Breakdown and recovery
Every vehicle is always at risk of breakdown when on the road. That’s why drivers should be aware of the right steps to take when faced with a vehicle breakdown. Every company, and fleet managers especially, should provide the necessary information to their drivers on what steps to take in case of a breakdown to ensure recovery.
A breakdown in the middle of nowhere can cost your business due to lost time and delays in delivery. As a vehicle or fleet owner, it’s wise to invest in the best vehicle recovery service and coverage for your fleet. It is one of the best decisions you can make for your fleet and drivers' safety.
In this article, we’ll walk you through the steps to take when selecting the best vehicle recovery service in your area. Let's dig deeper into some factors you should consider most when choosing a breakdown and recovery service and cover for your commercial fleet.
Questions to Ask When Choosing a Vehicle Recovery Service
Modern automobiles are quite complicated and come with some unique technology. It’s often difficult or impossible to fix some vehicle issues unless you reach out to a mechanic or specialist who is familiar with the vehicle in question. Here are some factors you should consider before making that call.
1. What are the coverage options?
The first essential question you should ask your recovery service provider is the extent of their coverage. It’s usually smart to find out if the company is willing to offer their services in every part of the country, because you don't know exactly when and where your vehicle will be broken down.
Confirm how far their services can extend and whether the company provides towing trucks in such areas. For instance, if your company is in the UK, you should determine if the services extend to Ireland and other islands in the region. The best post breakdown and recovery provider should be available in most parts of the country.
2. Does the company employ accredited technicians?
Another factor to consider when choosing a recovery service provider is the expertise and qualifications of their team. The company should have a dedicated and professional team of field technicians to handle your vehicles on site.
Since modern vehicles include complicated technology, the technicians you choose to work on them should be qualified and familiar enough with modern car engines to handle any issues in your fleet. The technicians should also be well trained and have an in-depth understanding of modern vehicles.
Note: You should always find out whether the company has a team of qualified technicians and mechanics with enough experience to handle brake failure and ignition problems that can arise in your vehicle, and can cause serious safety concerns.
3. Is the company available 24/7?
You don't know when your drivers are going to have a breakdown. It could be in the middle of nowhere delivering an urgent order to your customer in the countryside. In that case, you should be able to contact your recovery service provider for a fast response. Find out the method of contact the company uses and whether they have an emergency response team in place before sealing the deal.
It is important to determine if you can reach the company through direct mobile phone calls, emails, messages, and landline calls. The company should have a dedicated and committed customer care team to respond to all your inquiries on time. Another factor to consider is whether the company has a dedicated mobile service app to access its services remotely.
Most fleet recovery companies offer a GPS enabled app that signals your location in case of a breakdown. This will save you time when you want to explain your exact location to the field technicians. You can also use the mobile app to find the nearest service center to take your vehicle.
4. What different services does the company offer?
Different breakdown recovery companies offer different plans for their customers. In most cases, the breakdown plan is manual.
That means you can only access recovery services 2-3 times every year. For that reason, when choosing a recovery service provider, you should find out if they provide extra services at a lower cost. This will help you save a lot of money on some technical vehicle repair services.
5. How old is your vehicle?
You should always consider your car age when choosing a vehicle breakdown and recovery plan for your fleet. Most service companies will normally shy away from offering coverage to older vehicles because they are more likely to break down.
If you have a running recovery plan with your service provider, you can sometimes renew it up to a decade from the year of car purchase. That said, you should confirm if your service provider allows for renewal of coverage for aging cars.
Since older cars attract expensive recovery pans, it’s also best to consider the cost of each plan the company offers before you buy one. Some service providers will also require that you service your car regularly to keep it in good shape. This is not a bad idea, but when the company sets the servicing intervals too close, it might be quite expensive on your side.
Final Thoughts
When managing a commercial fleet, it’s clever to prioritize an affordable and reliable vehicle recovery plan to ensure your peace of mind. Many companies offer fleet recovery plans, and you should always shop around for the best in the market. To ensure your vehicles are always safe on the road and reduce regular breakdowns, you should also train your drivers on fleet safety.
Azuga offers you the best enterprise fleet tracking software you can use to keep track of your vehicles and ensure they are in good shape while on the road. This way, you can save money on repairs, breakdowns, and recovery.
Fleet Dispatching
Dispatch software is a lifesaver when it comes to organizing your dispatch process and keeping operations streamlined. It offers a variety of features that make daily procedures so much easier, from fleet tracking to reports that help businesses make decisions. What features does dispatch software offer, and how do these features benefit fleets? We will break this down for you.
Assign and Monitor Jobs
It is easy to assign and monitor jobs with dispatch software because it uses fleet tracking. Fleet tracking allows you to assign jobs to crews in the field. If you need a lead technician for a job, it’s simple to attach that lead tech to any job you need. You can even sort jobs based on their status, whether they’re one-time, recurring, or multi-day, or based on urgency.
When workers finish jobs, they can mark the job as complete on their end. This way, you can know when each job concludes and when your technician moves on to their next task.
Easier Communication
Back and forth calls between technicians and managers are no longer a problem. With dispatch software, you simply input the job you want your technicians to address. Your technicians access it from their phones and know what to do from there. When they’re done, they can mark it complete and view their next job right away. They can track their time, update their schedules, and input notes all while on the go. Everything you need to know will be on your screen when you need to know it, no need to track the information down.
Improve Customer Service
Dispatch software can improve your business’s customer service reputation in a variety of ways. Firstly, GPS tracking allows for route optimization software, which gets your technicians to their destinations quickly and efficiently. No more late technicians making your customers wait. Furthermore, dispatch software allows you to assign technicians to customers they already know, building an improved relationship with your business. And with all of your customer information in one place, it’s easy to respond to disputes and issues in a timely and personal manner.
All of your client and order information is available in a field service CRM that details everything you need to know about your customers and the jobs you’ve done for them.
How to Get Dispatch Software
Azuga offers state-of-the-art dispatch software that your business is sure to benefit from every single day. These benefits will improve your fleet’s daily operations, boost customer service, and maximize productivity among your workers. These features and more bring your fleet to its maximum potential, allowing you to focus on making important decisions to help the business grow and thrive. Find out everything you can do with dispatch software by trying out a free demo today. You’re certain to be impressed with the improvements.
Multi-Drop Route Planning
A multi-drop route planner is a process that plans a route for a driver to make more than two deliveries in multiple locations. It uses vehicle routing software to collect and analyze thousands of data points and determine the best delivery route. This route planning software can plan, re-route, and reschedule without causing any danger to the driver, environment, or business. It considers many factors, such as the number of distribution centers, warehouses, or residential areas a driver has to visit, resource availability, and driver safety.
How Does Multi-Drop Route Planning Work?
The route optimization software tracks the vehicle while factoring in when deliveries need to arrive. Of course, a human being should ensure that everything has been planned out properly, but the process should be automatic. Both this person and the system should look at distances, travel time, and fuel consumption.
Once a route is set, the route optimization software compiles data to choose the best vehicle and driver depending on the delivery. It uses data based on the route and the client’s needs. At this point, it also considers the driver’s hours and weather conditions to determine how much time is needed. These systems need to work in real-time to ensure that managers and clients can connect with up-to-date information.
Benefits of Multi-Drop Route Planning
There are various benefits to multi-drop route planning. It maximizes productivity, keeps fuel costs low, promotes driver safety, and helps businesses stay compliant with federal driver hour regulations. Your business will save money by using its drivers effectively and not using as much fuel.
Where to Get Multi-Drop Route Planning Software
If you’re looking for this software, you don’t need to search any further! Azuga’s route optimization software allows for multiple stops. It provides the best routes based on historical data, traffic conditions, weather conditions, and machine learning that helps it create the best routes for you in real-time. See what you can do with route planning software by trying out a demo today!
Fleet Dispatching
If you manage a fleet, you probably already understand the delicate dance that is fleet dispatching. If not, you may not realize just how crucial this process is to the success of any fleet-based business.
What Is Fleet Dispatching?
Simply put, fleet dispatching is the process by which commercial fleet drivers are sent out into the field to make deliveries, service customers, and handle other business-related tasks. But it involves so much more than simply telling drivers, “you go there.” Good fleet dispatching may also involve considerations for traffic conditions, road hazards, driver skill sets, customer preferences, and onboard equipment. When done correctly, it’s a skillful juggling act that helps a business reach its daily goals. When poorly handled, it can be a disaster for all concerned.
What Is a Fleet Dispatcher?
A fleet dispatcher is a person in charge of scheduling and arranging dispatch for a commercial fleet. Small fleets may have a single dispatcher to manage all calls, while larger enterprise fleets may employ an entire team.
A fleet dispatcher must clearly understand schedules and routes, job proficiencies, fuel management, fleet maintenance, and regulations related to hours of service and other fleet compliance issues. A good fleet dispatcher knows the drivers in the fleet well and can anticipate their scheduling needs and which jobs they are most suited to handle. Fleet dispatchers must be masters of communication and have elite organizational skills.
Fleet Dispatch Software from Azuga
Fleet dispatching is as much an art as a science, and it can be overwhelming at times. The best way to support the fleet dispatchers on your team is to give them tools and technology that make the job easier. Fortunately, Azuga offers the answers to all of your fleet dispatching conundrums.
Our GPS Fleet Tracking software can keep track of all the vehicles in your fleet along with large equipment and other assets. Dispatchers can use this information to see which vehicles are nearby when a job pops up. What’s more, we offer top-notch route optimization tools to help guide drivers around road construction, accidents, and other hazards that might prevent them from getting to their destination on time. We can even help you schedule routine maintenance, promote road safety, and automatically deliver dispatch notifications to drivers in the field.
Learn about all the ways Azuga Fleet can help your commercial fleet stay productive and efficient while simplifying maintenance schedules and creating a culture of safety on the road. Schedule an Azuga demo today!