The case for fleet mobile servicing - by the numbers
Mobile servicing has obvious appeal for households - you skip the half-day off work and the drop-off run. For small business fleets it is a stronger argument still, because fleet downtime translates directly into lost billable hours or sales calls.
We recently worked through the numbers with a property management business running eight vehicles. The conclusion was clear enough that they have moved their entire fleet to mobile servicing. Here is the breakdown.
The hidden cost of workshop servicing
Every workshop service involves time the vehicle is unavailable. Industry averages we used:
- 30 minutes to drive to the workshop in the morning
- 30 minutes Uber or lift back to the office
- 30 minutes to pick the car up that afternoon
- 30 minutes back to the office
That is 2 hours of staff time per service, on top of the service itself. At an average loaded staff cost of $55 per hour, that is $110 in hidden cost per service - on top of whatever the workshop charges for the work.
Doing the same job on-site
For the eight-vehicle fleet, we proposed servicing every six months, all on one Saturday morning, in the office car park. The numbers:
- Workshop model: 8 services x ($X service + $110 hidden cost) = 8X + $880 in staff time
- Mobile fleet model: 8 services + small fleet discount, zero hidden cost
For their fleet, the saved staff time alone covered our fleet discount with around 35% left over - and that is before counting the productivity hit of having a vehicle out of commission for a full working day.
The administrative benefit
For a small business with no dedicated fleet manager, the administrative load of car servicing falls on the owner or office manager. Tracking service intervals across eight vehicles. Coordinating drop-offs. Chasing invoices from three different workshops. Approving extra work.
With one mobile provider on a scheduled rotation, the whole thing collapses into a single calendar entry, a single invoice, and a single point of contact for any issue. For most small businesses, the time saved here is worth as much as the direct cost saving.
When the maths does not work
To be honest about it, mobile fleet servicing is not the right call in every case:
- Very large fleets (50+ vehicles) usually have a dedicated in-house workshop, which beats both options.
- Heavy commercial vehicles over 4.5 tonnes need a hoist and equipment we do not carry.
- Vehicles needing wheel alignment or specialist work still need a workshop visit.
For most small fleets in the 5-25 vehicle range, on light passenger and light commercial vehicles, the maths is almost always favourable. Happy to run the numbers for your specific situation - call us with vehicle count and types and we will sketch it out.