BLOGs
Fleet Maintenance Software
Published December 02nd, 2016 by

Learn What Is Fleet Maintenance Software for Vehicle Management

Learn What Is Fleet Maintenance Software for Vehicle Management

CrowdReviews.com has a comprehensive ranking of fleet maintenance solutions for your business, giving you the edge to improve your operations digitally. You do not necessarily have to hire a team of experts to maintain your fleet. At times, you may be overly doing it simply because of administrative tasks.

By employing fleet maintenance software solutions, you no longer have to worry about extra hand in paperwork. In addition, you could even save a lot of time. You would only prove this once you learn how effective fleet maintenance software is for vehicle management.

Why Enforce a Fleet Management Solution in Your Business?

Almost any business could benefit from fleet management companies. As long as transportation is necessary, fleet delivery business could always be on the sidelines. The industry is getting big, so as the competition. According to MarketsandMarkets forecast, the fleet management market would be valued at $27.90 billion by 2021. In translation, the annual growth rate of the sector would be 23.9 percent.

The operational efficiency is required for the participants of the industry. If you want to survive the fleet management market during the period, you must ensure a smooth workflow and smarter retention of clients’ base. The business expansion is due to higher fuel consumption, maintenance costs, accidents, and stricter regulations.

Enforcing a fleet management solution in your company is not as simple as complying with the trend. There are certain advantages it could bring to your firm, such as the following:

1. Owning the Vehicles. By having your own fleet or set of vehicles, you could display your brand uniformly. You have the right to put the logo of your firm on the cars used by your workers. Consequently, your company would definitely look professional.
Have you noticed other firms leasing cars for their staff? After use, they would reimburse the automobile accordingly. Although the companies believe that they are saving money through the strategy, they are actually losing grip on the marketing advantage of owning the vehicles.If you own the vehicles used by your staff for operations, you could monitor or track the schedule and gas mileage of every car. You could also guarantee that each vehicle was thoroughly inspected, insured, and compliant to requirements of your company.

2. Better Budgeting Advantage. Since you would know every detail of the vehicle through effective fleet management, you could plan ahead for maintenance costs. You could even control the compensation for the employees’ gas compensation. You could simply provide a limit for the fuel expenses. After they exceeded the quota, the bills would no longer be handled by the company. Everything would be transparent since you could integrate the billing of cars to your online bank account.

3. Allocate Vehicles Properly. A smart fleet management gives way to better allocation of cars or vehicles for operations. You would know whether the vehicle could handle longer hours of drive or not. For instance, salesmen would not likely need SUVs. This gives you the sense of logical reasoning in utilizing cars for business. Give cars to those in need the most, and identify what car would best suit their roles in the company.

4. Parts Inventory and Warranty Tracking. You would know when to bring the vehicles for checking and maintenance since every part would be recorded along with its due warranty. Furthermore, efficient fleet management could notify if you have already utilized warranty for vehicle or not. You could even save time in completing the warranty paperwork.

Key Features in Effective Fleet Management System Has

Not simply because fleet maintenance software cloud is secured, you would buy the system already. Be reminded that it takes a set of features before you could deem a product highly effectual. There are several fleet maintenance software programs you could keep an eye on, such as the following:

1. Live Map. It is easier to track vehicles along with your team with a real-time map. If your operations focus on deliveries, shipments, or related functions, you could understand what is going on easily with a live map. You could even enhance your customer services with this feature. If you have drivers assigned for tasks, you no longer have to call them every now and then to check.

2. Fuel Diagnostics. You could keep your fuel consumption less with an automated system support. How? There are systems that could be plugged into your vehicle’s computer. This gives you the advantage to see possible fuel-related information, such as odometer, fuel usage, engine temperature, and fuel-ups among others.

3. Driver Support. It is difficult to prevent driver’s unexpected behavior, leading to accidents. In order to guide him all the way, let him use the system that could coach throughout the journey. This will not benefit you in terms of easier completion of tasks, but also in improving productivity and reducing insurance rates.

4. Driver Performance Monitoring. It is ideal to know how your drivers comply with safe driving rules. With the system, you should be able to check your driver’s idling profile, rapid acceleration, speeding, hard braking, and utilization patterns among others. Be reminded that your drivers’ behavior affect if your fleet would be prone to wear and tear.

5. Array of Vehicle Solutions. The information system must handle more than a single fleet type. Apart from car and light duty trucks, it must be fluid enough to cover landscaping fleets, taxicabs, ambulance fleets, educational vehicles, and landscaping fleets among others.

6. Two-Way Messaging. You could ensure that your workers arrive at their destinations on time with the fleet maintenance system regardless of traffic hurdles. Through a two-way messaging feature and a view of the real-time map, you could direct them to new routes when problems arise. You could coordinate with one another to ensure efficiency of traveling.

7. Reporting. The performance of your drivers and vehicles must be tracked regularly based on your pre-set schedule. Instead of organizing the reports every now and then, you could let the system provide an electronic logbook module, which would produce reports on hours of drivers’ service and vehicle status. The reports may also include the advantage of knowing when would be the next inspection of your vehicles. This will help not only in ensuring efficiency of the fleet but also in protecting your drivers.

8. Costing Module. The system must track costs of maintenance, repair, breakdown, accidents, and even unscheduled inspection among others. By having these measures on hand, you could anticipate future budget needs. You could also highlight this to financial authority in case questions arise on the monetary allotment.

9. Mobility and Flexibility. Instead of simply tracking your vehicles through a desktop PC or laptop, you should look for a software that could fit in your palm. In such case, wherever you are, you can guarantee that your business workflow is smooth. Furthermore, it is ideal to find an application having Bluetooth technology, which makes your corporate reach almost limitless.

10. Quick Installation. For sure, you do not want downtime in your operations. In such case, you should look for an application that is secure, durable, and entirely self-contained. By just a few clicks, you could already start smart-tracking your vehicles and tweak a few settings.

Easily-Installed and Highly Effective Fleet Maintenance Solutions

Numerous fleet maintenance software reviews would surely confuse you in selecting an application to adopt. Nonetheless, you must keep your evaluation gradual yet cleverly done. To help you begin with the assessment and selection, you could consider these three top-rated systems:

1. Fleetio. The ideal for the mid-sized business system could be deployed in both cloud and the local server. The modern fleet management system is designed to automate your vehicle operations. At present, it has already managed over 134,000 assets worldwide. It has asset, contact, fuel, parts inventory, and maintenance management. Most importantly, it has the technology of GPS using smartphones to ensure your driver’s high performance.The software does not require any hardware or data plans for installation. It also tracks driver’s behavior to ensure that liability and risk are reduced. Lastly, it is compatible with mobile. By using your smartphone, you could get insights on improvements and driver safety.

2. FleetMatics GPS Tracking. The solution sets itself apart from other computerized fleet managers for it has already subscribed roughly 826,000 vehicles worldwide. It has big-named customers and recognitions to boast about. The fleet maintenance system guarantees to reduce fuel cost, paperwork, and accidents. FleetMatics is geared towards improved customer satisfaction, increased productivity, and enhanced business workflow.

3. Telogis. The enterprise-sized software could give you a bigger picture of your assets, which are inclusive of people and vehicles. The system ensures driver safety, business transformation, fuel savings, asset security, and improved profitability. Apart from its efficient GPS fleet tracking, it could also integrate with maintenance, logistics, payroll, and dispatch among others. You could monitor high-value assets around-the-clock using the software since it is highly scalable and works on mobile platforms.

Regardless of your choice, you could get almost every benefit of fleet maintenance systems with the options above. Nonetheless, if you are interested to broaden your selection, you could get more unbiased and community-driven reviews of fleet maintenance software with rankings on CrowdReviews.com.

Keith Moore

Keith Moore has worked with several leading Android development agencies to build customized mobile apps enabling businesses to extend the use of their services to smart phones and mobile devices.

Our rankings are completely independent, transparent, and community driven; they are based on user reviews and client sentiment. These fleet maintenance software companies had to earn their way up and didn't just pay their way up.

View Rankings of Best Fleet Maintenance Software Companies