FleetManagementWeekly AmeriFleet
March 22, 2016

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Editor's Analysis & Top Industry News


Deep in the Heart of Texas

The 2016 NAFA I&E is just four weeks away — Austin, April 18-22 — and we are looking forward to another outstanding conference. Take a look at the Conference Agenda and you will see an impressive lineup of speakers and educational opportunities, including those found on the Expo floor where over 250 exhibitors will be showing off their newest products and services.

You will not want to miss the exciting Fleet Excellence Award Gala on Tuesday night, April 19th, when the best and the brightest in our field will be honored with FLEXY awards. Did we mention great networking? It absolutely does not get better than this!

We confidently predict that whether you are new to fleet or a veteran of our industry, you will learn something – and meet someone – that will make a difference in your career.

Janice Sutton
Editor in Chief


Thought Leadership

Fleet Marketing – Guiding principles for fleet providers to improve marketing and increase sales.

Fleet Asset Management – Best practices for work truck management.

On Accident Management Learn ways to save money on your fleet’s collision repair costs.

Safety & Risk — Impactful driver safety and risk management tools and techniques.

The Fleet CX Toolbox – Solid steps to implementing and improving fleet customer experience.

The Sustainable Fleet – Strategic approaches to bring about a smarter, cleaner fleet.

BIG Data. BIG Results. BIG Future– We look at harnessing big data to achieve big results using cutting edge technology.

Talent Management – Smart guidelines to help you manage the talent in your workplace.


sowers-dave

VIDEO: Building Upfitter-Friendly Vehicles

Ram Commercial Brand was created with a mission of building upfitter-friendly vehicles for work customers, and one look around the Work Truck Show in enough to let you know the brand is doing well.



VIDEO: Beating Range Anxiety
castelaz-jim
  EV Pickup and Delivery with 80-100 Miles Range
 

EVs from Motiv Power Systems offers ideal solutions for vocations where driver is behind the wheel 8 hours a day doing urban pickup or delivery.


VIDEO: Innovative Work Truck Solutions
mcnally-eric
  Making Truck Equipment More Exciting
 

Reading Equipment and Distribution is focused on creating innovative effective solutions for work trucks.





The Fleet Spot


Globe with mortarboard New to the World of Global Fleet? NAFA Has Just the Place for You!

If you are new to the world of global fleet, then don’t miss out on NAFA’s 2016 International Fleet Academy: Global 101: First Steps to Globalization.

NAFA’s International Fleet Academy on April 18 will dig deep into what it means for fleet managers when their companies and organizations go global.

Designed for those with new global fleet responsibilities, this half-day workshop will take place on Monday, April 18, 2016 in Austin, Texas, and will provide you with an understanding of global fleet industry trends, culture, and best practices. Network with peers and mentors at a roundtable discussion, review the latest global policy, get insight into intercultural communications, and much more!

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Peter Ormsby Peter Ormsby Joins Chevin Fleet Solutions

Chevin Fleet Solutions, a leading global fleet software provider, has hired Peter Ormsby as Operations Director following an extensive selection process.

“Peter has a depth of knowledge in the IT and mobile software industries. This knowledge, combined with his strong leadership skills, will be invaluable to Chevin as it continues its global expansion, ” said Ashley Sowerby, Managing Director.

READ MORE

Screen Shot 2016-03-21 at 3.56.35 PM Top 10 Cars with Highest Share of Leasing Market

Auto Remarketing

Take a guess. Which vehicle had the largest share of the new-vehicle lease market in the fourth quarter?

The answer: the Honda Civic, which comprised 3.2 percent of all new-car leases, according to an infographic shared by Experian Automotive.

Next up was also a Honda: the Accord with a 2.6-percent share. Two Toyotas followed (Camry at 2.5 percent, RAV4 at 2.4 percent), then the Ford Escape and Honda CR-V were tied for fifth with 2.2-percent shares of the new lease market.

Rounding out the top 10 were the Ford Fusion (2.1 percent), Toyota Corolla (2.1 percent), Chevrolet Silverado 1500 (1.9 percent) and the Nissan Altima (1.9 percent).

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Sue Branston Fleet Logistics Sets up Preferred Dealer Network in UK

Fleet Logistics, Europe’s largest independent fleet management provider, has set up a preferred dealer network in the UK covering all major nameplates and with a set of new contractual agreements.

The new preferred dealer network, which comprises just 11 dealer groups and dealerships, provides UK fleet customers with access to 25 different makes throughout the UK, and includes all the most popular fleet manufacturers.

Fleet Logistics’ Head of UK and Ireland, Sue Branston, said the new initiative was designed to formalize the existing dealer network that Fleet Logistics already had in place in the UK and to complement some clients’ desire to maintain their choice of dealer. “This is one part of a new supply chain strategy that we are developing for our markets in Western Europe and beyond.

READ MORE

On Accident Management

By Greg Neuman, CEI Senior Manager of Quality Control

Mr. McGuire: I just want to say one word to you. Just one word.
Benjamin: Yes sir.
Mr. McGuire: Are you listening?
Benjamin: Yes, I am.
Mr.McGuire: Plastics…There’s a great future in plastics.

–Dialog from the 1967 hit movie, The Graduate

It turns out that it wasn’t bad advice that the successful businessman, Mr. McGuire, was giving Benjamin Braddock (played by Dustin Hoffman) at his graduation party. Plastics have been one of the fastest growing manufacturing materials over the past 50 years, and they continue to play a larger part in automobiles every year.

As with other non-traditional materials, the increasing appearance of plastics to help improve fuel economy has an unintended consequence: higher repair costs. The reason? While minor damage to many plastic parts can be repaired, the same impact that produces minor damage in steel, in plastics means that the part needs to be replaced, and replacement costs are higher than they used to be.

READ MORE

 
The Fleet CX Toolkit

By Wendy Eichenbaum

Imagine you’re on a business trip. You return to your hotel room exhausted after a long day of meetings. You look across the room to see a light on by your bed, the sheets turned down, and a chocolate mint on your pillow. It’s just a mint, or is it?

It’s the little details that people remember. People don’t tell their friends that the room was clean or that the bathroom had enough towels. But they will pass on the memory that made the experience special and out of the ordinary. These little details are microinteractions, just one action or moment. One alone can be memorable. Added up, they can define a world-class experience.

The importance of microInteractions cannot be understated. The users may not be able articulate why they chose one product, service, or company over another. But they feel when they love one service or hate another. If you ask people why they love or hate something, they’ll tell you a story, which will describe one superior or frustrating interaction.

READ MORE

 
Too Much Traffic

Detroit Bureau

Los Angeles has, by far, the worst traffic problem in America, with some of the “nastiest gridlock” facing cities along the West Coast, according to navigation company Tom Tom. New York and a number of booming metro areas in the South are also facing major traffic problems, according to the Tom Tom Traffic Index.

But American commuters actually have it easy compared to their counterparts in many other parts of the world. Globally, Los Angeles ranked only tenth, according to the new study, far behind Mexico City, Bangkok and Istanbul which, Tom Tom reported, have the worst roadway congestion of any major cities around the globe.

READ MORE








Fleet Trends & Issues


Teenage Drivers? Be Very Afraid

The New York Times

Spend enough time having parenting conversations, as I’ve done personally and professionally for the last dozen years, and certain patterns emerge.

In nine out of 10 cases, if you’re talking about highly motivated parents, the message to Mom and Dad is: back off, chill out, park the helicopter.

Recently, I stumbled onto a topic in which the advice was the exact opposite

READ MORE

Future for Diesel Passenger Vehicles in U.S. Remains Positive Despite Recent Set Backs

PR Newswire

While diesel passenger vehicles sales have decreased in recent months, there are some positive signs that indicate diesel sales will recover and expand in the coming years, according to Allen Schaeffer, the Executive Director of the Diesel Technology Forum.

Schaeffer made his comments during a speech to automotive writers at the International Motor Press Association(IMPA) this week in New York City.

READ MORE

Uber Seeking to Buy Self-Driving Cars

Fortune

Autonomous cars could help Uber cut costs down the road.

Ride-hailing service Uber has sounded out car companies about placing a large order for self-driving cars, an auto industry source said on Friday.

“They wanted autonomous cars,” the source, who declined to be named, said. “It seemed like they were shopping around.”

READ MORE

Every New Car In U.S. Will Have Emergency Auto Braking By 2022, Putting Us One Step Closer To Driverless Vehicles

Forbes

If you haven’t experienced automatic emergency braking yet, get ready: it’s weird when your car takes over, but at the same time, reassuring. 

The system use on-vehicle sensors such as radar, cameras or lasers to detect an imminent crash, warn the driver and apply the brakes if the driver does react quickly enough.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety estimate that by voluntarily equipping their cars with automatic braking, the industry is speeding up the adoption of this life-saving technology by about three years, which will prevent 28,000 crashes and 12,000 injuries.

READ MORE

Cyberattacks are Coming

The Detroit News

The federal government is warning drivers about potential cyberattacks on their vehicles as cars are becoming increasingly more “connected.”

The FBI and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said researchers have identified vulnerabilities in cars made as recently as the 2014 model year that highlight a troubling trend in auto cybersecurity, citing a report that was conducted in 2015 by the Seattle-based IOActive security firm.

READ MORE

 
BIG Data. BIG Results. BIG Future.

By Tom Callahan, President, Donlen Corporation

A fleet’s operating costs are impacted by vehicle breakdowns, trips to repair vendors, and down time. Fleet vehicles adhering to a preventative maintenance (PM) schedule reduces the number of unscheduled maintenance events and helps keep those costs down.

The challenge is that fleet vehicles frequently deviate from on-time PM, as fleet drivers typically need to find room in their already busy work schedule to bring their vehicle into a shop. Historically, fleet managers relied on their drivers following static service intervals to meet maintenance requirements, but the reality is that following static intervals has a limited impact on reducing the over- or under-maintenance of a vehicle. This is where leveraging technology can help drive maintenance savings for your fleet.

READ MORE

 
Safety & Risk

By Art Liggio, President, Driving Dynamics

NHTSA research shows that in an estimated 94 percent of crashes, the critical cause is a human factor. As professional fleet operators, specifically what has your company done to empower your drivers to be exceptional behind-the-wheel?

No matter where your company currently stands regarding this question, whether it is room for improvement in your current fleet safety program or implementing a new senior management supported initiative, these reports are a sobering reality check.

READ MORE








Fleet Management Resources
 
AFLA – Automotive Fleet & Leasing Association
Providing the advanced forum for corporate fleet professionals to network with industry leaders.
The CEI Group Inc.
CEI is North America’s largest provider of fully integrated fleet accident management, driver safety and risk management services.
PARS
PARS' mission is to provide you with high-quality service at competitive prices for all of your transportation needs.
AmeriFleet
Offering a nationwide vehicle delivery and relocation service; serving the corporate and commercial fleet industry.
LeasePlan
LeasePlan is the world's leading high-touch service provider for vehicle leasing and fleet management.
Wheels, Inc.
First in fleet for 76 years. Wheels helps you build tomorrow’s fleet today.
ARI
Driven fleet professionals. Driving results.
NAFA Fleet Management Association
NAFA is the association for the diverse vehicle fleet management profession regardless of organizational type, geographic location, or fleet composition.



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