Grey fleet risks? Here are eight tips to manage them
If your company uses vehicles for company assignments that it neither owns nor leases, you have a grey fleet. Which means you also have grey fleet problems. Here are eight tips to manage them.
From a fleet management perspective, a grey fleet is easy to ignore, precisely because it is unowned and non-leased. But to do is at the peril of the health and safety of your employees, and the reputation of your company. But there is also a cold, hard business case to be made for an efficient grey fleet, as it leads to improved business performance. With that in mind, the TomTom Telematics blog has listed the following areas of interest in grey fleet management:
1. Responsibility
The reason the grey fleet is often overlooked is that nobody is responsible for it. So: assign it to an individual manager, whether in the Fleet, HR or even Health and Safety department (as risk assessment is an important element of grey fleet management). This will help to make the grey fleet visible for your organisation.
2. Policy
Establishing a formal policy will help clarify the responsibility of all interested parties for the grey fleet. Such a policy could include safety guidelines and codes of conduct for employees, but also the corporate goals a grey fleet could help to achieve.
3. Risk assessment
There is plenty of data available to help companies assess the various risk elements of their grey fleets.
Existing corporate KPIs like worker response times could reveal organisational risks, vehicle data might indicate safety risks, insurer information is an interesting source of accident data, and telematics could reveal a wealth of details on any number of parameters.
Telematics could be an interesting option even for grey fleets, as it would allow users to reduce time spent on claiming mileage, or even reduce their insurance claims.
4. Fitness to drive
Companies should ensure their employees' fitness to drive with the same amount of rigour – whether they drive a company car or operate a grey fleet vehicle.
5. Driver documentation
The same goes for driver documentation: grey fleet drivers need to be in possession of valid driving licenses and should not in any way be legally excluded from operating the vehicles that they drive – corporate fleet or grey fleet. It is also advisable to have a full view of drivers' history, in assessing their fitness to drive.
6. Driver risks
Annual mileage, driver incidents and driver training history are all elements to be considered when assessing the risk of any particular grey fleet driver. Telematics can play a major role in filling in knowledge gaps, especially on driver behaviour, and on tracking behavioural progress over time.
7. Time and fatigue management
Effective management of driver journeys includes avoidance of and warning for fatigue behind the wheel. This could be included in a road safety policy for grey fleet drivers – e.g. via rules on driving times and break times.
8. Vehicle safety
Because grey fleet maintenance is outside the scope of the company, vehicle safety could be compromised. It is in the interest of the company that grey fleet vehicles too are fit for purpose. Vehicle age and mileage requirements will help eliminate the worst-risk vehicles. Checking compliance with safety ratings and making sure maintenance records are provided by approved workshops are further stages – and should be undertaken regularly.
Image: blackcat, CC BY-SA 3.0