Fleet vehicle
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- This page refers to a collection of vehicles (typically automobiles) with a single owner. For other uses of the word fleet, see Fleet.
Fleet vehicles are groups of automobiles with a single owner, typically a company or corporation, rather than an individual or family. Typical examples are the vehicles owned by a car rental company, the vehicles owned by a utility company, the metro buses and the vehicles owned by a security or police department.
Fleet vehicles typically lead hard lives. Although the owner of the fleet may employ a maintenance department, giving the vehicles a dedicated mechanic or mechanics, the vehicles are often operated by several drivers, subjecting them to accelerated wear. Further complicating the matter is the fact that, since the drivers are generally not held responsible for the condition of the vehicle, they do not exercise the same care for fleet vehicles as they might for their own vehicles. Fleet vehicles may also be subjected to unusual conditions (eg: all-local driving, 24-hour use, or excessive cargo weight), and may be kept until they have accumulated hundreds of thousands of miles. Fleet vehicles may also be the target of sabotage by disgruntled employees. All of these factors combine to produce a lot of wear and tear on these vehicles.
Companies with fleet vehicles are under constant risk, thanks to their drivers and vehicles themselves. Wear and tear and collisions dominate this field. A whole category devoted to "Fleet-risk management" is a home to several organizations dealing with reducing liability exposure associated with fleet. Their services range from training (online, video, classroom-based and behind-the-wheel) to retrieving, scrutinizing and managing driving records from the local authority (using which risk profiles are created), to regular vehicle maintenance to GPS-tracking.
[edit] See also
- ESITrack
- Fleet Special
- Vehicle tracking system
