The Thames-Coromandel district stretches from Hikutaia in the south to Fletcher Bay at the very tip of the peninsula. The population of roughly 30,000 people is dispersed across the area, with some larger centres and several small beachside and farm communities. The land is steep and bush-clad, with winding roads through the mountains – many still unsealed.
This unique geography makes fleet management a challenge for the Thames-Coromandel District Council (TCDC)—and that’s where Fleetwise comes in. We have been working with TCDC for 9 years, providing end-to-end fleet management services, including pool vehicle booking software, fleet management tools, vehicle maintenance, repairs and disposal. The custom system includes integrated GPS tracking units, so the council can keep tabs on vehicles, drivers and travel distances as well.
We spoke to TCDC’s Fleet and Property Specialist, Paul Wilson, to find out how Fleetwise keeps the council moving.
The TCDC fleet has 59 vehicles and 22 trailers, serving a staff of roughly 280. The fleet vehicles, Paul Wilson explains, are a mix of dedicated vehicles for building inspectors, senior management and project managers, and general pool vehicles that other staff members can use as needed. While most of the dedicated vehicles work out of the Thames head office, the council has pool vehicles available at four area offices across the region.
As the person responsible for fleet and property management, Paul uses the Fleetwise booking system to make sure all staff members have a vehicle when they need it. Booking through the Fleetwise application, Paul doesn’t need to manually track bookings or check vehicle availability at area offices – it all just works.
“It would be very hard to do my job without it,” he says. “I think if we didn’t have a company like Fleetwise on board, my role would be entirely taken up by fleet.”
All council vehicles also contain a panic button, which notifies Fleetwise and TCDC if it’s activated. This is a critical safety feature in a region with dangerous roads and remote callouts.
Keeping vehicles well-maintained is another key part of the fleet management job – and it’s particularly important at TCDC. Vehicles need to be in top shape for safe driving on the district’s roads, and damage needs to be dealt with promptly. Fortunately, Fleetwise takes care of these details.
As Paul explains, Fleetwise keeps track of maintenance for all fleet vehicles – whether they’re in the shared pool or used by a single staff member. It also handles the logistics of vehicle servicing, booking in with providers and notifying the relevant staff members.
“A vehicle might be up for a 20,000-kilometre check,” says Paul. “I get an email copied to the driver saying ‘Your vehicle’s up for a service’ and they’ll book it in. If it’s a pool vehicle, they’ll book it out of the pool for the day.”
Repairs are managed in a similar way, taking much of the admin burden off Paul and the facilities team. However, Fleetwise does check in with TCDC if a repair goes over a certain threshold.
“If anything goes over a thousand dollars, be it tyres or a full service, it comes back to me,” he explains.
This helps the council keep costs in check and gives it a chance to look for alternative providers or parts if a quoted price is too high.
As a public organisation, the council needs to have a handle on cost centres, savings and driver behaviour – and Fleetwise’s tracking tools deliver.
Each council vehicle contains an GPS tracking unit, which monitors location, travel distance, speed and hours of use. The units are integrated with Fleetwise, which makes it easy for the TCDC team to keep an eye on driver behaviour and deal with incidents.
“We can log in to the tracking system and see exactly where a vehicle is, and if we get a complaint from the public, we can check where a vehicle was at the time,” explains Paul.
The Fleetwise reporting dashboard offers even more insight, from vehicle mileage and replacement times to cost centres and booking details. With several pages and multiple ways to break information down, it’s an invaluable tool for the facilities team. For Paul, who needs this data for monthly reporting to leadership, it’s a major time-saver.
“There are different pages and you can drill down into all the information,” he explains. “I get the monthly invoice from Fleetwise and I can go into the dashboard and split that monthly spend out by cost centre.”
The dashboard also helps the team track mileage for each vehicle to pay road user charges, and track the use of the fleet’s electric vehicles. As Paul is on the council’s Climate Change committee, this information also comes in handy.
“How we’re tracking on electric vehicles and savings to the environment and so on – that information I’m pulling directly out of Fleetwise,” he explains.
Seamless maintenance and bookings, integrated tracking and real-time insights have made all the difference for TCDC.
“I can answer any questions on fleet that anybody throws at me, between that and the pool vehicle booking system,” says Paul. “So it’s information at my fingertips.”
If you’re looking for deeper insights and more control over your fleet, get in touch with Fleetwise now.