Fuel price volatility is the biggest challenge facing fleet managers today, according to research conducted by LeasePlan.
Whether they’re running a handful of vans or several hundred vehicles, a recent survey from Leaseplan found that managers up and down the country share the same concerns over the fluctuating cost of fuel.
Other key challenges for larger fleets include driver safety and productivity, with 39% of respondents listing this area as a major consideration. A third said that reducing emissions and implementing greener fleet initiatives presented another significant hurdle. Research also revealed that, regardless of the size of fleet, finding ways to better manage costs was a pressing priority.
The aim of the survey was to gain even more insight into the needs of today’s fleet decision makers. Working with SMEs, public sector bodies and large corporations for over 50 years has taught LeasePlan that every business is different, says the company. The company carried out this research in order to get a greater understanding of the busy people it works with every day – and to discover ways in which it could help take the stress and burden of vehicle-related admin away.
Driver safety came in close behind fuel prices and cost management as the third biggest issue – and the bigger the fleet size, the more important driver safety and driver productivity became.
The company believes that by using LeasePlan’s telematics system, fleet managers will know where their vehicles are right now, who’s driving them and how much fuel they’re using. The data also helps users spot and rein in bad driving habits, improve safety and save fuel (up to 10% on average).
Environmental impact
Larger operations place the environmental impact of their fleet higher up the agenda, and with fleet decision makers now needing to report, manage and control CO2 emissions, it’s an issue that’s growing ever more important. For the biggest fleets surveyed (those running over 350 vehicles), reducing emissions and implementing greener fleet initiatives was cited as a significant challenge (33%). Turning to Ultra Low Emission Vehicles could be the answer. Emitting less than 75g of CO2 per kilometre, ULEVs are a perfect fit for a company looking to reduce the emissions of its fleet.
Business Critical Fleets
It goes without saying that for medium- sized fleets operating business critical vehicles, it’s essential that their vehicles spend as much time as possible on the road – and increasing driver productivity was listed as the second biggest challenge for this sector.
The latest technology delivering valuable data means services, inspections and other scheduled maintenance can be planned around working patterns. Crucially, it means operators are assured of the maximum possible uptime for every vehicle, and can face the challenges sited in this survey head on.
