FleetManagementWeekly AmeriFleet
December 6, 2016

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Editor's Analysis & Top Industry News


Carpe Diem

We are coming close to the end of the year when we often reflect on the roles that others have played in our careers. If you know a fleet professional whom you believe should be honored with NAFA’s prestigious FLEXY Award, celebrating achievement at the highest level, this is your opportunity. You have until January 20th to submit a nomination form. Winners will be announced at NAFA’s I&E in Tampa in April.

We were terribly saddened to learn that Dr. Will Murray passed away last weekend from an undiagnosed illness. Our friendship with Will spanned over a decade and we will miss him greatly. Based in the UK, Will was recognized internationally as an occupational road safety expert.

As Research Director of Interactive Driving Systems and subsequently eDriving Fleet, Will’s dedication resulted in over 70 client and partner awards recognizing outstanding results for road safety. We send our deepest condolences to his family, friends and colleagues. He was a wonderful man.

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.

Guidance for the Multinational Fleet — An expert’s view on the global fleet.

BIG Data. BIG Results. BIG Future– Harnessing big data to achieve big results using cutting edge technology.

Customer Driven — Engage your organization to create customer loyalty, trust and superior service.

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


rasmussen-erik

VIDEO: New App Allows Vehicle Delivery Customers to Make Smart Real-Time Decisions

PARS new app offers a host of benefits to customers – including full details on pickup and delivery, and real-time condition reports.



VIDEO: Fleet Managers Today
jozwiak-laura
  Laura Jozwiak: The Increasingly Strategic Role of the Fleet Manager
 

The role of the fleet manager keeps changing – and the role is becoming more strategic all the time.


VIDEO: Investing in Innovation
ari-technology-center
  A Look at ARI’s Technology and Innovation Center
 

ARI is making constant investments in its people and its technology, which leads directly to a better customer experience. ARI’s Technology and Innovation Center is the epitome of this commitment.





The Fleet Spot


donlen-total-cost-of-ownership-whitepaper Donlen White Paper: Proven Solutions to Control Total Cost of Ownership

For fleet professionals, understanding and managing their fleet’s total cost of ownership is one of their biggest responsibilities.

Through insights and experience gained with more than 50 years in the fleet industry, Donlen has identified the cost components that make up fleet TCO, and provided the most effective recommendations for reducing total cost of ownership in its new white paper, “Understanding Total Cost of Ownership: Take Control of Your TCO in 6 Steps.”

READ MORE

flexy FLEXY Awards: Celebrating Exceptional Individuals

Submission Deadline for 2017 Fleet Excellence Awards January 20th!

NAFA welcomes individuals and teams to submit an entry for the 2017 Fleet Excellence Awards.

“The FLEXY award has proven itself to be the preeminent industry award for fleet, and celebrates achievement at the highest level,” said NAFA’s Chief Executive O,fficer, Phillip E. Russo, CAE. “NAFA is proud to host the FLEXYs for a fifth year as part of our Opening Night Celebration at I&E in Tampa, Florida.”

READ MORE

david-fernandes sgfleet Acquires the Motiva Group

Pictured: David Fernandes

sgfleet has acquired the Motiva Group, a UK provider of contract hire, short-term rental and fleet management services.

The acquisition follows that of Fleet Hire in August and builds further on the platform already in place. Together, Motiva, Fleet Hire and sgfleet enter the Top 20 segment of the UK contract hire market.

READ MORE

fuel pump OPEC Deal Likely to Push Gas Prices Higher

The Detroit Bureau

While the price of gasoline remains low across the United States, according to AAA, prices could be headed upwards if an agreement by members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries as well as Russia holds together.

Experts surveyed after OPEC announced the agreement to curtail production voluntarily said the price of oil could top $60 per barrel, which will raise prices at the pump.

However, analysts will await confirmation that the cartel can stick to an agreement to reduce production and the terms of each country’s participation before making any predictions about pricing.

READ MORE

Fleet Marketing

By Ed Pierce, Fleet Industry Marketer

Last month, we left off mid-stream in describing the planning of a customer-centric sales AND marketing strategy. Let’s finish up:

Know Thy Customer

With advances in customer relationship management tools that now incorporate every milestone in the buying cycle all the way back to a prospect’s first website visit along with instant, segmented digital surveying capability, companies can obtain more information about buyers and buying habits than ever before.

Combined with the availability of a broad range of more timely sales reports, the “opportunities” picture has never been clearer.

READ MORE

 
ReachNow Fleet Solutions

Forbes

ReachNow is a premium car sharing program owned by BMW, exclusively featuring select BMW and MINI vehicles, including the electric BMW i3.

The program is currently available in Seattle, Portland and Brooklyn, and operates with a smartphone app and some unique car sharing features.

Where the current program resembles other ride-sharing services like Zip Car and Car2Go, where users check out vehicles from a publicly shared fleet, ReachNow Fleet Solutions will tie a designated small fleet of vehicles to a particular apartment building, business or community.

READ MORE

 
Talent Management

By Mike Cieri, MSIR, Vice President of Mardac Consultants

As hard as it can be, discipline is an absolutely necessary skill for all supervisors.

Disciplining is not about punitive discipline, you don’t need to whip your people into shape, or bully them to get them to behave. Instead, an effective manager practices respectful discipline that is effective and that fits the situation.

  • Effective discipline places the responsibility for the problem and the solution on the individual who is the disciplinary problem rather than on his or her supervisor.
  • Effective discipline provides for a positive outcome rather than a punitive one.
  • Effective discipline solves the problem rather than exacerbating it.
  • READ MORE








    Fleet Trends & Issues


    Why a Hacker is Giving Away a Special Code That Turns Cars Into Self-Driving Machines

    The Washington Post

    Here is a strategy for start-ups dealing with regulators who might shut down your product: Make it free.

    Scrappy self-driving car start-up Comma.ai released a free software kit on Wednesday to help developers learn to build a device that can turn any car into an autonomous vehicle. The year-old company, which is founded by a well-known hacker and backed by prominent Silicon Valley investors, hopes to accelerate the development of self-driving cars while skirting the ire of Washington.

    The move raises questions of how the United States should foster innovation for promising technologies that also carry great risks.

    READ MORE

    Self-Driving Cars Could Eliminate Urban Crashes

    CNN Money

    As the auto and tech industries pour millions into developing autonomous vehicles, some of the biggest gains will be realized by those who aren’t even riding in self-driving cars.

    Transportation experts see the dawning era of autonomous transportation as a chance to tame speeding cars and trucks, creating a vastly safer world for drivers, passengers, pedestrians and cyclists.

    READ MORE

    Apple Gives Feedback on Autonomous Vehicle Regulation

    Fortune

    Apple has sent a letter to the head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration providing feedback on the agency’s planned regulations on self-driving vehicles.

    Though it does not fully acknowledge the existence of Apple’s long-mysterious autonomous vehicle project, widely referred to as “Project Titan,” the letter does say the company is “investing heavily in machine learning and automation,” and paints Apple as a player in the autonomous vehicle industry.

    The letter, accessible here, also contains several recommendations that, if acted on, would benefit new entrants to the auto industry.

    READ MORE

    Ford To Start Testing Autonomous Vehicles In Europe In 2017

    CarScoops

    Having tripled its U.S. fleet of autonomous Fusion Hybrids this year, Ford is getting ready to start conducting tests with its self-driving cars on European roads as well in 2017.

    Its goal is to accomplish level four with on the SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) scale, which is one step away from fully autonomous driving.

    “We have already announced plans to use an autonomous vehicle for a ride-sharing service in the US in 2021 and it is important that we extend our testing to Europe”, Ford Europe’s autonomous driving manager Thomas Lukaszewic told Autocar. “Rules of the road vary from country to country here, traffic signs and road layouts are different and drivers are likely to share congested roads with cyclists.”

    READ MORE

    The NYPD's Smart Fortwo Fleet

    The New York Times

    In New York City’s tabloid newspapers and on blogs, they have been derided as “clown cars.”

    The previous police commissioner, William J. Bratton, described the subcompacts as “midget cars,” even as he announced their rollout last year.

    But the city cannot seem to get enough of the tiny, bean-shaped vehicles, which look like curiously shrunken cousins of the iconic New York Police Department patrol car and which never fail to draw the attention, and sometimes the affection, of curious passers-by.

    READ MORE

     
    Fleet Asset Management

    By Mike Quimby, Senior Vice President & General Manager, Element Fleet Management

    If you’re a fleet manager, chances are you’re aware that the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) is moving forward with a new standard requiring companies and organizations to include lease obligations on their balance sheets.

    “We believe that this new standard is important because it will provide investors, lenders and other users of financial statements a more accurate picture of the long-term financial obligations of the companies to which they provide capital,” said FASB Chairman Russell G. Golden in a press release.

    There are two popular types of fleet leases, open-end and closed-end leases. Historically, businesses and organizations have used operating leases to keep assets off of their balance sheets, effectively treating lease payments as a rental expense. This is commonly referred to as the risk and reward method, as the lessor takes on the risks and rewards of asset ownership.

    While the rule doesn’t go into effect until 2018, companies need to start thinking about how they will implement the new rules now.

    READ MORE

     
    Ford Blasts Back

    Detroit Free Press

    The battle between the industry and the Obama administration sets up the potential that the incoming Trump administration could scale back the regulations automakers initially agreed to in 2012.

    Ford on Wednesday accused the Obama administration of playing “eleventh-hour politics” after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said it would recommend keeping strict greenhouse emission standards in place through 2025, despite a major industry lobbying effort aimed at relaxing those standards..

    The Auto Alliance, the industry’s leading lobbying group, sent a letter to Trump’s transition team that specifically asked the incoming team take part in the mid-term evaluation of automotive regulations “to ensure that these are consistent with the policy objectives of the new administration.”

    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.
    NAFA Fleet Management Association
    NAFA is the association for the diverse vehicle fleet management profession regardless of organizational type, geographic location, or fleet composition.
    AmeriFleet
    Offering a nationwide vehicle delivery and relocation service; serving the corporate and commercial fleet industry.
    Donlen
    Since 1965, Donlen has been the fleet management industry’s leading provider of comprehensive, integrated financing and asset management solutions — and that spirit of innovation continues today.
    PARS
    PARS' mission is to provide you with high-quality service at competitive prices for all of your transportation needs.
    ARI
    Driven fleet professionals. Driving results.
    Driving Dynamics
    Driving Dynamics was established to help corporate fleet drivers develop expert, safe driving skills using proven, advanced driving techniques.
    Wheels, Inc.
    First in fleet for 76 years. Wheels helps you build tomorrow’s fleet today.



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