Things to Think About When Selecting Your Fleet Vehicle

1. The Use and Operation of your Vehicle

The use and operation of your vehicles should be the first consideration when it comes to vehicle selection.No matter if you’re buying, financing or leasing your vehicles, be wary of discounts that fix you into rigid vehicle choice lists, as it may restrict you to options that don’t fit your operational purposes.The larger the vehicle, the larger the cost of upkeep. By reducing unnecessary vehicle weight, you could make considerable savings on monthly outgoings, such as fuel, tyres and spare parts.

2. Vehicle Specifications

Vehicle come in many different shapes and sizes, so you need to pair the operational needs with the correct specifications. In some instances, your company’s vehicles are not only act as a means of transport, but also make the first impression when it comes to company image, so you should be mindful that each vehicle matches the employees job description.
It’s also a great idea to consider how vehicle selection can support corporate objectives and branding. For example, if your company is ‘green’, the fuel types should reflect this. If you sell luxury goods, a small, basic vehicle may negatively reflect your brand image. The key specification items you should concentrate on are fuel type, transmission (manual or automatic), body type, number of doors, emissions and engine size among others.

3. User’s Expectations and Extra Costs

If you allow your employees to select optional extras, be aware that some additions will enhance the resell values, while others don’t. For example, on premium cars leather seats will increase the resell value, but not on basic models. Meanwhile, the condition of alloy wheels can enhance or decrease your cars value.If a company car is part of an employee benefit, allow for a degree of flexibility in additional extras as this can boost staff morale.The happier the team, the smoother your fleet runs!

4. Safety

For most fleet managers, reducing accident costs is of high importance, so driver and vehicle safety should rank highly.If that is true of your fleet operation, you should not only consider the safety rating of potential vehicles, but also investing in technologies that mitigate the potential risk. This might be automated braking; adaptive cruise control; parking cameras; telematics; and more.A comprehensive cost-benefit analysis of such solutions can also lead to more informed choices, and might even be conducive to a faster return on investment.

5. Maintenance and Upkeep

Other hefty costs that come hand-in-hand with vehicle ownership present themselves in the form of fuel, tax, maintenance and repair work – so be sure to do your research into projected costs. When looking at the complete lifecycle, your vehicles will need routine service checks, spare parts, manual labour and waranty cover among other costs

Other issues that will undoubtedly impact vehicle replacement cycles include economic factors such as interest rates that affect financing costs; anticipated costs of new vehicles in later model years; and even the cost of used vehicles on the resale market.