In this Quick Insight, we will explore these top three challenges experienced by contractors and identify how service businesses like yours are overcoming them to maximize the overall efficiency.

Labor Costs

Labor costs rank as the number one fleet concern for service fleets. This is most likely due to the fact that it’s traditionally a business’s biggest expense. It can be difficult to understand why labor costs are high without visibility into how the drivers are behaving –whether that is taking the long way to a job site, unnecessary stops, or long lunches. If employees are not being held accountable for how they spend their time during the workday, there’s no way to identify if unnecessary labor costs exist in your business to accurately manage this overhead expense. The accountability that GPS truck tracking provides will aid in identifying which of the behaviors above are causing high labor costs and show where the focus needs to be.

Vehicle Maintenance

Maintenance costs can be a lot like labor expenses in that if there’s no accountability in place, then it becomes extremely difficult to track how much is either being spent on maintenance or if it’s even getting done. Think about what your current system of keeping up with maintenance is today. Is there a system at all? When important services are not completed, it becomes an issue of wear and tear and causes your fleet to cycle vehicles sooner than you should.

Along with the costs associated with services and repairs, unplanned downtime can also impact your overall revenue if vehicles are taken out of rotation for repairs because they missed important services. Having a system where you proactively schedule fleet maintenance and are automatically reminded when services are due will prevent unplanned downtime, wear and tear, etc.

Fuel Costs 

Top 3 Ways Service Fleets Reduce High Fuel Costs

•Prevent Excessive Idling - It’s common for businesses to want to let their drivers keep their vehicle running to stay cool or warm in extreme weather, but what’s often found is that vehicles are left idling for much longer than they should be. Reducing excessive idle time is one of the quickest ways service fleets can reduce high fuel costs with GPS truck tracking.

•Monitor Driver Behavior – Speeding, harsh braking, and rapid acceleration are other ways fuel costs can get out of control. By putting a system in place to monitor these behaviors and correct them in real time will quickly reduce fuel costs.

•Improve Route Efficiency – If drivers are not being dispatched in the most efficient ways possible, then they end up taking the long way and wasting fuel. By more effectively routing drivers to jobsites, this will cut down on the amount of wasted fuel spent on inefficient route driving.

Start Solving Your Business Challenges

One thing you will notice is that all of these challenges are intertwined. When you begin to reduce speeding, idling, etc., you will see a reduction in fuel costs as well as the need for frequent maintenance. When you optimize your drivers route efficiently as possible, you reduce labor costs and fuel costs. 

Publication date: 2/28/2018

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