THE CAR AND TRUCK FLEET AND LEASING MANAGEMENT MAGAZINE
Our long-time editor and fleet expert, Mike Antich, offers opinions and ideas on the overall commercial fleet industry and draws interesting comments from fleet managers and other industry professionals from across the country. Mike was inducted in the Fleet Hall of Fame in 2010.
Younger employees who are aware of fleet manager core competencies will gravitate to fleet as a stepping stone because of the exposure to cross-functional groups.
Everything fleet does revolves around money: asset acquisition, fuel to operate assets, maintenance to keep assets operational, and myriad other miscellaneous, incidental expenses ranging from tolls, parking tickets, and waste disposal fees to taxes.
If you are not actively engaging your drivers to help meet fleet objectives, you are managing the fleet with one hand tied behind your back. Most fleet programs focus on managing the asset versus managing the driver.
Truck fleet managers need to be diligent in tracking and documenting all PM work that comply with OEM recommended guidelines to ensure there is no PM variability.
There are three key reasons why the transition to synthetic oils is occurring. They are the proliferation of smaller displacement turbocharged engines, escalating CAFE fuel economy requirements, and government regulations to lower tailpipe emissions.
From January to September 2019, overall fleet sales in Canada were flat compared to the same nine-month period last year, according to Scotiabank Economics. Lackluster fleet sales are contributing to total new-vehicle sales in Canada remaining flat in calendar-year 2019.
Vocational vehicles are in the business of delivering goods and providing services. They are earning assets and to maximize their productivity, you need to minimize unscheduled downtime or offset downtime for routine PMs by doing the work during non-revenue-producing hours.
The commercial fleet market wants EVs as evidenced by the increased number of national fleets that are adding low- or zero-emission equipment requirements into RFPs.
The Automotive Fleet & Leasing Association (AFLA) is launching its first-ever fleet conference in Canada. Known as the AFLA Canada Fleet Summit, it will be held on Feb. 12-13, 2020, at the Hilton Toronto Airport Hotel in Mississauga, Ontario.
Unscheduled vehicle downtime is not only a maintenance issue, it is also an accident-avoidance issue since, on average, 20% of a fleet’s vehicles annually incur downtime due to accidents.
