How Your Business Can Reduce Their Motoring Costs

Rising motoring costs are a concern for all businesses that have a motor fleet. If you run a fleet of vehicles as part of your business, you’ll be keeping a close eye on balancing the cost of keeping your fleet on the road with the difficulties of existing supply chain delays and meeting the demands of your customers. To help, Ascend has come up with a practical guide on how to reduce spending out on the roads.

Fuel economy

As fuel costs spiral, it’s becoming widely acknowledged that improved and careful driver’ behaviour can lead to a saving in fuel. Here’s how:

Speed

Speeding eats adverse speed is not only dangerous and likely to end in a fine, or even arrest, but up more fuel. For example, driving at 80mph instead of 70mph uses about 25% more fuel. As we enter the rigours of winter and the risk of bad weather, this becomes even more of a reason for your drivers to slow down -and reduce your fuel bill.

Style

Aggressive driving, over-revving and late braking are not only frowned-upon no-no’s when it comes to good practice on the roads, but these bad driving acts also gobble up more fuel.  Smooth acceleration and braking, as well as moving up through the gears at a timely pace, will save in fuel costs. Using gravity when driving downhill, instead of hovering over the accelerator, can also help, as does the measured anticipation of roundabouts and traffic lights.

Eco mode

If your vehicles are equipped with eco-mode, make sure your drivers use it.

Weight

The more weight you carry on a vehicle, the more miles per gallon you will pay. Check if any bulky or heavy items onboard are necessary and lighten the load of your vehicles wherever you can.

Tyres

Do you check your tyres regularly? Are they always inflated to the correct pressure? A well-maintained tyre will not only help road safety, but aid in lower fuel consumption, too.

Aircon

A vehicle’s aircon will use up fuel. Ensure your drivers don’t have it running for long periods unnecessarily. Conversely, driving with windows wide open can cause drag and also accelerate fuel use.

Technology

Make sure your drivers fully use their vehicles’ telematics and driver management systems. These can both identify problems as they arise, and encourage drivers to be more considerate on the road – leading to greater fuel economy and less driving offences, incidents or insurance claims.

Plan the route

If a route is planned effectively, traffic jams and black spots can be avoided, and there will be less call for idling in traffic, where fuel is wasted.

Your insurance policy

Motor insurance is, of course, crucial to running any business, and there are a few ways you can save money when it comes to your next renewal:

Drivers

If you restrict the type and number of drivers that operate your fleet - for example, excluding drivers under the age of 25 - you could make savings on your policy.

Excess

If you agree to a higher excess, this could lower your premium, but you would have to contribute to the first cost of any claim.

Risk management

The more you can demonstrate you have a handle on your risk management when it comes to road safety and the safety of your drivers, the lower your premium. Areas to consider:

Storage

How and where are your vehicles stored and how secure are they?

Security

Do the vehicles in your fleet have alarms or trackers?

Checks

Do you make daily checks to ensure there ae no problems with your vehicles?

Cameras

Do your vehicles have on-board cameras or dash-cams to both identify liability after an accident and have a positive effect on driver behaviour?

Documents

Have you issued your drivers with a Driver Handbook to standardise procedures and safety policies?

Training

Do you have ongoing driver training?

Incident reporting

Do all your drivers know what to do, step-by-step, in the event of an incident?

At the pumps, prices for petrol and diesel are high at the moment, but there are still measurable savings to be made.

Petrol prices

These can vary between garages and service stations, so use price checker apps and websites to check the cheapest places in your area to refuel your vehicles.

Fuel cards

Consider the option of giving out company fuel cards to make savings and monitor spending.

Not only can Ascend find you the best policy for the insurance of your fleet of vehicles and help reduce motoring costs, but we also offer a suite of apps to help businesses and drivers manage and expediate claims. Driver metrics, DriveHQ, Bright Miles and the 24/7 claims app. Contact Ascend today to find out more.  

Other blog you may find of interest:

Motor Trade Underinsurance - Make sure you have the right cover TODAY!

What can Fleets Expect in 2023?

Consider self insurance for your motor fleet

Any questions? Please don’t hesitate to contact one of our team.

steven.gillespie@ascendbroking.co.uk  |  Office: 01245 449060