Author: Simon Pavey

As the end of autumn approaches, it may be a good time to take a look at your winter vehicle checks and prepare your fleet for winter. Winter weather means an increase in rain, sleet, snow and ice, all factors that could make driving in the colder months of the year that much more dangerous. Research suggests that accident rates increase as much as 20 per cent on average during these winter months. But there are a number of checks and practises that can be undertaken to help ensure your fleet don’t become a part of the statistics.

Here is a checklist we have compiled to ensure your vehicles and drivers are well prepared for what the winter brings.

Routine maintenance checks

Maintenance of your fleet vehicles should be constantly managed in any fleet business. But as winter approaches, it is crucial to ensure your vehicles are prepared.

MyService.Expert is a great tool that can help you to manage the maintenance schedule and costs for your fleet. Not only does MyService.Expert help to organise costs and bookings, we have also negotiated a range of competitive rates from garages around the country to help cut the costs.

Tyre checks

Tyres are key to both good steering and safe braking. Consider utilising winter tyres for all of your fleet vehicles, particularly if your vehicles tend to visit remote areas. Winter tyres have tread that gets harder as weather gets colder, allowing the vehicle to drive over ice or snow easier than general tyres

Check the tyre tread more frequently. The recommendation is that treads are 3mm minimum to manage slippery conditions.

Inspect engines

Inspect all engines often, especially before long haul journeys. For added protection, anti-freeze should be replenished when possible.

Replace old batteries

Minimise the possibility for battery failure by ensuring no batteries are older than 5 years. Older batteries may struggle to hold their charge in the cold, and this can lead to fleet vehicles not turning on. For the efficient operation of your fleet, consider checking the health of and even replacing batteries that are older than three years.

Screen Wash

Lastly, check the screen wash levels and ensure your fleet are using a screen wash fluid with a suitable freezing point. It’s always important that screen wash is topped up so that drivers can clear their line of sight when driving, and should the screen wash freeze it could hinder visibility and safety.

Emergency packs for drivers

Ensure that all vehicles carry an emergency kit. If your driver breaks down, the emergency kit will provide some essentials to help the situation. Items may include:

• High visibility jacket
• Torch
• Batteries
• Screen wash
• Ice scraper
• De-icer
• Emergency contact information

Make sure all of your drivers are aware of the emergency kits, so they are prepared if anything were to happen due to winter conditions.

Safety tips for winter driving

Keep your drivers updated of the possibilities of harsh weather. You may want to advise drivers to adapt their driver behaviour in line with severe road conditions.

Keep a constant speed

Keeping a constant speed when driving in winter weather helps to improve the grip of the vehicle to the road. Drivers should also move to higher gears quickly when driving on icy roads.

Leave plenty of room

Wet, icy and snowy roads can present an obvious risk of collision if not driven properly. Breaking distance is significantly impacted by winter weather, and as such fleet drivers should be reminded to always keep a generous distance between themselves and other drivers.

Avoid harsh acceleration

Accelerating harshly can cause vehicles to skid and trigger wheel spin. Whilst these are sometimes inevitable when driving in particularly cold and icy weather, not breaking too harshly can help to avoid it.

Use headlights in heavy snow

If faced with a journey in heavy snow, headlights should be used. Dense snow fall can seriously obscure driver vision, and driving in such conditions should often be avoided. However, when driving in snow is necessary, taking every measure to improve vision is vital to avoid accidents.

Use second gear to pull off

Using second gear and gently accelerating to pull off reduces the risk of wheel spin and skidding, allowing for a smoother and more efficient start to the journey.

Monitor driver safety with telematics

To add another layer of security, consider installing telematics in your vehicles. If your driver breaks down for whatever reason, you can locate your driver in a matter of seconds as opposed to relying on your driver’s describing where they are.

Tele-Gence is our advanced telematics service designed to improve driver safety and reduce costs with the best of market technology. Offering fully customisable software with a range of great tracking tools that can help fleet managers to monitor driver habits and safety, Tele-Gence is a invaluable addition to fleet management tools as we head into the colder months.

We hope our top tips on how to prepare your fleet for winter is useful to you and your drivers. To discuss vehicle tracking options, our Tele-Gence team are on hand to talk through the best fit for your business.

Making a decision on leasing versus buying vehicles is one of the most important parts of a fleet manager’s job. But it’s never a simple choice, and there’s no easy answer about which is best.

It’s not only about the costs. Every firm will have its own needs and limitations that must be taken into account. For example, how much mileage do you expect to do? How flexible will you need to be?

Understanding what the specific demands of your firm will be is crucial in making the right decision. Get it wrong and you could find yourself locked into an expensive contract, or struggling to offload unsuitable vehicles.

The factors affecting your decisions

Both leasing and purchasing vehicles have their own pros and cons. It’s therefore important to have a clear picture of your company’s situation and needs before making a decision. Here are some of the key factors you should be looking at.

1.  Cost

Your firm’s financial position may dictate some of your decision-making. Buying a vehicle outright will naturally incur higher upfront costs. But this is not the only expense you have to think about.

You also need to take into account the total cost of ownership (TCO), such as maintenance bills and monthly payments. In the long term, this can work out more expensive for a leasing agreement than a purchase.

Some of the financial pros of buying a vehicle include:

• Cheaper long-term costs – If you plan on keeping a vehicle for many years, the TCO is likely to work out cheaper than for leasing.
• Company asset – Once paid off, the vehicle will appear as an asset on your balance sheet, although outstanding finance will show as a liability.
• Insurance – Leasing agreements may require a higher level of coverage, which can push the price of insurance up.

Leasing a car, however, can also have its financial advantages. Some of the cost benefits of leasing over buying vehicles include:

• Fewer upfront costs – If cash flow is an issue, the lower initial payments and fixed monthly fees can make leasing an attractive short-term option.
• Predictable expenses – Having a single fixed monthly cost makes financial planning easier. With a full service lease, issues such as maintenance, repairs and insurance are also all included.
• Depreciation – You won’t have to worry about having to sell on a vehicle that is losing value.

2.  Your usage needs

Another major factor in your decision will be how you expect to use your vehicles. If you’re buying a car or van, you will obviously have complete freedom to do whatever you wish with it.

This means not worrying about mileage restrictions or wear and tear limits that often come with leased vehicles. Mileage limits in particular can require close attention when leasing vehicles.

Choosing a deal with lower restrictions will be cheaper, but will require careful management to ensure you don’t exceed your allowance, which can lead to additional fees. You can handle this using mileage tracking tools to take control, but it’s always something to be aware of.

Of course, this is not an issue when buying, other than considering how high mileage may affect the later resale value.

Buying vehicles outright also means you’re not tied into a contract. Therefore, if your needs change, you can react quickly to replace them, or make any necessary modifications. Again, this is not something that’s typically available with leased vehicles.

On the other hand, if you expect to replace your vehicles on a regular basis anyway, a lease can offer many benefits. If you’re upgrading to the newest vehicle every three to five years, leasing gives you many options.

For example, this can ensure you’re always opting for the most fuel-efficient equipment. This not only cuts down on your fuel bills, but also improves your firm’s carbon footprint.

3.  Maintenance

Keeping your vehicles in good working order is essential whether you’re buying or leasing. However, there are a few different factors to consider in for leasing versus buying fleet vehicles.

If you’re leasing, the chances are you’ll be working with the most up-to-date, low-mileage vehicles. This means, in theory, they’ll need to spend less time in the garage.

However, depending on the terms of your contract, your leasing provider may insist on a thorough maintenance regime in order to keep them this way.

If you are leasing, you’ll still be responsible for regular issues such as servicing and oil changes. You may also consider a maintenance agreement that will cover areas like parts, especially if you’re doing higher mileage.

Be aware these can differ however. For example, some agreements will cover tyres while others won’t. Each provider will also have their own policies for what counts as reasonable usage.

Maintenance costs also need to be factored in when you’re buying. This may be especially true if you’re planning on keeping vehicles for a long period or running high mileage. While you won’t have to worry about keeping within agreed wear and tear limits, costs can quickly climb as vehicles age.

4.  Management

Finally, you’ll also have to think about how to keep control of your fleet. There are a wide range of things to think about in this area, and leasing can help take some of them off your hands.

For large fleets in particular, this can be a vital time-saver. You do, however, have to pay close attention to the terms of your lease.

If you are looking for a leasing provider, there are several things to keep in mind. You’ll need a company that’s fully authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, for example. You also need to be familiar with the various types of lease that are available.

Having the right tools and technologies can make the management of your fleet easy, whether you’re leasing or buying. From telematics tools to service checks, find out how Fuel Card Services can help you stay in control.