Basics of Fleet Management: The Vehicle

Fuel Efficiency

This one hardly bears mentioning – if you’re selecting vehicles for your fleet, they absolutely must be as fuel efficient as they reasonably can be, whilst still being fit for purpose. A fuel hungry, leaky old truck has no place in a modern fleet, where efficiency is the watchword. In this area, a fleet manager has a surprisingly broad array of options available to them, and it must be borne in mind that fuel efficiency, whilst vital, needs to be considered against other factors as well, such as suitability to the task and reliability, both of which we will also consider in this post.

Suitability

The suitability of the vehicles in the fleet is another key aspect, and similarly to fuel efficiency a lot of it is fairly common sense. You wouldn’t use a petrol tanker to transport sofas, and you wouldn’t use a curtainsider to transport a pre-fab house. The more specialised the cargo you intend to haul, the more particular you’ll have to be about the suitability of the vehicle you use. Some cargos may have legal requirements in terms of transportation, and you’ll need to be absolutely certain that your choice of vehicle is fully compliant before you invest.

Reliability

A perhaps lesser-known aspect of vehicle choice involves considering of the reliability of the vehicles you’re thinking about using. A highly-efficient, totally fit-for-purpose transport is so much dead weight if it doesn’t actually run. This is frustrating enough when it leaves you without a vehicle for a certain period as it’s sent for repairs, but the prospect of having a time-critical, highly valuable cargo left on the side of the road after a breakdown is truly nightmarish, and will tie up much-needed resources in the recovery operation. The only sensible thing to do is to take all measures to prevent this situation from ever happening; choose only vehicles with a long-proven track record for reliability, and ensure that they are regularly and rigorously checked and maintained.

We hope that this short guide has given you some pointers as to what you need to be considering when you’re sizing up vehicles for your fleet. A well-considered fleet management plan needs to take account of everything that’s involved in the process of running a fleet, and the complexity and sheer quantity of things to remember can often be overwhelming. Here at Fueltek, we can at least take the hassle out of keeping track of your fuelling, with our innovative range of fuel management systems. To find out more about how we can help you, just use the details on our contact page, or call us now on 01254 291 391.