One of the biggest challenges for the owner of a trucking company, especially for trucks that provide dispatch services, is keeping costs down. Operating a fleet of trucks is a fairly expensive business. These high costs can be affected by economic conditions, changing seasons, fuel prices, and sometimes, unforeseen repairs or maintenance.
The costs required for the general needs of running a fleet of trucks alone can cost a lot of money. Things like routine maintenance, tire wear, and replacement of parts may be accurately calculated, but things like fuel prices are hard to predict. Security is also another cost factor. One serious accident can even cost you more than the entire truck price to repair and cover any damages and losses. Therefore, a truck owner needs to implement good operational management in order to save money.
For company management, it is mandatory to encourage operational cost-efficiency. Operational costs are a burden for the company, so if the income and operating costs are not balanced, there will be losses. Finding ways to reduce truck fleet costs is part of any economical fleet management plan. Operating a truck fleet in a cost-effective and effective dispatch service requires expertise in calculating and predicting overall costs. Your goals and strategy are key factors in setting key performance indicators that drive decisions on your fleet organization, personnel management, vehicle assets, and vendor selection.
Tips for Saving Truck Fleet Operational Costs
High vehicle operating costs are often a major problem for fleet managers, especially if they do not know for sure the source of the problem. Therefore, efficiency is a very important thing, here are tips for saving fleet operational costs.
- Saving Fleet Fuel Operational Costs
Since fuel is one of the main expenses in vehicle operation, you need to monitor how efficiently it is used. Efficient or not can be seen from fuel consumption, mileage, and duration of operation, then compare between similar vehicles. This monitoring helps you find vehicles that are consuming gas and make the right decisions to improve their productivity.
One way to monitor efficiency is to install a GPS tracker on your truck fleet. Using a connected fleet management system, GPS Tracker is able to monitor fuel. Provide insight/report on fuel consumption of each fleet. It’s easy to spot the most fuel-inefficient vehicles, learn why they happen and find solutions.
The practice of fuel theft and fraud in fuel purchase claims can also be detected and prevented. Other fuel savings can also be made by reducing idling (leaving the engine running for a long time when the vehicle is stopped or parked). The GPS tracker can detect idling and send real-time alerts.
- Driver Evaluation and Education
In order to reduce losses due to vehicle damage and accidents, the driving behaviour of drivers must be reliable. Aggressive driving behaviour, such as speeding, sudden braking, sharp cornering, etc. Increases the risk of the vehicle wearing out quickly and causing an accident. Driving behaviour management will reduce vehicle maintenance and repair costs, prevent injuries and deaths, improve fuel efficiency, and reduce insurance premiums.
- Good vehicle maintenance management
Regular maintenance can extend the life of the vehicle thereby reducing operating costs and asset depreciation. That’s why vehicle maintenance management is needed, which allows you to predict maintenance times and costs, as well as take into account the replacement of parts and obsolete vehicles.
Use schedule reminders so that no maintenance schedule is missed and reduce roadside repairs when carrying out dispatch services that make trips less effective. Perform thorough checks and scheduled maintenance, to ensure the fleet remains durable and can operate optimally, as well as prevent downtime and damage.
- Route planning
If your vehicle frequently trips from the same starting and ending points, you may have tried several alternative routes. From this trip history, you can measure and determine which route is more efficient in your typical hours in terms of mileage, duration, and fuel consumption. With a more efficient route, operational costs in terms of fuel are reduced, and the number of shipments can be more.
Those are some tips and ways for you as the owner of a truck fleet provider company in dispatch service to save money from operational expenses.