Fuel prices make up a large fraction of fleet expenses and are impossible to forecast or control. In fact, an estimated 32% of fleets spend the most on fuel to keep their daily operations thriving. So how then do leading fleet businesses manage their fuel costs? The answer is through fleet management solutions – by using GPS vehicle tracking to closely monitor, regulate and optimise fuel spending, you too can drastically reduce fuel spending and also gain significant return on investment (ROI) on your fleet business.

Here is how fleet management solutions can help you optimise fuel consumption and keep expenses to a minimum.

What is a fleet management solution?

Simply put, fleet management solutions allow fleet operators to collate and analyse fleet data to better understand how their fleets are faring. Such data is presented in easy-to-read charts and combined with other features to track and manage both vehicles and drivers.

How can a fleet management solution reduce your fuel expenses?

1. Increase fuel efficiency with proactive maintenance

Fleet operating companies that rely on manual tracking of vehicle maintenance will often run into problems such as delayed or missed vehicle servicing schedules. And as your fleet size expands, maintenance tracking will only get harder.

A fleet management solution will let you monitor vehicle engine health to ensure your fleet is performing at optimal fuel efficiency. Besides this, it will save you repair costs by addressing vehicle issues before they snowball into last minute repairs and vehicle replacements which are far more costly. Additionally, accident costs can be avoided by lowering driving risks with regular fleet health and driver behaviour monitoring.

2. Reduce vehicle idling time

At first glance, idling or leaving the engines running unnecessarily for a few minutes may not seem like a big deal. On the flip side, all these idling sessions however will add on to an already growing fuel expense over time.

With a fleet management system, you get timely alerts on idling such that when a driver parks their vehicle, you can trigger an automated notification to turn off their engines right away. Moreover, you can review fuel efficiency and driving behaviour reports generated by the fleet management system to track drivers with bad idling habits and advise them to keep this practice at bay.

3. Provide a better routing system

Your fleet drivers shouldn’t drive on a hunch. They need to take the shortest and safest roads to ensure fuel economy while meeting service and safety standards. Unfortunately, without a way to track which routes are the most fuel-savvy or to get updates on real-time road traffic and know about road congestions, fleet managers will not always be able to plan the best, most fuel-efficient routes.

All of this changes with a GPS vehicle tracking system, as the system will use intelligent algorithms to provide you with the best routes for a trip. Aside from this, you will also be able to view past trip data related to fuel usage and compare trips to know which one will save you the most time and fuel.   

4. Locate the nearest vehicles

When you have a GPS vehicle tracking system implemented, you can locate the nearest vehicles and assign them for certain tasks depending on their geographical proximity. This lets you make informed decisions quickly to save on fuel, save time on fleet coordination and increase your fleet timeliness.

For example, if a logistics company needs to send the nearest driver for an ad-hoc pickup, the time-consuming process of checking driver locations via calls or messages or leaving the decision to the drivers themselves will not be necessary if you simply know the precise location of your vehicles and are able to take immediate action. In addition, more efficient management of your vehicles automatically equates to reduced fuel usage.

5. Monitor and improve driving quality

Without a fleet management solution, you will not be able to detect dangerous and fuel wasting driving habits like speeding, harsh braking, rapid acceleration, and so on.

As a matter of fact, driving at high speeds can lower fuel efficiency by 30%. But with a fleet management system, you can keep tabs on fuel usage, set speed limitations and be notified if drivers exceed them, and also track driving patterns. You will also find it a lot easier to know which driver isn’t complying with your company’s speed restrictions by looking at reports generated by the fleet management system.

Conclusion – A fuel-efficient fleet is also efficient in every way

It can be seen that businesses with a fleet management system are able to maximise fuel efficiency in various ways to achieve low fuel expenses. Compared to those without a fleet management system and are relying on outdated and manual methods to track their fuel usage and improve fleet planning and timeliness, the advantage is magnified.

Investing in a reliable fleet management solution is the way forward if you want to increase business sustainability in an industry where fuel prices are so volatile. Besides, having a fleet management system will enhance driver safety and enable you to re-organise your overall fleet management strategy to remain competitive for a long time.