Must-Know Fleet Metrics To Track, Analyze, and Succeed

Manufacturers book fewer deliveries, regulations keep changing, and geopolitical tensions definitely don’t help.

An ongoing contraction in industrial output indicates the struggle for manufacturers who are heavily reliant on road freight, leading this trend to ripple through the logistics sector. Moreover, road freight managers must adapt to changing CO2-based tolling in multiple European countries and regulations, such as declaring the safety and security declarations of imports entering the UK.

Consequently, it has never been more critical for logistics providers to be agile and resilient to volatile market conditions. But do you ever feel like there are simply too many numbers to keep track of?

As competitors get increasingly tech-savvy and cost optimization becomes a stringent number-crunching endeavor, we put together the most impactful fleet metrics to track so you can stay ahead.

3 Types of Fleet Metrics You Must Prioritize

Regarding your key performance indicators, think of drivers, trucks, and dispatchers. First and foremost, drivers are fleet managers’ most significant asset. They ensure trucks and packages arrive at their destination safely and on time. Some drivers might be more experienced than others, but there is always something to learn. Taking the time to support them and show them their worth goes a long way.

Driver Metrics

Personalized summaries that share driver metrics and improvements can help provide training and recognition, and build a robust team. Driver metrics include behaviors such as:

• Braking and idling and their impact on fuel efficiency
• Hours of service compliance
• Vehicle inspection results
• Accident rates
• Delivery times

Weekly reports sent directly to the driver can help them see where they can improve each week and what behaviors they can work on for the next.

Truck Metrics

Most driver metrics will also be affected by truck conditions. Truck metrics to watch out for comprise:

• Uptime
• Maintenance costs
• Vehicle age
• Mileage
• Telematics data

Dispatch Metrics

Dispatchers, who do everything from assigning routes to drivers based on location and availability to tracking the progress of deliveries and being on hand for problems that may arise, will be interested in driver and truck metrics. Their priorities are:

• On-time delivery rates
• Capacity usage
• Driver productivity
• Route efficiency

Categorizing your fleet metrics based on drivers, trucks, and dispatchers can help you allocate resources, such as training, equipment, and support, more effectively.

Financial Fleet Metrics To Drive Success

When it comes to the company’s profitability, there are many upfront and ongoing costs, like toll taxes, salaries, and fuel costs, to consider. Fleet managers have had it tough. A 2024 report found that consumer prices for operating transport services grew faster than the price of inflation between 2015 and 2022. Let’s look at some fleet metrics to keep costs at bay.

While fuel efficiency, maintenance costs, and operating costs would traditionally be directly reflected in financial statements, other data is key to identifying fleet efficiency.

Here’s a breakdown of how these key fleet metrics might be represented in financial reports:

• Fuel efficiency: This would be reflected in fuel costs and could be analyzed in relation to vehicle mileage and operating expenses.
• Maintenance costs: These would be recorded as expenses and could be analyzed by vehicle type, age, or mileage.
• Operating costs: This would include various expenses, such as insurance, driver wages, and tolls, and could be analyzed by vehicle or by time period.
• On-time delivery rate: While not directly a financial metric, it could be used to assess the impact of late deliveries on revenue or customer satisfaction.
• Driver productivity: This could be analyzed in relation to labor costs and revenue generated.
• Accident rates: While not directly a financial metric, it could be used to assess the impact of accidents on insurance costs, vehicle repairs, and lost revenue.

Fleet managers must cross-analyze financial reports with vehicle uptime, compliance, route efficiency, driver productivity, and accident rates to accurately assess fleet efficiency.

Fuel Efficiency: Bringing Down the Costs

Are you tired of tracking fuel purchases, mileage, and vehicle usage manually? Does missing data leave you “guesstimating” each month? This doesn’t have to be the case.

A common method of automatically tracking fuel purchases, vehicle identification, and mileage is to provide drivers with company-issued fuel cards. Pair this data with fuel sensors that monitor fuel levels in the tank, and it can be transmitted to a central system for analysis.

Telematics systems offer an even more holistic view of critical fleet metrics. Since these systems can track vehicle location, speed, and fuel consumption, they can gather detailed data on fuel efficiency, which the software can then use to identify factors affecting fuel usage, such as driving habits and vehicle conditions.

Measuring the exact fuel consumption based on full-to-full refueling and comparing consumption per brand, model, trade lane, etc., can massively reduce costs. Fleet managers can review fuel invoices and begin planning fuel refuelings to budget precisely and ensure service stops are accounted for in route building.

Planning For Optimal Performance

The economy itself provides enough uncertainty for any fleet manager. But with today’s planning tools, they can be certain about some things.

Transmetrics’ FleetMetrics platform offers fleet managers live maps that show the location and availability of all trucks and loads, assigned and unassigned. This data allows fleet managers to strategically plan and schedule upcoming shipments, guaranteeing every request can be assigned confidently.

Automated load assignment features help dispatchers and fleet managers make faster and more efficient assignments while reducing the risk of human error and inconsistencies. They can optimize assignments based on various fleet metrics, such as distance, time, and vehicle capacity.

By minimizing unassigned load time, fleet managers reduce idle vehicle operating costs, take on more business, and improve customer satisfaction.