Category: Blog

As a fleet manager or employer, it’s essential you check the driving licences of any employees that will be driving one of your company vehicles.

Failing to do so could result in an employee being behind the wheel illegally, which can lead to fines and other penalties. Or worse, it could be the cause of a road traffic accident.

To check an employee’s driving licence, however, you will need their permission or consent.

Information contained on an employee’s licence is classified as personal data. The Data Protection Act 1988, which was replaced by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in 2018 states that consent must be given by the licence holder for anyone to access their information.

The Importance of Complying with GDPR in Fleet

GDPR, or the General Data Protection Regulation, is a set of data privacy and security laws put forward by the European Commission.

These laws and regulations were put into effect on May 25, 2018, and replaced the previous Data Protection Directive from 1995.

Breaching GDPR regulations, which includes accessing DVLA records without the consent of the licence holder, is a fineable offence.

It’s important to note that GDPR covers a lot more than just accessing and handling driver information.

As a fleet manager, some of the other day-to-day aspects of your business that are affected by GDPR include:

Fleet management systems

Understanding all the nuances of what data you should be securely processing and how you should be handling that data can become quite complex.

The easiest way to ensure you’re operating your fleet and handling your data in compliance with GDPR is to use a fully-compliant fleet management software like FleetCheck.

Handling all driver and fleet data

GDPR defines personal data as; “any information which are related to an identified or identifiable natural person.”

This means, you need to properly handle and store any and all data pertaining to your employees, customers, clients, and other stakeholders of your business within GDPR regulations.

How Consent Is Defined Under GDPR

To comply with GDPR when checking your drivers’ licences, it’s important you understand what is meant by ‘consent’.

In GDPR regulations, consent is defined as:

• Consent must be “freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous.”
• Requests for consent must be “clearly distinguishable from the other matters” and presented in “clear and plain language.”
• Data subjects can withdraw previously given consent whenever they want, and you have to honour their decision. You can’t simply change the legal basis of the processing to one of the other justifications.
• You need to keep documentary evidence of consent.

How to Check Drivers’ Licences While Complying with GDPR

You can check a driver’s licence by asking them to visit the Gov.uk site, but it’s a time-consuming process and really only ideal for a one-off check.

Using the Gov.uk method, you rely on a driver visiting the site and filling in some of their personal data. They will then be given a Check Code to pass on to you. This Check Code is essentially the driver giving you consent to check their driving status and licence details once. You have to repeat this process every time you want to make a check, for every driver individually.

The easiest way to check your drivers’ licences and stay on top of checking licences with minimal administrative work while being 100% GDPR compliant is by using FleetCheck LicenceAssured.

An alternative method of checking a driver’s licence that is a lot quicker and more convenient is using the LicenceAssured solution from FleetCheck.

To use LicenceAssured, all you need to do is obtain consent from your drivers either electronically or on paper, which is then valid for up to three years, and the consent record can be stored securely with the LicenceAssured software.

You are then permitted to check their driving licence details whenever you feel necessary. This is particularly useful for checking on high-risk drivers periodically, or setting annual reminders so you never forget to check the eligibility of your drivers.

If you’re currently relying on using the Gov.uk website to perform drivers’ licence checks or don’t have a robust system in place to check your drivers’ licence that you are confident is 100% GDPR compliant, LicenceAssured is the best solution.

 

One of the fundamental – and most important – elements of fleet compliance is ensuring that every driver who gets behind the wheel of a company vehicle is eligible to drive.

Failure to do so, or at least demonstrate that reasonable steps were taken to ensure a driver was legal can result in huge fines and other serious consequences.

Around 5% of motorists in the UK have points on their licence. Many of those drivers will not disclose this to an employer, at least not without being asked.

This is why it’s imperative that fleet managers carry out regular driver licence checks.

Not only does performing licence checks confirm a driver is eligible to drive, but it also helps safeguard against possible fines and mitigate the risk of road accidents.

Here is a look at 6 of the most important things you need to know about checking drivers’ licences:

 

1. It’s a criminal offence to allow an employee to drive a company vehicle without a valid licence

Under The Road Traffic Act 1988 it’s an offence for anyone to knowingly drive without a valid licence, or for an employer to permit a driver to drive a company vehicle without a valid licence.

It’s important to be aware that employers have a duty to check the eligibility of anyone they allow to drive their vehicles.

The best way to mitigate the risks involved in having an ineligible and uninsured driver on the road is to carry out routine licence checks.

 

2. You can check your employees’ licences with the DVLA online

You can perform a licence check on any employee by visiting the Gov.uk site, but you must have their permission every time you want to make a check. It has sometimes been reported that employers use their drivers’ National Insurance details to check their licence, but that is, in fact, a breach of the Data Protection Act.

The driver has to generate a Check Code, which the employer or fleet manager then uses to see the employee’s licence information.

This is a good way to check the eligibility of a driver, but it’s a time-consuming process and requires participation from the driver every time a check is performed.

 

3. There is a better solution than DVLA Online for bulk checking

For bulk licence checking or checking driver licences on a regular basis, using the DVLA online service becomes cumbersome.

FleetCheck LicenceAssured is designed to make driver licence checking quicker and easier. It’s simple to set up, you only have to ask permission from your drivers once every 3 years, and LicenceAssured integrates seamlessly with FleetCheck fleet management software.

 

4. You need permission from a driver to check their licence

Due to the Data Protection Act 1988 and GDPR, employers must always get permission from drivers before checking their licence information.

This is why the DVLA has the Check Code system in place, but you have to go through the process every time you perform a licence check.

One of the main benefits of using FleetCheck LicenceAssured is that you only need to get permission from a driver, either on paper or electronically, once every three years.

 

5. Performing regular licence checks is important

Employers are expected to check their drivers’ licences on a regular basis and at the very least be able to demonstrate they have a good licence checking system in place.

Points can accumulate quickly and a driver’s eligibility to drive can change at any time. For this reason, it’s generally believed to be best practice to check a driver’s licence at least once a year.

For drivers who are known to be higher risk; such as those who have already accrued points, are inexperienced or have a higher accident rate, more regular checks should be performed.

Using FleetCheck LicenceAssured you can schedule and automate licence checks. This way, you can mitigate the risk of having uninsured drivers on the road.

 

6. Having a robust licence checking process mitigates liability

If a driver is caught driving a company vehicle without a valid driving licence, both the driver and the company in question can face costly fines and other punishments.

If a driver without a valid licence causes a serious accident, criminal proceedings could take place and the penalties can be crippling for a business.

Obviously, it’s not always going to be possible to know the moment a driver picks up points. But as long as an employer can prove they check licences regularly and have a good system in place, they can build a good legal defence.

If you want to check an employee’s driving licence to see if they have any points or to check their eligibility to drive, there are two main ways you can go about this.

One way is to use the Gov.uk site; but this quickly becomes time-consuming if you’re checking multiple drivers’ licences.

The other is to use FleetCheck LicenceAssured, our product that can be used either as a standalone service or as part of the FleetCheck fleet management software.

Here is a look at the pros and cons of both methods of checking employee’s licences and which method is best for your business:

 

Checking Driver’s Licences With the DVLA Online

The DVLA enables you to check anyone’s driving licence information through the Gov.uk site. To do so, you’ll need the last 8 characters of their driving licence number and the driver will need to request a ‘check code’.

Requesting a Check Code

The driver will need to visit the Gov.uk site themselves and input some information to generate a code so that you, the employer, can check their licence.

The information they’ll need to input is:

• Their driving licence number
• Their National Insurance number
• The postcode as displayed on their driving licence

After inputting this information, the driver will be able to see all of their licence details. This includes their current driving status, expiry date, the vehicles they’re entitled to drive, any penalties, and more.

They are also able to request a check code so that you can check their licence, and this is what you need passed on to you.

The code is displayed on the screen. It’s case sensitive, valid for up to 21 days, and can only be used once.

There is an option to print or save the code, and this is often the preferred method as the characters can easily become mixed up if being repeated over the phone or written down by hand.

Entering a Driver’s Check Code

Once you’ve been given a Check Code from an employee, you need to enter it into the “Check a driving licence” page on the Gov.uk site.

This takes you to a page clearly showing you the licence holder’s driving status, any endorsements, and all of the vehicles they’re entitled to drive.

Checking Driver’s Licences Using FleetCheck LicenceAssured

At FleetCheck we know how important it is for fleet managers to be able to check their drivers’ licences as often as needed – and without going through the time-consuming process outlined above.

This is why we created FleetCheck LicenceAssured, an online portal that enables fleet managers to check their employees’ driving licences and their entitlement to drive.

Our system pulls all of the same driver information from the DVLA, but we’ve made it quicker and easier to use; we’ve enabled fleet managers to set automatic reminders, check licences in bulk, and securely store their employee data online in accordance with GDPR.

As a fleet manager, all you need to do is get written consent from an employee – either on paper or electronically – and you can check their licence and eligibility to drive at any time for up to 3 years.

 

Why FleetCheck LicenceAssured Is the Best Solution for Checking Employees’ Licences

DVLA Online is fine if you want to perform individual licence checks on an occasional or irregular basis, but for anything more, it becomes time-consuming and labour-intensive to set reminders and chase every individual Check Codes.

Using LicenceAssured, you only need to request permission once from a driver and their consent is valid for 3 years.

You can then set automatic reminders to check ‘high risk’ drivers on a more regular basis. Or, perform checks on intervals that work for your business. We recommend at least once a year for every driver.

It’s important to keep in mind that a lot of employees will not notify their fleet manager if they pick up more points or their driving status changes in any way.

We found that a lot of fleet managers were not even aware that they should, or could be checking their driver’s licences outside of when they first employed them.

It’s an offence for anyone to drive without a valid driving licence. Their insurance will void, and should the worst-case scenario happen and they end up causing an accident, the driver could face criminal charges.

In the case of an employee driving a company vehicle, there are also potentially serious legal implications for the company in question.

If you don’t currently have a robust licensing checking system in place, FleetCheck LicenceAssured is the best solution.

As your fleet grows, keeping on top of important deadlines and reminders becomes increasingly more difficult – unless you’re using a fleet management solution like FleetCheck.

The issue, however, is that not having MOT reminders and sending a vehicle out without an MOT can have devastating consequences.

Not only can you be subject to huge monetary fines, if a vehicle is not safe and roadworthy lives are at risk.

Using FleetCheck, you will receive MOT reminders so you can always be sure that your fleet of vehicles are safe, roadworthy, and have valid MOTs.

In addition to this, you will receive reminders for all the other important vehicle and driver-related dates. Your drivers can also use our FleetCheck Driver app to perform daily safety checks and notify the fleet manager of defects the moment they’re spotted.

The result is less time and money spent on vehicle maintenance while implementing a more robust and streamlined process to ensure your fleet is in the best possible condition, both lawfully and practically.

The Importance of MOT Reminders

MOTs stands for Ministry of Transport Test. An MOT is an annual vehicle test that checks if all the important parts of a vehicle meet the legal standards as set out by law.

During an MOT, a mechanic checks a long list of things on a vehicle, like the brakes, lights, suspension, and so on. Essentially, all of the parts of a vehicle that are required to be in good working order for the vehicle to be safe for the driver and other road users.

If you have a vehicle on the road that does not have a valid MOT certificate, you’re risking the lives of the driver and other road users. There could be something seriously wrong with the vehicle that would be identified on the MOT.

So, it’ll come as no surprise that anyone driving without a valid MOT certificate can face some harsh fines and other penalties, as can the company if it’s a commercial vehicle.

Penalties for Driving Without an MOT

Unless you are driving to a pre-booked MOT appointment or a garage to have repairs carried out, it is illegal to drive a vehicle without a valid MOT.

In addition to this, vehicles under three years old do not require an MOT, nor do vehicles more than 40 years old.

The basic penalty for being caught driving without an MOT is a fine of up to £1,000. The police will also inspect your vehicle, and if they find faults or anything deemed as ‘dangerous’, they can stack more fines and give the driver penalty points.

Driving without an MOT will also likely invalidate your insurance. This means if you’re involved in an accident, you could be on the hook for substantial repair and court costs.

It’s also worth noting that the chance of getting caught without an MOT is high. There are more than 10,000 Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras in operation on the UK’s roads checking more than 50 million records a day.

If a vehicle without an MOT passes by one of these cameras, it will be flagged as not having an MOT and you can expect a fixed penalty notice in the post.

Never Miss an MOT Again With Fleetcheck

FleetCheck takes the worry out of vehicle compliance and sends you reminders when MOTs and other important dates are due across your fleet of vehicles.

You can schedule vehicle maintenance and drivers can use the FleetCheck Driver app to carry out daily vehicle checks and report defects the moment they are discovered.

Not only does this streamline your vehicle maintenance and MOT scheduling, but it also removes the need for manual paper trials, and greatly reduces the chance of user error.

Using a robust fleet management system like FleetCheck is the only way to manage all of your vehicle and driver information in one place. You can rest assured all of your vehicles have valid MOT certificates and save time and money in the process.

As a busy fleet manager, you might wonder why you should take on the extra burden and cost of organising driver training. If your drivers have the necessary driving licences for their role, why do they need any additional training?

The truth is that appropriate further training will actually simplify your life and save you time and money. Here’s why you should give it serious consideration.

Well-trained drivers are safer drivers

The safety of your drivers should be one of your top priorities. Businesses are, of course, legally responsible for the health and safety of their staff and driver training can play an important role in complying with the law. Driving is statistically the most dangerous work activity in the UK, with one in three road accidents involving someone who is driving as part of their job. Developing safer, defensive driving skills to reduce the chances of injury to your staff or other road users is one of the most important actions you can take as a responsible employer.

Driving training saves you money

Ultimately, you will save the cost of driver training many times over through improved fuel efficiency, reduced vehicle maintenance and lower insurance premiums. By learning how to use simple eco-driving techniques, fuel consumption can be cut by as much as 15%. A more considered driving style will also save wear on tyres and brakes and reduce minor scrapes. The associated reduction in carbon emissions also make an important contribution to reducing your company’s carbon footprint and enhancing its corporate social responsibility.

Additionally, improved driving skills will result in fewer accidents, and you should see a very welcome reduction in insurance premiums. Some insurance companies offer discounts purely because you put your drivers through a training programme.

Investing in your drivers is great for morale

A company that shows commitment to its staff through training is sending a powerful message that it values them and their skills. It is saying that you want them to stay with you for the long term and that you believe in their ability to do a great job.

Attending training sessions helps develop relationships between different members of staff who may otherwise not come into frequent contact with each other. This is invaluable when there are problems to be solved or new working practices need to be explored.

Good drivers are great for your brand image

Whilst your drivers are out on the road, they are very visible brand ambassadors. If someone sees a vehicle with your company name on it being poorly or inconsiderately driven, this will, without doubt, damage your reputation as a company that takes pride in what they do. Similarly, a vehicle covered in small scrapes and dents does not project a company image to be proud of.

Ultimately, it will make your life easier

If you consider the hours spent on organising vehicle maintenance and repair, making insurance claims and rescheduling because vehicles are off the road, then reducing your workload through investing in driver training makes a lot of sense. Add in greater safety for your staff, reduced staff turnover and improved company image, and it becomes a no-brainer.

Recent government statistics have revealed that around 3,000 road casualties every year are due to the poor eyesight of the driver. Possibly more alarming still is the estimation that there are 13 million drivers on UK roads (that’s one in five drivers) whose eyesight does not meet minimum legal standards. This makes them a staggering four times more likely to have an accident.

Wouldn’t you like to know if any of these drivers are driving for you?

How does poor eyesight affect driving ability?

It is estimated that 90% of decisions made when driving depend on having good vision. Poor vision not only affects a driver’s ability to see and then react to hazards, but also makes it more difficult to detect dangerous changes in road surfaces and to focus properly in low light conditions.

The law

The law stipulates a minimum standard of eyesight for all drivers, which at its most basic requires drivers to read a number plate at 20 metres, with glasses or contact lenses if necessary. However, this simply checks for a driver’s distance vision and there are also requirements for visual acuity and field of vision. The only way to check these is by having an eye examination with an optician.

Whether or not one of your drivers are involved in an accident, if they are found to be driving with an illegal standard of eyesight, you can have points added to your licence, face a fine of up to £1,000 or even lose your licence altogether. It can also invalidate your insurance. All very serious repercussions for someone who drives for their living, not to mention their employer.

Your Duty of Care

Health and safety law imposes a duty of care on employers to ensure that anyone who drives for work purposes must be fit to do so, including meeting eyesight standards.

Deterioration in eyesight generally happens very slowly and so drivers are often not aware that their eyesight is inadequate for safe driving. Given the fact that over a third of drivers don’t follow the advice of the DVLA to have an eye test at least every two years, then it’s up to you to take control.

Industry best practice states that you should check that your drivers can read a number plate from a distance of 20 metres when they are first employed and thereafter every six months. If they fail this simple test, they must take a formal eyesight test with an optician. The same check should be carried out if a driver is involved in an accident where they are at fault.

You might also consider asking your drivers to have regular, ideally annual, eye examinations. All your procedures should be documented and the results recorded so that you have evidence that you have fulfilled your duty of care.

Act now

With autumn and winter approaching, drivers are going to be soon facing the added hazards of a low setting sun, darker days and fog. With over five million eye examinations missed during the pandemic, it is more important than ever to ensure your drivers’ eyesight is as good as it needs to be.

Need to know more about fleet management software features and how implementing fleet software can improve your fleet efficiency and increase your bottom line?

Here is a look at some of the key features of Fleetcheck, our award-winning, most recommended fleet management software in the UK:

Fuel Management and Cost Savings

Fuel is one of – if not the – largest expenses for most fleet managers. Fleet management software gives you detailed analysis and insights into how much fuel your drivers and vehicles are using.

This enables you to identify the vehicles using the most fuel or operating on the lowest MPG, so you can identify why that vehicle is costing more than others.

This often enables you to identify reckless driving behaviors, faults on vehicles, and other issues that could have potentially become a lot worse had you not identified them through excessive fuel consumption.

Equipment Management

Fleet management software is also used to keep track of machinery and equipment. Businesses with construction machinery and equipment, in particular, use fleet management software to keep track of their assets.

The software enables construction site managers to keep better track of where their equipment is, workers can send work orders and notify managers of defects in real-time, and it helps improve compliance and site health and safety.

Driver Management

On the admin side, fleet management software enables you to make sure your drivers are eligible to drive, Fleetcheck’s Policy Manager provides tools to manage fleet-related health and safety, you can call licence details, and know which driver is in each vehicle.

On the performance side, you’re able to monitor how your drivers are performing, set alerts to be notified of any reckless behaviours, and identify training needs.

Route Planning and Vehicle Tracking

Route planning plays a large role in almost all fleet operations, particularly for logistics companies. Fleetcheck uses telematics and GPS to provide real-time location and movement details for every vehicle in your fleet.

This enables you to plan more efficient routes, notify drivers of delays, and make other adjustments while they’re on the road. You can also use this data to analyse driver performance, improve security, and a number of other benefits.

Notifications and Alarms

As a fleet grows, it becomes increasingly challenging to keep on top of maintenance, driver maintenance, and other key dates and reminders.

Using Fleetcheck, you can set reminders and alerts so you’re notified of key dates and when something comes up that needs your attention. One of the main advantages of software is that it scales as your business does without the need to add more employee hours.

Improved Compliance

Compliance plays an important – but complex – role in fleet management. Using a robust fleet management system is the only way to be sure you’re staying 100% compliant with the various policies, O Licences, and industry accreditations.

Fleet managers are also able to roll out communications fleet-wide when necessary, and store documents electronically.

Analytics and Reporting

Fleet-related decisions can only be as good as the data a fleet manager has to work with. The way you can view and dynamically use fleet data using software is a gamechanger for fleet managers.

Being able to drill down on data to a granular level gives you the confidence to make better decisions. In addition to this, you can produce and share reports internally or externally with ease.

Related Questions

What Does a Fleet Manager Do?

A fleet manager also called a vehicle or transport manager is the person responsible for overseeing fleet operations. Their key responsibilities include (but are not limited to) recordkeeping, managing drivers, negotiating with suppliers, maintaining compliance, analysing data, and dealing with disputes.

Do You Need Fleet Management Software?

If you have a fleet of vehicles, which means more than one, then you will benefit from using fleet management software. Just read the benefits and features above to get a better understanding of how fleet management software will help improve your fleet operations.

How Much Does Fleet Management Software Cost?

FleetCheck fleet management system costs £6 per month per vehicle for our most popular ‘Professional’ plan. This works out at £720 per year for a fleet of 10 vehicles. You can get started, however, for just £2 per month per vehicle with FleetCheck Driver. You can see all our plans HERE

 

Fleet management plays an important role in logistics, as does fleet management software. Fleet management software helps to automate logistical management processes, save costs, identify ways to operate more efficiently, improve compliance, and much more.

What Is the Purpose of Fleet Management?

The purpose of fleet management is to oversee the performance of a fleet of vehicles and all the other fleet-related tasks.

The better managed a fleet is, the greater efficiency and productivity an organisation will see.

It depends on what kind of operations a company is involved in, but generally speaking, companies that implement a robust fleet management process see:

• A reduction in fuel costs
• Improved driver management
• Better asset utilization
• More efficient route planning
• Improved compliance
• Improved health and safety

What Do Logistics Companies Do?

Logistics companies are involved in planning, implementing, and moving goods and services. This can mean their own goods in a B2C format, or it can mean they manage the logistics for a number of other companies.

To carry out effective logistics, companies need to have an accurate way to track the goods being moved. As well as managing inventory, and monitoring all the costs involved in their operations.

Logistics and fleet management go hand-in-hand. To move or transport goods, there are always going to be vehicles involved. This may be trucks, lorries, vans, cars, even boats.

The next step is fleet management software. Fleet management software makes it possible to improve the efficiency of logistics at every stage. We’ll be taking a closer look at how software improves logistic operations throughout this article.

Why Is Fleet Management Important In Logistics?

A major element of logistics is transport or vehicles. Therefore, fleet management forms the backbone of the logistics industry and is invaluable to businesses operating in logistics.

Without proper fleet management, any business with a fleet of vehicles is not going to be able to operate efficiently.

As a fleet manager or business owner, you’ll know that a lack of efficiency means you’re losing money, putting added stress on your workforce, and straining customer relationships to mention just a few drawbacks.

Logistics refers to the overall process of managing how resources are used. Most often, it more accurately refers to how goods are being transported from a-to-b in the most time and cost-efficient manner.

Good fleet management enables a logistics business to save a great deal on transport and employee-related costs, as well as providing a whole host of other benefits.

Telematics and Logistics

Telematics is one of the technologies that play a core role in both fleet management and the logistics industry.

Telematics involves placing a device inside a vehicle to collect a wide range of information. This information is transmitted to a fleet management system, where it can be used to understand the status of the vehicle, its location, how it’s being driven, and many more data points.

Some of the ways telematics help fleet management and logistics include:

Route planning – Route planning is essential for logistics companies. For most companies, the quicker and more efficiently they can transport or deliver goods the more money they’ll see at their bottom line.

There are many challenges that truck drivers face when traveling from one point to another. Something as ‘simple’ as being able to notify a driver in real-time on how to avoid delays can have a huge impact on customer service.

Reduced fuel and maintenance costs – Saving fuel and maintenance costs are a by-product of more efficient route planning. In addition to this, there are other ways telematics data can save you money.

Telematics also provides data around how fast a vehicle is being driven, how erratically, and will even provide mpg usage. This enables you to identify risky or erratic driving behavior so you can do something about it.

Improved compliance and risk management – The importance of risk management when managing a fleet cannot be overstated. Not only can you avoid costly fines, but you’re also going to be able to reduce the number of accidents your drivers are involved in.

This has an obvious impact outside of just financial gain. Using telematics you can know about vehicle issues sooner, identify training needs for drivers,

Regarding vehicle maintenance, you can read about our walkaround daily driver check FleetCheck Driver here.

Who Needs Fleet Management?

Any business that has a fleet of vehicles can benefit from implementing fleet management software and best practices.

Just as any business that relies on logistics will also benefit from fleet management as they use vehicles to operate.

It really doesn’t matter how many vehicles you have in your fleet. There is even an argument for using fleet management best practices for one vehicle, and it certainly becomes beneficial the more vehicles you have.

Want to know how FleetCheck will save you money and improve your logistics operations? Contact a member of our sales team today and we can set you up with a free six-week trial. We’re confident you’ll not want to cancel after seeing the benefits for yourself, but if you do, no hard feelings.

Managing a fleet of vehicles is no easy task. Modern fleet management involves keeping on top of ever-changing compliance, vehicle maintenance, managing drivers, continually optimising performance, asset management, and much more.

Whether you have two vehicles or 2,000, the only way to effectively manage your fleet and identify data-backed insights into how you can improve performance is by using Fleet Management Software.

Obviously, fleet management software comes at a cost. But day-to-day tasks, compliance, and logistics aside, using the right fleet management software is going to save you money in the long run – and we can easily prove this to you if need be.

In this article, we’re looking at fleet management software pricing; how much it costs to manage a fleet of vehicles, how you can save money by using the right software, and how you can get started trying out our fleet management software for free:

How Much Does a Fleet Management System Cost?

FleetCheck fleet management system will cost £6 per month per vehicle for our most popular ‘Professional’ plan. This works out at £720 per year for a fleet of 10 vehicles.

You can get started for just £2 per month per vehicle with FleetCheck Driver. This is our driver’s defect reporting app and portal.

We also offer an Essential plan which is £4 per month per driver, and an Expert plan which is £8 per month per vehicle.

We’re happy to give you a live demo of our software if you want to see the software in action and ask any questions. We also offer a 14-day free trial for our Driver plan, and 30-day free trials for our other plans.

You can see a full list of our plans and all of the features included in each plan on our pricing page here.

How Does Fleet Management Software Reduce Costs?

Not only does fleet management software make managing a fleet a lot easier, and in some cases possible, there are several areas where it can help you reduce your fleet costs.

Some of the key areas are:

Reducing Fuel Costs

Fuel typically accounts for the majority of a fleet’s costs, yet it’s often the area where there is the most room to make savings with the help of good data.

Fleet management software is able to show you fuel usage down to a fine detail like the exact fuel economy each vehicle is getting and how optimal their journeys are.

This helps you identify the drivers and/or vehicles with the worst economy, plan more optimal journeys, address maintenance needs, and generally make changes across your fleet that can have a huge impact on your bottom line.

Reducing Vehicle Costs

Vehicle costs are usually not far behind fuel costs. For some organisations with poor fleet management processes, vehicle maintenance costs can easily spiral out of control.

FleetCheck Driver is our fully integrated, customisable vehicle walkaround app that drivers can use to quickly and thoroughly perform their daily checks and send the information directly to FleetCheck.

You can also set key dates for service reminders, address maintenance issues before they escalate, closely monitor costs, and more.

Huge Time Savings

One of the benefits every fleet manager notices the moment they switch from spreadsheets or some other manual process to fleet management software is how much manual work it saves.

It becomes almost impossible to accurately maintain driver or vehicle details as a fleet grows. Not to mention that without GPS, you can never know where a vehicle is and how it’s performing in real-time.

In addition to this, you can store and recall employee details, driver’s license information, vehicle information, compliance documents, and more in an instant when saved electronically.

Reduced Accidents and Lower Insurance

Fleet management software has been proven to help fleet managers reduce road accidents and improve driver safety.

This is primarily due to being able to identify ‘high-risk’ driver behaviors and take action before they’re involved in an accident. As well as identifying vehicle maintenance issues before they become more serious.

If you speak with your insurance provider, you may also be able to have your premium reduced due to having GPS, dash cams, and other technology that satisfies them that your drivers are better equipped.

Want to know more about how FleetCheck can reduce your fleet costs?

We’ve published a number of case studies here from various companies detailing how FleetCheck has helped save them money.

Try Our Fleet Management Software Free

If you’re on the fence about whether or not FleetCheck is the right fit for your fleet – and we’re sure it is – then you can schedule a time for us to give you a demo, or we’ll set you up with a free trial.

Our demonstrations typically last around 30 minutes. We’ll take you through all the features of our software and show you first-hand how FleetCheck will help improve your fleet management.

If you want to try out FleetCheck for yourselves, we can set you up with a free six-week trial. We’re confident you’ll not want to cancel after seeing the benefits for yourself, but if you do, no hard feelings.

Fleet asset management software plays an integral role in enabling fleet managers to better manage their vehicles and other assets.

In this article, we’re taking a closer look at why fleet asset management is so important, and some of the key benefits this software offers fleet managers:

What is Fleet Asset Management?

Fleet management is a form of asset management. In strict accounting teams, vehicles that are purchased for long-term use are assets. As are vehicles that are financed, if they have a value greater than the balanced owed.

However, all vehicles are considered assets to most businesses in the sense that they provide a crucial role to the business, there are costs involved, and they require careful management.

Asset management is the process of procuring, maintaining, monitoring, and improving the efficiency of a business’s assets.

For a fleet manager, this means accurately measuring the performance of vehicles and other fleet-related assets to maximise their efficiency and improve ROIs.

Benefits of Fleet Asset Management Software

Here is a look at 6 of the key benefits of using fleet asset management software for organizations of all sizes:

Detailed Asset Cost Analysis

Having complete visibility and knowing the true cost of operating your fleet, maintaining your assets, and the value of your assets helps fleet managers make better data-driven decisions.

From having a detailed understanding of your vehicle maintenance costs and fuel consumption to depreciation and netbook values, fleet asset management software provides detailed asset cost analysis.

This level of detail gives fleet managers and other financial analysts a better picture of an organisation’s final health. As well as enabling decision-makers to gain data-driven insights in ways they can further cut costs.

Real-Time Asset Tracking

One of the main advantages of integrating fleet management software is the ability to track your assets in real-time.

This helps fleet managers identify potential problems – and solutions – quickly and helps make better data-backed decisions.

You can also implement changes or run ‘what-if’ scenarios and look at what the impact of those decisions will be.

In addition to this, asset management software enables you to reduce paperwork and manual tasks. You can upload asset details in PDFs and other document formats, and call these documents electronically.

Cost Savings

Cutting costs is at the heart of what a fleet manager does. Using asset management software makes finding ways to save costs associated with assets a lot easier to identify.

Seeing all of your operating costs, asset values, and depreciation costs in one place gives you greater visibility. Along with tracking asset reliability and durability, far-future forecasting, and much more.

Asset management software like FleetCheck enables you to set KPIs that are important to your business. Giving you a bespoke solution to finding areas where you can cut asset-related costs.

Eliminate Spreadsheets

A lot of fleet managers are still using spreadsheets to manage their assets. This comes with some serious limitations, an increased risk of human error, lacks security and is more time-consuming than using software.

Spreadsheets are an outdated way of tracking and managing fleet assets. If you’re still using spreadsheets, please call us today to arrange a demo of our software and we can guarantee you’ll see the benefit of moving to our FleetCheck fleet management software.

Asset Inspection App

We’ve developed a driver walkaround checking app that helps reduce paperwork and facilitates a more robust and reliable way for fleet managers to manage their biggest assets, vehicles.

You can create your own custom checksheets, and drivers can perform their daily checks and send the information back to FleetCheck via remote data.

This helps create a DVSA compliant robust audit trail while saving a lot of time on manual tasks. Multiply this by the number of vehicles in your fleet, then by the number of days using the app and you’ll see how quickly the number of hours saved grows.

Better Equipment Management

If you’re in the construction industry, you’ll know how difficult it can be to keep track of your machinery, plant, and equipment.

By using the Allocation feature within FleetCheck, you can trace where all of your equipment is and perform inventory checks.

Asset management software will also ensure all of your equipment is compliant, keep a record of where machinery has been used, any defects reported, maintenance, and anything else relevant to the item.