Fleet Management

Centralize Fleet Management

Whenever practical, municipalities should centralize responsibility for fleet management under a single department or manager. Depending on the size of the organization, this may be a stand-alone fleet department or a division within the public works department. Regardless of the organizational structure, centralized management promotes consistency, accountability, and sound asset management.

Benefits of centralized fleet management include:

• Maximizing vehicle and equipment utilization across all departments.
• Right-sizing the fleet by identifying underutilized assets and eliminating unnecessary vehicles or equipment.
• Standardizing vehicle and equipment specifications to simplify purchasing, improve reliability, reduce inventory requirements, and lower maintenance costs.
• Establishing objective replacement criteria based on age, mileage, hours of operation, maintenance history, lifecycle costs, and resale value.
• Improving cost accounting through internal service charges, lease rates, or other cost-allocation methods that reflect the true cost of fleet ownership and operation.
• Reducing budget uncertainty by providing predictable replacement and operating costs.
• Developing reserve or shared-use vehicles and equipment where cost effective to minimize service disruptions during repairs or peak workloads.
• Maintaining a centralized fleet replacement fund to support planned vehicle and equipment replacement.
• Promoting consistent maintenance practices and preserving the appearance and condition of fleet assets.

Fleet Manager Responsibilities

Municipalities should designate a qualified individual to oversee fleet operations. In larger organizations, this may be a dedicated fleet manager; in smaller organizations, these responsibilities may be assigned to another management position.

The fleet manager should be responsible for:

• Developing policies for vehicle acquisition, assignment, utilization, replacement, and disposal.
• Managing preventive maintenance, repairs, fuel systems, parts inventory, and mechanic training or certification.
• Monitoring fleet performance using objective measures such as utilization, downtime, maintenance costs, fuel consumption, and lifecycle costs.
• Evaluating opportunities for vehicle sharing, motor pools, equipment reassignment, and fleet right-sizing.
• Considering fuel economy, total cost of ownership, productivity, reliability, safety, and operational requirements when making purchasing recommendations.
• Evaluating emerging technologies, including alternative fuels, hybrid and electric vehicles, telematics, and other innovations, when they are operationally appropriate and cost effective.
• Preparing long-range fleet replacement plans and annual capital budget recommendations based on objective replacement criteria rather than departmental preference.