According to the latest figures from the RAC, some 17,667 working days were lost last year due to breakdowns, some of which, including lack of a full-size replacement tyre, were blame-free, but an increasing proportion of which were down to driver error, including running out of fuel.

But, rather than turning to short-term hire to get drivers back on the road quickly, better management of vehicles available elsewhere in the organisation could go some way to reducing vehicle downtime, according to software solutions provider, Mycompanyfleet.

By having all vehicle details entered and up-to-date on a fleet software system, it is possible to keep a much closer control of the whereabouts of vehicles across different sites at various locations.

Mycompanyfleet’s product manager, Paul Jackson, said: ‘It’s frightening just how many fleets don’t know what vehicles are available, which are unavailable, and for how long.

‘At Mycompanyfleet, we strongly believe that being able to actively manage unavailable vehicles is the key to reducing a considerable proportion of lost productivity and is within the fleet manager’s power to control.

‘The powerful dashboard tools we employ within our fleet management systems constantly check on unavailable vehicles and monitor when they will become available again.

‘This allows the fleet manger to easily assess whether a pool car or short term rental vehicle is required, thus saving replacement vehicle costs which can rapidly mount up if your records are not 100% up to date,’ he said.

He added: ‘By keeping better control of all vehicles on the fleet through the fleet management system in this way, available vehicles can be matched to those locations where they are most needed and vehicle utilisation and cost control improved dramatically.’