Investing in a business vehicle is something a lot of companies decide to do eventually. Whether it’s a truck for shipping products to fulfilment center, or a series of vans for your engineers to drive around in when they need to do field work, vehicles are a common purchase for many brands. The biggest problem a lot of companies have with buying a vehicle, is they have no idea how much they need to actually budget for the expense. While it might be simple enough to check your business savings or get a loan for the car you’d like to have associated with your company, it’s important to remember there are both long and short-term fees to consider.
The Short-Term Costs
The short-term costs are often the ones business leaders have the least trouble figuring out. The initial cost of your vehicle will include the sticker price you’re going to pay for the car or van, and the price of getting it delivered to your business. If you need to hire a professional specifically to drive this vehicle, you’ll need to consider the costs associated with finding and hiring that team member too. Outside of the initial cost of the car, you’ll also need to think about the costs and benefits of branding your vehicle.
Do you need your business logo to be on the side of the van? Will you want to add specific contact information or a name to the side of your car? These are additional costs that need to be considered before you even get your vehicle out on the road. If you’re going to be using a specific type of vehicle which needs a certain license, you’ll also have to pay for the cost of having your employee trained to that degree. Don’t forget about extra products you might want to install in your car too, like recording devices or ELDs for trucks, to help you keep track and monitor safety and performance on the road.
The Long-Term Costs
Once the short-term costs of your vehicle are squared away, you can begin thinking about long-term expenses. Perhaps the most obvious cost here is the price you’re going to pay for petrol. If you’re using fleet tracking and management tools, you should be able to estimate how many miles on average your employees are going to drive each month, and what that adds up to in terms of fuel. Remember to consider costs like regular training and license upgrades for your professionals, as well as maintenance fees for looking after your cars.
Even if your employees are great drivers, you’re still going to need to perform some routine maintenance from time to time. Outside of those basic expenses, think of things like how much you might want to pay for monthly analytics software which helps you with tracking things like fuel usage and how frequently your employees need to start and stop on the road. This analytics information can help you make better decisions about the future of your fleet investments, so you can keep costs low in the long-term.
