Starting your own business is a huge step and there are so many different things to think about that it is easy to forget something along the way. When I started out my new firm I was pretty pleased with myself because I thought that I had covered all the issues right at the beginning. However, it was only after a few weeks that I realised that I had neglected to take into account our transport needs in the following ways.
Get Dedicated Drivers
At first you might be okay just hopping in your own private car to deliver or pick up something, or asking a member of staff to do it for you in this way. However, this isn’t a sensible long term approach. To start with, you will be taking someone away from their main job if you do this on a regular basis. This might not be a problem at times but there could be other situations in which you find that there is an urgent transportation matter but no one can take time off from their jobs to deal with it. By having a dedicated driver you can ensure that there is always someone on hand to deal with any driving jobs which crop up. If there still isn’t quite enough driving work to employ someone full-time then you could do it on a part-time basis. The other point to bear in mind is that you should hire a qualified, experienced driver if you are going to need someone to do a lot of driving, especially if you are using large or cumbersome vehicles.
Use the Right Vehicles
When you first start out it might not be clear exactly how many of each type of vehicle you will need. If this is the case then you should look to build up your fleet slowly or maybe look at short term contract hire. The last thing you want is to pay out a lot of cash to buy some vehicles and then discover that you didn’t really need them after all. Having the exact vehicles you need for all of your jobs might be something which takes you time to do, as you don’t want to rush into it. Checking out what your competitors use is a good start if you aren’t sure how to proceed here. If you are going to end up with a big fleet of cars and trucks then don’t forget that this is going to give you a lot of extra expense in terms of issues like fuel, maintenance and insurance. This means that even if you are getting a good price on a particular vehicle you should think twice about the on-going costs before you go ahead and buy it.
Think About Trailers
Of course, a fantastic way of making your fleet of vehicles more flexible is by adding some trailers to them. In some industries these are essential while in other cases they are simply a smart addition to your company’s equipment. This is because they can give you a lot of extra space for transporting items which you might otherwise need to look at getting bigger vehicles to carry. If the amount of things you move around varies a lot from one week to the next then it might suit you to use a smaller fleet of vehicles and some trailers. These now come in all sorts of styles and if you want to you can also get a specialist company to custom design one for you so that it meets your exact specifications and continues to give you what you need over a long time.
Calvin Ford is a writer who believes that it is hard for any new business owner to work out what type of vehicles they will require. However, when you do know, Calvin recommends finding a company like Arwald.co.za which can custom build you one to match your exact specifications.
Don’t Forget Your Company’s Transport Needs
