Everything you need to know about running vehicles.
The second half of our alphabetical run-through of fleet management: Networks to Zap-Map.
Networks
Having networks that can help your fleet operation is essential, whether it be for vehicle supply, servicing, maintenance, and repair, refuelling or charging. At Allstar, we offer established, broad networks for many services: 7,700 fuel stations covering 90% of the UK, more than 10,000 EV charging points at over 3,000 locations, more than 1,500 tyre fitters, including mobile and centres, as well as thousands of garages for SMR.
Online
Everything about fleet management is increasingly digitised and moving to online systems, rather than using spreadsheets or paper-based records, can help you work more efficiently and effectively. Whether it’s taking pay and reclaim for fuel and expenses online or using dashboards to see vehicle status in real time, online processes can reduce administration and costs.
Payments
Ultimately, for all the strategy and planning you can do, your fleet costs what you pay for it when it’s on the road working – and so it’s vital that payments are controlled carefully, so that your day-to-day experience matches your budget. This is where fuel cards come in. By using them you can keep payments in one place, get a clear understanding of what is being spent and then control it too. At Allstar we have cards for all types of fleet cost. See them here.
Quantitive research
To make decisions about how your fleet can benefit your business, you need good quantitative data to make better decisions. That might be around running costs, reliability, or any number of metrics. But you can only manage what you measure. Use suppliers who can report this data to you in clear and usable ways.
Remarketing
The fleet industry is underpinned by the used value of cars, vans, and trucks. Strong used values ensure better wholelife costs and so it is important to have a strategy for defleeting your vehicles to maximise this. Whether it is optimum contract lengths or mileages, or rules around vehicle condition, a plan for remarketing will benefit your ROI at the back end and reduce overall costs.
Servicing, maintenance, and repair
For any business, the importance of keeping vehicles on the road is self-evident. So, you need partners who can do this for you, allowing you to reduce costs and increase availability. The fact is not all vehicles cost the same to service and repair, and so you need a partner who can give you transparency, letting you drill down into what parts and labour actually cost, allowing you to fully understand the financial impact of SMR.
ServicePoint can help you do this.
Tyres
Tyres are a major expense in most fleets and hunting about for the best prices, and suppliers to fit them, can be time consuming. With Servicepoint Tyres you can search, book fittings and purchase online, choosing from thousands of competitively priced, nationwide, suppliers.
Utilisation
Improving vehicle utilisation is likely to increase business productivity, so take steps to keep them on the road. This means regular maintenance and repairs, suppliers who can manage breakdown and accidents efficiently, employee accountability for the condition of vehicles, and using the right car, van, or truck for the job.
VAT
Managing VAT is a necessary task for all businesses, and it pays to be as efficient as possible at claiming everything back you are due. Making sure that you have VAT-compliant invoices is key, but when employees are paying for goods and services themselves, this can be difficult. With Allstar cards, you directly receive VAT-compliant invoices instead, ensuring you can claim back what is due.
Wear and tear
All vehicles will get bumps, scrapes, and scratches during their life, but if you hand them back to suppliers in too bad a state you could incur charges for rectification.
How much is acceptable is defined by the British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association here.
X-rated expenses
In businesses, employees can rack up unexpected costs if you’re not careful. Using the Allstar Plus business credit card, you can put spending limits in place, create controls on certain items and track usage to ensure that expenses don’t become X-rated.
Yield
Do you know what your fleet really costs you? Not just in outlay to source and then run, but in benefit to your business? By understanding the return on investment, and yield of the vehicles and what they do for you, you’ll have a more holistic view of how your business operates.
Zap-Map
A modern fleet is complex and evolving, and often requires many specialist partners for petrol, diesel and electric cars, vans, and trucks. At Allstar we work with many companies including Zap-Map, who we partner with to offer drivers the ability to search, plan and pay for electric vehicle charging across multiple charging networks.
We also work with a number of partners including; Mina, The AA, Colewood Automotive, National Windscreens and Visa to provide many of the other core services your fleet needs.
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