There are simple ways to prevent your daily driving from breaking the bank when it comes to fuel usage, as Teletrac Navman explains.

Kiwis everywhere continue to take a heavy blow to their wallets from soaring fuel prices. It’s hard on everyone, but especially for tradespeople like plumbers, who travel from job to job every day.

With no immediate end in sight for these high fuel costs, reducing fuel consumption is a priority for most trades. Here are some simple ways for plumbers and plumbing companies across New Zealand to improve fuel efficiency.

1. Vehicle tracking
   Telematics is an effective way to reduce fuel consumption across your entire company. Key factors that can produce excessive fuel usage are inefficient job allocation and overdue maintenance needs. A fleet management system can really make a difference here by tracking the location of your company’s vehicles and monitoring each one’s maintenance needs.
   
   By having access to real-time insights from a fleet management solution, you can more easily keep track of which vehicle is at which job site. This makes it easier to redeploy your vehicles based on location, eliminating unnecessary refuelling trips and optimising routing. Given the real-time view on vehicle locations in relation to job sites, you can plan the most efficient routes for each plumber, ultimately improving fuel efficiency and saving them time.
   
   Receiving automated maintenance alerts based on odometer readings also allows you to stay on top of required servicing and issues impacting fuel efficiency. For example, keeping your tyres properly inflated can increase your fuel mileage by 3.3%, which is why it is important to regularly check tyre pressure. Automated maintenance alerts can help you stay on top of this, and ensure your vehicles are operating at maximum fuel-saving capacity!
   
   
2. Economical driving
   Fuel-efficient driving techniques not only save money, but also ensure road safety and reduce vehicle damage. A good rule of thumb for economical driving is to accelerate gently. To avoid falling back into the old habit of fast acceleration and sharp braking, imagine there is an egg carton under the accelerator or a cup of water on your lap! Sudden changes of speed increase fuel usage up to 20%, so when driving from job to job, coach your drivers to avoid rapid stops and starts and excessive idling—and to consider using cruise control for long trips where available.
   
   
3. Improved on-road habits
   Have you ever wondered how to monitor driver performance at any time? Telematics, through insights, analytics and reporting, can help you identify trends and any other shortcomings contributing to excessive fuel usage.
   Using built-in sensors that analyse every minute of driving time and telematics data, Smart Dashcams offers real-time high-quality footage and analytics. With a better understanding of what happens on the roads in real time, you are in a better position to help your company save on fuel costs.
   
   Armed with insights from fleet management solutions, you can use this behavioural data to better coach your team on improved driving habits that will save on fuel. This encourages them (and yourself) to be more mindful with everyday driving.
   
   The price of fuel is affecting everyone, tradespeople and office workers alike. For plumbing companies, whose drivers can spend hours on the road between job sites and base, it’s particularly important to take action to combat fuel costs. Utilising telematics is an efficient way to do this.

About the author: Megan Duncan is Director of Global Marketing Operations at Teletrac Navman, a leading software-as-a-service (SaaS) provider leveraging location-based technology and services for managing mobile assets. Teletrac Navman’s fleet and asset management technology uncovers information that would otherwise go unseen, helping customers reduce risk and confidently move their business forward. teletracnavman.co.nz