It’s important to protect the assets of your business.
You want them to retain as much value over time, as their value directly impacts your business’s worth. One asset that it’s especially important to protect is your business vehicle. If your business buys a vehicle, this likely means it will be constantly be used and out on the road. This puts it in more danger of having its value lowered. But with a few tips, you can help to retain some of the value of your business vehicle.
Perform Regular Maintenance
The first thing you’ll want to do is perform regular maintenance on any vehicle your business owns. Maintenance will help keep your vehicle from breaking down and allow it to perform more efficiently while on the road. Some basic maintenance operations you’ll want to do are changing the oil, replacing the tires, and replacing the brake pads when they wear down. It’s a good idea to schedule regular maintenance appointments with a local mechanic and allow them to check out the entire vehicle.
Insurance and Warranty Coverage
For your vehicle to have more value, you need to keep it in good shape. Unfortunately, you can’t always protect against car accidents or mechanical breakdowns. If one of these should occur, you’ll want something in place to help you restore the value of the vehicle. The first thing you’ll need is good vehicle insurance. Vehicle insurance is required anyway, but you’ll want to make sure you choose an insurance plan that fully covers you in case of an accident.
The other thing to look into is a warranty. You can get an extended warranty for your vehicle that will cover you against breakdowns after the initial warranty has expired. For an example of this, you can check out this BMW warranty option. Repairs are a major expense, but you can’t ignore them if you want to retain value in your vehicle. A warranty can help pay for these repairs and allow you to restore a good portion of your car’s value.
The Right Drivers
A big part of retaining value in your vehicle is hiring the right people to drive it. The right drivers will treat your vehicle with care and practice safe driving habits. Before you allow anyone else to drive a business vehicle, you should conduct a background search on them. Make sure they don’t have a history of bad driving and see if they have experience driving company vehicles. Don’t allow anyone else to drive one of your cars unless you can be sure they are up for the responsibility.
Efficient Driving Routes
The more miles your car has on it, the less value it will have. Therefore, if you can reduce the number of miles your vehicle drives, you’ll help to keep its value higher. To do this, you’ll want to look for more efficient driving routes. Look at how your car currently gets around and see if there is a more efficient way to do things. For example, you could wait until multiple orders are ready rather than going out for each individual order. Or you could use GPS software to plan out the most efficient routes in advance. Over time, the more miles you save, the better it will be for your vehicle’s value.
Protect the Interior
Keeping the value of your car high isn’t just about keeping the exterior in good shape. You also need to keep the inside looking good, otherwise, it won’t be worth as much. A simple way to do this is by installing rubber floor mats on the floors to protect against dirt and spills. You can also establish a “no food or drink” policy within the car. Finally, regularly have the interior cleaned so that stains do not build up over time.
Safe Parking
The last thing to be aware of is where you park. It’s essential that you park your business vehicle in a safe location. Whenever possible, park your business vehicle in a locked garage. If you can’t do this, try to leave it in a parking lot with security cameras and a locked gate. You should also check whenever you park the car that it isn’t under something dangerous. For example, avoid parking under tree branches during the Winter to avoid branches falling due to snow.
Simple Things Can Lead to More Value
Keeping the value in your business car doesn’t have to be difficult. A few simple habit changes, like performing regular maintenance and watching where you park it, can go a long way. The important thing is that you keep the value of your vehicle in mind and that you start to pay attention to how you are caring for the car.