The use of a GPS system to control fleet costs is a necessary but not sufficient condition to achieve lasting optimization. Of course, this optimization goes beyond the limits of the GPS system, but it must be pointed out that its necessity is paramount if you want to have automated and independent objective information.
How do you control the cost of cars and light trucks when you have GPS tracking devices in the vehicles?
- Controlling fleet costs by compaction of vehicle usage
To what extent are all the vehicles in the fleet are used and is the work they do evenly distributed among them? Take a look at the following report, which you can get automatically from a GPS system. It gives you a quick comparison and answers the question of how many kilometres each vehicle is travelling.
Comparing by car the miles driven in the current month and for the calendar year gives a pretty good idea of how much each car travels. But why do the first and last cars on the list have such a big difference in mileage? It is possible that the difference in mileage is due to:
- Car repair;
- The geographical territory in which it operates;
- The driver’s mode of operation.
In any case, if you have cars whose capacity is not compacted, you will find out from the report in our software – SmartTracker. Having the information about the load of vehicles, you can make a judgment, whether you need such number of vehicles or you can do the job with less.
Also, if you want to evenly distribute the occupancy of the cars in your fleet, you can take advantage of our Viasat Car Sharing solution. This solution will give you additional cost control in your company fleet.
- Control fleet costs by limiting average and maximum speeds
Speed has a direct relation to fuel consumption. For this reason, limiting the average speed to certain limits and reducing the maximum speed will have a direct effect on reducing fuel consumption.
What is the average speed of the vehicles in your fleet? Without GPS tracking devices in the vehicles, it will be difficult to answer this question, as well as the question: what is the top speed of each vehicle?
In Viasat Technology’s GPS system, the maximum speed information for each trip is listed in the Trip Sheet. A similar reference also contains information on the average speed of each trip. Once you know what the average and maximum speed are, you can take the appropriate administrative measures to reduce them.
If you want to increase and fine-tune your company’s fleet cost control, as well as your employees and their behavior on the road, we recommend Viasat Driving Behavior.
- Control fleet costs by reducing or limiting the use of company cars for personal purposes
It is presumed that official vehicles are used for official purposes. In many companies there is official permission to use cars for personal engagements. The question is whether you know how much of the time and what the mileage is for personal and business use. With the functionality of SmartTracker software, you can easily keep track of mileage reports and whether pre-entered routes or endpoints are being followed.
Once you have a picture of personal and business mileage, you can apply a different model to limit, reduce or stop personal use of the car. In many companies the use of the car for personal purposes is also allowed. It is a managerial decision as to whether the fuel for personal mileage will be paid by the driver of the company car or will be charged to the company. You can put a threshold, for example 300 km. per month for personal purposes and the fuel consumption above these kilometres will be paid by the driver.
Knowing your personal fleet mileage ratio, you can always optimize your vehicle usage.
And if you want to control more precisely which car was driven by whom and at what time, Viasat Driver Manager is the solution for you.
If you have any questions, take advantage of a free consultation by filling in the form below or calling 0700 1 49 49.
Viasat Technology is part of the Viasat Group.