| Video News & Views
PEOPLE & IDEAS TO WATCH | Partnership Development | | LeasePlan's Partnership Development Plan helps this fleet management company deliver consistent and disciplined service to their clients. Read Tom's complete interview in The Fleet Spot! |
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August 04, 2011
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| Fleet Trends & Issues |
Opportunities & Successful Fleet Management |
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What Does it Take to Be an Expert Witness? By Bert Grayson An expert has been defined as someone from out of town. The further away, the legend goes, the more the expert knows. In working as an expert witness, specializing in negligent entrustment, attorneys study credentials with a fine tooth comb. What qualifies you to be an expert in this field? What practical experience do you have? You can't just say you took a class or studied the subject at some length. Did you run a fleet or were you a consultant to fleets? Did you interact directly with drivers? Did you have a role in qualifying new or existing drivers? Were you a member of the fleet safety committee? Finally, how many years of experience do you have in fleet matters? Can you evaluate and fully understand a driving record? MVRs are almost always a critical key to these cases. This is the qualifying round to get the assignment with the attorney who is asking for your assistance. Now the attorney accepts your credentials and describes the case. He wants to know if you are comfortable with this type of matter. Will your experience allow you to comment on this action? How would you suggest he proceed to gather the facts? The expert is helping him put together his case. This next part is the one that fleet managers ought to take to heart. The first line of attack is also the first line of defense. Did the driver have a valid license at the time of the accident? Assuming it was valid, were there violations which would impact the case? Had there been any comments or complaints about this driver concerning the way he/she operates a vehicle? Maybe there is evidence of bad driving which hasn't yet come the attention of the authorities. Did the fleet negligently entrust the driver with an instrument capable of doing harm? Did the fleet know the driver was a problem and chose to ignore it? Finally, the expert is asked to give his or her opinion in an affidavit and then a deposition. He does so by studying the case and objectively looking at the evidence. Most of this is analysis of the depositions, driving records, the police report, etc. Lastly, the matter goes to trial and the expert helps the jury understand the case.
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| Focus On... |
Current Fleet Topics
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Minimizing the Risks of Jet Lag and Road Safety Global Travel Safety Alert from Interactive Driving Systems Jet lag is a condition that travelers may experience when flying across time zones. Extremely long flights (i.e., international travel) or flights with multiple segments can leave the traveler exhausted upon arrival and has resulted in a growing number of fatalities across the world. For example, a couple of years ago, there was prominent case of a person who took an overnight flight from the US to the UK, collected a rental car at the airport, drove tired and ended up in court after being involved in a fatal road crash. Since that time many large organizations have reviewed and updated their policies and guidance documents on jet lag and driving. Despite this, we still hear many cases of similar tragic events occurring in a number of organizations. For this reason we are sharing the following eight good practice suggestions to consider incorporating into local policies/guidelines. Read more
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| Association News & Views |
Activities, Events & Success Stories |
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NAFA: EPA Agrees With NAFA’s Recommendations On Biodiesel When the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sought feedback on biodiesel, NAFA Fleet Management Association recommended the cutoff percentage be set at B20 (twenty percent biodiesel to eighty percent petroleum diesel). The EPA agreed with NAFA’s recommendation, showing once again that the Association serves as the collective voice of the fleet management industry. In July, the agency presented guidelines for its parameters, requirements, and storage, recognizing that B20 is more commonly used for vehicle fleets (while B5 is more commonly available at retail facilities), and that field experience with B20 has been positive. Read more. CALSTART: Hybrid Truck Users Forum Conference & Expo You have one week left to take advantage of early-registration savings of $100. The HTUF conference will provide the latest news, trends and up to the minute happenings in the changing hybrid and electric marketplace to fleets, manufacturers, suppliers, and others interested in advanced vehicle technologies. October 10-13, 2011, Baltimore. Catch John Boesel, president and CEO of CALSTART, talking about HTUF in Video News & Views! AFLA: A Better Vision of Tomorrow Register today for the 2011 AFLA conference, September 14-16 in San Diego. In addition to a terrific slate of educational sessions, Steven Rattner, former chief economic correspondent for the New York Times and Washington's "Car Czar" will be the keynote speaker. This is a must-attend event for fleet professionals.
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Janice Sutton, Editor
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We come from a client relations background and it's always a special delight to talk with professionals who understand the essence of great service. Tom Casey, national vice president of client relations at LeasePlan USA is one of those people who live it and breathe it. We know this is true because we happily worked with him for a number of years, but don't just take it from us, read his interview in The Fleet Spot! We have talked a good deal about negligent entrustment over the last few months and this week in Video News & Views we have attorney Jeff Roberts tutoring us on the legal definition. And in Fleet Trends & Issues we feature fleet industry guru Bert Grayson telling us what it takes to be an expert witness in negligent entrustment cases. Next week, we will feature an article about a negligent entrustment case Roberts is currently litigating. You won't want to miss it. We were pleased to note that Luann Dunkerley, national sales manager of truck fleet services at CEI, has been elected to the Board of Governors of the National Private Truck Council Institute. We congratulate Luann on this great honor. Our congratulations also go to Dean Evans, Subaru of America's new chief operating officer. He is the consummate marketing professional and we wish him great success! Drive Safety, Janice Sutton
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Last Minute News
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Sell-Out or Failure? With Chevy Volt it Depends on How You Count
Roughly eight months in from its much-ballyhooed launch, analysts are debating whether the Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid is a success or failure. The answer likely depends on how you count the numbers. Read more Responding to Investigation, Ford Recalls 1.1 Million Pickup Trucks for Fuel-Tank Hazard
Although Ford previously insisted the condition presented no unreasonable risk to safety, it agreed to recall about 1.1 million pickup trucks because metal straps cradling the fuel tank may rust, allowing the tank to break free and drag on the road. Read more
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| Places, Sites, and People for New Ideas
& Applications |
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Tom Casey
LeasePlan USA
National Vice President, Client Relations
A Multi-Layered, High-Touch Approach to Customer Service
Tom works with LeasePlan's client relations team to implement strategic best practices and cost-saving initiatives for their clients. Clearly it's working, as Tom tells us that in a 2010 survey, 97 percent of their clients believed that LeasePlan's client relations team fully understood their initiatives. With a 98.7 percent client retention rate in 2010, we think Tom and his team are on to something.
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Luann Dunkerley
CEI Group, Inc.
National Sales Manager of Truck Fleet Services
The CEI Group, Inc. (CEI) announced that Luann Dunkerley, national sales manager of truck fleet services, has been elected to the Board of Governors of the National Private Truck Council (NPTC) Institute. As one of its 48 governors, she will be involved in overseeing the Institute’s policies and procedures regarding research, training, education and certification, and making recommendations to the NPTC board of directors.
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Dean Evans
Subaru of America
Chief Marketing Officer
Subaru of America, Inc. announced the appointment of Dean Evans to chief marketing officer. Reporting to SOA chief operating officer and EVP Tom Doll, Evans will be responsible for the company's marketing, corporate communications and customer service operations. Having spent half of his 23 year experience in digital, Evans has a deep understanding of how digital and social outreach are strong drivers for today's consumers.
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| Managing Your Fleet Trends, Issues & Opportunities |
Managers Gain New Fleet Operations Advantages with Fleet Director 8.5
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Customers gain important new advantages with Fleet Director 8.5, Teletrac's just-released version of its industry-leading fleet management telematics solution. Managers can now improve critical profit-and-loss factors such as fuel consumption and safety performance by using new trending analytics to instantly spot performance highs and lows over any recent three-month period. Using Fleet Director 8.5, managers can sharpen decision making and focus attention on where it's needed most.
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PG&E Looks to Electrification for its Fleet Vehicles
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David Meisel, director of transportation for San Francisco-based Pacific Gas & Electric, travels around the country advising state and federal regulators in Sacramento and Washington on many issues with trucks and energy. His other responsibility is running one of the largest combination gas and electric utility fleets in the U.S., a job he has held since 2007. Alternative fuel systems and the changes they bring have evolved as an important transition for the fleet. With the impact of rising fuel costs, PG&E is looking at electrification on vehicles where batteries are used not only to drive the truck but to power hydraulics, provide lighting, heat, air conditioning and external power while the truck is parked.
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| Driver Safety Management Practices, Policy, & Training |
Legislating Mandatory Collision Avoidance Systems for Improved Safety
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More people are riding their bikes and leaving their cars at home, especially in more densely-populated metropolitan areas. Use of bikes for transportation rather than only recreation is resulting in more car-bicycle collisions. Automakers continue to add more infotainment systems that distract drivers and can lead to collisions. One suggestion is to legislate collision avoidance systems to become standard equipment when an automaker sells a vehicle with a standard infotainment system.
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OnStar Pilot Program Lets Parents Track Teen Drivers
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GM's OnStar unit has unveiled a pilot program that will allow parents to track the real-time location of their teenagers when they are driving. Vehicles can be tracked by logging on to a GM website to view a map with the vehicle's exact location at any time or by getting text messages or email alerts. About 10,000 active U.S. OnStar subscribers will be invited to take part in the pilot program with the focus on GM owners who are parents with teen drivers. Other pilot programs are also under consideration.
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| Manufacturer Developments Design, Production, & Services |
Consumer Reports Says 2012 Civic 'Not Recommended'
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For the first time in recent memory, Consumer Reports says it can no longer recommend the Honda Civic compact sedan. The 2012 Civic finished second from last in a twelve-car analysis, dropping 17 points from a very good 78 to a mediocre 61 on Consumer Reports' 100-point scale. CR said areas that contributed to the Civic ratings drop include lower interior quality, choppy ride, long stopping distances, and pronounced road noise.
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Automakers to Focus on Gas Engines to Meet Fuel Economy Requirements
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The recently-announced 53 percent boost in fuel economy requirements by 2025 is unlikely to prompt a dramatic increase in production of electric cars and hybrids, which are only a fraction of the U.S. sales market. Automakers will still rely heavily on gasoline engines. Experts say the industry will accelerate development of cleaner burning gas engines, enhanced transmission systems, lighter materials, and more aerodynamic designs. The auto industry has made good-faith efforts so far to focus on fuel saving improvements in a shift toward production of small cars to meet consumer demand and new government mandates in an era of high gas prices.
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| Driving Green Initiatives, Actions, & Implementations |
Ford, Azure Partner to Offer F-Series Plug-in Hybrid
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Ford is teaming with Canadian-based Azure Dynamics to convert the largest of its F-Series models into plug-in hybrids. The partners plan to offer a plug-in hybrid version of some of Ford's popular trucks, starting with the F-550 and later adding the F-450 and F-350 models. The technology would allow the trucks to operate in electric-only mode at low speeds while also reducing fuel consumption at higher speeds in hybrid mode. Anticipated range on battery power, overall fuel efficiency and pricing details has not been released yet. Marketing is especially aimed at commercial fleet buyers who are particularly sensitive to the rise in fuel prices.
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Denmark Site of First European EV Battery Quick-Swap Stations
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Denmark is the initial site of Europe's first electric car battery swapping stations in a network of 24/7 fully automated drive-through locations. The lithium-ion battery packs, weighing about 600 pounds, will be removed from specially designed cars and replaced with a fully charged pack. The swap takes five minutes. Better Place has 19 more battery swap stations planned for Denmark with locations no more than 40 miles apart. Currently only Renault is making cars designed for quick battery swaps
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| The Intelligent Vehicle Telematics, Telecommunications, &
Technology |
Increased Fuel Economy Standard Challenges Automakers
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President Obama said the agreement with automakers on a 54.5 mile-per-gallon national average fuel economy standard by 2025 is the "single most important step" to cut U.S. dependence on foreign oil. Under the new standard the average motorist can fill up every two weeks, instead of weekly. Automakers must take major steps to get buyers into smaller vehicles, cut fuel use with turbochargers and hybrids, slash vehicle weight and look at other ways to build more aerodynamic cars.
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Collision-Avoidance System Prices Expected to Drop Soon
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Suppliers say the retail price of a next-generation collision-avoidance system could soon fall to about $500 which most car shoppers would find affordable as an option. The systems use radar, infrared laser sensors or cameras to spot obstacles in the road ahead and warn the driver. Some systems will automatically apply the brakes if the driver fails to respond.
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| Fleet Vehicle Remarketing Marketing Strategies, Channels,
& Sales Data |
Wholesale Prices Expected to Soften in Second Half of Year
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Manheim chief economist Tom Webb says that new car sales are expected to rebound in the second half of this year, giving dealers some relief from high wholesale prices. Manheim’s Mid-Year Used Car Market Report says used-car prices rose at an accelerated rate through the first half before peaking in May.
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Auto Thieves Preferring More Domestic Makes
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Thieves prefer domestic nameplates over foreign for the first time since 2002, according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau. For the top 10, Ford took three spots, Dodge two, and Chevrolet one. However, the top three positions continue to be held by Honda and Toyota models, a consistent trend since 2000.
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2011 AFLA Conference
Paradise Point
San Diego, CA
September 14-16, 2011
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2011 CVSA Annual Conference & Exhibition
Hilton Austin
Austin, TX
September 25-29, 2011
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Green Fleet Conference 2011
Gaylord Texan
Grapevine, TX
October 3-4, 2011
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Hybrid Truck Users Forum National Conference & Expo 2011
Baltimore Convention Center
Baltimore, MD
October 10-13, 2011
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Fleet & Asset Management USA 2011
Hotel Melia'
Atlanta, GA
November 16-17, 2011
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Stats and Smart Charts
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Gas Price Forecast Impact on Auction Data Index -- 2005 to 2015
[Click to enlarge graphic]
 - ALG anticipates auction data for overall industry will decline slightly from 2010 current values
- And remain flat through 2015.
- However, as gas prices are forecasted to increase from 2010 through 2015, ALG expects resale/residual values will continue to improve for fuel efficient segments
- While demand for SUVs will decline from current levels.
- Source – ALG Industry Report July-August 2011
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