Your fleet’s performance can make or break your company’s budget, reputation, quality of work, employee safety, and more. Keeping accurate and consistent records is a cornerstone of any fleet manager’s workflow, but taking it a step further and auditing your fleet’s performance is where the magic happens.
How does one go about performing a fleet audit, though? With so many metrics to track, how can you know where to start or which numbers matter most to your operations? We’ll break down the benefits of auditing and how to effectively audit your fleet’s performance so that you optimize your operations.
Auditing your fleet performance is important for understanding where your fleet operations currently stand and where you can strive to be. As the saying goes, knowledge is power. Without first recognizing and evaluating how your fleet operations are currently running, you simply can’t measure how close or how far away your metric goals are!
Fleet audits are a valuable way to bring about tangible results; upon performing a fleet audit, you’ll gain a deeper understanding of the costs of your fleet, both in terms of money and time, and determine which areas of your operations need more attention. This is effective fleet management because it empowers you and your team to work more efficiently while ensuring the safety and quality of your fleet.
Auditing your fleet’s performance is part of effective fleet management
Core Metrics to Audit
In today’s world of technology and the desire to know the ins and outs of every facet of your fleet operations, it can also be overwhelming and leave you scratching your head, wondering where to start. Chances are that you’re already looking at some of these figures to keep a finger on the pulse of your fleet performance, but perhaps there are some gaps in the picture you’re painting for reporting to management.
Let’s take a look at some core metrics to audit for your fleet so that you and your team have a more comprehensive approach to your fleet:
Vehicle Data
Vehicle data metrics can range from simply the number of fleet vehicles you have in your operations to more specific data like the cost per mile driven. Consider these metrics pertaining to your vehicles when auditing your fleet’s performance:
Number of vehicles owned or leased
Age of vehicle
Miles driven
Fuel efficiency
Hours spent on the road, per project, per timeframe that suits your operations, etc.
Driving behaviors like sharp acceleration, harsh braking, fast cornering, etc.
Maintenance records, such as oil changes, tires changed, etc.
Many of these metrics targeted at vehicles, specifically, could be applied to fleets with various types of equipment within their fleet. Vehicles, heavy equipment, rental companies, boats, and more could all benefit from having their metrics tracked, monitored, and audited on a routine basis.
Legal Documentation
When performing a fleet audit, it’s a great time to ensure that all appropriate legal documentation is organized and appropriately stored. In the event of an accident, a question about a particular vehicle or asset, tax time, or another situation, it’s incredibly helpful to know that each asset has its paperwork in the place you expect to find it.
Be sure you and your team have access to legal documentation like:
Insurance coverage and contact information
Title, registration, lease information (if applicable)
Driver licenses and certifications
Tax forms, background checks, and other industry-specific documents required
Keeping this information organized ensures that you won’t be scrambling for it or wondering if it’s missing when you need to present it.
Fleet Budget
Here’s the really big one for companies to hone in on: your fleet operations budget. The pattern continues to be that fleets are expected to maintain or increase their fleet productivity without a sufficient budget to support those efforts—or, even worse, fleets are expected to maintain productivity on a smaller budget.
Budget can be measured in a variety of ways, including:
Fuel
Insurance
Employee wages and benefits
Return on investment for each vehicle or asset within your fleet
Maintenance frequency—if servicing schedules are accelerated, that’s an unnecessary cost, but if maintenance is ignored then that leads to a greater cost in the long run
Marketing your fleet, for example adding decals on the side of each vehicle with branding and contact information
Legal costs
Everything has a cost to it, whether tangible or intangible. Monitoring and auditing the metrics attached to each component of your fleet operations can reveal hidden money pits or places where operations can be optimized.
Technology
As the capabilities continue to advance and later iterations sometimes end up being budget-friendly, technology is a critical part of your fleet operations. Take the time to audit where your fleet currently stands in terms of:
GPS tracking capabilities
Timesheets
Appointment scheduling systems
Filing systems
Cybersecurity standards
Employee portals
The most obvious example here would be to consider upgrading your fleet management filing system from paper folders to digital files. There are countless applications and resources available to fleets to help improve operations and keep employees on the same page!
Processes and Policies
As mentioned earlier, everything has a cost whether tangible or intangible; time is one such part of your operations that is often overlooked! Evaluate and reflect on which processes and policies could use some updating, including:
Clocking in and out
Maintenance logs
Building reports for leadership regarding fleet performance
Reminders for pertinent renewals and check-ins
Streamlining your operations doesn’t end at ensuring each vehicle is performing well; it’s also about optimizing the many moving parts within your fleet!
Audit your fleet’s performance with these metrics
How Fleet Management Software Powered by iTracker Can Streamline the Audit Process
If you’re feeling stressed about having to manually track down a majority of these metrics presented, then you should know there’s an easy way to effectively handle it all. GPS tracking and fleet management software powered by iTracker is your comprehensive, user-friendly solution for tracking fleet performance.
With more than 300,000 vehicles and assets currently being tracked by more than 500 companies around the world, we know a thing or two about optimizing fleet management workflows and empowering your fleet to be efficient and effective. Our dashboards are fully customizable to your needs so that you can see the metaphorical trees and forest. This makes reporting to management and other key stakeholders a breeze, plus it enables you to stay on top of areas of improvement.
Get started today by speaking with a iTracker expert! We’re eager to tell you how our technology seamlessly fits with your operations.
