Fleet management covers the acquisition, running and replacement of the vehicles the work depends on.
What it costs
Fuel, maintenance, insurance, finance payments, tyres, and the loss in value over time. Grouped together they are usually the second largest cost in a mobile trade — see vehicle costs.
Grouping them is what makes the total visible. Scattered through general expenses, no one line looks large enough to act on.
Maintenance
Scheduled servicing is cheaper than the alternative, and the difference is not the repair bill. It is the day the vehicle is off the road: the appointments missed, the technician idle, the work moved.
That cost lands in utilisation and never appears as a vehicle cost at all.
Replacement
There is a point where maintenance and days off the road exceed the cost of a newer vehicle. Finding it requires per-vehicle cost records, which is the main reason to keep costs by vehicle rather than in one pool.
Replacing on a rolling schedule rather than on failure spreads the capital requirement and avoids replacing under pressure at whatever price is available — see lines of credit.
Buying, financing or leasing
Each changes the cash profile rather than the underlying cost. Purchase consumes capital and produces an asset that depreciates. Finance spreads it and adds interest. Leasing avoids the residual risk and generally costs more over the term.
The tax treatment differs between them and is worth confirming with an accountant before committing.
Insurance
Commercial auto is required. Premium is driven by driving records, which makes checking them before hiring a driver one of the few genuine levers.
Utilisation of the fleet itself
A vehicle standing idle still costs finance, insurance and depreciation. Fewer vehicles used more is generally cheaper than more used less, provided scheduling supports it — see tickets per route.