Do You Need a Fleet Administrator?

If your organization relies upon a fleet of vehicles to do business, you may be considering putting someone in the role of fleet administrator. Herewith, are some things to consider while making that decision.

Here is a summary of the typical responsibilities of a fleet administrator, from Salary.com, a website focused on compensation data.

“Assists in the administration and coordination of the organization's fleet of motor vehicles. Maintains accurate records of vehicles. Ensures compliance with government rules and regulations and files paperwork in support of this compliance as needed. Schedules repairs or preventative maintenance, ensuring that the necessary numbers of fleet vehicles are available at all times. Prior knowledge of Ministry of Transportation policies and procedures is preferred.”

If your fleet is small and your needs limited, you may think you can get by without a dedicated fleet administrator. However, even in such a case, you would be wise to reconsider this decision.

The rules and regulations that govern how fleets are managed and operated can be labyrinthine, and subject to change. And managing even a small fleet can get complicated quickly, especially if that fleet is a mix of owned, leased, and rented vehicles. If your business does business in multiple regulatory jurisdictions, that increases the complexity of your fleet management needs as well.

Your organization likely deals with multiple providers of vehicles, fuel, maintenance, and repairs. Managing even a handful of such relationships can be challenging, especially without a dedicated fleet manager experienced in doing so.

It is entirely possible that under typical business conditions, your fleet management requirements are and can be handled perfectly well by those with other primary jobs. However, shifts in weather, local road or traffic conditions, or other factors can make typical business conditions suddenly atypical.

When such a challenge arises, time is of the essence. The effects of the challenge must be reduced, eliminated, or navigated around as quickly as possible, to avoid disruptions in business operations or your ability to keep your commitments to your clients. Your organization will be far better off with a dedicated, experienced fleet administrator when such situations arise.

It will of course take time, effort, and money to find, recruit, engage, and retain a dedicated fleet administrator. However, given the criticality of your fleet to your business, and the magnitude and nature of actual and potential fleet management challenges, doing without a fleet administrator may be too much of a risk.

You Need a Fleet Administrator. Now What?

Your best first move may not be to begin recruiting to hire a full-time fleet administrator. An alternative approach is to first ensure your fleet is “administrator-ready.” After all, you’re not really trying to hire a fleet administrator for the sake of doing so. You’re trying to optimize the administration and management of your fleet operations.

If you aren’t already doing so, you should consider starting by ensuring that your vehicles are being accurately and comprehensively tracked. Industry-wide, the tracking solution of choice is the Global Positioning System (GPS). Multiple vendors offer affordable and flexible GPS tracking devices, and solutions for tracking and reporting of vehicles equipped with those devices are proven and popular.

If your business first implements a GPS tracking solution, finding the right fleet administrator and getting them up to “full speed” will be easier, faster, and less expensive. Your tracking solution provider might even help you find the perfect fleet administrator for your specific situation.

Learn how RAM Tracking Canada helps make life easier and more productive for fleet administrators at more than 2,500 Canadian companies, by accurately tracking and reporting on more than 9,500 vehicles every day. Contact us today.