November 25, 2014

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Editor's Analysis & Top Industry News


Giving Thanks!

We are delighted to launch a new monthly column this week in Fleet Management Weekly. Penned by The CEI Group, “On Accident Management” will give us expert insight into the myriad aspects of fleet accident management that can help us better manage the process and the expenses. Don’t miss the debut article: “Supplements: How to Minimize Those Nasty Collision Repair Surprises.”

The Holiday Season officially gets underway this week with our favorite holiday, Thanksgiving! The Fleet Management Weekly team wishes you and your family a very happy Thanksgiving. We have much to be thankful for!

Drive Safety,

Janice Sutton
Executive Editor


7 Day Safe Driving Challenge

If you attended AFLA’s Annual Conference in Las Vegas this September, you remember Mike Pitcher’s presentation, How to Save a Life. During his presentation, Mike challenged all conference attendees to go 7 days without using their cell phones while driving.

Now, AFLA and LeasePlan are challenging everyone to put down their phones for 7 days!  

Visit afla.org to see Mike issue you the challenge and sign up to participate today!  Don’t forget to invite your friends, family and colleagues to join you in being a safer driver. Together, we can save a life!

Once you’ve signed up to take the challenge, join in the AFLA Member Online Community to continue the discussion.


paul-lauria

VIDEO: Proponents of Leasing and Debt Financing

This industry expert strongly believes that the outright purchase of vehicles does not align economic impacts of the acquisition of vehicles with the fiscal impacts — and he is therefore a strong proponent of leasing and debt financing.



VIDEO: Distracted Driving Awareness
driving-dynamics
  Visual, Manual, and Cognitive Distractions
 

Distracted Driving kills thousands of people each year, and injures hundreds of thousands. This video from Driving Dynamics explains how to be on the lookout for the three main types of distractions: Visual, Manual, and Cognitive.


Click here to watch video
VIDEO: Global Fleets
jeff-schlesinger
  Strong Growth for GE’s Global Fleet Initiative
 

In the four years since its inception, GE’s global fleet initiative has grown ten-fold by promising tools to help fleet customers save money around the world.


Click here to read more



The Fleet Spot


Fleet World 2015 Barclaycard to Sponsor 2015 UK Fleet World Fleet Show

Leading global payments business, Barclaycard, is to be the headline sponsor of next year’s Fleet World Fleet Show at Silverstone, England on May 12.

The sponsorship follows the successful launch of Barclaycard Fuel+, in association with The Miles Consultancy (Fuel+) at the Fleet World Fleet Show earlier this year. Fuel+ is a new fuel and mileage expenses solution designed to help companies cut their business fuel costs by, on average, 25%. Fuel+ allows drivers to refuel at almost all petrol forecourts in the UK including supermarkets. TMC’s multi-award-winning Mileage Audit system is built seamlessly into the product.

READ MORE

Transportation Manage Top Priorities with Passenger Transportation Fleet Tracking

Passenger transportation businesses are using fleet tracking software to help manage the most important factors to their business like driver and customer safety, fleet maintenance, cost containment, and more. Passenger transportation fleet tracking solutions, like GPS Insight, can help businesses like yours manage top fleet priorities.

READ MORE

recall Lawmakers May Bar Registration of Vehicles Not Repaired After Recalls

Recalls have hit an all-time high this year, so far totaling nearly 54 million vehicles. But even as daily headlines outline the risks of deadly defects like the General Motors ignition switch problem and Takata’s faulty airbags, millions of those vehicles will never get repaired, according to industry analysts.

With the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration stymied – even after pressing automakers to increase contact with owners of vehicles impacted by recalls – federal lawmakers may soon step in. One approach under study would bar motorists from registering vehicles that have not undergone repairs.

READ MORE

KPMG report KPMG Report: ‘Me, my car, my life…in the ultraconnected age’

KPMG Partner and automotive industry expert Gary Silberg prefaces their dynamic report on the ‘forces that are shaping the entire automotive ecosystem': “Not since the first automotive revolution has there been such stunning innovation in the industry. Autonomous vehicles are only part of the story. The convergence of consumer and automotive technologies and the rise of mobility services are transforming the automotive industry and the way we live our lives.”

Read the report

On Accident Management

Insights into fleet accident management from The CEI Group, Inc.

Supplements are additions to original estimates that can knock you for a loop. Ideally, you want your first estimates to be reliable before you authorize repairs. But how can you accomplish that? There’ s a cure that sharp accident management service providers take advantage of, but before revealing it, let’s define terms.

Supplements occur when there is damage inside the vehicle that wasn’t seen or anticipated when an estimate is written. They are revisions to initial estimates, and require additional customer approval for repairs to proceed. According to industry experts, supplements are issued for some 30% of all collision repair jobs nationwide, and the average dollar amount is around 25% over and above the original estimate. If that’s your fleet’s record, take heart: you can cut the number of supplements you receive by half or more.

READ MORE

 
Old But New

By Mike Sheldrick, Senior Editor

Call it what you will — the smart car, the connected car, or maybe even the autonomous vehicle. They all may seem a long way off, but maybe not.

While the automakers, aftermarket hardware manufacturers, and software giants work on the acceptable standards for future cars, a group of start-ups is hoping to get a leg up on the industry by offering devices and applications that will provide many of the functions and features of new cars just hitting the market and those planned for the future.

READ MORE

 
Keeping Track of Assets

Running a business requires tracking a variety of assets, some at your main office, others in the field. Keeping track of those assets — trailers, sheds, generators, and more — doesn’t have to be difficult or time-consuming. With Networkfleet’s asset tracker, Asset Guard, you can quickly and easily identify the precise location of every fixed or movable asset in your fleet.

READ MORE







Fleet Trends & Issues


Can a Driverless Car be Taught Ethics?

A large truck speeding in the opposite direction suddenly veers into your lane. What do you do?

Jerk the wheel left and smash into a bicyclist? Swerve right toward a family on foot? Slam the brakes and brace for head-on impact?

Drivers make split-second decisions based on instinct and a limited view of the dangers around them.

The cars of the future — those that can drive themselves thanks to an array of sensors and computing power — will have near-perfect perception and react based on preprogrammed logic.

READ MORE

PG&E Announces Two Major Electric Vehicle Initiatives

During a White House event U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, Counselor to the President John Podesta, PG&E Corporation Chairman and CEO Tony Earley, and Edison Electric Institute (EEI) President Tom Kuhn announced two electric power industry initiatives to further commercialize electric transportation technologies.

As part of an industry commitment to electric vehicles and clean energy, more than 70 investor-owned electric utilities will increase investment by an estimated $50 million per year, or $250 million over 5 years, to add more electric vehicles to their fleets starting in 2015.

READ MORE

Remember the Hydrogen Car?

A decade ago, President George W. Bush espoused the environmental promise of cars running on hydrogen, the universe’s most abundant element. “The first car driven by a child born today,” he said in his 2003 State of the Union speech, “could be powered by hydrogen, and pollution-free.”

Steven Chu, the Nobel Prize-winning physicist who was President Obama’s first Secretary of Energy did not feel that the economy would convert to  hydrogen-car over the next 10 or 15, 20 years. The administration slashed funding for hydrogen fuel cell research.

Attention shifted to battery electric vehicles, particularly those made by the headline-grabbing Tesla Motors.

READ MORE

Ford F-150 Is Highest-Mileage Gas-Powered Full-Size Truck

With newly released EPA test numbers in hand, Ford Motor Co. has declared its 2015 F-150 the nation’s most fuel-efficient gas-powered full-size pickup truck. Based on EPA numbers and what Ford billed as apples-to-apples comparisons, the new aluminum-bodies F-150 will get anywhere from 5% to 29% better mileage – in some cases as much as 7 mpg – over the prior model.

READ MORE

Benefits from Connected Vehicles

As declines go, Detroit’s has been spectacular. So it’s a little strange to discover—just a short drive north of downtown, past countless deserted office blocks and homes—something that could help make cities safer, more energy-efficient, and generally more pleasant to live in.

Down the road in Warren, Michigan, General Motors is testing technology that lets cars transmit and receive useful information wirelessly across several hundred meters. Vehicle-to-vehicle communications should improve road safety by warning drivers of an impending collision or alerting them to treacherous road conditions ahead.

Eventually, connected vehicles should also benefit cities, acting as mobile sensors within vital transportation arteries and helping prevent accidents, control congestion, and reduce energy use.

READ MORE

 
Will Ownership Become Obsolete?

Personal transportation is on the cusp of its greatest transformation since the advent of the internal combustion engine.

With the rise of self-driving vehicles, ride-sharing, traffic congestion and environmental regulation, we may not even own cars in the future, much less drive them.

A glimpse of the coming revolution can be seen in the models debuted at the Los Angeles Auto Show.

READ MORE

 
Unacceptable Outcomes

A group of four minivans recently tested by the Institute for protection in small overlap front crashes shows some of the worst possible outcomes for this type of crash, with only one vehicle performing acceptably.

The Nissan Quest, the Chrysler Town & Country and its twin, the Dodge Grand Caravan, all earn poor ratings. The exception to the disappointing pattern is the 2015 Toyota Sienna, which earns an acceptable rating. It joins the Honda Odyssey, which last year earned a good rating in the small overlap crash test, in the ranks of TOP SAFETY PICK+ award winners.

READ MORE about the safety results.







Fleet Management Resources 
AmeriFleet
Offering a nationwide vehicle delivery and relocation service; serving the corporate and commercial fleet industry.
GPS Insight
GPS Insight offers GPS tracking solutions to meet your organization's unique requirements and challenges.
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.
LeasePlan
LeasePlan is the world's leading high-touch service provider for vehicle leasing and fleet management.
The CEI Group Inc.
North America's largest accident management and fleet driver safety company.
Element
Customizing global fleet management to achieve your goals.
NAFA
NAFA is the association for the diverse vehicle fleet management profession regardless of organizational type, geographic location, or fleet composition.
Verizon Networkfleet
Verizon Networkfleet offers GPS fleet management solutions to help small to medium-sized businesses, enterprises, and government agencies better manage vehicles and assets. For a demo visit www.networkfleet.com/demo.