Reduce Fleet Costs With These 3 Proven Strategies

If you have a vehicle fleet, you’re probably looking for ways to reduce your Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). Whether your fleet is large or small, your vehicles represent a significant commitment.

At Ewald Fleet Solutions, we understand. We are here to help you maximize your fleet’s value and reduce the time you have to spend managing it, allowing you to focus on your business. This article shares three strategies to help reduce fleet expenses. You’ll find that each of these strategies will have a significant impact on your bottom line.

1. Maximize Fuel Management

Fleet fuel costs are a major—and constantly rising—expense. It’s essential that you track each fuel purchase. Fortunately, monitoring and tracking vehicle expenses is easier using fleet fuel cards.

With a fleet fuel card, your drivers can fill up at nearly any station nationwide. Every purchase is automatically recorded, and available for your team to analyze.

• Your drivers become more efficient, because they won’t waste time hunting for an “approved” filling station.
• Your team works faster and more accurately: with a single monthly invoice for all card purchases, they'll never have to collect, record, or reconcile fuel receipts again!
• You can virtually eliminate fuel fraud: you know when and where every driver filled up. The system identifies suspicious purchases, such as when the fuel type isn’t right, or when the amount of fuel is unusually high. No one likes to admit it, but fuel fraud can—and will—happen.

2. Reduce TCO with Life Cycle Management

For long-term savings, it’s critical to understand—and minimize—your TCO over the life cycle of your vehicles. From acquisition through disposal, there are many factors that can reduce your TCO.

Most companies reduce fleet expenses by leasing rather than purchasing. Leasing vehicles drops monthly expenses and reduces operating costs. It also allows you to operate a fleet of newer vehicles for less cost—in part, because vehicles are removed from service before their maintenance expenses rise.

Partnering with a fleet management company can significantly improve your vehicle life cycle management. At Ewald Fleet Solutions, we save money for our customers on each vehicle, from strategic purchasing to cost-effective leasing and efficient fleet management, through to well-planned vehicle disposal.

3. Improve Maintenance Management

A fleet maintenance program—set up through your fleet management company—is a key strategy for reducing maintenance costs. Fleet maintenance programs offer a number of benefits, including:

• Scheduled maintenance visits, which keep you on top of preventative maintenance and help you catch issues early.
• No unnecessary repairs: ASE-certified technicians manage repairs, and ensure that only necessary service is performed.
• Prevention of overcharges: parts and labor costs are monitored and compared to parts and labor manuals allowing the technician to negotiate pricing to prevent any overcharge.
• Accurate, detailed maintenance history reports allow ASE technicians to verify repair histories, which can identify opportunities for reduced or no-cost repairs for recurring mechanical issues.

A fleet management company is your partner in managing your maintenance program. Here at Ewald, our customers benefit from our nationwide network of maintenance partners.

Final Thoughts

Try one of these strategies and you will see significant long-term cost savings. Put two, or all three into effect and your fleet expenses will noticeably decline!

Not sure where to start? The team here at Ewald Fleet Solutions is here to help. Our fleet management professionals assist businesses across the United States in reducing costs and improving efficiencies for their fleet. We do the heavy lifting, so you can focus on what you do best—running your business.

Next Step

Would you like a free, personalized cost-savings estimate for your fleet? Check out our fleet cost calculator tool underneath the author section below. It takes about five minutes to complete, and you can do it all on your own, right here on our website.

Get to know the Author

Dan Ewald is the present of Ewald Fleet Solutions and is passionate about ensuring our team consistently exceeds our customers' expectations.

A member of the National Vehicle Leasing Association, he is a Certified Vehicle Leasing Executive (CVLE). He also serves as Chairman of a Cathedral Leasing Competitive Edge Roundtable and is a member of the Milwaukee Association of Commerce.

Dan enjoys fishing, golfing, hiking, and reading. He and his wife, Patti, treasure their time together with their grandkids.

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