When looking for a fleet manager, Lopez wanted a person who had hands-on experience with fleet as well as project management experience. Lopez analyzed the cost of increased vehicle downtime when going to outside services versus the cost of having his own warehouse, the salary of his mechanics, and the cost of vehicle repairs. Internalizing fleet management has been cost effective for Wheelz Up. We need 100% uptime for our delivery vehicles because our fleet makes us money.” It takes too much time and they can’t accommodate all the work that we have for our vehicles. “I can’t use a dealership or repair shops anymore. “It was time to hire a fleet manager and in-house mechanics when we got to a level where we couldn’t maintain the vehicles by using outside sources anymore,” says Lopez. Lopez hired a fleet manager to oversee the fleet as well as four full-time mechanics to service the vans. Now that his auto parts delivery service has over 200 cargo vans, he purchased a warehouse to maintain the fleet. Jeb Lopez, CEO of Wheelz Up, decided to handle fleet duties internally as his fleet has continued to grow.
DO FLEET MANAGERS NEED PUSH TO TALK RADIO DRIVERS
“Oftentimes for small fleets, all of these responsibilities are shared by the management team or the warehouse manager since he interacts with the drivers most of the time,” he says.įinding an expert to manage fleet finances, maintenance, operations, and even the customer service aspect, can be quite costly, adds Hunter. “Because this role touches so many aspects of the operation, It can be quite costly to hire the right person to cover these responsibilities. Many fleet managers are vehicle and equipment experts. “Specialized equipment running 24 hours a day probably needs more oversight than other companies running their vehicles or units in a shorter duty cycle,” says Hunter.
Emergency management includes getting involved if there’s a serious incident involving one of the fleet vehicles. Strategic planning includes overseeing expenditure forecasting and analyzing operating expenses. Hunter breaks down a fleet manager’s responsibilities into five key areas: strategic planning for the fleet, communication, emergency management, customer service, and fleet benchmarking. Olen Hunter, director of operations at PacLease, says a dedicated fleet manager is usually a member of a company’s operational team in mid-level management.
There isn’t a one-size-fits-all answer to determine if it’s time to hire a dedicated fleet manager each fleet has different needs. We talked to small fleets and fleet experts about factors that might tip the scales toward needing a fleet manager, including fleet size, dispersement of the fleet between locations, types of vehicles, and specialized equipment.
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