Did you know that the global fleet management system market is valued at over 42 billion dollars? An increase in international trade is one of the many factors fuelling the industry. And with more and more advancements in technology that make fleet management more efficient, it shows no sign of slowing down.
Do you own a fleet business, or are you thinking of investing in one? If so, it’s important to sit down and make a budget in order to track and manage your expenses to run a successful company. Check out this handy guide here that will get you started.
What Does a Fleet Business Do?
Simply put, a fleet management company owns a large fleet of vehicles, whether they are cars, trucks, or vans. This company leases these vehicles to other companies that need transportation for their business. Fleet managers also take care of maintenance, fuel, registration, and other services for their clients.
Set Goals
The first step is to sit down and think about the goals that you want to achieve with this budget. Figure out if it’s a reduction of fleet costs or spending, a percentage increase in sales, or otherwise. This can help determine the type of budget you need as well.
Review Expenses
Before you can begin making a fleet management budget, it’s wise to go back and review your previous expenses. Identifying significant costs will help create a standard for your current budget. By putting this into a spreadsheet, you can pinpoint improvement opportunities as well.
Itemize Costs
Once you’ve reviewed and recorded previous expenses, you can combine them with other potential costs for the year. These might include gas and fuel, safety programs and training, maintenance, taxes, titling, registration fees, and more. Incorporate all of these items together in your fleet budget to get an accurate picture.
Pick a Budget
Next, decide whether you should go with an incremental or zero-based budget method. A zero-based method starts the budget from zero each period. An incremental one uses a prior period as a metric and builds it from there.
Fuel Delivery
It’s no secret that fuel is one of the biggest items in a budget, and having drivers go out of their way to fuel up can waste valuable time and money. If you want to decrease costs, consider fuel delivery to your business. If you want to have fuel delivered to your fleet, you can research this kind of service from companies like Instafuel online.
Ready To Make a Budget?
Now that you’ve learned how to make a budget for your fleet business, you can be proactive. Review and record past expenses and then add them into projected costs. Then determine your goals for the year, and create a budget that reflects that.
Did you find this article about budgeting helpful? Want to learn more useful tips and tricks? Then check out some of the other great topics on this site!
