Steve Kibler

Fleet Manager

Born to rural Iowa, Steve was trained at an early age that nothing was free for the asking. If you wanted something you had to make it a goal and work for it. Even as a toddler, Steve immediately had a talent for taking anything apart. After Steve discovered TOOLS, nothing was safe. Steve started working for an independent garage at age 16 repairing everything from farm tractors to foreign cars. After graduating from an auto mechanic tech school, Steve moved to Colorado in 1972 and worked for various dealerships and independents before accepting a mechanic job with the City of Loveland in 1988. Within two years Steve was promoted to Shop Supervisor and eventually to Fleet Manger in 1995. Steve is ACFM Certified, ASE Triple Master in automotive, heavy truck and school bus. Steve's passions are traditional archery, fly fishing and anything outdoors – even writing.

In Memoriam: Coach's Insights•by Steve Kibler•November 22, 2013

The 12 NEW Complaints of Christmas

Thinking of the 12 Days of Christmas song, I thought I would substitute 12 hopefully smile-generating complaints that I’ve heard customers say. You’re lucky I decided not share this as a video since I’m banned from most karaoke clubs… Perhaps you and your staff have heard some of these comments/responses.

In Memoriam: Coach's Insights•by Steve Kibler•September 3, 2013

64% of Boomers Don’t (Read it and find out)

GF just released the annual survey for Public Fleets. 218 fleets responded to the survey and the results should indicate a reasonable cross section of the 3,000+ professionally managed fleets across the country.

In Memoriam: Coach's Insights•by Steve Kibler•July 22, 2013

What to Leave Your Successor When You Retire

When you’re finally ready to retire, to hunt and fish more, to set in the shade and drink more Arnie Palmers, are you going to trust your professional legacy to the hands of your successor or are you going to worry about it.

Market Trends•by Steve Kibler•June 19, 2013

Do You Over-Maintain Your Fleet?

I’m guessing your first reaction was – huh? Nobody OVER-maintains their fleet…

In Memoriam: Coach's Insights•by Steve Kibler•March 21, 2013

Do You Take Good Care of Your Fleet Orchard?

In today’s cost-conscience fleet industry poor performing fleet managers don’t last long. It’s a job-health exercise for each of us to regularly stop and check the fleet orchard for low hanging fruit. We should all be in the habit of stepping back every quarter and searching our entire agency for fleet related deficiencies, fix the easy ones first and form strategies to address any others.

In Memoriam: Coach's Insights•by Steve Kibler•February 19, 2013

Do You Have a Continuity Plan?

I worked for a fleet manager once who believed if anyone else in the organization knew what he knew, he would no longer be needed. When he left the organization and I was chosen as his replacement, I didn’t have a clue what he did or how he did it. I thought I did but hind-sight is 20-20. Because of his unfounded fear, I was doomed to make countless mistakes, costing the agency significant capital, which could have prevented if my former boss had been willing to share his knowledge.

Market Trends•by Steve Kibler•February 5, 2013

10 Things You Should Never Say to a Customer

After years of witnessing customer’s attempt to prove their superior diagnostic skills and automotive knowledge, you will hear some doozies. Sometimes your first inclination is to correct a customer’s error in judgment.

Market Trends•by Steve Kibler•January 18, 2013

Snake Oil, A Fleet Manager’s Nemesis

“Mr. Kibler, my name is [so-and-so] and I have a fuel additive which will save the City thousands of dollars per year on fuel costs.” In the past 40 years, I’ve heard that promise at least 200 times and can honestly say after testing countless “guaranteed” fuel saving additives and devices, not one increased the MPG on any vehicle we’ve tested. The sad reality in each of these instances is the salesperson completely believed in their product and was certain their promised improvement would happe

In Memoriam: Coach's Insights•by Steve Kibler•January 3, 2013

You Make the Call 2 – The rest of the story

These scenarios are real-life fleet situations from fleet user customers. Sometimes fleet policy does not address ways to deal with these unplanned challenges. I’ve scaled down the details to keep the blog short. Please suggest a possible solution as though it was a request from one of your fleet’s user departments.

Market Trends•by Steve Kibler•December 17, 2012

The 12 (Customer Complaints) of Christmas

Thinking of the 12 Days of Christmas song, I thought I would substitute 12 smile-generating complaints that I’ve heard customers responded with. You’re lucky I decided not share it as lyrics since I’m banned from karaoke clubs… Perhaps you and your staff have heard some of these comments/responses. After all, if our customers weren’t expected to diagnose their own problems, how would we know that they were fleet experts.

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