Mileage control: why incorrect data is costly

Do you trust the data recorded about your fleet’s km driven? When it comes to efficient tire management, keeping track of tire mileage stops being just a number and becomes essential to operational profitability.

After all, the lack of reliable mileage control brings not only financial but also operational problems: with a mistaken perception of fleet performance, managers make wrong decisions based on tire indicators that are not real.

That is why ensuring this number’s reliability is indispensable for every manager. Read on:

• Why km driven is the foundation of everything
• Where manual control fails
• The domino effect on indicators
• The direct impact on tires
• Direct impacts on mileage-based preventive maintenance
• Operational maturity and integration

Why km driven is the foundation of everything

Imagine this scenario: the person responsible for collecting and recording tire wear has been making entries consistently for 1 month. But in a small slip, they enter an incorrect number in the spreadsheet. Days later, they notice the mistake but decide not to correct it retroactively. Where do you think this will lead? Exactly, to a substantial loss for the operation.

Data reliability represents the operation’s health. Fleet performance is directly linked to this record; after all, how will you know the ideal time for tire maintenance if the main information guiding that decision is wrong?

Cost per kilometer (CPK) sets the rules when it comes to vehicle performance, and this figure only exists if the fleet’s km driven information is correct. CNT (Brazil’s National Transport Confederation) itself mentions how vital it is to control this figure accurately, since subsequent analysis of data such as fuel consumption or component wear will be compromised.

No self-respecting manager wants to dispose of a tire when they could extend it for another life, right? Your operation can use the best management system available on the market, but if this simple figure is wrong, everything else will be too.

Where manual control fails

When discussing manual control, the barrier of human error immediately comes to mind, but this is not always the actual problem. Many operations have multiple sources of truth, recording information in different places, whether spreadsheets or systems.

The greatest challenge lies not only in human error but also in decentralized data control. Even when data are organized, entering incorrect information compromises everything that follows.

Some of the most common errors are:

• entering an extra zero in the odometer reading — a tire jumping from 1,000 to 10,000 km driven is a major discrepancy
• registering new vehicles without a history
• recording tires already used as new in the system

And every error has a consequence, such as unrealistic tire CPK, indicators that do not reflect the operation’s current context and decisions based on distorted indicators.

Therefore, integrating different solutions minimizes manual intervention and centralizes information, reducing risks and ensuring accuracy, reliable fleet data and well-founded decisions.

The domino effect on indicators

When mileage control has failures, managers’ behavior follows the same pattern, resulting in metrics that take effort to collect and update but have little chance of being used.

This situation is more frequent than you might think. It is common to find fleet managers with access to multiple reports who do not trust the numbers presented, which only creates a barrier between what the data say versus the operation’s reality.

So I ask you: what value does an incorrect figure have for business strategy? Zero!

Indicators should not be seen as a pretty picture on the wall, but as a guide to fleet health.

Tire management and mileage-based preventive maintenance require concrete data. Escape the cycle of incorrect data -> incorrect decision -> certain loss. If you have doubts about information in your operation, correct it as soon as possible or your work will be in vain.

The direct impact on tires

I believe by now you are tired of hearing that errors in fleet mileage are entirely harmful to tire management, right? But perhaps you have not yet understood the real reason.

When this information is unrealistic, it becomes impossible to determine tire useful life correctly. In other words, you may be disposing of or refurbishing tires when they could still travel a few more kilometers. Likewise, you may be keeping other tires in use when they should be disposed of, putting the driver, cargo and vehicle at risk.

Also, the difference between actual mileage and the figure entered in the system makes irregular wear harder to control, which will hinder action before the casing is lost. It also makes operational failures harder to identify: after entering a single incorrect number, it becomes increasingly difficult to find where the error occurred.

When the problem is out of control, it is common to look for someone to blame, when the culprit may be within the operation itself rather than an error in the system, spreadsheet, supplier or anything else you might want to blame.

Direct impacts on mileage-based preventive maintenance

Mileage-based preventive vehicle maintenance is common in operations, which leads directly to the main factor: mileage control. When this figure is inaccurate, the entire maintenance schedule is compromised.

And I believe you can already imagine where this leads. It creates an operational overload for the team through maintenance before or after the appropriate period, extra part replacement costs, lack of trust in the process and even friction in operational routines.

According to ANTT (Brazil’s National Land Transport Agency), reactive maintenance generates significantly higher costs than planned maintenance.

Inadequate mileage management directly impacts the fleet’s mileage-based preventive maintenance, turning processes that should be preventive into unforeseen, costly events.

Operational maturity and integration

As operations grow, an integrated management system becomes essential for fleet reliability. Operational maturity is possible only when all data are available accurately, accessibly and updated in real time.

In medium and large operations, it is common to use integrated fuel, telematics and tire management systems. They all share one point: fleet mileage control. Ensuring good solution integration is therefore essential, especially ensuring that data entry is correct.

At Prolog App, we developed an ecosystem to integrate with a wide variety of market solutions precisely because we know in practice how important this is to transportation operations’ routines and results. After all, km integration increases information accuracy, making reports more reliable and reducing the operational work of entering mileage in different places.

Good tool integration provides a holistic business view. This not only reduces the risk of data errors, but also expands opportunities for operational improvements and facilitates decisions based on real data.

Reliable data as a competitive advantage

In the competitive freight transport landscape, data accuracy and reliability represent a strategic business advantage. Having the right data allows the operation to act more efficiently and gives the fleet a leading position.

Reliable data bring a range of possibilities, such as comparing vehicle performance, identifying which are more efficient and which need maintenance adjustments.

Also, when data are correct, decisions can be made more confidently, reducing errors and maximizing results. This is a decisive factor for fleet health because it affects both operational and strategic business decisions.

You have probably heard “you cannot manage what you do not measure,” and this is absolutely true in daily operations. Without reliable data, managers cannot defend decisions internally. If there is an error in fleet mileage control, for example, management becomes guesswork and managers lose their ability to make a case.

Solid data are the foundation of everything. Data should expand possibilities rather than limit actions.

If you have doubts about decisions made and are unclear about your fleet’s cost per km driven, I invite you to understand it once and for all. You can watch by clicking here! (video in Portuguese) In the livestream, Diego Paludo, tire specialist and official Prolog partner, shares the perspective of someone who truly lives the operation through a practical discussion of the topic.

Conclusion

Trust in data is fundamental. Accurate control of km driven not only improves CPK accuracy but also creates a solid foundation for all your fleet’s operational decisions. By investing in reliable data and integrated systems, your operation becomes not only more efficient but also more profitable.

Ensuring sustainable operational growth requires trust. Do not let mileage errors compromise your fleet’s success. Rely on solutions that ensure data integrity and work in an integrated way, providing operational accuracy. Talk to our specialists and see how Prolog App works in practice.