Key elements of a successful fleet maintenance program

A best-in-class fleet maintenance program would include:

• A well-established and well-communicated policy on vehicle maintenance
• An effective process for ensuring that preventive maintenance is completed, including automated, proactive communications to drivers/operators
• Knowledgeable, ASE-certified experts who are available 24/7 to assist your drivers/operators
• Close management of the maintenance repair process to ensure there are no excess repair charges
• Full warranty recovery and aggressive pursuit of out-of-warranty recovery
• Negotiated rates with maintenance suppliers
• Centralized  billing and reporting

I hope this checklist helps you examine how you currently handle fleet maintenance and provides ideas for improvements to your program. Please share your comments, experiences or questions below.

Related blog posts

Fleet 101: Checklist for preparing your fleet vehicle selector

Fleet Management 101: Reimbursement vs. company-provided vehicles

• One of the biggest contributors to poor fuel efficiency is idling, followed by hard acceleration and speeding. Telematics can track these factors and provide fleets the quickest payback, with almost immediate results and cost reductions.

2.  Risk and safety

• Telematics can track risky behind-the-wheel driving behaviors (e.g., failure to use seatbelts, speeding, harsh braking and cornering), which delivers a longer term provable payback in reduced accident rates and costs.

3.  Unauthorized use of company vehicle

• If your company does not allow personal use of a company vehicle, telematics can track vehicle use outside of standard business hours to identify use of company vehicle for personal or unauthorized use. The payback is in reduced fuel, maintenance, tires, etc.
  
  
• If your company does allow personal use, telematics data can provide an “order of magnitude” check with driver self-reported personal mileage.

4.  Fleet driver productivity

• Track vehicle stops – and develop specific Key Performance Indicators for your fleet (e.g., how long should a typical customer stop take? How many stops per day should each driver be able to make? etc.). This ability to track / add stops to high-value customers has been a major competitive advantage for some of our clients and delivers the highest return on investment.
  
  
• Telematics data can be used to compare driver-submitted timecards to vehicle movement records for enhanced timecard reporting. It can also improve dispatch to enhance service delivery.

5.  Vehicle utilization

• Mileage and use data helps to determine if vehicles are being used to their fullest extent, or if they should be redeployed to other areas of the company that need them.

These are just a few insights on why and how fleets are using in-vehicle telematics. For a more in-depth look, we encourage you to attend an upcoming PHH webinar on the subject:

Implementing a Powerful In-Vehicle Telematics Program
When: Thursday, June 6, 2013
Time: 2:00 p.m. ET

Register now!

Checklist for preparing your fleet vehicle selector:

√ Application – What is the specific job application of the vehicle? Under what conditions will the vehicle be used (i.e. in the city, on the highway, on paved surfaces, or on unfinished surfaces)? What equipment should these vehicles include so that your employees can best perform their jobs?

√ Operating costs – How much will it cost you to operate the vehicle over its lifetime? Lifecycle costs are the best way to compare different vehicles against one another, taking into account maintenance, fuel, and depreciation, as well as motor company incentives.

√ Resale value – How well will the vehicles and equipment you're selecting maintain their resale value and lower depreciation?

√ Drivers – Who will be driving the vehicle? Each group of drivers has its own set of vehicle requirements and choices.

√ Payload – What will the vehicle carry? Can the vehicle handle this payload safely over time? Is extra security required?

√ Lead time – How long will it take your vehicles to arrive? Are the vehicles you are considering readily available or are there likely to be production delays?

√ Safety – How will you equip your fleet for optimal safety? Today, while standard equipment includes things like antilock brakes, advanced frontal airbags and electronic stability control, consider (where available) additional driver assistance and crash avoidance technologies such as back-up cameras, lane departure warning and forward collision warning.

√ Image – Your vehicles represent your company, both to the public and for recruitment purposes. How will that affect your vehicle selection?

√ Options – What flexibility will you allow for your employees to add options and equipment?

√ Alternative Fuel – If you're considering Alternative Fuel Vehicles (AFVs) for your fleet, PHH has provided a qualitative analysis of the AFVs that fleets are considering today.

Another recommendation – If you’re a PHH client, consult with your PHH new vehicle acquisition experts to help you work through these questions and ensure your vehicle selector is right for your fleet and matches your business goals.

• 50% spend all of their time dedicated to fleet management, while the other 50% balance multiple responsibilities for their respective companies
• Regarding reporting structure, 50% are part of the Procurement organization, 25% are part of Operations, and the remainder are aligned within either Sales or Human Resource departments

Clearly there has been a sea of change in the way leading companies approach fleet management. And that change is largely influenced by a more procurement-driven process. Organizations are shifting from a traditional fleet management function — where a fully dedicated fleet manager is an expert on vehicles and their operation, related policies, costs, safety, etc. — to a hybrid model which combines the expertise of the fleet manager with the skills and perspective of the procurement professional.

Procurement best practices continue to take root and evolve the traditional fleet management model, as noted in four key areas:

1. Process – interest in quality management, continuous improvement, efficiency and cycle times
2. Cost control – focus on reducing total cost of ownership and achieving sustainable savings
3. Data-driven decisions – involving information management, trend analysis and insights
4. Metrics and Results – aligning data from key performance indicators to strategic business objectives, as well as internal and external benchmarks.

Panel participants from ARAMARK, Mondelez, United Technologies Corporation, and Williams Scotsman shared ideas and stories of how they’ve adopted and adapted techniques to improve their fleet management results. Contact your PHH Account Team to hear suggestions and strategies that blend insights from Fleet and Procurement to enhance your vehicle and staff productivity…and ultimate business performance.

What is the best solution for your organization?

The paper takes a look at the advantages and disadvantages for both programs in areas including:

• Vehicle selection
• Image and control
• Recruitment and retention
• Cash flow
• Personal use
• Liability
• Administration

We also provide insights into the impact on fleet costs, which will likely be higher under a reimbursement program.

For the complete whitepaper, go here for the United States version and here for the Canadian English version. For the Canadian French version, go here.

I hope you find this white paper helpful in responding to questions about the optimum solution for your fleet. If you have comments or additional insights on company-provided vs. reimbursement programs, please share them with me.