Traditional vehicle programs are quietly eroding margins and morale. Finance and HR can fix both.
Rethinking the Business of Driving
For millions of employees, the road is the workplace. Every delivery made, shelf stocked, or customer visited represents a critical moment of business in motion. Yet, many organizations still treat vehicle programs as administrative necessities rather than strategic assets.
Finance and HR leaders have mastered the business of people and the business of capital, but many have yet to master the business of driving.
That’s the operational ecosystem connecting cost, compliance, and the workforce on the road. It’s how companies reimburse fairly, manage risk, and empower productivity in their field teams. And, for most organizations, it’s still running on outdated assumptions that quietly drain budgets and erode efficiency.
TL;DR: Mastering the Business of Driving
The Business of Driving is the next frontier of workforce optimization.
Finance and HR leaders have mastered the business of people and capital; now it’s time to master how work moves.
Key Insights:
• Organizations lose up to 30% of vehicle program spend to payroll tax waste.
• Modern FAVR reimbursement models convert fixed costs into flexible savings.
• The business of driving directly impacts compliance, cost, and culture.
• Motus helps leading companies modernize this overlooked strategic function.
The Misconception of “Low-Impact” Mobility
Flat car allowances and traditional fleet programs appear simple and predictable. But, beneath that simplicity lies a tangle of tax waste, risk exposure, and equity issues.
According to the Motus 2025 Benchmark Report, most organizations lose up to 30% of total program spend to payroll tax waste alone. Allowances are treated as taxable income — meaning both employers and employees pay unnecessary FICA taxes.
As SHRM notes, “Flexible policies empower employees to work in ways optimized for them, boosting engagement and productivity.”
Modern, IRS-compliant Fixed and Variable Rate (FAVR) programs restore that balance by reimbursing tax-free, based on actual driving costs and regional data.
Motus data shows that modernizing the business of driving can cut vehicle program costs by 30–40%, eliminate payroll tax waste, and boost field productivity by more than 20 hours per employee per year.
In short: organizations optimizing the business of driving don’t just save money; they modernize their approach to workforce equity.
Fleet Programs: The Illusion of Control
Many Finance leaders believe fleet ownership delivers control. In reality, it delivers volatility.
Fleet programs carry rising insurance, depreciation, and maintenance costs, often hidden until renewal season. KPMG found that insurance and maintenance have grown into the two fastest-rising cost categories for commercial fleets.
When Amoskeag Beverages shifted from fleet ownership to a Motus-managed FAVR program, it realized $215,000 in annual savings and returned nearly eight workdays of productivity each month to its sales team.
That’s the business of driving at work — converting operational burden into measurable business value.
The Workforce Impact: When Driving Is the Job
Driving isn’t just transportation; for millions, it’s work itself.
The Motus 2025 State of Corporate Driving report found that mobile workers spend an average of 13 hours per week working from their vehicles, roughly one-third of a standard workweek.
That means the business of driving directly shapes employee productivity, engagement, and satisfaction.
Companies using automated reimbursement systems and digital mileage tracking report 21+ hours of time saved per employee annually and 23% faster expense processing.
These aren’t incremental gains; they’re fundamental improvements in how frontline work gets done.
As Harvard Business Review notes,
Combined with advanced analytics capabilities, a comprehensive view of workforce and finance data would enable companies to develop deeper insights for managing and making investments in the workforce in line with business objectives.
The business of driving is where that partnership plays out most visibly, connecting financial discipline to human experience.
Compliance and Risk: Shared Accountability
In the business of driving, compliance isn’t a back-office function. It’s a shared responsibility between Finance and HR.
A recent survey from McKinsey found that organizations with more mature and cross-functional governance, risk, and compliance frameworks show higher compliance maturity. In other words, when there’s cross-functional oversight and accountability rather than siloed functions, there’s stronger compliance performance.
Yet, many organizations still rely on manual mileage logs and taxable stipends that don’t meet IRS substantiation standards, leaving them exposed to audits, penalties, and reputational risk.
Solutions like Motus Reimburse automate this process end-to-end, delivering accurate mileage capture, integrated compliance controls, and transparent reporting across departments.
That’s not just operational efficiency; it’s governance by design.
Turning the Business of Driving into a Strategic Advantage
The best-performing organizations now treat the business of driving as a strategic lever. They combine financial rigor with human-centered innovation:
- Optimize spend: Shift from taxable allowances to tax-free, data-backed FAVR programs.
- Reduce risk: Integrate driver safety training through Road Smart for proactive risk mitigation.
- Increase productivity: Use analytics platforms like Insights Pro to analyze routes, territories, and efficiency.
- Improve satisfaction: Empower employees with fair, transparent reimbursement for the real cost of doing their jobs.
Research shows that establishing true safety culture and technology programs don’t just reduce crashes; they free up capacity, reduce downtime, and lower indirect costs.
This is the future of workforce strategy: where financial insight meets field reality.
A New Mandate for Finance and HR
Modern organizations can’t afford to treat driving as incidental to the business. It is the business — for every field rep, technician, and service professional moving work forward.
By aligning around the business of driving, Finance and HR can transform cost centers into engines of growth, compliance, and engagement.
Because when the business of driving runs smarter, the entire business moves faster.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What does “the business of driving” mean?
It’s the ecosystem of people, data, and decisions that make field work possible, from how companies reimburse fairly to how they manage risk and empower employees on the road.
- Why are traditional vehicle programs inefficient?
Flat allowances and fleets create tax waste and liability. They also fail to reflect real-world driving costs, leading to inequity and overspending.
- How can Finance and HR collaborate to optimize driving programs?
By aligning around data-driven reimbursement models like Motus Reimburse, automating compliance, and using analytics to guide mobility and workforce strategy.
- What are the measurable benefits of modernizing vehicle programs?
Motus customers see up to 40% cost savings, 21+ hours saved per employee annually, and improved compliance outcomes.
