Meet Miłosz, a site manager for retail and service buildings in the Wielkopolska region of Poland. His job involves regular travel between the office, the construction sites he oversees, and partners and subcontractors. On average he covers around 600-700 km a week. His company car is a 2020 Volkswagen Passat with a 1.5 petrol engine producing 150 hp. According to the on-board computer, his real fuel consumption at the beginning of October was 6.6 l/100 km. It was hard to judge whether that was a lot or a little, and it was explained mainly by the nature of the job and driving in urban areas. Hard to argue with that: a car burns more in the city, and everyone knows it.
No anticipation, a heavy foot and idling at stops
Our assessment of the situation was different: the reasons for that consumption lay in Miłosz lifting off the accelerator too late, braking at the last moment, not really keeping to speed limits and often accelerating unnecessarily. To make matters worse, he let the engine run at a standstill for long periods.
This is clearly visible in his low scores for Braking, Speed, Accelerator-Brake and Stops. It also shows in his average consumption of 6.6 l/100 km, with potential savings of 1.1 l/100 km. This means Miłosz could cut his consumption by more than 1 litre if he eliminated his bad habits behind the wheel.
Miłosz took up the gauntlet and went to war with himself
The first step was downloading the Navifleet Driver app, with which he could track his own results, analyse the mistakes he made and learn to eliminate them. As we know, there is a difference between knowing the way and walking it, so naturally the results were not spectacular overnight. Fighting your own habits takes perseverance and great strength of character.
With the app Miłosz could track progress towards his goals, and the suggestions, which adapt dynamically to the type and scale of the mistakes made, let him understand exactly what he should work on.
Miłosz's driving style score began to rise gradually week by week, and exactly a month later it was almost a full grade higher than at the start. The results could also be seen in his average consumption.
In a month it fell by 0.6 l/100 km, or around 9%.
After two months the savings rose to 12%!
Within two months Miłosz significantly improved his driving style and joined the ranks of good drivers. You can also see that in that time he improved his scores in the Speed and Stops categories, which caused a significant drop in fuel consumption. At the start his average was 6.6 l/100 km, and after two months it fell to 5.8 l/100 km, around 12% less.
As the details card of his score clearly shows, Miłosz still has a problem anticipating situations, and very often something or someone forces him to brake sharply. This is clearly visible in his improved but still low score in the Braking category. The lack of anticipation is also evidenced by the slightly improved score in the Accelerator-Brake category, which indicates that despite great progress, Miłosz still accelerates the car unnecessarily. Eliminating these mistakes should successfully translate into a reduction in consumption by the remaining 0.4 l/100 km.
PLN 2,900 profit a year
Judging by the statistics, Miłosz drove some 34,500 kilometres in 2021. If he eliminates all his mistakes behind the wheel, cuts his consumption by the assumed 1.1 l and covers the same distance next year, he will save his company around PLN 3,900. That amount results among other things from the fuel savings achieved, which will amount to 379.5 litres of petrol a year. At current prices in the Wielkopolska region of PLN 6.00 per litre, that means around PLN 2,300 gross. Similar savings should be sought in brake replacement costs. Estimated data on the lifespan and the cost of replacing the brakes on this model (VW Passat, 2020) at an authorised dealer are as follows:
This means that Miłosz's employer, with his annual mileage of 35,000 km, will replace the pads every two years instead of every year, giving an average saving of PLN 950 a year. Economical driving also extends the life of the brake discs, and instead of every two years, Miłosz's Volkswagen may need that replacement once every 4 years. That is roughly how long it takes to cover 120,000 km. This means that instead of budgeting half that amount (with replacement every 2 years), only a quarter of it needs to be allowed for (with replacement every 4 years), which generates another PLN 625 of savings. The exact calculations are presented in the table below:
Summary
Working on improving driving style is not only possible but also pays off in business terms. Beyond the substantial savings, which after deducting costs came to almost PLN 3,000 a year for Miłosz, the safety aspect deserves attention. Remember that behaviours such as driving too fast or braking at the last moment are not only uneconomical but above all dangerous. It is no accident that breaking speed limits and failing to keep a safe distance are severely punished by the police. They are very often the main causes of road accidents. Miłosz* proved that it is possible to drive sensibly while significantly lowering running costs and the risk of causing an accident.
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* The name has been changed at the driver's request. His journey statistics, driving style scores and cost calculations are genuine.
Get in touch with me if you want to start generating savings in your fleet.
Piotr Wójcik
New Business Manager
