7 Biggest Fleet Fuel Wasters
25 Oct 2018
Because fleets involve so many vehicles, every penny of fuel wasted by drivers comes at huge costs to the overall fleet. Which is why it’s important to identify these seven fleet fuel wasters and act to prevent them from becoming financial problems for your business as a whole.
- Discipline Drivers Deviating from Routes
Most routes are planned meticulously to take advantage of the flow of traffic at certain times of day, the number of miles driven, the frequency of stops and starts, and even the likelihood of delays from trains, school zones, etc. When drivers deviate from those routes, it creates chaos when it comes to mileage and fuel efficiency and can cost your business big money if many drivers do this. Have a discipline plan in place and follow it when drivers don’t follow the rules.
- Eliminate After-Hours Driving
Drivers who use business vehicles, and by extension business fuel, after hours can quickly increase your all around fuel consumption as well. Especially when they’re using business vehicles for personal errands or to conduct side jobs with your name, vehicles, and equipment behind them. Either way, it’s an expense to your business you must get under control.
- Kick the Speeding Habit
Driving at excessive speeds and fast accelerations can drain your fuel tanks just as quickly leaving your company paying unnecessary expenses for fuel. How big is the problem? Earth Easy reports that increasing driving speeds from 55 MPH to 75 MPH increases fuel consumption up to 20 percent with maximum fuel efficiency for the average vehicle occurring between 30 and 50 miles per hour.
- Cut Idling to Curb Your Costs
Minuteman Trucks, Inc. reports that idling in the U.S. alone wastes approximately six billion gallons of diesel fuel each year. How many of those belong to your organization?
- Practice Proper Maintenance
Improper maintenance causes vehicles to idle roughly and consume more fuel to operate at maximum efficiency. Tend to maintenance matters promptly to avoid possible problems and reduce fuels costs.
- Keep Your Tires Adequately Inflated
Keeping your tires filled with the appropriate amount of air can make a huge difference in how well your car operates and how much fuel it requires to do so. It can also shorten the lifespan of the tires. Check tire inflation as part of your routine duties and save between three and nine cents per gallon on your fueling costs.
- Use Navigation for Drivers in Unfamiliar Areas
More importantly, use the latest, most up-to-date navigation to direct them in these areas as it will eliminate unnecessary turnarounds and rerouting errors.
Using GPS fleet tracking can assist your fleet with every single one of these tasks to eliminate wasted fuel and dollars. From planning more efficient routing and providing turn-by-turn direction with the latest maps to sending out alerts when drivers idle excessively, deviate from routes, speed, drive aggressively, and when maintenance needs to be performed on vehicles.
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