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If you have the type of business where you are required to have a fleet of vehicles on the road you will know the importance of keeping that fleet on the road and running smoothly as any disruption in service can be costly in lost time and staff wages, also affecting quality of service as you are letting your customers down.

You will want to limit costs of vehicle issues as far as possible and have as smooth running of the fleet as is possible.

Regular Servicing

Servicing of vehicles is not to be underestimated and although can be a considerable expense it can actually save much more costly repairs in the long run. You will find that there are service intervals recommended by your vehicle’s manufacturer, and these usually come in the form of a mileage and/or time and you should service the vehicle after whichever of these comes first. As well as ensuring the smooth operating of your vehicles having a full service record increases the resale value of your vehicles. You can service the vehicles in house if you have the required skills but there are draw-backs to this as well as advantages.

Staff To Inspect Vehicles Daily

You will want to ensure your staff inspect vehicles daily before heading off each morning and make a report on the vehicle log of any issues arising through these inspections. This will give you early warning of any issues that are developing and can allow you to avoid things developing to a real problem resulting of lost time off the road.

Make Sure You Use Quality Fuel

For any vehicle it’s vitally important to use the best quality fuel. This is usually easy if you buy at the pump as there are standards that have to be kept. But if you are storing the fuel at your own premises it is important to regularly have a recognised company perform fuel sampling to test if there are any impurities in the fuel. 

Have Breakdown Cover 

Break-down cover is a good idea as even if your fleet comprises of mostly new vehicles anything can happen and if you find your vehicle broken down then the cost of recovery without cover can be huge, especially if you are far from base when it happens. Getting a good policy that can allow your vehicle to be recovered and either fixed or returned to your premises is key, make sure you get a policy that covers your type of vehicle and the range you drive within, be mindful if you need a local, regional, national or European level of cover. 

Use Vehicle Tracking

If you want to make sure your vehicles are being used in the right way by your staff you can put vehicle trackers on the fleet. This will allow you to be able to tell if the vehicles are where they are supposed to be and if your staff are arriving and leaving at the correct times. This limits staff taking excessive breaks and leaving their sites when they are not supposed to.

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