Tips to efficiently leverage your fleet control

Standing out in the competitive market is, without a doubt, the great objective of every fleet manager. After all, their work encounters constant challenges, which need to be overcome in order to find balance in productivity, control and performance of vehicles and drivers.

Thus, managers become responsible for results in all areas involving the management of light fleets, such as fleet maintenance and availability control, operational efficiency, cost control and even the safety of their drivers. 

Therefore, seeking measures and actions to gain greater control over the fleet is one of the most important obligations of a fleet manager , as this directly affects the company's results.

To help you, we've listed in this article the main challenges faced by a light vehicle fleet manager, as well as tips to optimize fleet control efficiently . Read on:

Control challenges in light fleet management 

Understand, below, some of the main challenges that light fleet managers face in their careers: 

Driver identification

A very worrying problem in light vehicle fleet management is the lack of driver identification . This is because when any kind of problem occurs with the vehicle, whether it be fines, cargo theft, high fuel consumption, or any other accident, it is essential that the vehicle's driver be identified.

After all, how to hold the offending driver accountable? How can you ensure good behavior in traffic if you don't know which drivers are not respecting the law?

Many of these questions need to be answered, mainly for light fleet management to take the necessary measures to, for example, reduce driver misconduct and increase road safety. 

In this way, your drivers may be crashing their car or getting fined and your management will not be able to punish, educate and train them to improve. 

To solve this problem, using a video telemetry service is the best solution.

Golfleet Videotelemetry features facial recognition, video tracking, and verbal coaching for fleet management , providing all the necessary technological tools to increase agility and security in fleet management by combining artificial intelligence with other technologies.

Read more: All about video telemetry: what it is, its benefits, and how it works in fleet management.

Increased fleet availability and reduced maintenance

Stationary vehicles are not synonymous with productivity, quite the contrary. After all, if they keep crashing or giving problems, they can cause a wave of expenses that are harmful to the company's financial health. 

To improve this problem, it is essential to have excellent training in safe and economical driving, capable of reducing wear and tear on vehicles. Furthermore, prioritizing preventative maintenance is crucial , since addressing problems before they worsen significantly reduces costs.

Read more: The difference between cost and expense? Learn how to classify them.

But, to be even more efficient in this area, you can rely on the Golfleet systems' Maintenance Add-on Module . With it, your fleet management has automatic vehicle maintenance plans, scheduling, alerts, data, and everything you need for a complete maintenance check.

With this, in addition to having greater control over the number of active cars in the company, fleet management is also able to direct vehicle maintenance to avoid further wear and tear.  

Driver performance control

As you already know, a large part of the expenses in managing light vehicle fleets is a result of driver behavior . In other words, if your drivers drive poorly, your expenses for fuel, maintenance, and accidents will increase.

It is the role of the fleet manager to ensure that all its drivers respect traffic laws above all else, strictly follow the company's fleet policy and drive safely and economically. 

Therefore, more than just identifying the driver, it's also necessary to monitor them. The Golfleet Telemetry system is a major highlight for this, offering features to track driver behavior with, for example, personalized alerts for:

• hard acceleration
• hard braking
• inappropriate curve
• Speeding
• Among others

Fuel cost control

Finally, but no less challenging, we have fuel cost control, another point that must be balanced in the management of light fleets. For this, it is essential that the manager has control of supply and consumption.

In other words, it is necessary to pay attention and prevent fraud during the refueling process , as well as actions that increase the consumption of the resource, such as route deviations and poor driving.

Read more: Fuel economy: 8 tips for reducing fleet expenses

Thus, in addition to the actions necessary to ensure economical management, the manager can also rely on the Golfleet Fuel Supply Control add-on , present in all our software.

Through it, your fleet management will have personalized and complete reports:

Actions to improve fleet control 

To further complement your successful management, we also separate some special solutions that can provide you with better results. Check it out: 

Mapping your vehicles

It seems a bit obvious, however, many light fleet managers do not have a mapping of their vehicles and, if they do, they do not have the current status of the vehicle. 

Knowledge about its vehicles and the conditions presented gives the company a more strategic and preparatory view to notice and deal with possible problems. 

Create a fleet policy

The fleet policy is a document that standardizes behaviors, practices and actions for all drivers in the company's fleet. Thus, when all drivers comply with these guidelines, it is easier to obtain better results on a constant basis, mainly in reducing costs and safety. 

Thus, with Golfleet services , it is possible to rely on the Fleet Policy module, which, by assigning vehicles and configuring company rules, allows the manager to determine what constitutes infractions in their operation, while the system sends automatic commands to the equipment.

Carry out driver training 

Different from what is thought, training involving drivers goes far beyond driving practices. Absolutely, it is essential that drivers know how to practice defensive driving and how to take care of the vehicle. 

But it is also necessary for drivers to know how to maintain a healthy diet on the road, how best to prepare meals for long hours of work, medicines that should be avoided while driving and be aware of all fleet policy rules. 

Calculate the expense forecast 

If you are able to establish the fuel consumption per kilometer for each vehicle and the average preventive maintenance cost for each one, it's time to calculate your projected expenses.

Ultimately, with all this data at hand, available in the Golfleet Telemetry modules , you can predict potential average expenses for the coming months, allowing you to make more informed decisions regarding your fleet management budget.

Plan and monitor routes

Planning, which is nothing more than the route chosen by the driver , is an important step since the fastest route is not always the safest or the one with the best conditions.

Monitoring can be done using technologies such as Golfleet's Tracking and Telemetry services . With these, you know where your vehicles are, who has them, and key information about the driver's driving.

Read more: Fleet management: prepare a good plan for 2023

Using technology to improve fleet control 

Finally, I think it's clear by now how important technology is and its major role in achieving excellent results in managing light vehicle fleets. With it, everything can be enhanced, optimized, and even monitored.

Find out more about Golfleet solutions and understand how they are able to maximize results, whether in reducing costs, increasing productivity, and much more: