“For us, it works well and has made managing the fleet much more manageable. We are FORS Silver Accredited, so Fleetcheck helps us stay compliant and produce the necessary audit evidence.
“Having the app in place has allowed drivers to report defects and not worry about keeping paper copies in their vehicles.”
Human Resources Manager, Nicola Hallam
“Before I decided to put FleetCheck fleet management software in place, everything was being managed on paper or on whiteboards making service dates really difficult to keep on top of without spending hours sorting through paperwork to pinpoint key dates.
“Being FORS Gold accredited, we need to be on the ball with every aspect of fleet management, from our drivers’ eyesight and health checks to the safety check completion on our vehicles and trailers. Therefore, it was so essential for us to find a robust system like FleetCheck.
“Having paper and whiteboards eliminated from the situation and our data centralised has meant I can be 100% sure that all our vehicles are constantly monitored and that no faults or defects are missed.
“FleetCheck has made my life so much easier. Having everything in one place has saved me a ridiculous amount of time. I no longer spend ages endlessly sorting through paper. I couldn’t live without it now!”
Mervyn Rolf, Logistics manager
“Once all data had been inputted, all I have to do now is click on a button, so to speak, I immediately have all the information ready for expiry dates for insurance and driving licences. It is easy to include new drivers or remove drivers. I can tap in a name which gives me vehicle registration and everything I need to control transport; it is as easy as that.
To summarise, for us, FleetCheck works. It speeds up the whole control mechanism in day to day operations, I have had to phone the help desk only twice and received fast responses on both occasions. FleetCheck makes transport control easier.”
Nicholas Sabo, Health and Safety Specialist
The first-ever top-to-bottom rewrite of FleetCheck’s core fleet management software is being launched at Commercial Vehicle Show 2023 (April 18-20).
Designed to be easier to use and faster than the existing product, it will also provide future flexibility for artificial intelligence and management information enhancements.
It is being rolled out during this year at no additional cost to the 7,200 users of the existing system, who use the product to manage a total of more than 180,000 cars, vans, trucks and other assets.
Peter Golding, managing director at FleetCheck, said: “Our original software has been continually enhanced but the basic technology dates back a decade and, to move forwards in the years ahead, needed to be completely rethought.
“Our developers have been working hard on this new version of FleetCheck for more than a year and we are very pleased with the results. It uses a completely new technology stack and leading edge technology such as .net core 7.
“Much effort has gone into improving the customer experience with a new interface and it simply feels faster, slicker and more effective in everyday use. We can’t wait to start showing it to people at CV Show 2023.”
Like its predecessor, the new system is fundamentally designed to enable businesses to handle their fleet management tasks efficiently with users kept up to date through a traffic light system that allows them to prioritise tasks.
It integrates over 250 data streams while creating a robust audit trail to underpin legal requirements and includes more than 600 different types of standard fleet report as standard. Being cloud-based, all data is securely backed up to FleetCheck’s servers.
Peter said: “A key part of our success is that the user interface of our software is designed to be equally easy-to-use for the fleet novice as the seasoned transport professional, delivering for each person exactly what they need. We have worked hard to retain and enhance this characteristic of the product. It’s essential to the whole FleetCheck experience.
“What is really interesting now is where we can take FleetCheck in the future. It’s now viable for us to add all kinds of new features and we have been looking at what we can do with artificial intelligence for some time. It’s very much a case of watch this space.”
FleetCheck will be demonstrating NewGen FleetCheck at CV Show at hall 5, stand C65.
Arguments in favour of exempting some key commercial vehicles from internal combustion engine (ICE) production deadlines are growing, FleetCheck believes.
Peter Golding, managing director at the leading fleet management software specialist said that difficulties remained around the electrification of a relatively low number of vehicles that were used in specialised roles.
He explained: “Fleets can see a pretty clear pathway to electrifying the vast majority of their car and van fleets. While there are some quite complicated teething difficulties, especially surrounding the latter, there is every reason to believe most of these will be resolved ahead of the stated ICE production deadlines of 2030 for light vans and 2035 for heavy vans.
“However, in both these categories, there are a number of vehicle roles that are not easily electrified in terms of fulfilling basic requirements. Examples include certain blue light vehicles such as ambulances and off-roaders used by power companies in the event of outages.
“If you have an ambulance with a real world range of 100 miles and a recharge time running into several hours, then its utility in a crisis is potentially severely compromised. Not having that vehicle available could have a serious human cost.
“These difficulties are compounded in more remote areas where charging infrastructure development is likely to be slower. Fixing power outages in the Highlands requires an operational flexibility that electric pick-ups and 4x4s would not be able to easily supply in terms of current technology.”
Peter said that electrifying vehicles in these kinds of applications was possible – but was difficult, expensive and consumed amounts of resources that were difficult to justify.
“If you need to recharge an electric emergency vehicle during a power outage, then some kind of major generator or large scale battery facility is required. These can, of course, be installed by operators but at a very high price. Also, these solutions in themselves have a high environmental impact and simply require a considerable investment in terms of time.”
Peter said that increasingly among FleetCheck’s user base, there were conversations suggesting some essential use vehicles should be exempt from planned production deadlines.
“We’re certainly seeing arguments for exceptions in these areas increasing. The thinking is that electrifying 99% of fleet cars and vans is something that can be feasibly done and operators should be able to concentrate on that task ahead of 2030 and 2035 without having to try to resolve issues around vehicles for which solutions remain very difficult.
“Even if the deadlines on these essential use vehicles was set back just five years, it would allow easier electrification across the vast majority of fleets. We could then move on to these trickier cases that would be easier to tackle because industry knowledge about EVs would be so much higher and the infrastructure in a much more advanced state of development.
“It’s interesting to note that the new EU policy on ceasing ICE production exempts manufacturers below 1,000 units completely so, while that no longer directly affects the UK, there will potentially continue to be some petrol, diesel and hybrid production.
“The fleet vehicles that we are highlighting represent a tiny fraction of the overall parc and the miles it covers. Not electrifying them for a few additional years after 2030 and 2035 would have a very, very limited environmental impact.”
A new series of free fleet training videos have been added to the FleetCheck online Learning Library resource.
Typically lasting two minutes, they cover fleet management basics including fuel management, tyre management, driver licence checking, telematics, defects management, driver training, driver safety management, fleet solutions and using spreadsheets.
There is also a video on FleetCheck’s Fleet Confidence Challenge, a free fleet safety assessment programme designed to help managers evaluate whether they have the right policies and procedures in place, are up-to-date with current laws and legislation, and are doing everything necessary to ensure that drivers are safe. It also contains a guide on how to create your own comprehensive driving for work policy documentation.
Peter Golding, managing director at the fleet management software specialist, said: “In recent years, we have very much made it our mission to not just be a provider of fleet software but a source of high quality, best practice advice and consultancy for car, van and truck operators.
“In pursuit of this aim, we’ve produced everything from book-length guides about fleet management to advanced online assessment tools, and the new videos added to our online Learning Library are the latest development.
“They are designed to be highly informative, easy to understand, and provide a good briefing for managers who are often very time-poor. We expect that they will find a ready audience, and believe they will be especially useful for the small-medium sized companies that make up a significant part of our user base.”
FleetCheck’s Learning Library can be found at https://uberdrive.com/learning-library/.
Fleets could consider increased support of UK-produced vehicles, FleetCheck is suggesting, as Nissan this week questioned the future of its Sunderland plant.
Peter Golding, managing director at the leading fleet management software specialist said businesses that bought vehicles could have an impact on local manufacturing.
“I don’t think it is particularly desirable that we see a revival of old school ‘Buy British’ campaigns. We live in a global economy and that is generally a good thing for fleet operators.
“However, UK motor manufacturing has already lost Honda in recent years, electric MINI production has gone to Germany, and it seems Jaguar Land Rover are doing more and more overseas. Replacement investment is not necessarily forthcoming, especially when it comes to the process of electrification, such as the ups and downs surrounding BritishVolt.
“The fact is that fleets are generally completely agnostic about where a car is produced when they draw up choice lists and perhaps we need to start having a conversation about the advantages of supporting local manufacturing. If we lose Sunderland, Burnaston and Oxford, then the UK’s claim to be a major manufacturer of cars is pretty much over.
“Fleets can have a voice in whether that happens by voting with their orders and supporting manufacturers that invest in the UK such as Jaguar Land Rover, Nissan, Toyota and BMW MINI. We are not without influence and it is perhaps appropriate that we have a conversation about the future of motor manufacturing in the UK and the role we could play.”
Peter added that the damage caused to UK motor manufacturing by both Brexit and the Covid crisis had been considerable, and further factories could disappear with surprising speed.
“It sometimes seems as though car manufacturers are a permanent feature of the economy but when Honda decided to go, the factory was closed very quickly. Similarly, those with greyer hair will remember the eventual end of MG Rover happening quite rapidly.
“To me, it would be a great shame if we were to see further losses of this kind in terms of jobs, prosperity, expertise, and the general health of industry in the UK.”