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How To Avoid Hidden Fleet Operating Costs

How to Avoid Hidden Fleet Operating Costs

While fleet managers can identify obvious operating costs, they don’t always identify hidden & soft fleet operating costs. Managers of small to mid-sized fleets who focus on identifying hidden & soft fleet operating costs, and then mitigating them, can have a significant and positive impact on the bottom line and their fleet’s profitability. Route planning software tools like RouteSavvy can help.

Examples of Hidden Fleet Operating Costs

Many examples of hidden or soft fleet operating costs have to do with financial strategies such as lease vs. purchase of vehicles, hidden costs from accidents, and more. For those items, mitigating hidden or soft fleet operating costs has to do with financial strategies.

However, route planning software comes into play to help mitigate hidden or soft fleet operating costs in surprising ways. Here are three ways that RouteSavvy helps minimize hidden or soft costs associated with operating a fleet:

  • Hidden Fleet Operating Costs Related to the Fuel Spend: Everyone knows that fuel costs are, by far, the largest expense for a fleet. Route planning software can reduce or keep fuel costs from rising by reducing miles driven. That’s obvious. The hidden costs associated with a company’s fuel often come from variable fuel costs, and unexpected fuel price hikes. When fuel prices vary because of supply or market factors, companies have to absorb those costs of unexpected fuel price hikes. If a small to mid-sized company has to dig into a line of credit to pay for unexpectedly high fuel costs, the cost of that borrowed money is a hidden cost. Route planning software tools like RouteSavvy that minimize miles driven and reduce a company’s fuel spend can help companies avoid the need to borrow on a business line of credit, which can eliminate or mitigate interest charges and money transfer fees typical for a B-LOC.
  • Hidden Fleet Operating Costs Related to Overtime Labor Costs: When route planning software reduces miles driven on a daily, weekly, monthly & yearly basis, it typically results in a reduction in overtime labor costs. When companies with fleets routinely have to pay overtime labor, it results in less money in the bank, and less interest generated on that money. When RouteSavvy reduces overtime labor costs, it can help companies retain cash in the bank, where it can generate interest or be invested in short-term CDs that generate interest on money that would otherwise not be available.
  • Hidden Fleet Operating Costs Related to Customer Satisfaction: It’s common knowledge that it’s more cost-effective to keep an existing customer than to have to invest in finding new customers. When companies have to develop marketing programs to reach and acquire new customers because they’ve lost some existing customers, that’s a hidden cost of operating a fleet. When route planning software tools reduce miles driven, and help delivery, pick-up, or service call teams arrive on time, it increases customer satisfaction & retention. While most companies will still market to win new customers, the customer satisfaction that comes with deploying route planning software eases the need to market to replace lost customers.

Affordable route planning software like RouteSavvy helps companies achieve savings in obvious ways: reducing the fuel spend, reducing overtime labor costs, reducing new customer acquisition costs, and more. It also helps mitigate many hidden and soft costs of operating a fleet. The bottom line is that route planning software can help companies with small to mid-sized fleets save money in obvious ways, and save money in unexpected ways. If you’re not deploying route planning software for your fleet, you’re literally pouring money down the drain that could be going straight to your bottom line.

Interested in learning more about RouteSavvy Route Planning Software from OnTerra Systems? Visit, or sign up for our Free, 14-day Trial.