5 Consequences of Failing to Take Care of Your Vehicles

Are You Falling Asleep at the Wheel…with managing your company vehicles?

There are a number of things in life that people have a tendency to put off. Dentist visits, balancing the checkbook, medical exams, replacing vehicles…etc. The outcome of postponing any of these “less than pleasant tasks” often results in experiencing more pain and costs than necessary. Put off the dentist visit and you will spend more money down the road and likely experience additional pain.

How about the vehicles at your business?  Are you experiencing more pain and costs than necessary because you aren’t on top off your company vehicles? You aren’t alone. Vehicles and their related expenses are a low priority at most businesses and often viewed as an unpleasant task. So decisions are often postponed costing your business more than necessary.

Here are a few examples and typical costs that are incurred from not staying on top of managing vehicles:

1. Not replacing a vehicle soon enough exposes you to repair costs that could easily exceed the value of the vehicle. It is not uncommon to spend $3,000 to $10,000 at the end of a vehicle life to keep it running.

2. Not monitoring the market value of your current vehicles and operating them beyond a mileage milestone. A vehicle can easily drop in value $2,000 to $3,000 from running them past a mileage milestone.

3. Remarketing vehicles that you are taking out of service at the wrong time of the year can easily drop their value $2,000 to $3,000.

4. Purchasing a vehicle in a hurry due to poor planning or surprise breakdowns can easily add $1,200 to $1,500 to the cost of the new vehicle due to unnecessary options and additional fees.

5. If you are not monitoring total cost of ownership you may be paying more to operate older less reliable and less fuel efficient vehicles, than a newer fleet of vehicles with better fuel economy.

If your company vehicles are being ignored you are likely experiencing more pain and costs than you need to.

And it doesn’t have to be like a trip to the dentist. Customers of Ewald Fleet Solutions enjoy cost savings and experience little to no commotion with their company vehicles because we monitor, manage, and apply best practices.