Fair and Balanced
The mainstream media may have sold out lock stock and barrel to the fringe elements but as a fleet decision maker you still have some tremendous resources that you can rely on.
Sherb Brown, former vice president and group publisher for BBM's AutoGroup, provides a seasoned perspective on the fleet industry. Sherb is involved in several auto industry associations.
The mainstream media may have sold out lock stock and barrel to the fringe elements but as a fleet decision maker you still have some tremendous resources that you can rely on.
The fleet management companies, the telematics providers, the upfitters, and the general service providers in our market can offer you some wonderful advice, but the only person who can really tie it all together is a fleet manager.
There is little doubt that the folks out there with 5,000-10,000 vehicles have a good handle on how much they should be paying; for everything from bucket trucks to sedan floor mats. But some of our recent survey data shows that vast hordes of the fleet market are paying close to retail rates for a lot of products and services.
Three years have gone by since our founder Ed Bobit passed away. In many ways it feels like an eternity but in other ways it feels like he was just here yesterday. He was a larger-than-life force and left quite an impact on me, and on the fleet industry.
It’s becoming clear that there are some real changes brewing in our industry: everything from powertrains to new vehicle classes, to autonomous vehicles, and new safety technology.
Are you taking the time to keep an eye out for the person who is going to fill your chair when you decide to move on?
Fleet managers should stay current with new developments in the auto industry but stay grounded in reality to keep their fleets efficient and prepared for the future.
Depreciation is a necessary evil in our industry. Knowing your risks and knowing your OEM partners won’t make depreciation go away but it can make it more manageable.
Every fleet is different. Most of the service providers in our market realize this and do their best to tailor their solutions to meet the needs of today’s fleet and purchasing managers. But no one can really understand your organization’s goals better than you.
We may not be able to predict the future here at Automotive Fleet, but we can confidently predict that 2017 will be very interesting.
When it’s all said and done, there usually is a right answer for a particular fleet and the best person to make that decision is a well-educated fleet manager.
Fleet management has migrated from the garage to the Excel spreadsheet. We don’t have to wonder anymore about whether that compact car really is more expensive to operate than a comparable small SUV. Now the data can give us the answer.
The fleet industry is evolving at an ever-increasing pace, but the one area that hasn’t evolved and never seems to improve is the actual vehicle delivery process. It would seem to be the easiest part of the whole business, but it is the one area that everyone struggles with.
Fleet Technology Expo will include three days of education on tactics for optimizing fleet software and data and alternative-fuel adoption, information on the latest technologies you'll see in your fleet in the not-so-distant future, strategies for reducing fuel use and maintenance costs, and more.
Despite all leading-edge technology and bleeding-edge regulations that are being thrust upon the fleet market, there is a gaping hole in many fleet plans. What to do when a vehicle, or a whole bunch of vehicles, are suddenly not available?
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