There are many advantages to maintaining consistency among the vehicles in your company fleet. Should you ever need to add to it, it might be due to expansion or just a need to replace older models. Deciding to purchase new vehicles that match your company fleet is an easy decision, but actually doing it might not be such an easy feat to accomplish.
How to Purchase New Vehicles to Match Your Company Fleet
If you want to purchase new vehicles that match your company fleet, then there are several steps you can take to accomplish this:
- Know Your Target Make and Model: Most of the time, you’re going to wind up identifying a specific make and model that is the common denominator among your current fleet. This would then be the one that you’re looking to get your hands on in the future.
- Don’t Get Too Picky: Searching for a particular make and model is great, but not if you get too rigid. Open yourself to looking for available models that are different colors. The number of vehicles for sale will go drastically up, and all you have to do is repaint them. Also, consider looking for manual transmission models and having them converted to automatics by your mechanic.
- Consider Vehicles That Look the Same: Sometimes, makes and models from two different companies might look nearly identical or just close enough. Consider getting them if they will actually look the same after your branding is applied.
- Contact Dealerships: If there’s a dealership focusing on the brand of your target make and model, contact them about future deliveries, used models they might know about, or even volume pricing on a bulk order.
- Watch Out for Rentals and Leases Expiring: Your target company fleet vehicles might already be on the road in someone else’s corporate fleet or as a rental car. However, they’ll likely come to market sooner or later when their leases end or the rental car company wants something newer. These vehicles are often very affordable and cared for at a high level of reliability you can benefit from.
- Be Willing to Barter: If you spot other businesses in your market that have your target vehicle in their own fleet, then check with them about potentially getting your hands on it. Maybe you can swap a vehicle from your fleet that doesn’t match your style but would be useful to them, or you could just be their first phone call when they’re ready to free it up.
Buy From Anywhere
When it comes to matching new vehicles with the existing vehicles in your company fleet, you may have a hard time shopping locally. If you can’t find what you’re looking for locally, then you may consider buying from anywhere in the 50 states and having your vehicles delivered to you. If you can’t find anything locally, then this might be your only option. Even if you do find local models, there might not be enough or they might be priced pretty high. Sometimes, buying from remote sellers and adding car shipping services to your budget is cheaper than buying locally in some markets.
Why Matching Company Vehicles Matter
Having a matching fleet of company vehicles has many advantages and benefits, some of which are pointed out by HVACR Business:
- Ownership: Owning and maintaining your own fleet of vehicles when done right, is cheaper than just letting employees use personal vehicles for work matters and then reimbursing them. You also get to put your company branding on the vehicles to advertise your company. Owning the fleet also limits potential liability compared to using personal vehicles.
- Known Costs: Using similar vehicles across your company fleet means you get to know the maintenance needs and schedule of all of them at the same time. You also get familiar with the usual gas mileage. That makes it much easier to predict the future costs for both fuel and vehicular upkeep, and that steadies your budget projections.
- Level Your Line-Up: If you have vehicles in your fleet that don’t really match the rest, then they might stick out for more than just how much they look. Some might be too expensive to be worth it. That can be in terms of initial cost, maintenance, or the amount of gas they guzzle. Swap them out for more known elements.
- Run With the Winner: Some companies think they need a diverse set of vehicles to serve many needs, and some might. However, if your core business activity for your fleet is rather homogenous, then find the best vehicle for that task and keep buying more models of it. Sales personnel don’t need pickup trucks or SUVs, but technicians might.
- Enforce Standards: When you have a common vehicle matching throughout your entire fleet, your employees will be familiar with that make when they get in the driver’s seat. It should be consistent in every identical vehicle you own. If you install a tracking system, you can monitor how well your drivers perform on the road, and they can never make excuses about being unfamiliar with the vehicle.
Keep Them Running
While finding new vehicles that match your current company fleet is possible, you can also take steps to minimize how often you need to hunt for them. Make sure your current vehicles are well-maintained so you can keep them running for as long as possible. You’ll save money on insuring them all if you keep them longer, and getting your employees to take care of company vehicles should also inspire them to handle everything about your company with the same level of professionalism and care in all their various duties.
