Top tips to managing an ageing vehicle fleet

Penny Stoolman, managing director at Prestige Fleet Servicing, shares her top tips to managing an ageing vehicle fleet, helping businesses to cut emissions, minimise downtime and streamline running costs.

Whether you’re taking blueprints to a client, fitting out a new venue or heading to site, you’ll know the critical importance of managing the risk of vehicle off-road (VOR) – the time businesses lose to the unscheduled repair and servicing of company or grey fleet vehicles. Indeed, VOR has the potential to significantly impact business profitability, with some estimates calculating costs of up to £1,000 for every day a vehicle is off the road. However, if the vehicles used within your day-to-day operations and activities are older, this will significantly increase your risk of business downtime.

Older vehicles need more regular servicing and, on average, consume more fuel and generate more emissions. They also carry a higher risk of breakdown and may not comply with new environmental legislation such as clean air zones (CAZs). However, older fleets are becoming increasingly commonplace, with business owners forced to hang on to vehicles for longer in response to the current supply chain challenges.

However, by taking a focused approach to preventative maintenance, the risk to your business can be mitigated, allowing you to reap the financial benefit of foregoing a vehicle upgrade in the short term. To help you manage this, I’ve pulled together my list of top tips to aid with downtime prevention planning.

1.     Determine trigger points for maintenance activity  

Do you know how the maintenance schedule, requirements, history and fuel usage of every single vehicle used within your business, regardless of type? To build a complete picture, you’ll need to review the maintenance history of each vehicle and parts replaced. Each model should have an inspection and service record and details of current mileage and fluid levels. Decide on a trigger point to schedule maintenance activity, i.e. every 5,000 miles, and create software service reminders for each vehicle. Source and follow your OEM’s recommended maintenance plan, if available.

2.     Forward book MOTs

Pre-planning servicing and MOTs will allow you to factor in VOR time throughout the year and hopefully avoid any nasty surprises along the way. On average, a third of light commercial vehicles such as vans initially fail their MOTs,[3] leaving businesses compromised in the event of a tight turnaround. Taking advantage, for example, of forward booking options can minimise downtime, ensuring vehicles are fully utilised for longer. At Prestige, we offer a 90-day forward booking facility, working with operators to optimise their vehicle testing schedules.

3.     Plan ahead for winter

Remember that your vehicles’ needs will change in the colder months. Vehicle batteries rarely last longer than five years, while heating, lights and windscreen wipers add to a vehicle’s electrical load in winter. We also recommend 3mm of tyre tread in the colder months. To ease unnecessary costs, we recommend scheduling in an annual winter vehicle check.

4.     Are you responsible for your employees’ vehicles? 

It’s important to remember that if a vehicle is being used for business travel, employers are responsible for ensuring that it is adequately maintained and safe even if the vehicles are not owned by the business – a term known as grey fleet. Poorly maintained vehicles can cause costly business downtime issues and, more critically, leave employers widely exposed under the Corporate Manslaughter Act 2007. Failure to properly manage service intervals, collisional damage and uninsured losses in the event of an incident can result in unplanned downtime and expense. The impact of absenteeism also counts as business downtime, and reputational damage should also be considered.

If you’re not already doing this, it makes sense to start putting some procedures in place. You can easily find out if a vehicle has up-to-date vehicle tax or has been registered as off the road (SORN) here, although bear in mind it can take up to five working days for records to update once registered. Businesses should also request proof of insurance, including business cover, servicing and an up-to-date MOT. Scheduling insurance, MOT and road tax reminders will help you remember key milestone dates.

5.     Identify and sell older vehicles

If your fleet comprises a number of vehicles, analysing the data for each one should also help you to identify if there are any models that aren’t currently being used or that are reaching end of life, allowing you to calculate the best time to sell those nearing termination point.

If you need further guidance on managing your ageing fleet, our team are ready to take away the associated stress and strains. Visit https://www.theaa.com/business/prestige-fleet-servicing to find out what we can do to help.