The security guard cars and other patrolling vehicles are a crucial part of your security services business. While these vehicles help you deliver premium security services, they also need regular maintenance, which might turn out to be a costly affair. 

If you are managing the operations and expenses of your security services company, we have got some tips for you. Now, you cannot deny that these vehicles and patrolling cars are inseparable from your business. Thus, we cannot avoid them. The only thing you can do is manage the expenses of your security patrol vehicle fleet so that they do not become a burden on you.

With that said, let us have a look at some useful tips that will help you manage and decrease the expenses of your **security guard cars:

1. Install and Implement a Guard Monitoring System

The reputation of your security company depends on what your guards do and how they perform their duties. So, it becomes crucial that you keep track of them and monitor their performance closely. 

For this, we advise that you install and implement a guard monitoring system throughout your organization**.**  Once you have a **security guard patrolling system** or monitoring system for your company, you can get the apps installed on the mobile devices of all your guards. So, it gets easier to track and manage them. 

For the guards on patrolling duty, a guard monitoring system makes things even better**.** It is because besides keeping an eye on your guards, you can also keep track of your patrolling vehicle. You can track the distance traveled, routes, time of patrol, location of the cars, etc. This way, you can control how your guards are using the vehicles. 

With such information, you can assign shorter routes to the vehicles and check their unnecessary usage. It is a good way of decreasing the patrolling vehicle expenses. 

Also, with a monitoring system installed for the guard patrolling, you can get help through the tracks and records in case of emergencies, accidents, and insurance claims. The guard tracking software helps you easily track the location and routes of the security guard cars. It also helps save and track data from previous months. If you are looking for such a system, get in touch with Novagems for the best solutions.

2. Calculate the Total Cost of Ownership

Security companies follow different patterns and methods of calculating the cost of patrol vehicles. While the crucial factors considered during these calculations include repairs and fuel expenses, there are some more factors that you cannot ignore. 

These factors include the insurance of cars, depreciation, sale price of the security guard cars, etc. All these factors together help you calculate the life-cycle cost of your patrolling vehicles. Besides, you also need to take care of the production of the car when calculating such costs. Let us look at the method of life-cycle costing that you can use for easy calculations.  

To begin with, you need to know that the cost of a patrolling car does not equal the price paid for it when you purchased it. There are two types of costs you can consider here - fixed costs and variable costs. 

The former includes interests, insurance, fees, lease, depreciation, etc., and the latter includes maintenance charges, repair, oiling, tire change, fuel, washing of the cars, toll taxes, etc. All these costs together make the life-cycle cost of your security guard cars. Here is how you calculate it.

1. Add the following:

• Purchase Price of the car
• Finance Expenses 
• Insurance Expenses
• Fees and Taxes
• Maintenance and Repair Expenses
• Fuel Expenses 

2.Subtract the following:

• The Resale value of the car

3.Multiply the Grand Total by 100 to get total expenses in cents

4.Divide by Mileage to get Cents per Mile

So, to sum it up, the life-cycle cost of your patrolling vehicle equals:

Total Cost - Resale Value of the Car = Grand Total

Grand Total X 100 = Total Expenses in Cents

Total Expenses in Cents/Mileage = Cents per Mile

The cents per mile are multiplied by the total miles covered by your vehicle, and you get the life-cycle cost of your security guard cars! Once you have this value, you can check each car to know if one has a higher cost. Then cut down on extra expenses to achieve a lesser life-cycle cost.

3. Create a Vehicle Maintenance Budget

Once you calculate the life-cycle cost of each vehicle in your fleet, it is time to maintain a budget. All vehicles in your patrolling fleet might be taking different routes, asking for different types of maintenance, and driven by different security guards.

So, to manage the cost of all these security guard cars, you need to create a maintenance budget to avoid spending a lot on them. 

For this, the first step is to gather the information and receipts of all maintenance and repair expenses done on each car in the previous year. Such information will help you get an idea about the maintenance tasks done so far and the ones due in the coming months. It will also help you get estimates of the maintenance repairs of each car in a year. By adding all these maintenance expenses, you can have a ballpark for the maintenance budget.

The next step is to thoroughly check the condition of your car or get it checked by a mechanic. Through this check-up, you can be aware of the current condition of the car, the maintenance it requires, and the expenses to be done.

Once you have the information mentioned in the above two steps, you can have a rough idea of the average expenses each car has during a year. So, you can create a budget and put aside the funds to meet these expenses. It will not only prevent overspending on maintenance and repairs but will also help you take notes of extra expenses and the reasons behind them. 

So, for each control of the maintenance cost of your security guard cars, creating a budget sounds like a wise idea.

4. Take Care of Your Patrolling Vehicles

One of the most crucial steps for reducing the maintenance cost of your patrolling vehicles is to take care of them. When taken care of, any vehicle performs better and becomes economical. With some simple car care tips, you can ensure that your patrolling vehicles and guard patrolling system are running well, without causing extra losses or expenses. Let us have a look at some of these tips: 

• Consider regular oil changes: While it will be covered under your regular vehicle check-ups by mechanics, it is something that the driver or security guards should also do on their part. With the car’s engine in check, its performance gets better, and it does not lead to excessive fuel consumption, which helps you reduce vehicle maintenance expenses. 
• Changing Air and Fuel Filters: This one again helps you maintain the health of your engine. The dust and dirt from outside might lead to damage and hinder the performance of your car’s engine. So, changing air and fuel filters to keep the engine safe is another useful car care tip. 
• Take the ‘Check Engine’ light seriously: If you do not take it seriously, your car might ditch you anywhere with a breakdown, which is not good for your budget as well as the safety of your security guards. So, when your car is showing this light or sign to you, check your engine or get an expert to do it. 

Security Cars are a great way to get proper security on the premise and make a reputed name for your company. This will increase the customer satisfaction rate and your company will be the top choice for all customers. Security company vehicles are specially equipped with tools the security guards can use for their and their client’s assets protection as well.

 A patrolling vehicle will cover more ground than an on-foot guard. And there are certain ways this will decrease the expenses of the security companies. The advantage of using a patrolling car is that it will cover more ground, quickly and the patrolling guard can easily detain the suspicious person without having to wait for backup. 

Why Do You Need Patrolling Cars To Provide Better Security?

• Security Patrolling Vehicles will have a better response rate than on-foot patrolling officers as there will be poor communication between the security guards. A patrolling car can reach the site more quickly and stop crime from escalating. 
• A security guard car can provide better protection to the security guard as well as they will have an extra level of protection with them always. This saves the lives of the guard and the company that will have to spend extra expenses should anything happen to the guard.
• Security patrol vehicles include the ability to chase the suspect more quickly than the rest and take action on the spot. A patrolling car will also cover more ground and show more activity on the premise. 
• Through vehicle patrol, an officer can take note of the whole premise. If the security guard is on foot and the area is too large then there is a chance that some or the other activity might get left out or ignored. 

Although security guard vehicles can be expensive and require maintenance, take them as an investment in your future and the future of your security company.

With small care habits like this, your patrolling vehicles can go longer without a breakdown. It helps you save loads on maintenance and repair.  Wrapping up now! So, this was all about how a security services company can decrease the expenses of their security guard cars. While these cars are an essential part of your business, we cannot spend endlessly on them. With the tips we shared above, you can reduce your patrolling vehicle expenses. We hope this helps!