How South Australian businesses are cutting the hidden cost of running a mixed fleet
You already know the drill. You need a new ute for the service team, a couple of SUVs for the account managers, and a van to replace the one that's been sitting in the workshop for three weeks. That's three different dealer contacts, three separate finance conversations, and three people who will call you back when they're ready — not when you need them.
If you're managing a fleet of 5 to 50 vehicles in South Australia, this is your operational reality. And according to research from Vehicle Management Systems, it's consuming more of your week than it should: nearly 80% of small and mid-size fleet operators spend between 10 and 30 or more hours per week on vehicle-related tasks — with more than half doing that work after hours.
There's a better way to run it.
One Fleet Contact. Ten Plus Brands. Everything Managed.
Maughan Thiem Fleet is a 100% family-owned South Australian business — 112 years in operation. Through a single fleet account, you get access to 10 vehicle brands, a dedicated account manager who manages every order from quote to keys, an in-house finance team, and a service network spanning Adelaide, Mt Barker, and the Barossa.
You deal with one person. They deal with everything else.
That's not a tagline — it's the operational structure. One contact manages your procurement across all brands, coordinates your fit-outs through our accessories partner network (bundled into finance), and handles the logistics so your operations team isn't chasing paperwork between jobs.
Why Multi-Brand Matters for Fleet Operations
Single-brand loyalty is a liability when supply chains are under pressure.
The data is clear on this: approximately 36% of Australian fleet managers report being significantly impacted by global vehicle shortages. As a result, 31% have been forced to purchase different makes or models than originally planned, and 43% have extended the lifecycles of existing assets beyond their preferred cycle.
When you're locked into one brand, a supply disruption becomes your problem. When you have access to 10+ brands through one account, it becomes a sourcing conversation.
A multi-brand fleet also reflects operational reality for most mid-size businesses — your field teams need utes, your sales reps need SUVs, your logistics run on vans. Sourcing all of that through a single point of contact, with consistent account management and coordinated delivery, eliminates the fragmentation that turns fleet administration into a part-time job.
Total Cost of Ownership: The Number Behind the Sticker Price
Purchase price is the wrong metric for fleet decision-making. The number that matters is Total Cost of Ownership — what a vehicle actually costs to operate over its useful life.
TCO factors in depreciation, fuel or energy consumption, scheduled maintenance and repair (SMR), insurance premiums, registration, and financing costs. For a business running 20 vehicles without structured oversight, the annual cost of getting this wrong is significant — and largely recoverable with the right procurement approach.
What drives TCO in an Australian fleet context:
Depreciation is typically the single largest cost component across a vehicle's life cycle. Residual values vary considerably by powertrain type, and the gap between a well-chosen hybrid and a poorly-timed EV purchase can be substantial. For current depreciation projections by powertrain, the NRMA and automotive fleet consultants publish useful benchmarks.
Fuel and energy costs represent the largest variable line item for most fleets. With retail fuel prices routinely above $2.00 per litre, the potential savings from transitioning to hybrid or electric vehicles — or optimizing routes through telematics — are meaningful at scale. Research by vehicle fleet analysts suggests GPS and telematics integration can deliver average fuel savings of around 16% through improved routing and driver behaviour.
Servicing and maintenance costs differ significantly by powertrain. Electric drivetrains have far fewer moving parts than traditional internal combustion engines, eliminating a range of scheduled maintenance items. For a detailed breakdown of servicing costs per kilometre across BEV, PHEV, HEV, and ICE powertrains, refer to current SMR analysis published by Australian fleet management researchers.
How Maughan Thiem helps you think in TCO terms: Our fleet team structures the conversation around lifecycle cost, not just the drive-away price. Our in-house finance team can model different funding structures, and accessories and fit-outs can be bundled into the finance arrangement — so your upfront exposure is managed and your cash flow isn't disrupted by a six-vehicle fit-out invoice landing in the same month as payroll.
EV and Hybrid Transition: What You Need to Know Before You Act
Electric and hybrid fleet adoption is accelerating. According to the National Electric Vehicle Strategy Annual Update, EVs accounted for nearly 11% of new light vehicle sales over the 12 months to June 2025 — up from under 2% just three years earlier. That's not a trend; it's a market shift. And the policy settings are pushing it harder.
The FBT exemption — the short version
The Australian Government's Fringe Benefits Tax exemption on eligible zero-emission vehicles is the most significant financial incentive currently available to fleet operators and employees using salary packaging. But it has a defined lifecycle, and the details matter.
In summary: battery electric vehicles and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles currently eligible under the Luxury Car Tax fuel-efficient threshold are fully exempt from FBT until 31 March 2027. After that date, the rules change — and plug-in hybrid vehicles lost their exemption from 1 April 2025 (with limited grandfathering for existing binding leases).
For the current thresholds, phase-out schedule, and eligibility criteria, the ATO's official guidance is the authoritative source: ato.gov.au. We strongly recommend reviewing this with your accountant or tax adviser before making procurement decisions based on FBT treatment.
What's holding some businesses back — and how to address it
Range anxiety remains a real consideration for operators with regional routes or unpredictable daily distances. Charging infrastructure at depots is the primary operational barrier for around 38% of fleet managers. And while passenger EVs have largely reached price parity with their ICE equivalents, zero-emission commercial vehicles — particularly high-payload utes — are still limited in the Australian market.
For many mid-size fleets, hybrids currently represent the pragmatic middle ground: meaningful fuel savings and lower emissions without the infrastructure dependency. Hybrid vehicles have approximately double the market penetration of BEVs in corporate fleets as businesses use them as a transition step.
How Maughan Thiem helps: With 10+ brands across the portfolio, we can model a transition strategy suited to your specific fleet mix — not a one-size-fits-all recommendation. Some vehicles in your fleet may be ready to go electric today. Others may not be. We'll give you an honest assessment, not a sales pitch.
Fleet Management Organisations: When You Need More Than a Dealer
If your fleet is at the larger or more complex end of the spectrum, you may need more than vehicle supply and servicing — you may need the full infrastructure of a Fleet Management Organisation (FMO).
What is an FMO?
An FMO is an external service provider that manages the full administrative, financial, and operational lifecycle of a corporate fleet. Rather than self-managing vehicles internally, businesses can partner with an FMO to outsource the work that doesn't need to be done in-house.
Core FMO services typically include:
- Funding structures — operating leases and finance leases, including novated leasing for employee salary packaging
- Maintenance control — authorising SMR invoices, negotiating parts pricing, and consolidating all servicing costs into a single monthly bill
- Fuel and EV charging cards — integrated transaction management and consumption tracking across mixed fleets
- Compliance administration — registration renewals, roadworthiness certifications, toll accounts, traffic infringement management, and driver training programs
- Telematics and reporting — fleet utilisation data, fuel consumption, emissions tracking, and automated compliance records
- Acquisition and disposal — managing vehicle lifecycles from procurement to end-of-term disposal, including residual value management
Leading Australian FMOs such as SG Fleet (the largest fleet management and leasing provider in the Asia-Pacific region, managing approximately 250,000 vehicles) and FleetPartners Group offer these services at scale.
How Maughan Thiem fits in
We're a fleet dealer, not an FMO, But for businesses that are ready for full fleet outsourcing, we can arrange introductions to FMO partners directly. You get the benefit of our existing relationships without having to find and evaluate FMO providers from scratch.
If you're running 20 or more vehicles and spending meaningful hours each week on fleet administration, the conversation about FMO services is worth having. Structured fleet management programs can significantly reduce unoptimised fleet costs — and for businesses operating without that structure, a significant portion of annual fleet spend may be recoverable.
The Service Advantage: Keeping Your Fleet Moving
Downtime is the cost most fleet managers underestimate until they've lived through it. More than half of small fleet operators report that unplanned breakdowns regularly disrupt day-to-day operations, and the annual cost to fleets with fewer than 50 vehicles frequently runs into tens of thousands of dollars.
What we do differently:
Free loan vehicles with pickup and drop-off. When one of your vehicles comes in for a service, we pick it up from your driver's location and drop off a loan car. Zero disruption to your team's schedule. No one loses a day's work because their vehicle is in the shop.
2-hour response guarantee. Contact us during business hours and you'll hear back within two hours. Not eventually. Two hours.
Multi-location service network. We service across Adelaide, Mt Barker, and the Barossa — so if your team operates across the metro and regional SA, your fleet isn't tied to one location for servicing.
This isn't a customer service aspiration. It's a service commitment built into how we operate.
How It Works: From First Enquiry to Ongoing Fleet Relationship
- Step 1 — Fast-Track Enquiry Submit your fleet enquiry online or call us directly. We'll respond within two business hours to schedule a fleet consultation.
- Step 2 — Fleet Consultation Your dedicated fleet contact meets with you to understand your current vehicle mix, usage patterns, budget structure, and upcoming procurement needs. If FMO introductions are relevant, we flag that here.
- Step 3 — Quote and Configuration We present vehicle options across brands suited to your requirements, with finance structures modelled by our in-house team. Accessories and fit-outs are scoped and bundled into the finance proposal at this stage.
- Step 4 — Order Management and Delivery Your fleet account manager manages every order from confirmation through to delivery — including registration, fit-out coordination, and any compliance documentation. You get a single point of contact throughout.
- Step 5 — Ongoing Account Management Once your vehicles are on the road, your fleet contact remains your account manager for servicing, replacement vehicle needs, and future procurement cycles. The relationship doesn't end at delivery.
Frequently Asked Questions
We already have an arrangement with a single-brand dealer. Why would we change? Single-brand arrangements work until they don't — usually when supply constraints force you to wait 6 months for a model that's critical to operations, or when your mixed fleet needs mean you're dealing with three separate dealer contacts anyway. A multi-brand arrangement through one account gives you flexibility without sacrificing the account management structure you value.
Do we need to be a certain size to use Maughan Thiem Fleet services? No minimum fleet size applies. We work with businesses running 5 vehicles through to 50 and beyond. The service model scales with your needs.
Can accessories and fit-outs really be bundled into finance? Yes. Through our established accessories partner network, fit-outs including shelving, toolboxes, tow bars, dual battery systems, roof racks, and other commercial accessories can be incorporated into your finance arrangement. This avoids a large upfront fit-out invoice and gives you a single repayment structure.
We're interested in EVs but don't know where to start with our existing fleet mix. That's exactly the right position to start from. We can review your current fleet, assess which roles are suitable for EV or hybrid transition now versus later, and structure procurement accordingly. We don't recommend EVs for the sake of it — we help you work out where the numbers actually make sense for your operation.
What if we need more than vehicle supply — full fleet management, reporting, salary packaging administration? That's what FMO partners are for. If your fleet complexity has grown beyond what a dealer relationship covers, we can arrange a formal introduction to leading FMOs operating in South Australia. We'll facilitate the connection — you retain full control over which provider you engage.
A Long-Term Fleet Partner, Not a One-Time Transaction
Fleet procurement isn't an event — it's an ongoing business function. Vehicles need to be replaced on cycle, serviced consistently, and sourced in line with your operational requirements as they evolve. The value of a supplier relationship compounds over time: the more your fleet contact understands your business, the better they can anticipate your needs, resolve issues quickly, and position you for smart decisions ahead of time.
Maughan Thiem has operated in South Australia for 112 years. Whether you're running a fleet of 8 service vehicles or managing a mixed operation of 40 across multiple vehicle types, our goal is simple: make fleet management less of a burden on your team, and more of a competitive advantage for your business.
Ready to Simplify Your Fleet?
Managing a fleet shouldn't be a full-time job on top of your actual job. Let our fleet team take it off your plate — fast-track your enquiry and we'll call you back within 2 hours.
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General information disclaimer: The content on this page is provided for general informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, taxation, or legal advice. Fleet funding structures, FBT treatment, and tax thresholds are subject to legislative change. Before making procurement or fleet management decisions, you should seek independent advice from a qualified accountant, tax adviser, or financial professional. For current ATO guidance on FBT exemptions and Luxury Car Tax thresholds, visit ato.gov.au.