Are company cars driving away with your money?

Image credit: Ono Kosuki from Pexels

An essential part of making any business more efficient is taking a look at your budget and seeing where you’re spending too much money. There are a lot of potential problem children to deal with here but a common trend amongst businesses that use company cars is that they can often spend way too much on them. Here, we’re going to look at how you can cut the costs while keeping the wheels your business needs.

Reconsider your ownership
First of all, you should take a look at your roster of cars and consider selling any that don’t get driven as often. You should only keep as many as you need on the regular. However, you should also consider different ownership structures like contract hire and leasing if they could be more cost-effective than buying the cars outright.

Help drivers drive more efficiently
You could potentially be saving a lot of money on fuel costs. You can, for instance, swap your existing cars for more fuel-efficient models, as well as buying fuel cards that can help you top up more cost-effectively. You can also teach drivers to lose bad driving habits, such as speeding, idling, and braking too hard, all of which can reduce the fuel efficiency of a car, meaning you’re spending more on them. 

Take care of the cars
If you fail to maintain your vehicles properly, you’re going to be paying for repairs and replacements more often. It’s most cost-effective to pay a little for the right servicing, but make sure you got the right team to help you keep on top of your cars. If you have a fleet of BMWs, you should have BMW specialists servicing them. Work with those who know the specific cars that you’re driving and they’re more likely to help you avoid the types of malfunctions most likely to affect those cars in particular.

Utilize the right tech
If you’re running a fleet of delivery vehicles, then effective routing to get to A to B matters. Cutting journeys times not only helps you save against fuel costs and wear and tear; it also enables you to potentially fit more stops into every trip. Take a closer look at some of the telematics systems out there that allow you to more efficiently route your vehicles.

Mind your insurance costs
Be mindful when you’re shopping for vehicle insurance, that business vehicle insurance can be more expensive, especially if more than one person is driving the car. As such, it pays to take time to compare different insurance offers. If you have several company cars, then you should look at fleet insurance instead. Make sure that you are deducting insurance costs and other vehicle costs from your business taxes, as well. It’s easy to miss this.

Take a good look at your company cars, ask if you need them and, if you do, ask how you can cut the costs of them both in the short-term and the long-term. The tips above can help you find some answers.