Mastering how to prevent fuel theft is perhaps one of the most under-estimated but useful aspects of your business as a fleet manager or business owner who operates a small to medium-sized fleet.
But before we continue, here’s a quick disclaimer, or clarification perhaps. We’re talking about fuel theft that comes from you own drivers. That’s assuming that you made sure that your parking area (if any), is always protected with correct lighting at night and CCTV cameras. And by tactics such as defensive parking in front of your fuel tank’s access points. It may sound a little far fetched. But you’ll be surprised at how big a problem this kind of fuel theft can be.
Back to your drivers. No matter what size of business you run, fuel theft from employees, just like any other kind of theft (stationary, etc) is something you will face at some point. But, this can be easily prevented through the use of a vehicle management solution such as our very own Veturilo. You can monitor fuel levels in real time. And you can get alerts and notifications for each and every one of your vehicles.
How to prevent fuel theft: ways you may be duped by your drivers
We understand. Operating and managing a fleet of vehicles is not an easy task to start with. And fuel fraud is a common issue for all sorts of companies. Why? Because simply the temptation is always there and it’s an easy way to make some extra money.
And the problem is twofold. It’s not just about cost. It also reflects badly on your business. A driver that is capable of theft maybe is not the kind of employee you want. They may be also taking liberties elsewhere, and influencing others to do the same. The challenging thing is that such attitudes and behaviors might not come to your attention until it’s too late and damage has been done.
What can you do about it?
It’s tricky to try and solve these issues on your own. Why not rely on technology and kill two birds with one stone? That’s by preventing fuel theft and also reaping the additional benefits that come with a vehicle management solution, such as our very own Veturilo.
If you are a contractor, for example, running a small fleet business or you own a fleet rental car business, and hire a few drivers for customers that don’t own a driving license you’ll need to collaborate and build good relationships so you can retain drivers.
- Firstly, you’ll have to inform them in detail about what you expect from them, and how they will be monitored.
- For the burning issue (pun intended) in terms of fuel theft, you can see all of the trips your vehicles do. And you’re able to get notifications when one of them is about run out of fuel.
- You can see all the trip details and logs. That way you can be aware of whether there’s something wrong or out of the ordinary.
- Specifically with Veturilo, you can check up on the miles covered per trip, how long it took and what was the total fuel consumption (percentage % of fuel tank that is available). That way you’ll be able to know if your drivers are trying to cheat you. For example, if they choose to take an alternative route, rather than the one which had been originally defined, you will know in advance.
- As for the collaboration aspect, you may even “test” them if you wish and see how they behave on the road (for new hires). That way, you can check their bad or good driver behaviors
Pity the fool who…
…doesn’t use a fleet tracking solution basically. As you can see there are many ways in which you can protect yourself and your business against fuel fraud. With the technologies available now it’s much easier to uncover if you are being duped or not.
So don’t be a fool. Get started with Veturilo today and keep a close check on your drivers and your costs, remotely from anywhere.
…and take advantage of our 30-day money back guarantee.