Michael Bieger knew what he wanted for the fleet department at Hoffmann-La Roche when he had an introductory meeting with representatives at the Wheels Inc. fleet management company. He didn't want to type in 900 vehicle orders per year. Bieger, who started as supervisor, fleet services, for Hoffmann-La Roche in Nutley, NJ, 18 months ago, saw an opportunity to eliminate that cumbersome task and a lot of other paperwork when the Wheels reps told him about their on-line fleet management services. "It's like my father always told me: Use the right tool for the right job," Bieger said. Now that Hoffman-La Roche is using the Wheels Internet site, Bieger's drivers key in their vehicle orders themselves from their own laptops. "I have seen the benefit not only in time savings, but dollar savings," he says. Bieger is not alone in his praise of Internet services. The Internet, the Worldwide Web, the phenomenon that has made ".com" a household term, has become as commonplace in the fleet industry as anywhere else. The Internet is helping fleet managers do almost any job-related task over the Internet, including electronically ordering vehicles through fleet management companies, keeping track of fuel and maintenance expenses, disposing of vehicles through on-line remarketing services, and by simply keeping abreast of what the latest trends are in the industry. Interviews with various fleet managers show that most of them not only have the Internet accessible right at their desks, but that they are using it to make their jobs easier.

Hoffman-La Roche Uses Internet To Save Time and Paper

Bieger still has to do analyses on replacement cycles. And he still has to determine which drivers are due for new vehicles, at what vehicle selector level level they are (based on their position), and what vehicles are going to be offered at each selector level. "That function hasn't changed," he said. But Hoffmann-La Roche is a pharmaceutical company, and the pharmaceutical industry is notorious for the high turnover rate of its employees. "Every time we get a new person, we have to send out policies and procedures, and just an enormous amount of paperwork goes out and comes back," Bieger says. Before his company gained access to the Internet, vehicle ordering for Bieger involved making seven pages of instructions, copies, and order forms for 800 drivers. Then it involved addressing the forms, mailing them out, receiving them back, reviewing the orders, and then inputting 800 orders. Now, Wheels sends letters to all Hoffmann-La Roche drivers, telling them when they have to order, where on the Internet they need to order, and assigning them a PIN number. "Soon, we'll get rid of that letter and just e-mail all the drivers," Bieger says. He no longer has to wait until his company approves a selector list and until the final manufacturers' pricing is released before he can begin the paperwork. "The good part about this is the drivers get the letter in July. Now, as soon as I get approval, you can order," he said. When the driver gets a PIN number, he or she goes into a secured website, enters the PIN, along with an employee ID, and with the click of a mouse, view pictures of the vehicles he or she can order and see which options are available. "The Internet has not only made my job easier, but the drivers' jobs as well," Bieger said.

Rentokil Uses Internet For 'Instantaneous' Ordering

Before Steven Darst started using GE Capital Fleet Services' website for vehicle ordering, he filled out paper orders by hand and faxed them back to GE. Now, Darst, the controller/accounting manager who is in charge of purchasing vehicles for Rentokil, a commercial pest control company in Norcross, GA, builds his orders right on-line at www.gefleet.com. Sometimes, building the vehicle can be as simple as typing in a spec number, but on the GE Capital Fleet Services website, Darst can go into the "My Office at Fleet" section of the site and build a vehicle from scratch, adding options and deducting incentives from a vehicle's initial cost. Before he started using the Internet, Darst would have to call GE Capital Fleet Services and ask for GE to fax him a quote if he wanted to know the price of a vehicle, "which took time on hold, and explaining it to someone," Darst said. "Now, it's instantaneous," Darst said, adding that the system also works well with executive vehicles. At the executive level at Rentokil, the executive is given a dollar amount to spend on any available vehicle. "I can actually go in and build the vehicle while the executive views it with me, and they can pick and choose what they want added or deleted from the vehicle, and they can see the pricing for each option."

Web Helps Fleet Managers Detect Fraudulent Activities

The Internet has helped fleet managers with more than just ordering and the typical fleet functions. Sometimes it can even help them deter criminal behavior. Frank Memolo, fleet supervisor for Matsushita Electric Corp. in Secaucus, NJ, said a driver in a Matsushita delivery truck was involved in a suspicious collision. It was suspicious because the driver of the other vehicle was the brother of the person driving the truck. "After looking at the address where the accident occurred, we looked at an Internet mapping service and it turned out the accident site was a residential area." Using the address, Memolo looked at an Internet white pages, and found the address was either the brother's house or his parents' house. "It was not a commercial area, so obviously, the truck was somewhere it didn't belong. It enables us to do a lot of detective work right at our desk. He was probably doing some furniture moving for a relative, so without the Internet, we never would have known. It allows you to be sneaky in a positive way." Jan Faries, fleet operations manager for R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. in Winston-Salem, NC, had a similar situation in which she received a call from the police saying an R.J. Reynolds vehicle was involved in suspicious activity. "The vehicle had our tag number, so I immediately looked it up through PHH InterActive," Faries said. "It only took a short time to discover the VIN number was not ours. Someone stole our plate, put it on a vehicle very similar to ours, and used that vehicle for criminal activity. Before PHH InterActive, it would have taken much longer to resolve this situation. But as it was, I was able to tell the officer on the phone the correct information."

American Protective Services Uses FleetWeb for Easy Ordering

Alice Parham, corporate fleet administrator for American Protective Services in Oakland, CA, begins the vehicle ordering process by logging on to Donlen's FleetWeb site at www.donlen.com. That takes her to a "Welcome to Donlen" section, which leads her to a "To Town" icon. After clicking on "FleetWeb," she chooses the option, "Enter an Order." Branch managers and salespeople at American Protective Services drive Ford Tauruses. The company also uses Ford Rangers and Contours, "so we have specs set up for the those three," Parham said. "The only thing the drivers choose is color. So I just submit it with the driver name, address, and lease term, select a color and just enter it. It's really easy." Parham started using FleetWeb in May 1998, when American Protective Services signed Donlen as its leasing company. Previously, American Protective Services ordered vehicles via modem by downloading data from the previous leasing company's mainframe computer. "We had specs set up with them, also, but the modem used to cut off on me in the middle of something," Parham said. "You don't have that problem with the Internet." Parham said she also uses the Internet to download vehicle prices with Kelley Blue Book's "Power System." "We also use the Ford Fleet site when I need to look up information on locating dealers, and finding out the manufacturers' new rebates and specs. The site just has information galore," Parham said, adding that she recently started viewing Toyota's website at www.Toyota.com for looking up rebates and for dealer information.

Ford Fleet Website Useful for Matsushita Electric

Frank Memolo started working as fleet supervisor for Matsushita Electric Corp. in Secaucus, NJ, before the company had Internet access. "I've been at Matsushita before we had PCs, for that matter," said Memolo, who has been there 12 years now. "Our database was hooked up on the mainframe. About six months later, they got us on PCs. We've had Internet capability for about a year." Memolo uses the Ford website at www.fleet.ford.com when he has questions about vehicles or incentive programs. "We're probably more active on it at the beginning of the model-year," said Memolo, who is responsible for more than 1,200 vehicles, of which about 75 percent are Fords. Memolo said he uses the site to look up specs on particular models. "In some cases we have executives with an allowance, and we look at the site if we need to find a dealer who is fleet-friendly, maybe the person is looking for a Lincoln, Crown Vic, Grand Marquis, or Explorer, for that matter — a lot of executives are going for sport/utilities now — we can go there and find a dealer who is fleet-minded in this area." Memolo said the Ford Fleet website and the Internet has made his life easier. "Sometimes it eliminates playing phone tag if your Ford rep is out of town and you had a question or didn't have literature on a product," Memolo said. "If you just wanted to jump on there and find a quick spec, you're not tied down having to rely on someone else to get the information; it's right there at your fingertips."

ARI's ACCESS 2000 Saves Time for Georgia DAS

At the time this article was written, Josie Brown had only been using ARI's ACCESS 2000 for about 30 days. But he already knows that having ACCESS 2000 has saved him time. Brown, who is motor vehicle services administrator, Department of Administrative Services (DAS), for the state of Georgia, says he uses the site to quickly respond to customers or fleet managers on vehicle maintenance issues. "Let's say a vehicle is down for a transmission problem," Brown said. "The driver wants to know how long it's going to take to be repaired and what it is going to cost. I go into the system, access the vehicle by vehicle number, and check the cost of repair, where it's located and estimated time for repair." Brown said the department formerly worked off a modem, and said it disconnected several times versus now, with his direct link to the Internet. "The Internet is quicker and more reliable," Brown said. "And there seem to be more features on ACCESS 2000, where I can quickly download reports, such as subrogation, accidents, and fuel, and develop my own internal reports. It saves me the time of faxing, calling and waiting for a response. With ACCESS 2000, information is uploaded within 24 hours with real time updating capabilities."

RJR Uses PHH InterActive for Accident Management

From time to time, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. Fleet Operations Manager Jan Faries will receive a phone call from a third party inquiring about an accident involving an R.J. Reynolds vehicle. Sometimes, they will give Faries the name of the R.J. Reynolds driver. Other times, they will just provide the make and model of the vehicle, the license plate number, or the date of the accident. Whatever information is provided, Faries can go into PHH InterActive at phh.com and find out what she needs about that particular accident. "While I've got that third party on the line, I can speak knowledgeably about the situation. I can tell them the accident has been reported or that it's been forwarded to our insurance company," said Faries, who oversees about 2,500 vehicles. "I have the information at my fingertips and don't have to waste time making phone calls to other people to get those details. It's important to give the third party a comfortable feeling that things are being taken care of." Faries said she also uses PHH InterActive to compare her company's fleet accidents from one subdivision branch to another and can pull up reports telling her how many accidents are pending. "One of the most important advantages to this Internet access is the ability to follow up with drivers and make sure they have taken care of estimates when there has been an accident," Faries said. "It's a great tool to maximize opportunities for recovering what we're entitled to through subrogation. That's something I never had before, and already our recovery rate on accidents has increased 11 percent in the past year." Faries said she also uses the maintenance portion of PHH InterActive.

Public Service Co. Uses WEX Site Daily

As fleet administrator for Public Service Co. of New Mexico, Regan Hallford has one very important duty in addition to tracking and maintaining the vehicles. He makes sure they don't run out of fuel. And every day, he orders replacement cards for those that are lost, and he also cancels cards by using the Wright Express Online Access site. He says the system has been a valuable asset. "It's easier to administer the cards and I can do more," Hallford said. "I have more time to pursue other things and add value to the company." Hallford says the query feature of the site is very handy. "You can get data that is as recent as the day before yesterday on transactions," he said. He also praised the website's fuel site directory. "You can download all the sites where the WEX card is accepted," Hallford said. "I download it and post it to our company exchange system."

Mine Safety Appliance Co. Starts with Consolidated

Kim Jendrzejewski, coordinator of administrative services for Mine Safety Appliance Co. in Pittsburgh, PA, said Consolidated Service Corp. was already Mine Safety's fleet management company when the company started using Consolidated's Internet fleet management services. Jendrzejewski said that although she has only had the system for about a month, she likes what she sees so far. "I get phone calls from my regional managers asking why one person spent this much money on his car this year," Jendrzejewski said. "I can easily go to the site and pull up details on when and where and how much was done on their car throughout the year. I can do it with the snap of a finger. It's a lot easier than going through paper invoices and trying to get that information."

Tennant Co. Uses Manufacturer Sites for Comparison Purposes

Steve Kolkind, fleet manager for Tennant Co. in Minneapolis, manages about 1,000 vehicles in a fleet that is split between Ford and Chevrolet. "I use General Motors' website (www.gm.com) for comparison purposes mainly and also for spec'ing purposes, if I want to compare a vehicle type to a competitive product such as Ford or Chrysler," Kolkind said. "No question the Internet helps me do my job," Kolkind said. "The retrieval of information is so quick."