Going through a fleet toll audit is the process of reviewing all of your toll charges and transponder assignments to ensure the information is accurate and up to date. This process should be happening regularly within your organization because it allows you to identify and correct any violations, billing errors, unauthorized charges, and other potential issues that need to be fixed.
Too often, seemingly small costs slip through the cracks, and these expenses can add up to a lot of money over time. So, it’s worth the time and effort to complete a toll expense audit so that you can catch and stop the unnecessary expenses.
Through a fleet toll audit, it’s likely that your team will find problems that you didn’t know existed. Instead of letting money leak through invoice mistakes, it’s time to take a proactive approach and fix these issues to save money now and in the future.
What is a Fleet Toll Audit?
When a fleet toll audit is performed, it covers a range of details to review everything that is happening within your toll transactions and the billing process:
- Toll charges
- Transponder assignments
- Violations
- Account settings
The intention is to look at every jurisdiction where your fleet is operating to identify any possible issues that need to be resolved. Ultimately, the goal of a fleet toll audit is to find and resolve any problems, such as billing errors or unauthorized charges. This toll expense audit can also help you identify any potential discounts that could be applied to your account to save money on future toll crossings.
Keep in mind that a fleet toll audit is not the same thing as a DOT audit. If a DOT audit is imposed on your fleet, the goal is to evaluate safety and compliance. On the other hand, a toll audit is focused on financial and operational systems specifically.
What Can You Find in a Toll Expense Audit?
There are many different billing and toll tracking issues that can be identified and fixed in your audit, such as:
- Duplicate Billing: Occasionally, tolling agencies will accidentally overcharge by billing for the same crossing multiple times. If you aren’t proactive with your toll reviews, then this type of mistake can easily slip through the cracks.
- Ghost Transponders: If the transponder was never removed from a vehicle that you previously owned, then you could have ghost transactions coming through that are quietly accumulating additional charges.
- Violations: When toll fees are unpaid, it results in compounding penalties and late fees that really add up over time. Sometimes, these fees are collected for months or even years before anyone in the financial department realizes that there is an issue.
- Off-Route Charges: When vehicles are used during off-hours or on unauthorized routes, you might be paying for the vehicle use outside of the expected use.
- Potential Discounts: The right toll management system will help you maximize potential discounts that are available, such as express lanes or fleet account rates. Your fleet toll spend analysis will help you see where the discounts weren’t applied correctly, so the account can be configured correctly to maximize available discounts.
7 Signs Your Fleet Is Overdue for a Fleet Toll Management Audit
The best solution is to maintain a consistent schedule for your fleet toll audit. If you haven’t done this in a while, then these are some of the reasons why it makes sense to do a full audit as soon as possible:
- No line-item reviews are happening before the toll invoices are sent to accounts payable.
- It’s been a while since you cross-referenced transponders against your active vehicle list.
- Changes have happened within your fleet recently, such as driver or vehicle turnover.
- Your fleet is running in more than two toll jurisdictions.
- You’ve noticed that your toll costs are increasing, but you are still running the same route volume.
- Toll violations are coming through, and you don’t have an effective route resolution process to handle them.
- Multiple reports need to be pulled, and the team still has a hard time identifying exactly how much the fleet is spending on tolls.
The Step-By-Step Process for an Effective Fleet Toll Spend Analysis
When you are performing an internal fleet toll audit, start by pulling the toll account data for every jurisdiction where the vehicles are operating. Even this information alone can give you a great place to start, because there are likely issues that will surface here.
Additional steps in your fleet toll audit should include:
- Cross-reference the transponders and your vehicle roster. Watch out for anything that might be assigned to a vehicle that has been retired.
- Review all of the transactions to see if there are any duplicate charges or rate mistakes.
- See if you are being billed for plate-rate fees instead of transponder-rate pricing.
- Locate any outstanding violations that need to be resolved.
- Verify that available discounts are being applied at your account level.
- Recover overcharges and resolve disputes.
- Ensure an ongoing monitoring system is in place to avoid these issues in the future and automate as much of this process as possible using fleet management integrations.
FAQ
How do I know if my fleet needs a toll audit?
If anyone on your team spends time reviewing invoices or cross-referencing transponders against your active vehicle list, then there’s a high likelihood of human error and undetected issues that need to be resolved. A fleet toll audit should be a consistent part of your routine.
How much can a fleet recover through a toll audit?
The financial benefits depend on your fleet size and how long these issues have been outstanding. There are a variety of ways that you might be able to recover and save money on tolls through a fleet audit, including refunds for duplicate charges, correcting plate-rate overcharges, and eliminating ghost transponders. For many fleets, these unnecessary costs could add up to thousands of dollars each year.
Stop Overpaying for Fleet Toll Costs
Taking a proactive approach with your fleet toll management can save you a significant amount of money throughout the year. Schedule time for a fleet toll audit to identify and correct any potential issues that are outstanding.
Innovative Toll Solutions is here to assist. Contact us today to discuss your needs and learn more about the available services.