Research into how well local fleets are managed in South Africa paints a bleak picture.

Conducted by fleet consulting firm Mobilitas, in collaboration with Standard Bank Fleet Management, the research finds that more than 33% of companies surveyed do not have a fleet management policy, let alone one that is fully implemented and reviewed regularly.

The research was conducted in a relatively small, but broadly representative sample of 61 fleets, totalling just over 21 000 vehicles. Among these, seven deaths and twelve serious injuries from 469 accidents had occurred in the last 12 months. Yet, half of the fleets surveyed were not aware of the international standard for road traffic safety management and more than two-thirds have never conducted road safety awareness training for their drivers.

It also suggests fleet management in South Africa is mostly a part-time activity, with only 3% of respondents indicating fleet management was their only focus. Three-quarters devoted less than half of their time to fleet management duties, with their main duties being accounting, human resources management and office administration. Primary tasks were keeping down costs and preventing fraud.

Excellence in fleet management, the researchers propose, has at least four pillars: managing the risks facing the fleet; managing the people who operate the fleet; managing the impact of the fleet on the environment and managing the administrative systems of the fleet.

The researchers have developed a scoring system measuring all of these factors, enabling them to rate the overall excellence of a fleet’s management, or to benchmark the average level of fleet management in a specific industry or country. The scale they use ranges from Innocent (for those fleets that score less than 10%), Aware (up to 30%), Developmental (up to 50%), Competent (up to 60%), Effective (up to 80%), and Excellent (up to 100%).

While they have found rare examples of local fleets that operate in the Excellent range, the researchers say the average South African fleet operates squarely in the Developmental range, no matter what specific facet of fleet management is measured. The South African industry average score for vehicle management and driver management stands at 35% and comes in only marginally higher for environmental and road traffic safety management at 38% each.

In order to arrive at a score, the model measures aspects such as the awareness of the fleet manager of international standards, the existence of policies in the company based on such standards, how often the policies are updated and communicated and the rigour with which the policies are implemented.

The Fleet Excellence model expands the usual parameters of fleet management further by introducing the concept of “grey fleet”, those vehicles that do not belong to the company but to its staff who use them for business purposes. According to the research, some 38% of the participating fleets have a grey component. Predictably, given the novelty of the idea that these vehicles actually have to be managed, the scores for grey fleet management came in low. Only 43% of the companies with grey fleets kept a driving licence and vehicle register, only 35% had their grey vehicles insured for business purposes, and a paltry 17% inspected their grey vehicles.

“It is clear that South African fleet management has a long way to go before it can be described as mature, and getting there is no simple undertaking, but at least now we have a tool to measure our progress,” says Standard Bank’s Dr David Molapo.