FUEL costs – they are continuing to be incredibly volatile. Having dipped in June, July saw prices on the rise again.
It makes managing the costs on a van fleet difficult to predict.
The RAC has called it the “roller coaster” effect; filling up the fuel tank on our Business Van of the Year VW Transporter will have cost you over £100 in diesel during July.
RAC spokesperson Rod Dennis said:
“The volatility of the price of a barrel of oil, and in turn wholesale fuel prices, makes it difficult to determine where prices might go next.”
For SME van fleets, controlling the expenditure on business mileage is crucial against such a volatile background.
How can fuel costs be budgeted? How can they be contained more expertly?
And, more to the point, how can you gain more transparency and control over what’s happening at the pumps?
What is the reason for multiple transactions on one card in one day for example?
Could there be scope for driver behaviour to be improved?
One way to take control of business mileage fuel costs is through a fuel card.
A fuel card certainly helps administration of the van fleet. It does this by wrapping up all the monthly fuel bills into one with a proper VAT output that can be exported and is fully HMRC compliant.
But Silvey Fleet goes further than a traditional fuel card. Because it offers some really good analysis of the fuel spend thanks to their Miles Monitor software.
And it’s all delivered via a simple and easy to use online system linked to a driver app.
Comprehensive and usable analytics
Here’s why. Silvey Fleet provides an outline of your fuel expenditure.
But also allows you to interrogate the data easily.
The Monthly Dashboard shows a historical view of your company’s van fleet (cars too, if you run them). However, this can be broken down further:
- to individual drivers
- MPG and CO2 outputs performance of your fleet and pence per mile achieved
It means that your van fleet manager can easily see how individual drivers are performing, or see if you have the right vehicles for your fleet by reviewing the CO2 emissions. Over time, the carbon emission report will show which vehicles are most fuel efficient.
Could a van be replaced with a more fuel-efficient model at the next stage in the vehicle’s lifecycle?
Prevent fuel card misuse
While the fuel card can provide intelligence about your fleet, the Silvey Fleet Monitor Fuel Card can prevent fraudulent use.
It can help prevent fuel card misuse as one of Silvey Fleet’s customer service representatives will call a driver to find out why these incidents have happened:
- drivers are only allowed to refuel the vehicle assigned to that card
- highlights multiple fills, small fills, incorrect fuel use (eg Premium Diesel rather than standard Diesel) plus fills over tank capacity
In other words because Silvey Fleet is monitoring transactions for you, keeping an eye out for any transactions that draw attention, they can be dealt with quickly and efficiently.
In essence it gives plenty of usable information, rather than giving you management information that is difficult to understand or interrogate.
And it’s easy for your drivers to use. There’s a simple to use app that drivers can enter mileage directly onto their smartphone; or online via the website.
Which provides an overall view of business versus personal mileage for any HMRC compliance on benefit in kind company van tax.
Controlling business mileage is crucial to the operational efficiency of your business – but Silvey Fleet Monitor Fuel Card provides even more: administrative efficiency for your company vans; and insight into vehicle suitability.
Leave A Comment