Fleet management plays an important role in any business with five or more vehicles. There are so many moving parts involved, such as finding and retaining drivers, scheduling vehicle maintenance, reducing excess idling and speeding, accurate record-keeping, and more. Your fleet has all the issues of a larger fleet, with some unique challenges tacked on.
![Small fleet tracking solutions by MiX by Powerfleet](jpg/small-fleet-tracking-bafab1c1.jpg)
Challenges Faced by Small Fleet Owners
Most small fleets consider increasing costs as their biggest challenge. No surprise there. Fuel costs, insurance, and vehicle maintenance are just a few things that take a bite out of your budget. Sometimes the list seems to go on and on. And with many small fleets, you are probably juggling more roles than any one person should in order to keep your business running smoothly.
Just like larger fleets, telematics for small fleets can address their unique challenges and help keep their business running.
Small fleet managers often choose a telematics solution to:
- Manage driver behavior to reduce accidents and improve fuel efficiency.
- Track their vehicles to estimate on-time arrivals along scheduled routes and stops.
- Locate vehicles within a yard to facilitate servicing and licensing procedures.
- Plan maintenance to extend vehicle lifespan and reduce downtime.
- Real-time communication with drivers to keep operations running smoothly.
Small Fleets That Can Benefit from MiX by Powerfleet Fleet Management
- Landscaping companies
- Pest control companies
- Plumbing companies
- AC & Heating repair and installation companies
- Solar Panel installation companies
- Food truck companies
Small fleet management isn't easy. To keep things running smoothly, you have to juggle roles and tasks such as new job estimates, billing, purchasing new equipment, advertising, hiring, payroll, and more. Fleet tracking and reliability should be the least of your worries. However, keeping your fleet running efficiently can be challenging when you lack data visibility.
Using methods like paper and spreadsheets to manage and keep track of your small business fleet takes more time and effort than you have to spare. These outdated systems create communication bottlenecks and often make the information hard to find and compare, which causes excess downtime and unnecessary expenses.
One of the most important aspects of managing your fleet is controlling your bottom line. When you can't easily track and analyze your fleet data, it's hard to know your fleet's actual total cost of ownership (TCO). Without this number, you may end up making critical errors in your fleet operations.
Benefits of MiX by Powerfleet for Small Fleet Management
To track vehicles, reduce downtime and control costs, you need a robust management system in place. One that is intuitive and easy to use, so that it saves you valuable time and effort. At MiX by Powerfleet, we give you the tools to make the unseen, seen. And with that improved visibility and information, you are more in control.
Small business fleet managers benefit from using MiX by Powerfleet fleet management software to manage and track every aspect of their fleet. Our software lets you automate processes, keep all the data about your fleet in one place, easily track operating costs, and generate reports that let you analyze your data for better results. Optimizing your small business fleet and automating processes with the help of software frees up valuable time for you to focus on improving your bottom line. Here are four ways a small fleet tracking system can help your business.
- Improve Your Small Fleet Fuel Efficiency
- Reduce Driver Turnover with Small Fleet Maintenance
- Improve Your Small Fleet Maintenance
- Small Fleet Driver Accountability
Improve Your Small Fleet Fuel Efficiency
Clocking in at approximately 60% of a fleet's total operating cost, fuel can put a huge dent in your budget. It can be challenging to pin down why fuel costs are so high since fuel prices are generally volatile and fluctuate due to a variety of factors, leaving you at the mercy of the pump. This is a reality all fleets must deal with.
With Mix Telamatics, you can automatically measure your fleet's fuel use accurately. You can then receive a report that lets you see how much fuel your fleet uses overall and drill down to fuel use by driver. You'll see who is speeding, idling excessively, accelerating too rapidly, and other factors that affect fuel usage. This allows you to take action to improve the fuel efficiency of your fleet.
Reduce Driver Turnover with Small Fleet Maintenance
Driver retention and turnover is a persistent problem in fleets of all sizes. One of the main reasons for this is disciplinary issues. With MiX by Powerfleet you can reduce these problems and reduce driver turnover in your fleet. Once hired, training is key to driver retention. Using the small fleet tracking data provided, you can help drivers improve, creating a safety culture and decrease insurance premiums, and keep your drivers happy. Making drivers better at their jobs will lower their stress levels on the road, increase job satisfaction, and reduce driver turnover.
No matter if you are implementing driver training to manage risk, improve safety, or increase job satisfaction for your drivers, your fleet's success increases when you use a consistent, relevant driver training program. Your crash risk will go down, vehicles will have a longer lifespan, repair costs will lessen, driver turnover rate will decrease, and company reputation will improve.
Improve Your Small Fleet Maintenance
When you buy a car or truck for your fleet, it is important to understand the TCO. One of the most significant factors in TCO is vehicle maintenance. The cost of maintenance will increase over the life of the vehicle, a factor you have no control over. But, you can control the quality and consistency of maintenance. Our small fleet telematics software can automate this process so that your fleet vehicles receive regular and effective maintenance.
This not only saves you money, but it also saves you time. You can pre-schedule your maintenance so you don't have to worry if a mechanic is free, and you can prevent one part's wear and tear from affecting another part.
You can also collect data on your vehicles to use when making your next purchase. You'll see trends of failure in particular types of vehicles and parts. If you notice a part wearing out too quickly, you'll have documentation for your warranty claim. You can develop preventative and predictive maintenance strategies that can save you money.
Small Fleet Driver Accountability
Enforcing accountability for your drivers with a telematics system is like driving with your eyes shut. If you don't have visibility into your drivers' behavior, you can't maintain standards or enforce a driver policy.
MiX by Powerfleet gives you visibility into your entire fleet operations. It lets you know exactly where your vehicles are. No more calls for location updates, estimated times of arrival, or their current routes. It's all there for you with just a few clicks.
Sending drivers on the most optimized route is a significant factor in accountability. Being able to analyze and optimize routes is another one of the ways small fleet telematics can save you time and money. The data you get lets you hold drivers accountable for their routes, alerts them to traffic and road hazards, and, as mentioned, saves on fuel costs.
See What Our Customers Have to Say about MiX by Powerfleet
"We rely heavily on MiX Solution to help us keep tabs on our vehicles and staff, and to ensure everyone is driving safely."
- Bobby Frisch, co-owner of Frisch & Sons, Demolition, Excavation, & Landscaping
Browse our case studies or our white papers to see how we've helped our customers and how we can help you.
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