That’s the view from Andrew Leech, business manager at Mycompanyfleet, the automotive division of HR solutions provider, NorthgateArinso, who says that the onus is on fleets to use whatever management techniques they can to keep fuel costs under control.

According to fuel prices website petrolprices.com, the price of a gallon of the UK’s most expensive diesel went through the £6 barrier last week, with unleaded not far behind at £5.95. The national average was £5.44 a gallon for diesel and £5.33 for petrol, amongst the highest seen so far. 

In response, Mr Leech has highlighted how fleet management software can play a key role in helping fleet managers identify where the highest fuel spends are within an organisation. Systems like Mycompanyfleet’s FleetAcumen visually displays key cost centres to show expenditure against budget, and to highlight any areas of potential or actual overspend.

For key areas such as fuel costs, the system can be easily configured to show league tables of the top ten most fuel-efficient drivers and vehicles on the fleet and those which are the worst, so that fleet managers can take decisions quickly and effectively to remedy the situation.

'If necessary, fleet managers can use our system to name and shame the worst offenders and to highlight the least fuel efficient vehicles on the fleet. Tough times sometimes require tough measures,' said Mr Leech.

'This ability gives managers the ammunition to challenge driver behaviours and to consider introducing other initiatives such as eco-driver training, as in the current climate no manager is likely to want to be the winner in the fuel cost race,' he added.

Mycompanyfleet systems use dashboard technology and exception reports to identify the worst offenders in terms of fuel consumption for both drivers and vehicles.

These can also be configured to show the best performers and the most fuel efficient vehicles on company choice lists. By selecting the most fuel efficient vehicles and "steering" company car drivers towards them, perhaps with the use of cash incentives, fleet managers can play a key role in helping keep fuel costs in check and make a serious contribution to the corporate profit performance.

'Fleet managers are empowered by our dashboard methodology and exception reporting to take rapid and effective business decisions as soon as an event, such as a cost centre exceeding its fuel budget, occurs,' said Mr Leech.

'The use of exception reports allows fleet managers and other system users to go straight to the key management information required, allowing rapid and effective business decisions to be made,' he added.