How to use fleet management metrics to optimize fleet performance

Tracking fleet management metrics, such as fuel consumption, vehicle utilization, and driver behavior, provides critical insights that help fleet managers reduce operational costs and optimize their fleet operations. In this guide, we will explore the most important fleet metrics to understand, how to track them effectively, and how Samsara can help streamline critical fleet management processes.

What are fleet management metrics?

Fleet management metrics are measurable data points used to monitor and improve cost savings and fleet operations, typically including metrics such as fuel consumption, vehicle utilization, driver behavior, and maintenance costs.

By tracking and analyzing these metrics, fleet managers gain valuable insights that empower them to make informed decisions for optimizing fleet performance and achieving fleet management key performance indicators (KPIs).

Key fleet management metrics to track

Effective fleet management requires accurate and consistent fleet data. From fuel efficiency to driver behavior, these insights help fleet managers make strategic, data-driven decisions that help attain critical fleet management KPIs, ultimately driving significant improvements across safety, fleet efficiency, and the bottom line. Below are a few of the of the most important fleet management metrics to track:

1. Fuel management metrics

Fuel is one of the highest variable costs for any fleet. Monitoring fuel-related metrics helps identify inefficiencies, reduce costly repairs, minimize emissions, and promote more cost-effective driving behaviors.

• Miles per gallon (MPG): Monitor fuel efficiency by vehicle to identify underperforming assets and improve overall fleet performance.

• Fuel consumption per trip/job: Analyze the amount of fuel used for specific routes or tasks to uncover inefficiencies and optimize planning.

• Fuel cost per mile: Calculate the cost of fuel relative to distance traveled to benchmark and control fuel-related expenses.

• Idle time: Track engine idling to identify unnecessary fuel burn and reduce both costs and emissions.

• Fuel theft detection: Cross-check fuel card usage with GPS and telematics data to flag suspicious activity or discrepancies.

• Driver efficiency scores: Evaluate drivers based on behaviors that affect fuel economy, such as speeding, idling, and aggressive driving.

• Power take-off (PTO) fuel usage: Monitor fuel used by onboard equipment during stationary operations to manage auxiliary fuel costs.

2. Vehicle maintenance and repair metrics

Vehicle maintenance is key to reducing unplanned vehicle breakdowns, minimizing vehicle downtime, improving vehicle performance, and maximizing asset lifespan. These metrics help ensure timely service, reduce repair costs, and improve fleet vehicle uptime.

• Preventive maintenance compliance rate: Percentage of fleet maintenance completed on preventative maintenance schedules.

• Mean time to repair (MTTR): Measures the average duration of repair work, indicating the efficiency of your vehicle inspection process.

• Mean time between failures (MTBF): Tracks how long a vehicle operates before experiencing a failure, offering insight into asset reliability and vehicle performance trends.

• Unscheduled maintenance rate: Indicates how frequently unexpected breakdowns occur, highlighting gaps in preventive maintenance and operational inefficiencies.

• Maintenance cost per vehicle: Monitors average maintenance expenses per vehicle to help with budgeting and cost control.

• Odometer readings: Track total vehicle mileage over time to inform maintenance schedules, monitor usage trends, and extend the vehicle lifecycle.

• Repair turnaround time by vendor: Assesses how quickly external vendors complete maintenance tasks, helping you evaluate service quality and vendor performance.

• Spare parts inventory turnover: Tracks how often parts are used and replenished, helping optimize inventory levels and minimize holding costs.

• Work order completion rate: Measures the speed and efficiency your maintenance team or service vendors complete assigned tasks

3. Asset utilization and asset management metrics

Effectively tracking asset usage ensures your fleet is properly sized and every vehicle is utilized to its maximum output. These asset management metrics help fleet managers identify asset inefficiencies, reduce downtime, and improve asset allocation.

• Utilization rate: Measures the percentage of time vehicles are actively in service versus sitting idle, helping you assess how well your fleet is being used.

• Downtime vs. uptime ratio: Tracks how often vehicles are available for operations versus out of service, offering insight into overall fleet availability.

• Deadhead miles: Monitors miles driven without cargo or productive purpose, allowing you to minimize empty runs and boost route efficiency.

• Fleet size optimization: Uses asset utilization data to right-size your fleet and eliminate costs tied to underused vehicles.

• Average daily miles/hours per vehicle: Highlights usage trends to identify overworked or underutilized assets.

• Engine-on vs. movement time: Compares how long engines run versus how long vehicles are moving, helping pinpoint inefficient idling.

• Asset dwell time: Measures how long vehicles remain stationary at job sites or facilities, revealing delays or workflow gaps.

4. Safety and driver behavior and metrics

Driver performance has a direct impact on fleet safety, insurance premiums, and overall operating costs. Tracking these safety metrics enables fleet managers to reduce accidents, develop targeted driver coaching programs, and cultivate a culture of safety within your organization.

• Safety score per driver: An aggregate score reflecting behaviors such as speeding, harsh braking, and distracted driving to evaluate overall risk.

• Harsh event frequency: Records instances of aggressive braking, sharp turns, and rapid acceleration to identify coaching opportunities.

• Speeding events: Monitors how often and how severely drivers exceed speed limits.

• Seatbelt compliance: Tracks seatbelt usage to ensure driver safety standards are maintained.

• Distracted driving detection: AI-powered technology helps automate the detection of distracted driving behavior such as drowsiness or mobile device usage in real time.

• Hours of Service (HOS) compliance rate: Ensures drivers adhere to legal HOS driving time limits to reduce fatigue-related risks and avoid violations.

• Driver score trends: Analyzes changes in individual driver performance over time to identify improvements or emerging risks.

• Crash and near-miss reporting: Collects data on incidents and near misses to inform coaching strategies and driver training.

• Post-incident response time: Measures how quickly your team responds to accidents, streamlining incident investigation and reducing downtime.

5. Financial and operational cost metrics

Effective cost management requires tracking both individual fleet vehicle data and overall fleet financial performance. These metrics enable data-driven decision-making that improves budgeting accuracy, leading to a more cost-effective fleet operation that maximizes profitability.

• Cost per mile (CPM): Calculates total operating costs divided by miles driven to assess vehicle-level efficiency.

• Total cost of ownership (TCO): Measures all expenses associated with a vehicle throughout its lifecycle, including acquisition, maintenance, fuel, and depreciation.

• Insurance claims per vehicle per year: Monitors frequency and cost of claims to manage risk and control insurance premiums.

• Administrative hours per asset: Quantifies the time spent on non-driving tasks like inspections, reporting, and compliance.

• Revenue per asset: Compares income generated by each vehicle against its costs to highlight underperforming assets.

• Vehicle replacement forecast: Uses data on age, mileage, repair history, and costs to plan timely asset replacement and avoid escalating expenses.

6. Sustainability and compliance metrics

As environmental regulations become more complex and the need for sustainable practices grows, tracking sustainability and compliance metrics is increasingly becoming essential for reducing emissions and meeting compliance requirements. By tracking data for fuel efficiency, electric vehicles, and compliance, fleets can better align their strategies with broader sustainability goals.

• Emissions per mile: Measure greenhouse gas emissions to help reduce your fleet’s carbon footprint.

• Idle emissions total: Identify and minimize emissions generated during vehicle idling periods.

• Electric vehicle (EV) utilization rate: Assess how efficiently electric vehicles are integrated and used within your fleet.

• EV charging efficiency: Track charging times, energy consumption, and costs to optimize EV charging infrastructure and reduce downtime.

• Battery health and depreciation: Monitor battery performance and capacity over time to plan maintenance and replacement schedules for electric vehicles.

• Vehicle electrification readiness: Analyze fleet composition, vehicle duty cycles, and operational requirements to identify ideal candidates for EV replacement and support a smooth transition.

• Regulatory compliance score: Monitor adherence to regulations such as FMCSA, DOT, ELD, and HOS to ensure legal compliance.

• Carbon offset tracking: Document and report progress on carbon reduction initiatives and sustainability programs.

Take a data-driven approach to fleet management with Samsara

Samsara offers a comprehensive fleet management software built to improve efficiency, safety, and sustainability across your fleet operations. 

Sterling Crane Canada is the 10th-largest mobile crane rental company in the world. By leveraging Samsara Vehicle Telematics, they were able to improve their proactive maintenance by 14%, while saving over $517,000 in annual maintenance labor costs and 10,000+ hours in technicians’ time. Technicians can now focus on their core tasks instead of troubleshooting malfunctioning equipment or being incorrectly deployed for repairs. These newfound insights have also uncovered significant cost savings, including $1.1 million saved in maintenance and replacement costs overall for on-road equipment and over $2.1 million saved overall for off-road equipment.

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To learn more about how tracking the right fleet management metrics can drive smarter decisions, check out Samsara’s Fleet Management Platform and chat with our team today.