FleetManagementWeekly AmeriFleet
February 7, 2017

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Editor's Analysis & Top Industry News


Boost Your Bottom Line

We often hear that the two most compelling concerns for today’s fleet management professionals are controlling costs and ensuring driver safety. In this week’s issue, we feature articles that talk to both of those subjects.

Shell’s Henry Miller has penned an enlightening article about fuel card fraud. With fuel often accounting for more than 20% of a fleet’s operating costs, getting your arms around how to improve fraud detection practices is a winning strategy.

In our interview with Celia Stokes, CEO of eDriving, she talks about the company’s unique approach to driver safety. We are familiar with FICO® scores for our credit rating, but eDriving has taken that a step further with FICO® scores for our driving habits.

As Ed Pierce notes in his monthly column, conference season is getting underway again. Now, the question is — how do we turn trade show marketing efforts into sales?

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 Fleet Driver 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.


VIDEO: Document Management Services from AmeriFleet

AmeriFleet is now offering comprehensive and secure document management services – at an affordable price.



VIDEO: Fleets and Car Sharing

  “One Car, One Driver” Model Being Challenged
 

Car sharing is starting to get a whole lot more attention from fleet managers – and the “one car, one driver” model is being challenged.


VIDEO: Cybersecurity Best Practices
  Autonomous Vehicles and Cybersecurity
 

The Department of Justice, the OEMs, and others are putting together working groups to develop best practices to ensure vehicle cybersecurity.





The Fleet Spot


eDriving Honored with Prince Michael International Safety Award

eDriving was honored on December 13, 2016 with UK’s prestigious Prince Michael International Safety Award.

The award was a tribute to the work of the late Dr. Will Murray, e-Driving Research Director, who passed away, suddenly, just weeks before the award ceremony.

At the presentation for the award category, Safer Road Users, 2016, it was said, “Sustaining road safety, through innovative risk-led processes, has been at the heart of eDriving approach for 20 years.”

READ MORE

First Big German Customer Sues Volkswagen in Diesel Affair

Reuters

Germany Fish distributor Deutsche See is suing Volkswagen for misrepresenting a fleet of vehicles it leased as environmentally friendly, becoming the first major German customer to sue Europe’s biggest carmaker over its diesel-test cheating.

Volkswagen already faces numerous lawsuits from individual owners, regulators, states and dealers, many of them in the form of class-action cases in the United States. This is the first case brought by a corporate customer in its home market.

Bremerhaven-based Deutsche See, which leases about 500 vehicles from Volkswagen, said it had been unable to reach an out-of-court settlement.

READ MORE

Doug Weichman, CAFM, to Direct Fleet Management for City of Gainesville, FL

Douglas Weichman, CAFM, has been named the new fleet management director for the city of Gainesville, Florida.

Previously, Weichman was director of the Palm Beach County, Florida Fleet Management Division.

Weichman served as NAFA’s President from 2011 to 2013 and as Immediate Past President from 2013 to the present. He is the 2013 recipient of NAFA’s Fleet Excellence Award (FLEXY) – Member of the Year.

Element Announces Two Additions to Southeast Region Commercial Team

Element Fleet Management today announced two additions to its Southeast Region Commercial Team.

Brian Jacob joins Element as VP of the Customer Success Team. He’ll manage the mid-market portfolio of accounts in the region with a focus on revenue growth and retention.

Kelley Finke joins as VP, Sales. Finke previously spent 14 years with GE Fleet (acquired by Element in 2015), where she was responsible for mid-market and national account sales and customer retention.

READ MORE

Tackling Fuel-Related Fraud

By Henry Miller

Tackling fuel-related fraud remains a serious matter for U.S. fleet managers, but it’s also a large priority for fuel providers like Shell.

Thanks to independent research from Shell, we now know that over half of U.S. fleet managers consider fuel-related fraud a major issue for their business. But it’s not only managers who see fuel-related fraud as a cause for concern—nearly half of their fleet drivers agree.

The Shell Fleet Navigator™ Card offers improved fleet management and insight, while increasing savings. And it’s all thanks to unprecedented control and customization over the information you receive. It delivers the ultimate flexibility to help your fleet drive smarter and improve your bottom line along the way.

READ MORE

To learn more about how Shell Fleet Navigator puts you in control of savings and security, call 888-212-8916 or visit www.shell.us/fleetnavigator for more information.

 
Fleet Marketing

If conferences and trade shows are strictly a marketing function, the true value of the events will never be satisfactory

By Ed Pierce, Fleet Industry Marketer

With the fleet-related conference season getting underway again, this is a good time to ask the question: “Why do so many companies consider trade shows and conferences as marketing events?” As a marketing professional, I love nothing more than to have a strong presence at a show – the largest booth, located by the front door, with some phantasmagoric draw that has plenty of stopping power. Giveaways, drawings, coffee…whatever it takes to have a large crowd in the booth.

Of course, we will have sales reps assigned to the booth to say hello, catch up with other vendors, network with allied company reps. If we’re really good, there will be a ton of leads, too.

READ MORE

 
Changing Attitudes and Behaviors

By Janice Sutton

eDriving’s mission is to attack the “94%” problem — 94% of collisions are caused by driver attitudes and behaviors.

In our interview with her, Celia says, “It is not about a lack of knowledge — people don’t text and drive because they don’t know that it is dangerous to do; they do it because they lose the willpower to ignore a message that comes in or because they are late getting to their appointment, for instance. So, we are very focused on interrupting the behavior that makes someone susceptible to that message, or to speeding or to tailgating.

“One of the tools that we have introduced to help chip away at the 94% problem, is our SMART Driving Guide. We have boiled down the critical driving behaviors into 15 principles which are easy to “get” and keep in mind. If every driver keeps these 15 principles in mind they’ll virtually eliminate the risk of being in a collision.”

READ MORE








Fleet Trends & Issues


Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety Releases 2017 Roadmap Report of State Highway Safety Laws

PR Newswire

Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety (Advocates) released the 2017 Roadmap of State Highway Safety Laws. The 14th annual report rates all 50 states and the District of Columbia (DC) on adoption of 15 basic traffic safety laws.

This “report card” exposes deadly gaps in these essential laws and should serve as both a wake-up call and call to action for state legislatures.

READ MORE

The Numbers Don’t Lie: Self-Driving Cars Are Getting Good

Wired

It’s report card time for the automakers and Silicon Valley denizens studying the tricky problem of making cars drive themselves, and everyone is passing.

The California DMV just released its annual slate of “disengagement reports,” documents provided by the 11 companies that received state permits to test autonomous vehicles by the end of 2015.

The results, summarized below, reveal how often humans had to wrest control away from the computer, and why (sort of).

READ MORE

You’re Not Your Car’s Boss Anymore

Slate.com

The modern automobile can be traced back more than 100 years to 1886, when Karl Benz created the Benz slightly more than 10 mph.

It’s easy to chuckle at that today, when our cars are made from a variety of composite materials that were likely developed by aerospace engineers and can easily reach speeds in excess of 100 mph. But the primary goal of the automobile hasn’t changed: to move us from point A to B. A second goal is to provide mobility in a way that does not harm people and will not result in property damage.

Simply stated, we want to drive safe.

READ MORE

Humans and Autonomous Cars Need Time to Adapt to Each Other, Report Says

The Drive

Currently, only about one-fifth of drivers say they would buy an autonomous car as soon as one is available and fewer than one-third say they would be comfortable riding in one.”

That’s according to a new statement by the Governor’s Highway Safety Association (GHSA), who on February 3 issued its first “Spotlight” covering autonomous vehicles, titled Autonomous Vehicles Meet Human Drivers: Traffic Safety Issues for StatesThe report examines self-driving technology and the potential safety issues it raises.

READ MORE

Uber Data for NYC

Fortune

Potentially setting a major precedent for ride-sharing regulation, New York City’s Taxi and Limousine Commission Thursday approved regulations requiring companies like Uber to report detailed data on rides in the city.

Similar rules, intended to prevent driver overwork and fatigue, had previously covered licensed taxis, but will now encompass all for-hire vehicles.

Uber has mounted a campaign against the rule, mainly citing privacy concerns. The legislation would not collect information on passengers’ identity, though such data can often be reverse-engineered for user information such as gender and race. New York’s Public Advocate has also opposed the rule.

READ MORE

 
EVs and Safety

IIHS.org

Two all-electric vehicles fall short of meeting the Institute’s awards criteria, but consumers who want to minimize gas consumption while also prioritizing safety can choose from two plug-in hybrids that earn the 2017 Top Safety Pick award.

The two recently evaluated 2017 all-electric models are the Tesla Model S and the BMW i3. The plug-in hybrid models are the Chevrolet Volt, whose award was announced in December, and the Toyota Prius Prime.

“There’s no reason the most efficient vehicles can’t also be among the safest,” says David Zuby, IIHS executive vice president and chief research officer.

READ MORE

 
Hacking for a Living

SF Chronicle

Robert Barrett and Jack Dunham hack cars for a living.

In their garage on the Fremont campus of Underwriters Laboratories, they probe for weaknesses that criminals might exploit to tamper with or take control of today’s Web-connected cars.

It’s not an academic pursuit.

Hackers years ago demonstrated an ability to commandeer, remotely, a vehicle’s transmission and steering, although the known cases have not been random, broad-based attacks but instead were aimed at specific vulnerabilities in specific cars.

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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