December 4, 2023
Abby Nuttall
Articles
As we get closer to the Christmas break we think there are a few extra steps you can take to look after your drivers, especially if your business will be closed or partially closed during the festive period. We wanted to share with you our top tips and tricks to help you care for your fleet drivers and make sure that everything runs smoothly during the Christmas break.
Check in On Them and Their Vehicles
The first thing we recommend doing in the lead up to the holidays is checking in on your drivers and making sure that they are happy and have no concerns about driving in general or their vehicle in particular.
A lot of businesses might get a little slower in the run up to Christmas, and if that’s the case for your company then now can be the ideal time to give your team a refresher on any training they might need or want. For example, you might want to run your annual training sessions, remind drivers of where training and support resources are for them to access or even use telematics data to provide tailored sessions for individual drivers.
You also want to check that their vehicles are running smoothly and that if there are any issues you can arrange for them to be resolved before the break. We recommend getting your drivers to check their vehicle condition monthly but a check in early December is especially important as there will be a reduced team later in the month and any issues may not be as quickly solved then.
If you’d like to learn more about vehicle checks and how we can help you implement and monitor these then please get in touch with the team on 01722 322 888.
Travelling in Fleet Cars
Many people will take the opportunity to travel or will be driving more as they visit family and friends over the holidays.
If your drivers are planning to travel then we recommend them taking a look at our recent piece on winter car tips (LINK) to make sure they, and their cars, are prepared. Alternatively, you might want to put together a flyer that you email out to drivers to give them some of your own driving guidelines.
Some drivers may want to go abroad during the break and it’s important that they let you know if that’s the case. Early December is the perfect time to remind them of this as it gives you enough time to action anything that might be needed. This is especially true for any lease cars in your fleet, as you’ll need to request the VE103 documentation.
Make Sure Your Drivers Have the Essential Info
Before the break we recommend reminding your drivers of all the key information for their vehicle so they have it to hand or know how to access it if they need it and the fleet team isn’t in the office.
We generally advise our drivers of:
- Critical contact numbers – for the fleet management team, breakdown, and insurance, including any out of hours options.
- The working hours of our teams – so that they know when they’ll be able to contact people and have a realistic idea of response timeframes.
- Essential maintenance pointers – there are some things drivers will be responsible for on their own vehicle, for example topping up the washer fluid and we like to remind drivers of these responsibilities and the resources that are available to help them.
You can do this via an email, online flyer, post on your internal website or even go old school and give them a paper flyer with the information that they can keep in the car.
Enjoyed this article? Read more of our latest blogs below:
- Looking After Your Drivers During the Holidays
- Prepparing Your Fleet for Winter
- Looking After Your Company Car Winter Edition
- Your EV in Cold Weather
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