Drive Tech have recently published a useful report on how driver behaviours impacts running costs.
If you don’t have time to read it all, I have done that for you, and listed the main points here. It’s great to see a proper study on the subject – often improving your employees driving style is based on factors other than financial – how your company is perceived on branded vehicles for example.
The report studies over two thousand AA fleet vehicles over a period of two years. The results show a number of direct links between driver behaviour and operating costs. It shows that nearly half of the costs of running a vehicle are impacted by how it is driven. The main things impacted are: insurance; fuel; and service, maintenance & repair.
Telematics (tracking) has meant that driving styles can now be recorded and analysed. (Also see my post on the benefits of tracking). The main points are:
- The more maximum throttle events (IE heavy accelerating) that occurs, the more insurance claims (over twice as many)
- Harsh braking or cornering resulted in a 73% increase in tyre costs
- The more heavy acceleration events, the higher the fuel bill – up to 166%
WHAT CAN BE DONE ABOUT IT?
The simple answer is tracking and training. I have never heard of a fleet manager who hasn’t saved money in the long term by educating their drivers. Drive Tech is one of the outfits offering driving training (NB: I am in no way affiliated with them).
Here is how Drive Tech helped the AA: By focusing on the ‘worst performing’ drivers and transforming them into ‘average’ drivers, the company has calculated it can save £360 per annum per vehicle over the next three years. Interestingly, the anticipated biggest savings are in crash costs, closely followed by fuel savings
Happy Money-Saving Motoring!
