Being a Compliance Success Story—Staying One Step Ahead with Best Practices

As we navigate through 2024, all we can say for certain in the world of compliance is that there will be change—change in state regulations, technology and importantly the ability to adapt to it. Wheels focuses on providing our clients the right information at the right time, mitigating operational impacts, and partnering with them for a proactive approach to the registration process, aiming to reduce pain and exposure.

Missing renewal deadlines can result in a variety of consequences. For instance, with revenue generating vehicles, late registrations can result in impacts to profits or company reputation. For any type of fleet, there can be penalties, side-lined vehicles, even lapses in insurance coverage which could lead to vehicle impoundment. At the very least, there will be delayed and unhappy drivers, along with administrators overburdened with resolutions. 

Being Proactive – The Need for a Plan

The first tactic for optimal success requires a bit of planning to retain a compliant fleet. The key to the process requires a review of information including vehicle location, driver assignment, and active email addresses to ensure we are communicating with the correct parties. The strategy is simple, but the execution is not always a streamlined process.

The Value of Managing Data

The power of any system rests on data integrity. First and foremost, whenever we can, we want to automate and organize the steps in the process. Customers that have the ability to turn on a feed will have a better chance for success if we’re getting verified information directly and on a regular basis. 

The other key player in this process is the driver. This begins with requesting drivers to simply validate or update their basic information—email, phone, location and changes since the last renewal. It is an easy but vital first step and it’s the best time to let us know of any needed edits—prior to starting the full process. 

As we move forward, we are in development to allow drivers the ability to add data changes through our mobile app. By making this quick and easy for drivers, we can boost compliance rates. Adding this functionality to your process will improve the data verification process. This technology will also take some administrative burden from the fleet office and expedite basic data updates.

Next, with the basic updates in place, within the Wheels FleetView^TM platform, we can now see which records have missing or inactive email addresses. It’s a great place to start data clean-up, especially for the work that is already in process. It’s another step in creating a smooth progression. Through exception reporting, we can schedule to push out reports for missing data directly to a fleet department email allowing the fleet manager to see what roadblocks there are in the process. Please pay attention to these reports—cleaning up the data will help us to help you.

Watch for Missing Mandatory Requirements

To complete renewals in a timely fashion, we need drivers to complete missing renewal requirements 45 days prior to expiration. This policy leads to a renewal success rate above 98%. Of the 200,000 renewals that we manage, more than 20% is tired to a mandatory requirement. Be certain to review your reporting at least once a week to assure that there are no roadblocks to your registrations.

Watch Insurance Lapses

Most companies have insurance policies that expire at the end of the year. We have recently noticed that many states now require proof of coverage in cases where insurance lapses occur between the insurance company and the DMV. To avoid any delays in renewals, it’s crucial, when required, for the insurance carrier to electronically report valid coverage to the DMV. Please note that some states require VIN-specific proof of coverage during lapses.  

Exciting new tool for IT&R Plating Process

Initial title and registration (IT&R) is what happens when a new vehicle is leaving the dealership and needs new plates. To track the process more efficiently, Wheels has recently rolled out our IT&R dashboard, which will provide our clients with a line of sight to the status of the new vehicle paperwork: when it was sent, tracking details or information on held up paperwork with key reasons listed—such a missing business license, or a federal ID number. This information is critical in the registration process, particularly with new IT&R because that’s valuable information that’s shared with the jurisdiction in order to receive those plates. 

Now, customers can schedule reports to see the reasons for any holds. They can also see the transaction progress of the new plate and how long the cycle times are by state. 

Avoid the Fallout

Failing to control the registration process can impact insurance coverage, vehicle deployment, resource allocation—and impact the bottom line through fines and penalties. It can also increase administration efforts and impact your compliance culture. Your compliance program is more than just a matter of following the rules and having your vehicles road-ready. A proactive program more than pays for itself with decreased administrative burden, protection of company reputation, driver satisfaction, operational efficiencies and elimination of legal consequences. Contact us to learn how you can transform your approach and become a compliance success story.