Private Mileage

One of the most common challenges that businesses with commercial fleets face is with private mileage. Many businesses allow their drivers and employees to take their vehicles home with them so that they can be more productive and available to work first thing at the start of their shift.

However, in many instances, trust can be broken and the vehicle may be used for reasons not related to the business. For example, the vehicle may be used during the weekend or the holidays. This “unplanned” journey can cause all kinds of disadvantages to the business and left unattended, can generate high levels of unplanned and unforeseen costs.

What constitutes as private mileage?

Out of Hours

Your business vehicle could be being used outside of business hours which may invalidate insurance and adds significant extra wear and tear to the vehicle.

Ad Hoc Trips

Many truck or van private miles cases include instances where the driver has used his/her larger than normal transport vehicle to move furniture, take items to the tip or simply to help friends.

Long Distance

In some cases, drivers have opted to use a business vehicle for a long distance journey (like a holiday) so that the additional mileage isn’t put on their own personal vehicle (thereby reducing its value).

A man in a white t-shirt and blue overshirt is holding a petrol pump

What harm can private mileage do to a business?

Whilst in most cases, unauthorised private mileage is largely innocent or minor, it can cause disruption and harm to businesses, ultimately eating into profits. Examples include:

  • Fuel consumption – Personal journeys may be using fuel paid for by the business for business activities only. This unauthorised fuel consumption is likely to increase fuel costs.
  • Increased wear and tear – Increased usage of the vehicle, especially by passengers who may be less careful than employees, is likely to see more wear and tear resulting in a lower valuation of the vehicle.
  • Increased mileage – Additional mileage on a vehicle will reduce the value of the vehicle at resale and may require servicing and repairs much sooner than originally planned.

Several vehicles are driving on the road and in the top right of the image there is a chart showing the usage hours of the vehicle and the vehicle is being used outside of business hours

How can RAM Tracking help identify private mileage?

Our GPS vehicle trackers record every engine ignition and movement by a business vehicle at all times, enabling you to track private mileage. If your business has a company vehicle mileage policy in place, you can create reports and alerts that will show if the vehicle has ever been used outside of the allotted business hours. Furthermore, because our interface shows the location of the vehicle, you can also identify if there are any vehicles in locations where they shouldn’t be (or you wouldn’t expect them to be).

Our private mileage records are all generated digitally and as such, cannot be falsified. This ensures accurate and honest journey recording and avoids businesses wasting time by having to look through piles of paperwork to prove/disprove any instances of private mileage.

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