Market Trends offers insightful examinations of current fleet industry trends and developments, emphasizing practical, real-world impacts and applications for the professional fleet manager. In addition to zeroing in on today’s fleet realities, Market Trends also provides a “peak over the horizon,” looking to the future to identify emerging issues and trends that will affect and influence fleet management in the near and long term.
Reducing the number of preventable accidents presents a huge opportunity to reduce fleet costs. The industry average cost to repair a fleet vehicle involved in an accident is $1,848. Nowadays, even the simplest fender bender costs $500 or more. When other accident costs are included, such as loss of use, liability, workers’ comp, and other indirect expenses, the total cost exceeds $10,000 per incident.
Whether technicians should be allowed to work on their personal vehicles after-hours is a controversial issue among public sector fleet managers. Some fleet operations allow it, while others are adamantly opposed. Here are the pro and con arguments.
To whom should fleet report? This question elicits spirited and opposing recommendations. One reason is that Fleet Operations is crucial to fulfilling the mission of many users. Fleet Operations services all facets of government ranging from separate taxing agencies such as Fire and Police, to enterprise funds such as utilities and solid waste. One of the largest customers is Public Works, a key reason why many fleet managers report to its director.
The majority of public sector fleets do not employ service level agreements between the fleet department and internal customer departments. Although these types of agreements are relatively commonplace between commercial fleets and fleet service providers, only in the past 10 years have they begun to emerge in the public sector.
The acute shortage of skilled technicians promises to become more severe in the coming years as vehicles and equipment become more complex. With the increasing integration of computers into automotive design, the skill set required by technicians is ratcheting upward.
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