A fleet management consultant's job is to oversee the following of procedures in the management of an auto fleet. An auto fleet is a group of vehicles that is kept for the use of employees or customers of a business. Auto repair shops and car rental companies maintain fleets for the use of their cdustomers, and many large companies keep fleet vehicles that allow their employees to more effectively do their jobs.
Fleet management consulting can be as simple as offering advice on choosing a computer program that manages the fleet. The day to day operations within fleet management can be very complex, and computer programs can make it easier to access information and to track vehicles. Some consultants advise on the maintenance of written records, if the company keeps them.
One part of fleet management consulting is helping to deal with the location of vehicles. It's imperative that managers know where all their vehicles are (in the repair shop, on the road, in storage or in the care of a customer. Sometimes, managers must move vehicles around in order to meet a need. For instance, a car rental store that gets a lot of one-way rental returns may need to move some cars to another store, while locations that get a lot of requests for one-way rentals would need to get more cars.
Fleet management consultants also concern themselves with the maintenance of vehicles. The consultant will typically advise the fleet manager to enter routine maintenance reminders so that people will know when their vehicle needs service, and individual vehicle files can keep track of repairs. The consultant can stay on top of recall announcements, so that if a recall comes up, they can issue a warning.
If a company keeps work vehicles, the fleet management consultant may also advise inspections of the vehicles along with detailing and restocking when they are returned. That means that when an employee takes out a vehicle, they will have the supplies and the tools they need to do their job. With rental car companies, the consultant-advised inspections include the inspection of the cars when they are returned.