Category: Fleet Management

Video: Smarter Fuel-Buying Tips

With fuel prices at or near record highs, HDT Talks Trucking looks at how fleets can save money beyond better fuel mileage. Glen Sokolis is CEO of Sokolis Group, a company he founded nearly 20 years ago to help fleets save money on fuel. On this episode of the HDT Talks Trucking video podcast, Editor in Chief Deborah Lockridge talks to him about why oil and fuel prices have spiked, and what fleets can do about it short- and long-term.

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Now is a Good Time to Outsource Your Fuel Program!

Fuel prices have been increasing rapidly over the last several months. Just one event or change can cause prices to spike or plummet. Volatility will continue in the fuel market as much as it does in the stock market, which can keep whoever is managing your fleet’s fuel program up at night.

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Is Fueling Time Impacting Your Drivers’ Availability?

Time is money, how many times have we all heard that? We all know it’s true, particularly when it comes to fleet management. The recent changes to the Hours of Service (HOS) regulations have definitely created some challenges for companies that need to maximize their drivers’ productivity.

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How Proper Vehicle Maintenance Improves Fuel Efficiency

Fuel costs are a major cost of doing business when operating a fleet of any size. Purchasing new vehicles can significantly reduce fuel cost, but can be prohibitive as a capital investment. Most fleet managers are unable to replace their entire fleet and may continue to operate older vehicles for some time. This means that proper maintenance to improve and maintain fuel efficiency is an important, and cost-effective, way of reducing overall costs. Here are a few things you can do

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Do You Qualify for a Fuel Tax Refund?

Throughout the year, Sokolis Group must update its records for all of the changes made to fuel taxes. It’s a tedious task to sift through the information scattered across the internet for each state. Even though there are web sites that consolidate fuel tax rates in one place, identifying potential exemptions takes more research than just glancing at summarized data. That usually means a visit to a state’s site and digging into their tax regulations.

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How to Improve Your Truck Driver’s Retention and Job Satisfaction

Companies that run an active fleet may have some of the highest turnover rates among any industry. You can joke and say that truck drivers are inherently nomadic and this may well factor into the issue, the real core of the problem is that there are very few companies that can successfully create a rewarding environment of maintenance, policies, company culture, and pay rate to make these valuable professional drivers feel at home. Fleets across the country have been striving

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Dealing With the USDOT Mandatory Electronic Log Requirement – Best Practices

MAP-21 became law in 2012 – and one of its provisions was the electronic log requirement. These logs are used to enforce hours-of-service regulations and thus improve driver safety by reducing fatigue. There have been some fears amongst truckers that the new requirement will force smaller carriers out of business. However, those already following safe practices will benefit, and so will everyone else who shares the road with them. There are some exemptions:

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6 Truck Driving Habits to Improve Your Mileage

When you’re driving all the time, what seems like ‘perfectly normal’ fuel prices for everyone else can stack up to a really large expense. Fleets with trucks are among the largest fuel consumers in the modern world no matter how much you optimize your vehicles, your policies, and your shipping routes. At that point, it’s up to the drivers to optimize how the truck runs on the road in order to minimize unnecessary fuel usage without reducing the quality of

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