With last mile delivery operators and couriers preparing for the upcoming peak season, here are some tips on how to manage your fleet during peak season and come out at the other end without a massive repair bills or unnecessary downtime for your fleet.
Things to keep in mind to manage your fleet during peak season
Rented / short term leased vehicles
Most frequently heard complaint from fleet operators who get vehicles on short term leases or rentals is that they feel they were charged unfairly at return by the vehicle provider. This arises primarily due to two reasons —
(a) improper documentation of vehicle condition at the time of on-hire and off-hire and hence disputes on which damages were pre-existing and
(b) whether a specific damage is acceptable under “fair wear and tear guidelines” or not.
The first problem has a relatively simple solution — document the condition of the vehicle in an organized way by capturing and identifying damages, defects in the handover inspection before getting a sign off from both parties. Some fleets use a Google form to do the same while there are more efficient ways of doing this.
The second one is a bit more tricky and needs fleet operators to understand BVRLA recommended guidelines and insist that rental firms follow the same. Guidelines for LCVs are here. (Imagine if you had an automated solution for this, to say whether the new damage is “acceptable” damage or not… and took all the subjectivity out)
New drivers and handover inspections
As you scale up operations, you are likely to bring in temporary staff & drivers into your operations and handover your expensive assets (vans, trucks, cargobikes etc.). In order to ensure same level of transparency in handovers to drivers (actually old or new), vehicle condition has to be documented at the time of handover. Capturing images of the vehicle along with a checklist of items handed over to the drivers can be captured in either a Google form or using a fit-for-purpose app.
Doing the same inspection at the of return of the vehicle and comparing the two gives an idea of new damage in the vehicle and can also help you decide how much to recharge to the driver.
From a delivery company point of view, this increases accountability with drivers and encourages fleet and driver safety, minimizes costs to be paid out for repairs at the end of the peak season. From a driver point of view, it protects drivers from malicious charges and reduces disputes.
If you are operating a sizeable fleet (50+), a Google form solution might become cumbersome to administer and manage and a more sophisticated solution would definitely help.
Tracking vehicle condition during usage
Minimize overall risk of unreported damage by keeping tabs on your fleet. Easier said than done if vehicles are away from your depot for several days or weeks at a stretch. Getting drivers to share vehicle condition (images) on a regular basis is a daunting task, brimming with challenges. A “Google-form” type solution might work for small sized fleets but is an administrative headache — tracking which drivers have reported, the ones that havent, what have they missed in their inspections (by mistake or on purpose), tracking overall result of these inspections to name a few.
The benefits of knowing the condition of each vehicle (ideally remote inspections) is valuable — to assess level of risk/damage and potential repair costs and minimize potential compliance issues (e.g. broken wing mirrors). Remote planned inspections could be carried out with least admin hassle using this solution.
Tracking and planning repairs
Not all damage requires immediate attention. Being able to classify damages that
(a) require immediate repairs/replacements,
(b) those which need to be planned for prior to end of lease/rental period,
(c) and finally ones that can stay unrepaired
would help fleet admins and supervisors to plan repairs along with regular maintenance activities.
Some fleet operators keep stock of commonly replaced parts such as lamp assemblies, wing mirrors, bulbs and sometimes even bumpers to ensure these get replaced when the vehicles are back at depot.
Daily checks
Last but not least, a disciplined process of daily checks carried out by drivers helps highlight issues sooner. The latest DVSA recommended checklist for van walkaround checks is here. Being able to identify exceptions (which vehicles haven’t been inspected) and the workflow associated with resolving issues identified can be overwhelming in a large fleet without appropriate technology. Fleetio and UniQore are purpose built for (delivery) fleets and make this process easier.
In summary — efficient tracking of vehicle condition especially damages reduces operating costs, downtime for fleets and keeps your drivers and vehicles safe. Here is an interesting case study (note — Linkedin login required) of how a pioneering last mile delivery firm in the UK has benefited from using AI in vehicle inspections during the peak season and learnings for other operators.
About ClearQuote
- ClearQuote makes it easier for drivers to carry out accurate inspections and capture images,
- detects damages automatically and consistently based on the images using AI, and
- can differentiate between new and existing damage.
It also helps encourage safer driving by making drivers more accountable for their vehicles. Request a demo and see how ClearQuote can simplify your fleet inspection process.
