State of Fleet Spending 2024

In this section, the report covers data from seven major industries and a broad range of fleet businesses of varying sizes throughout the USA, offering a wide-ranging and inclusive perspective.

Our survey found that 76% of fleet businesses, regardless of the size of their fleet, have seen a rise in service demand over the last year. 

This increase in demand is coupled with a significant hike in operational costs.

Organisations indicating that demand has grown, by fleet size.

The combination of growing service needs and escalating expenses is an operational risk faced by businesses across the industry.

The top three operational risks relate directly to keeping vehicles on the road.

With the cost of fuel posing the most significant challenge. Since fuel is a major expense for fleets, often about 25% of their budget, rising fuel prices are hitting hard.

Inflation and supply chain problems are making vehicles and parts more expensive, increasing daily operational costs.

This chart indicates the percentage of businesses agreeing to a risk factor.

Most businesses are now focusing on cutting costs by improving efficiency and driver productivity. 

Safety and compliance remains a key focus area.

In 2020, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration updated their rules on the maximum amount of time drivers are permitted to be on duty. The update effectively eased certain rules - giving drivers more flexibility over break limits and the amount of hours they can consecutively drive. 

70% of fleet businesses agree that the Hours of Service (HOS) regulations introduced in 2020 have created a safer working environment for commercial drivers.

59% of fleet businesses are focussing on reducing operating costs over the next year.

55% of these busineses will also focus on increasing operational efficiency and improving driver productivity (51%) over the next 12 months, as indicated by the next chart.

All these priority areas can benefit from the use of technologies like telematics and dashcams. 

We will take a closer look at technology use later in this report.

Fleets concentrated their spending on areas that are essential to their operations over the past 12 months, namely personnel and vehicles.

This chart indicates the percantage of businesses who invested in these specific areas.

Over the next 12 months, investing in personnel remains a priority. 

Businesses are currently experiencing shortages in commercially trained drivers so many are investing into hiring and training staff.

This chart indicates the percantage of businesses who plan to invest in these specific areas.

Past VS planned spending.

Other significant ongoing investment areas are essential to the smooth running of daily operations like vehicle maintenance, repairs and purchasing new vehicles.

This chart shows the difference between past spending versus planned spending.

We will take a look at Technology spending next...

Fleets invest in a range of technologies that usually fulfill specific operational needs. 

The top 3 most widely used technologies are Telematics adopted by 83%, Fuel Cards (71%) and Vehicle Maintenance Software (62%).

Despite the recent increase in business expenses, technology spending remains one of the most stable areas, showing minimal variation between past and projected expenditures.

Fleets that extensively utilize technology are more likely to continue prioritizing investment in this area.

Larger fleet operations, usually already users of these products, are now turning their attention to acquiring other types of technology, including compliance software, maintenance management software, and advanced dashcams.

This chart indicates the percantage of businesses who invested in these specific areas.

Telematics adoption is significantly higher in fleets with more than 10 vehicles in comparison to smaller fleets.

Telematics systems are often the first technology fleets invest in to support their operational needs. Their ability to track vehicle location and monitor driving behavior are the key factors driving their widespread adoption.

This chart indicates the percantage of businesses who invested in Telematics, arranged by fleet size.

Being able to easily locate vehicles and improved driver safety were the main benefits of telematics across all fleet sizes.

The majority of respondents (31%) feel that their current telematics provider meets their needs.

Of respondents who wanted further functionality, real-time vehicle location (11%) and real-time data updates (7%) were most frequently cited. 

The most common barrier to further technology adoption is budget constraints. 

This is consistent across fleets of all sizes, but most prevalent amongst small fleets. As fleets grow, barriers like driver training and driver buy-in become more common, as indicated by this chart.

Budget constraints become less of an issue as fleet size increases.

That said, it is still the most frequently mentioned barrier amongst fleets of all sizes.

Concern over ROI was also highlighted by fleets with over 10 vehicles, as purchase decisions becomes more complex once fleets grow to this size.

Driver buy-in was most frequently mentioned by fleets consisting of more that 50 vehicles. This would indicate that changing a driver's existing way of working becomes more challenging at this level.

This chart indicates the barriers to technology adoption, by fleet size.

In this part of the report, we focus on showcasing technographic data that has been specifically collected from small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) throughout the USA.

63% of small to medium-sized fleet businesses employeed 1-2 people. 

33% of businesses had 3-9 employees with only a small percentage having more than 10 (4%).

84% of small to medium-sized fleet businesses indicated that they consisted of 1-4 vehicles. 

The remaining 16% contained between 5-20 vehicles. 

60% of small to medium-sized fleet businesses falls into the Transportation category.

Followed by Professional Services (24%) and Construction (8%). The other 8% is made up of Healthcare, Hospitality and Catering.

42% of small to medium-sized fleet businesses takes advantage of all-in-one fleet management software solutions.

58% use a variety of providers for their fleet software needs.

The most common feature or service used as part of all-in-one software solutions is Asset Tracking, used by 33% of SMBs.

Dashcams (18%), Truck Navigation (18%), Vehicle Telematics (15%) and Route Optimization (15%) makes up the rest of the most used features. 

55% of SMBs indicated that software as a service products are typically renewed monthly. 

Followed by quarterly (27%) with the rest renewing annually (9%).

This might present an oppertunity for cost saving by switching to annual payments.

The average expenditure for all-in-one software solutions for SMBs is $6,075 per month.

The most common providers for all-in-one fleet management solutions are Motive (KeepTruckin') and Verizon Connect.

Followed by InteliShift and T-mobile.

64% of SMBs used DAT as their Load Board Software provider. 

Other common providers included 123Loadboard and DirectFreight.

73% of SMBs indicated that they paid a monthly fee for their Load Board Software. 

27% paid quarterly installments.

The average expenditure for Load Board software solutions for SMBs is $641 per month.

ITS Dispatch and TruckLogics are the most common Trucking Dispatch providers. 

Expert Dispatch was used by 22% of SMBs.

44% of SMBs indicated that they paid a monthly fee for their Trucking Dispatch provider.

The next most popular term was anually at 33%.

The average expenditure for Trucking Dispatch software solutions for SMBs is $2,567 per month.

Shell (42%) and Wex (30%) are the most common Fleet Card providers. 

With Comdata and FleetCardsUSA making up the rest of the market share.

67% of SMBs indicated that they paid a monthly fee for their Fleet Cards.

The average expenditure for Fleet Cards among SMBs is $10,054 per month.

Progressive, used by 62% of SMBs, is by far the most common Fleet Insurance provider. 

With Statefarm, Biberk and The Hartford making up the rest of the market share.

71% of SMBs indicated that they paid a monthly fee for their Fleet Insurance.

The average expenditure for Fleet Insurance among SMBs is $5,874 per month.

OTR Solutions, used by 50% of SMBs, is the most common Freight Factoring provider. 

With Statefarm, Biberk and The Hartford making up the rest of the market share.

75% of SMBs indicated that they paid a monthly fee for Freight Factoring.

The average expenditure for Freight Factoring among SMBs is $2,556 per month.

Best Pass, Element and Prepass, are the most common Toll Billing providers. 

The majority (60%) of SMBs indicated that they paid a monthly fee for Toll Billing.

The average expenditure for Toll Billing among SMBs is $531 per month.