What is Fleet Accident Management and Why Should You Consider It?

Accidents cost non-CDL fleets money, plain and simple. They cost you fines, repairs to vehicles, lost time from employees, and much, much more. Even worse, they hurt your people. There’s good news, though: accidents don’t have to happen. You can implement a Fleet Accident Management program to reduce your cost of loss and protect your people.

What’s The Cost of an Accident?

A minor accident for a non-CDL fleet will cost you $16,000 or more. An accident with any type of injury, no matter how small, will cost you over $70,000. If there’s a fatality, your cost will be at least $500,000. That’s a guarantee.

Why are accidents so expensive? They involve a lot more than you might think.

When one of your non-CDL drivers has an accident, you could have costs from:

• Vehicle repair
• Court dates
• Fines
• Worker’s compensation
• Lost time from anyone dealing with the accident
• Diminished productivity across the company
• Driver turnover
• Legal battles
• Damaged reputation

The list goes on and on.

The bottom line is, accidents are expensive. However, preventing them can save you money. If you invest in solutions to reduce your accidents, which we’ll explain in this article, you can save more money than put into your Fleet Accident Management program. 

You can improve your fleet safety and prevent accidents while reducing costs.

What is a Fleet Accident Management Program?

A fleet accident management program is all about reducing and mitigating risks that lead to cost of loss.

You suffer from cost of loss due to accidents, vehicle repairs, arbitration, and more. If you don’t manage these losses, you and your company face tremendous risk. You need policies, practices, and procedures in place to reduce cost of loss and prevent accidents.

In this article, we’ll focus on three major areas to improve Fleet Accident Management practices:

• Driver training/driver safety program
• Vehicle repairs and maintenance
• Collecting data with vehicle telematics

Invest in Driver Training

Driver training/a driver safety program is the single most important step you can take to reduce your cost of loss.

Your drivers have accidents because of their unsafe behaviors. You need professionally-made training to reduce their unsafe behavior, their risk, and the number of accidents your company suffers.

Most driver training programs are a fraction of the cost of a single accident. An online driver training program like The Fleet Safety Course can reduce your accidents and injuries by 20% or more.

Download eBook: 8 Light-Duty Training Courses You Can Use for Your Safety Meetings

If you’re spending a fraction of one accident to reduce 20% of your accidents, your return on investment is massive.

You don’t have time to waste. Protect your people, improve efficiency, and reduce your cost of loss by implementing an effective driver training program.

Manage Vehicle Repairs

Unexpected vehicle repairs and emergency breakdowns greatly increase your cost of loss. Not only that, but they put you at risk of lawsuits and they put your employees at risk of major injuries and accidents.

You need to implement a vehicle repair schedule/maintenance program to cut down on surprise breakdowns.

Implement a maintenance program to ensure every vehicle has:

• Working brakes
• Working airbags
• Essential engine fluids
• Timely preventative maintenance

Collect Data

Vehicle telematics is an important part of fleet safety, preventing accidents, and reducing costs.

When you invest in vehicle telematics, you can:

• Collect data on your most common and costly accidents
• Study when and where accidents are most likely to occur
• Collect video footage of unsafe behaviors to coach drivers on for improvement

You can use this data to set vehicle routes or even restrict driving times in company vehicles. When you collect data on how, when, and why accidents happen, you can work to prevent them.

Don’t Wait For Your Big Accident

Many companies wait until they’ve had a major accident to take action. If you wait, it’s too late.

Why should you and your people suffer when accidents can be prevented?

Invest in creating a Fleet Accident Management system to reduce your cost of loss, protect your people, and have fewer accidents.

The money and effort you put towards safety today will save you twice as much money tomorrow.