manage vehicles, they will also need to manage people. If active fleet management is being introduced into an environment which was essentially run without much attention, it is possible that it won't sit well with some, simply because change will do that, but active or passive resistance from either users (in this case, drivers) or even suppliers will need to analysed and addressed.

Read the post here: http://www.fastfitnationwide.co.uk/blog/what-is-fleet-management/