Error parsing XSLT file: \xslt\FacebookOpenGraph.xslt Mike Waters' blog: 14 July 2009 - A balance between time and cost
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Mike Waters' blog: 14 July 2009 - A balance between time and cost

Date: 14 July 2009

Mike Waters is senior insight & consultancy manager at Arval, the leading vehicle leasing and fleet management company.

It's a decision that we all have to make at some point: do I go for the cheapest option or do I go for the easiest option that might cost a bit more? For business drivers a prime example of this is re-fuelling. Always filling up at low cost fuel sites can make a significant difference to overall company costs, but the cheapest outlet isn't necessarily the one on the route to work or around the corner from home.

This presents the conundrum that what the fleet manager wants drivers to do and what the drivers do in reality can be two different things, but it's worth persisting. The price differential between the cheapest and most expensive fuel retailers can be a significant one. Arval fuel figures show that in May this year the gap between the cheapest and most expensive fuel retailer was 9.54p per litre for Diesel and 9.43p on Unleaded.

Of course, common sense must prevail when it comes to route deviation. There is no point in driving miles out of your way to get to the cheapest filling station. The saving will be wiped out by the journey, not to mention wear and tear on the vehicle and time wasted as well as the negative environmental impact.

What drivers should be doing is better journey planning to understand where the cheapest filling stations are on their regular journeys. For example, drivers are likely to see lower prices in areas where there is a high concentration of competition. Where low cost sites are located close to other fuel retailers prices are often driven down. Therefore if drivers regularly travel to areas where the fuel price is obviously below the average it is advisable to plan in re-fuelling stops. Alternatively, if drivers are desperate to fill up and are only close to an expensive filling station, put the minimum amount of fuel in to get to a cheaper retailer where they can fill up.

Businesses need to be proactive in making sure they're capturing high-quality management information to track the price that their drivers are paying at the pump and then using that information to divert their drivers to cheaper sites. This will require clear guidelines to drivers, regular monitoring and potentially offering incentives for good performance.

The cheapest fuel stations are not always the ones that you are driving past, especially if you do a lot of motorway travel, but with some journey planning and clear encouragement from the employer there is no reason that fleets can't make significant savings on their fuel bills.



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