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Is administration really a necessary evil?
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Whatever your fleet management decisions, implementation, monitoring and
control always involves some degree of administration. Administering the
more routine work, involving everyday processes, will have to be delegated.
While this certainly saves management time, it merely shifts the workload
down the organisation. The tasks will still need to be completed, possibly
involving a disproportionate amount of office time. The classic example is
fuel procurement. There are a number of options for getting diesel and petrol
from a supplier’s tank into your vehicles and all involve some degree of
administration.
Some HGV and PCV fleets still refuel from their own tank in the yard,
the most bureaucracy-heavy of all refuelling options. The health and
safety aspects alone account for countless hours of administration and
management. More administration time has to be spent on procuring the
fuel in the first place, then on issuing it to vehicles.
The major additional workload and significant expense is the necessity
for retaining in-house expertise in, and constant monitoring of, oil markets.
A single timing error in spot-buying a month’s fuel, in advance, could wipe
out an entire year of potential savings. There also need to be back-up
processes for instances of vehicles having to refuel unexpectedly away
from the depot. For most fleets, the office workload and lack of refuelling
flexibility makes this an unrealistic option.
The traditional refuelling system was cash-based, either through reimbursing
drivers for their own disbursement or providing cash advances. Apart from
the ever-present risk of theft, loss and misuse, there is an inevitable mountain
of paperwork. Every payment to a driver, and every refuelling transaction,
has to be recorded, filed and audited. Process timings can present problems
as late reimbursement to drivers causes morale issues, at best, while cash
advances for future purchases impact cashflow. VAT reclaiming may not be
straightforward, as the company has not been invoiced directly.
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Best practice in fleet management - Issue 03
