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Australian fleets cut costs with a fleet management solution

By Verizon Connect Team February 7, 2024

Fleet operating costs significantly influence a company’s competitiveness. This includes both direct and indirect costs. By effectively lowering these costs and enhancing operational efficiency, your company can gain a competitive advantage over others with higher operating costs.

For multi-vehicle companies using a fleet management solution, the impact of being able to reduce fuel consumption by just 10% can “result in a 31% increase in profitability for the business”. (1)

Now, imagine not only reducing fuel consumption, but also making reductions in strategic areas such as labour, accident, maintenance and insurance costs. In the long-term, this can be a game changer when it comes to business profitability.

The latest Fleet Technology Trends Report Australia 2024 showed that business owners using fleet management solutions were able to reduce key operational costs, managing fleet costs better.

Let’s get started:

1. Improve business profitability with fuel efficiency

Recently, the volatility and high price of fuel has put many companies operating with vehicles in a challenging situation.

Fuel costs can be a major financial burden for companies. To reduce fuel consumption effectively, a company needs the right technology and a culture that promotes efficiency.

The positive impact such technology has on businesses has led to their growing popularity. In fact, our latest Fleet Technology Trends Report Australia has revealed that Australian companies decreased their fuel costs by an average of 15% in 2023. This is a 36% fuel cost reduction if we compare it with 2022.

2. Promote safety for your team, vehicles and business

Speeding is a major cause of road fatalities and injuries in Australia.

According to the latest report from BITRE (Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics):

“In 2022, there was a 5.8% increase in the annual number of road deaths on Australian roads compared with the previous year”. These fatalities were the direct result of speeding. (2)

Additionally, the Australian Automobile Association stated that research has shown that: “distraction is the main contributing factor in approximately 16% of serious casualty road crashes and also suggests that distracted driving is as dangerous, if not more dangerous than [drunk] driving”. (3)

With better visibility and control of your fleet you can identify unsafe driver behaviour. Analysing driving behaviour in the long-term can help tackle safety issues, enabling you to take action to improve driver behaviour and mitigate accident risks.

Our latest Fleet Technology Trends Report Australia 2024 reveals that Australian companies decreased their accident costs by an average of 16% in 2023.

3. Calculate your labour costs with greater accuracy

Better management of your team’s working hours can reduce labour costs and increase productivity.

Our solution enables complete visibility of your team’s location, jobs performed, and time spent on them. This makes it possible to accurately track start times, end times, downtime, the number of services performed, and service times. This allows the payroll to be calculated accordingly.

Information about the team members’ activities is stored in the fleet management platform. The software automates the team’s payroll calculations, facilitating the process as well as speeding it up. This also reduces manual errors, allowing for business hours to be better spent on other, more valuable activities.

On this topic, our latest Fleet Technology Trends Report Australia 2024 has shown that companies decreased their labour costs by an average of 16% in 2023. This is 6% more than the previous year, where they were able to reduce labour costs by an average of 15%.

4. Develop your own vehicle maintenance program

With the assistance of a fleet management solution, you can create a maintenance schedule for all your vehicles. This schedule integrates both preventive and predictive maintenance approaches.

Scheduled maintenance can help you promote vehicle health, identify potential faults and avoid complex and costly breakdowns.

Preventive maintenance is planned around vehicle usage. For example, it may take place every 3 months or every time the vehicle covers a certain number of miles. Preventive maintenance allows you to plan over time as maintenance checks are added to the calendar based on the vehicle’s use.

Predictive maintenance, on the other hand, is based on the current state of the vehicles or their parts. By monitoring vehicle activity, you can identify the most immediate needs, detect faults and errors, mitigating costly repairs.

A fleet management solution can help you plan for both types of maintenance. This positively impacts your business profitability by reducing maintenance costs.

In fact, our Fleet Technology Trends Report Australia 2024 shows that companies decreased their vehicle fleet maintenance costs by an average of 15% in 2023. This is 7% more than the previous year, where they were able to reduce their fleet maintenance costs by an average of 14%.

5. Receive better insurance deals for connected fleets

More and more insurance companies are offering premium insurance to businesses with fleet management systems, offering them a better deal.

According to data from our latest report, companies with fleet management systems tend to reduce their accident costs. Insurers are aware of this and take it into account when offering their premiums.

Plus, in the case of false claims that can have a huge impact on businesses, it is essential to have evidence to help clarify and prove what actually happened.

With the help of technology, such as dashcams that record inside the cab and outside the vehicle, drivers can be exonerated in the event of a false claim and expenses associated with accidents can be reduced. You are simply required to download the AI dashcam video footage to provide evidence of the incident.

All these factors help insurers to offer better deals and benefits to companies that use fleet management solutions. In fact, our latest Fleet Technology Trends Report Australia 2024 reveals that businesses decreased their vehicle insurance costs by an average of 16% last year.

Move your fleet and business forwards

Get an insight into the potential of these fleet management technologies for your business. The Fleet Technology Trends Report Australia 2024 provides you with useful information from fleet professionals and fleet-based companies as they reveal their results of implementing one of these solutions.

Download the new Fleet Technology Trends Report Australia 2024

Sources:

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Verizon Connect Team

The telematics industry is moving at a fast pace. With new developments, use cases and feature sets emerging every day, it can be challenging to make the right decision for your fleet business. Verizon Connect Staff is conceptualized to be a partner for your business and help you make smart choices based on useful content.

Tags: Cost Control