Better Fleet: Why underutilised vehicles are a hidden cost drain

March 23, 2026

Underutilised vehicles don’t usually jump out as a problem. That’s why they stick around.

A van might be used a few times a week. A pool car might tick over enough miles to avoid attention. On paper, everything looks fine. In reality, those vehicles aren’t doing enough work to justify their cost.

And the costs don’t stop when a vehicle isn’t moving. You’re still paying for insurance, depreciation, servicing and admin.

But not all underutilisation is a mistake.

Dominic Hutchinson, Head of Operations at Holman, explains:

“Fleets must prepare for these peaks, and as a result, periods of lower utilisation are both predictable and intentional.”

In sectors like utilities and frontline services, demand rises and falls throughout the year. Fleets are often built to handle peak periods, which means some vehicles will naturally be used less during quieter months.

The issue is knowing the difference between:

planned downtime (preparing for peak demand)
avoidable underutilisation (vehicles not doing enough work)

Without clear data, those two can look the same.

Anthony Mompo, VP Marketing at MICHELIN Connected Fleet EAA, puts it simply:

“To understand whether vehicles are truly earning their keep, we look at a combination of three things: the productive work the vehicle delivers, the health and availability it maintains, and the cost it generates.”

That’s where fleets often fall short. Mileage alone doesn’t tell the full story.

A vehicle might hit its annual miles but still:

sit idle for long periods
be assigned inefficient work
spend too much time off the road
duplicate another vehicle’s role

Most underutilisation comes from small issues:

poor planning
outdated routes
siloed teams
reactive maintenance

Individually, they’re easy to ignore but together, they inflate fleet size and cost.

And that leads to a bigger problem. Fleets end up holding onto more vehicles than they need, or adding more when demand increases, instead of getting more from what they already have.

The next step is understanding what well-run fleets do differently.