For many businesses such as insurance agents, food catering and delivery, etc. fleet vehicle expense is one of the biggest cost. Not only do they have to spend large amount upfront in purchasing the vehicle, but ongoing cost in terms of gas, insurance, maintenance can add up to pretty large amount. By carefully looking at your needs and finding the right vehicle fleet can amount to substantial savings in the long run. Here are several tips you can consider in choosing the fleet vehicles that suit your needs.
- Identify your Needs
- Go Green
- Consider Useful Extras
- Choose Right Insurance Policy
- Train your drivers
First and foremost, you need to think about what types of vehicle you actually need – in other words do you just need cars, a combination of vans and cars or bigger people carriers? When you’ve assessed all this you can then use this information to focus your search onto a range of specific manufacturers and models.
It’s no secret that road taxes and fuel prices can be expensive, so you might want to think about going greener with hybrid, electric or smaller engine vehicles. Not only can these have better economy and MPG, in some cases they can be tax-free. As tempting as a large V8 might be, they’re not the best idea from a savings perspective.
You should also consider the extras you can get with your fleet. Features like Bluetooth connectivity and hands-free calling can be very useful if you want to keep in contact with your employees more when they’re on the go.
Your insurance can also be made more affordable. With a little research you can find providers who have policies specifically for business car insurance. Also in some cases, if you have a larger number of vehicles you can get discounts for insuring them all under one policy, rather than taking out individual cover.
Lastly, you should train – or at least advise – your drivers to be more conscientious with their driving. By encouraging them to drive in a more-reserved fashion they can make your cars more economical and lower the amount of wear and tear; making them last longer.
Once you’ve made the change to a better business fleet, you could soon start to reap the rewards. So give some of the above a try with your company and see just how much money you can save.
