Affording your own fleet of delivery drivers is a sure sign that you’re moving up in the world. Forget expensive and potentially unreliable outside providers; you can finally take care of everything from production to arrival in-house. And your business is guaranteed to thank you for it.

The only trouble is that delivery fleets come with responsibilities you might not have expected. You don’t know the first thing about vans or how to drive them, after all, and you certainly don’t know the legal processes necessary to keep drivers safe.

For the most part, research and maintenance are both your best friends for taking care of this. Researching laws about everything from driving breaks to insurance requirements can undoubtedly help. Even once the legal groundwork is in place, making sure to maintain every van in your fleet is non-negotiable. That means regular servicing, scheduled checks on tire tread, etc., and even battery venting to prevent the risk of breakdowns while out on the road. And that’s not all. Most business owners also find it valuable to work with business-specific breakdown services they can rely on, and we’re going to look at the reasons why you might want to do the same.

Less Stress for Drivers

Reducing stress for employees should always be a priority, and your delivery drivers are no exception. In fact, considering they face stressors such as traffic that you can’t control, you should go above and beyond to make their lives easier. You certainly don’t want them having to trace down their own breakdown companies or fork out for the expense. Instead, having a nominated breakdown service that you pay in advance means drivers will know exactly who to call in emergencies. Money needn’t be a concern either, especially if you provide them all with cards as a proof of pre-payment before they head off!

Reduced Recovery Times

Reduced downtime during breakdowns is also a benefit worth writing home about. After all, finding a breakdown company that can come out sharpish is never easy, especially when your drivers are trying to do so from the middle of nowhere with limited reception, wifi, etc. By comparison, a go-to service that all drivers know to call can drastically reduce the time breakdowns cost you. Not only will that breakdown service likely treat you as a priority customer, but your drivers should all have easy access to their contact number to get that recovery ball rolling as soon as possible.

Peace of Mind in the Office

Sending delivery drivers out on the road can be stressful as a manager, especially when you have to sit in the office and worry about whether they’ve arrived safely. Of course, there’s now all manner of smart and expensive driver tracking equipment that could put your mind at ease here, but a breakdown service can do the same for likely half the cost. As such, few things work better for putting your mind at ease that deliveries are progressing on-track all day, every day.