Efficient Vans: A Best Practice Guide to Cost - Transport Cafe

Improving Your Efficiency
Improving Your Efficiency
This section gives details of how to go about improving
the efficiency of your van operations.
4.1
Understand: Establish Your
Baseline
This section guides managers
through the process of
understanding the van fleet as it is
now. A simple, easy-to-use process
diagram, Figure 4.1, is presented
Figure 4.1: Understanding your vans, key questions
Is the vehicle
suitable for
the job it is
being used for?
Unsuitable vehicle
choice could lead
to inefficiencies.
Could the length
of a journey be
reduced through
better routing and
scheduling?
Consider the
difference in
running costs
between older
vans and new
vans.
Record details of individual
vans – what is the make, model,
engine size and fuel type?
How much fuel and what type
does each vehicle use per week/
month?
Monthly or weekly mileage for
each vehicle.
How many incidents have
occurred in the past six months?
Record the number of vans that
are rented, leased and purchased.
What are the fleet’s annual
maintenance costs for all
catagories? Do you know the
rate of your van depreciation?
to assist you in the completion of
this review. This is accompanied by
a description of what actions are
required in each stage. 2
Fact – fuel costs
account for 20-30%
of overall running
costs. Different
fuel types perform
differently.
Monitoring the
number and extent
of incidents can
allow target areas to
be selected.
Reducing the size of
your van fleet could
help overcome
vehicle depreciation
costs.
Would regular
routine checks of
vehicles help to
reduce large, more
expensive repairs?
2 Department for Transport and Energy Saving Trust.
Adapted from The essentials of fleet management – a guide to the basics of managing car and van fleets.
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