A man may have no bad habits and have worse.-  Mark Twain

Habit and routine have an unbelievable power to waste and destroy.-Henri de Lubac

You see what will happen if you keep biting your nails.-- Noel Coward

on a postcard with a statue of Venus de Milo

Last Friday, our senior execs spent the afternoon out of the office to jointly analyze and discuss our company's strengths and weaknesses. Individually, we each had our thought on the various factors contributing to specific areas but the weighing of the factors was where the disparity was evident.

Similarly, over the weekend, I took some time to identify and weigh my own strengths and weaknesses with my own responsibilities. If you haven't done it, the practice can be quite sobering and revealing.

Being completely honest with myself, I readily admit that accounting, training and computer systems are not my strong suits and that is why we employ competent managers or counsel to direct these sectors of operation. Now I realize during an unusually busy period we may have strayed in some areas of action as a result of an absence of direction on my part.

Every fleet manager may face this situation from time to time and there is strong evidence that the collective management of corporate America's vehicle fleets falls into this category. Reliable industry studies are conducted each year so that valid benchmarks can be compared with the statistics produced. And fleet management of U.S. commercial company fleets are not receiving passing grades which translates into significant additional expense drain directed at the bottom line of the company's P&L. Here's why.

For the first time in history of fleet operations, the depreciation factor alone has reached an over 50 percent portion of total vehicle costs. Most authorities agree that result is directly attributable to indifference or lack of company politics that constitute better judgment.

Studying the most recent three-year period after acknowledging the admonitions, and recommendations of industry experts at the major leasing companies and used car remarketers that point out that each car begins to lose value at a disproportional rate when reaching the 55,000 mile mark, their recommendations call for selling (taking out of service and replacing) before this point and/or replacement somewhere between 27-30 months. There is indisputable proof that disregarding this policy sizably increases the total cost of the car.

Yet, during this same three-year period, the nation's commercial fleets have retained cars longer and recycled them with additional mileage well over the 55,000 benchmark.

On top of this adverse strategy, it is a proven fact the best return for the highest residual of a company's used car comes from the process of selling it  internally; commonly called "employee sales" which normally includes disposing of it to the driver, his or her family, or relatives or other employees. The industry studies show that contrary to the obvious choice of focusing on increasing employee sales of the used units, fewer cars are being sold in this manner than three years ago. The easier and more costly use of auctions has increased dramatically.

One last area of concern is that in "Fleet Management 101," just about everyone agrees the majority of the year's replacement cars should be ordered and delivered early in the model year, thereby taking advantage of use during the full year of depreciation as well as obtaining important cash "early ordering incentives" often awarded to those accepting delivery during the initial months of the new model year. Yet, historically, less than 25 percent of fleet deliveries are made to commercial fleets in the combined quarter of October, November and December. The statistics and analysis are valid and documented. It also is extremely costly to individual corporate fleet companies.

Whether the actual reason for this expensive drift lies in the lack of understanding, ignoring recommended policies, or pursuing an ill-advised habit of indifference, fleet management deserves the proper professional policies and adherence to control to ultimately gain the most cost-efficient system. Most are not getting it now.