Fleet financial management: how to control costs

Fleet managers can reduce expenses and optimize management through systems, policies, equipment and maintenance strategies.

Before equipping vehicles with additional technologies or implementing fuel-saving strategies, it is important to assess your fleet, the costs already appearing in the operation and the tools available for efficient fleet management, including the financial management of company vehicles.

Read on to learn how to manage your fleet's finances without mistakes, which controls help in daily work and which practices can support savings on refueling and maintenance. Let's take a look!

How do you manage fleet finances?

Fleet financial management can help save on refueling and maintenance expenses, allowing managers greater control, predictability and convenience in their routine.

To make this management easier and effective, the first step is to organize records of refueling, maintenance, mileage, routes, people responsible and costs per vehicle. When this information is scattered, the company may pay its expenses but cannot understand which vehicles, journeys or habits are driving up spending.

Using control tools and routines creates the opportunity for financial savings through improved fuel economy, fewer process failures and faster decisions. Get to know these supporting tools below.

Fleet financial management: which tools should you use?

Tools that support fleet financial management are processes for keeping track of, recording, setting parameters for and analyzing activities involving your company's vehicles.

Managers generally have access to reports based on these activities, providing information on trends and refueling and maintenance frequency, and identifying potential areas for improvement.

See how these tools work:

Card and fleet management software

Fleet fuel management does not need to be complicated. The essential point is for every refueling to have a reliable record, allow later verification and feed reports for comparing vehicles, drivers, cost centers and routes.

A fleet management card, when integrated with a control system, can bring fuel and maintenance expenses into a more organized routine. The manager starts keeping track of financial transactions through a portal or app and can reduce reliance on spreadsheets, loose receipts and manual calculations.

This allows fuel purchase data to reach the management software with less rework, helping maintain the history, person responsible, amount, date and other information needed for analysis.

With cards and fleet management software, you can limit improper charges, cross-reference data, generate reports and gain greater control over important operational parameters. For refueling, it is also worth maintaining a clear policy on stations and suppliers: in Brazil, automotive fuel retail requires authorization from ANP, Brazil's National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels, and the agency's public search allows you to check retailers' registration details and status.

Vehicle telematics

Vehicle telematics is a market technology that can monitor driver behavior and provide feedback to support reduced fuel consumption. Driver feedback devices can help drivers drive more efficiently, and practices such as avoiding rapid acceleration, harsh braking and speeding help reduce waste.

These systems can also provide information such as speed, distance traveled, location and stop times, depending on the solution the fleet has contracted for. Drivers can receive alerts or consult reports afterward, and fleet managers can use this information to guide training and internal policies.

Some fleets combine analysis of drivers, vehicles and routes to identify fuel-saving opportunities, such as minimizing aggressive starts and stops, limiting idling and maintaining a constant speed when safety conditions allow.

Tips for improving your fleet's efficiency

Even the most experienced fleet managers can benefit from some tips for improving company vehicle management. Here are a few:

Driver training

Fuel economy is reduced by idling, speeding, frequent or inappropriate gear changes, acceleration, aggressive or frequent braking and winding routes. Many companies train their drivers to adopt fuel-saving practices.

Training should turn data into practical behavior: guidance on gradual acceleration, anticipating braking, respecting speed limits, reducing time stopped with the engine running and planning stops. Aggressive driving wastes fuel, and fuel economy usually drops rapidly at speeds above 50 mph, according to a United States energy-efficiency reference. Idling also consumes fuel: the estimate cited by the same source is between a quarter and half a gallon per hour.

Providing incentives

In combination with training programs, fleet managers can encourage drivers to adopt efficient driving by offering incentives and recognition.

Incentives work better when the rules are transparent. Rather than rewarding only those who spend less, assess comparable indicators by route type, cargo, vehicle and conditions of use. This reduces distortions and reinforces behaviors that really depend on the driver, such as avoiding harsh acceleration, reducing idling and reporting faults noticed in the vehicle.

Implementing policies

Public and private companies can implement policies to establish minimum efficiency goals, require fuel-saving methods or set emission-reduction goals.

Some corporate policies specify maximum driving speeds for safety. Fleets can also develop equipment lists or set limits on the amount of cargo carried in a vehicle.

This policy should define who refuels, where they refuel, how expenses are documented, what data needs recording and in which situations an exception is allowed. It can also provide for periodic checks of suppliers used by the fleet, since in Brazil stations and automotive fuel retailers need ANP authorization.

Optimizing routes

Planning optimized routes helps maximize vehicle efficiency by reducing distance traveled, stops at traffic lights, time spent in traffic and the number of vehicles needed for the routes.

Besides choosing shorter paths, optimization should consider delivery windows, concentrations of service calls in the same area, peak traffic times and the actual need to travel. Short trips with a cold engine tend to worsen fuel economy compared with a warm engine, and combining tasks in a single trip can save time and money.

Maintain vehicles properly

Proper fleet maintenance promotes savings on refueling through strict preventive maintenance practices. Drivers should be cautious about devices and additives claiming to improve fuel economy and reduce pollution, as they may not be legitimate.

It is also worth standardizing simple checks, such as tires, oil, dashboard warnings and routine inspections. Correct calibration can improve consumption, and using the engine oil recommended by the manufacturer also helps fuel economy. When the check engine light comes on, the recommendation is to take the vehicle for inspection by a mechanic.

We have seen that efficient fleet management is essential to a fleet's proper operation, regardless of the size and types of vehicles your company owns.

And the best way to do this is to combine financial control, reliable data, internal policies and preventive maintenance. With this foundation, managers stop looking only at expenses after they occur and start acting on the causes that increase refueling, maintenance and rework.

Review your fleet's records, standardize refueling and maintenance rules and use reports to decide where to cut waste without compromising the operation.