How to maintain fleet compliance: A complete guide

How to make sure your fleet is compliant

Making sure your fleet is compliant with all the relevant legislation is one of the most important aspects of your job as a fleet manager.

Compliance covers everything from vehicle maintenance to record keeping to ensuring the health and safety of your drivers.

Neglecting any area of fleet compliance can result in severe financial penalties, and comprise how your fleet works and effectively how well your business is doing as a result.

And it’s more than just doing the bare minimum.

You need to be able to prove that you have taken all the necessary precautions to ensure the working environment is safe for all your employees, as well as ensuring all relevant documentation is kept up to date.

Creating a structured approach to your fleet compliance is the best way to make sure you have ticked all the boxes, and nothing has been left behind.

Why do you need ensure your fleet is compliant?

Fleet compliance isn’t just a ‘nice to have’ – it should be an integral part of your day-to-day fleet management.

The key areas of fleet compliance are people, vehicles and operations.

Neglecting any one of these areas can leave your business exposed and at risk for penalties, should anything go wrong.

At its simplest, fleet compliance is about making sure your fleet is operating to its full potential, inside the relevant laws and regulations, and sticking to best practices.

This will make sure that your workplace is a safe and efficient environment for your fleet drivers, enabling them to show up and do their job without fear of anything going wrong.

Fleet compliance is ultimately also a cost-saving exercise.

By investing the money and time up-front to create a robust system that enables you to keep on top of your compliance work, you could save yourself a big headache and avoid potential financial penalties in the long run.

Legal requirements for fleet management

Fleet compliance involves several different legal requirements.

These can vary depending on the sector that your business operates in, and potentially even your location, but there are several key areas that remain the same across most industries.

These include ensuring your vehicles are road-worthy and safe to drive, as well as making sure your fleet drivers are eligible to drive them.

You also need to maintain your records, and ensure all documentation is kept safe and is easily accessible. 

Risk management is also a big part of compliance. Carrying out risk assessments, managing risks effectively and having a plan in place helps to keep your business and your employees safe, and means that daily operations can run smoothly.

Seven ways to maintain fleet compliance

Vehicle inspections and maintenance

Without road-worthy vehicles, you don’t have a fleet.

Keeping on top of the maintenance schedules of your fleet vehicles will ensure that they’re always ready to go and your drivers can go about their day without fear of a breakdown.

The maintenance guidelines provided by the manufacturer are the minimum you should be doing to keep on top of your vehicle’s health.

Daily vehicle inspections are a good way of keeping on top of whether there are any visible defects or issues that need dealing with, long before a routine service may have picked them up.

This helps to reduce vehicle downtime, and can save on excessive repair costs if you can identify and fix faults before they become a major problem.

Documentation and record keeping

All the vehicles on your fleet, including grey fleet vehicles that are owned by your employees but used for business purposes, need to have valid insurance, VED and an MOT.

Making sure you have copies of all this documentation is an important aspect of fleet compliance, but also ensuring that every vehicle has a copy of the MOT and insurance certificate stashed in the glovebox can be reassuring for drivers, and useful if they ever get pulled over.

If a vehicle that you own or operate, or a vehicle that you allow to be used for business journeys, does not have all the correct and in date documentation, you could be held liable.

You’ll also need to ensure that all your records are kept up to date. 

It’s a good plan to keep records of the maintenance and safety inspections of all your vehicles for at least a year, even if it is not a legal requirement for your business.

This means you’ll be up to date on what is happening with your fleet, can identify when servicing and regular maintenance is needed, and all preventative measures can be taken to always ensure a safe working environment. 

Driver training

Allowing your drivers to undertake further training allows you to make sure that all your vehicles are being driven in the correct manner, but can also help to improve fuel economy, prevent collisions, and reduce downtime.

Having a system in place to monitor driver behaviour can help you to identify any areas where your drivers might be infringing on either UK law or your company’s policies. 

This means you can then identify the right training for that driver, keeping your drivers on the road and ensuring your fleet remains compliant.

Driving licences 

Your fleet drivers all need to hold valid UK licences.

It’s good practice to ensure you are carrying out driving licence checks annually, and making sure that each driver holds the right licence for the vehicles they are driving.

Allowing your staff to drive without a valid licence is an offence and will void your insurance. If you have drivers with six or more points on their licence, the DVLA recommends three monthly checks instead of an annual one.

It’s also worth taking more than one form of ID from your drivers, so you can cross-reference the details.

Driving hours

If your fleet contains goods vehicles, you and your drivers will be aware of the strict rules around driving hours, and that you need to keep records of working times for at least two years.

However, it’s also advisable that all your drivers, whether the rule applies to them or not, only drive for a maximum of two hours at a time before they take a fifteen-minute break.

Fatigue often contributes to road traffic collisions, and infringing the driving hours legislation can result in prosecution of the driver and the operator.

Tachographs

All vehicles over 3.5 tonnes registered after 2006, those that can carry more than nine people, or those used for towing trailers must have a working tachograph installed.

The fleet telematics data can help you control your drivers' working and rest times but can also be used as evidence if your drivers are involved in a collision.

If your vehicles don’t have a tachograph installed, you could be liable for fines of up to £5000.

Health and safety

You have a duty of care to make sure your drivers are physically and mentally fit to drive, and where needed, help them to adjust their work schedules and get the relevant medical care.

To stay compliant with the Health and Safety at Work Act, your drivers need to feel comfortable in reporting any physical or mental medical issues that could affect their driving without fear of retribution.

Fleet management system

A robust fleet management system is the best way to ensure that you are staying on top of your fleet compliance.

You’ll be able to create a plan that gives you the ability to keep track of your vehicle maintenance schedule, make sure your records are up to date, and that your fleet is in good working order.

Fleet compliance is, at the end of the day, an ongoing process.

Creating a system that allows you to stay ahead of your compliance processes will ultimately help prevent your business from being fined, violating safety legislations, or running into avoidable delays, as well as admin time and costs.

Get expert help

Fleet compliance doesn’t have to be an admin nightmare.

Corparison is on hand to help you create a fleet management solution that helps your fleet to stay compliant with all the relevant legislation.

With access to tools and partnerships, you’ll be able to easily manage your compliance, including vehicle checks, maintenance schedules, licence checks, and much more.

We can help you simplify your fleet compliance systems, as well as offer expert advice and guidance for any type of fleet, enabling you to stay ahead of the game, and your fleet to operate as smoothly as possible.