How to Use Fleet Data to Optimise Coverage

We know that businesses who operate a fleet of vehicles usually have one clear, shared goal: to keep things running as smoothly and efficiently as possible. Using fleet data to optimise your business is key to hitting these targets. 

In this guide, we’ll discuss what fleet data is, how you can implement the collection of it in your business and how using this data could help to reduce your fleet insurance premiums. 

What is fleet optimisation and data?

Fleet optimisation is built on-top of fleet management and is the action of making the most effective use of your fleet to cut costs and maximise productivity. 

Using collected data, fleet optimisation software can generate optimal routes and schedules for vehicles in your fleet. This helps to reduce fuel consumption, minimise travel time and improve overall productivity.

Revisiting your fleet data regularly allows you to spot trends and use them for insights on how you could improve productivity and reduce costs. Being able to provide tangible information to your insurance provider enables you to work together effectively to come to a policy solution that works best for you both. 

Data from the Association of British Insurers (ABI) shows that in the third quarter of 2023, the average price of motor insurance was a record £561. This was an increase of 29% compared to the same time the year before, leaving many fleet managers to rely on their fleet data in order to reduce these costs.

What types of fleet data could you provide your fleet insurance broker with?

With so much information that can be transmitted to insurance brokers, it can be difficult to know what will have a meaningful effect on your insurance premiums. However, there are a few important fleet data points that insurance brokers will want to see. 

• Driver telematics – Tracking your drivers behaviour helps you to better understand the actions that can frequently lead to accidents. Using tools such as speed monitors, dash cams, seat belt usage and mileage can help prevent incidents from occurring in the first place, and improve overall driver safety.
  
  It is estimated that 90% of road accidents are caused by human error, with 40% of sleep-related incidents involving commercial vehicles. It is therefore vital as a fleet manager that your drivers understand risk management plans and they stick to them. This includes enforcing such things as taking necessary breaks and ensuring dash cams are in use with every journey.

• Fuel consumption – Fuel monitoring involves recording speed, idle time and route planning. It can also include fuel card data which helps to understand how efficient your fleet is.
  

• Inspections and maintenance – It’s vital that you monitor and regularly inspect your fleet. Helping to prevent accidents which may be the result of a poor maintenance regime, or poor reporting of maintenance issues.
  

• Vehicle performance – Using telematics, such as GPS tracking solutions, can help to provide a wide variety of different data points on performance and location. From harsh driving, to vehicle problems, tracking your vehicle’s performance will help you to understand what is happening with your fleet. 

From here, you can explain what kind of data you are collecting from your fleet and how you implement it in your daily operations. With data to support your fleet, insurance brokers are more likely to offer better premiums. 

Having solid proof through the use of data collected through telematics will only work in your favour if you are clear and transparent about your drivers previous damage and repair costs and how your risk management plan is helping to reverse any previously poor performance. 

Data from the Driving for Better Business organisation found that when businesses implemented a risk management strategy, their fleet insurance dropped by an average of 26% and damage costs fell by 78%. 

With the data from the telematics at hand, fleet managers will have insights into diver behaviours such as speeding, sharp braking and sudden turning. These behaviours, when recurring, will indicate higher risk and increase the likelihood of insurance claims, resulting in higher insurance costs. The actionable data allows managers to detect these patterns and take proactive steps to correct them, ensuring safer driving and therefore helping to reduce insurance costs. 

In EY’s Global Insurance Outlook 2024, it states that 52% of insurance CEOs plan to invest significantly into the use of AI. With this in mind, it is vital fleet managers are using reliable fleet data collecting devices to support their business in negotiating lower insurance premiums.