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Mike Antich
Former Editor and Associate Publisher
Automotive Fleet's former editor, Mike Antich, shared his 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.
NHTSA's testing and safety criteria for front- and side-impact crashes and rollover resistance have not been substantially revised since the agency started crash testing new models 30 years ago. Recognizing that nine out of 10 vehicles routinely score either four or five stars, NHTSA wants to increase the standards for front- and side-impacts, along with more stringent rollover testing. NHTSA is poised to implement a revised five-star safety rating program starting with 2011 model-year vehicles.
Read More →Overall fleet car maintenance costs rose 5 percent for the 2008-calendar year compared to 2007, primarily due to increased prices for replacement tires and higher labor rates. Partially mitigating these increases were flat PM expenses and increased vehicle quality, resulting in fewer warranty claims and vehicle recalls. These findings are based on a survey of actual maintenance expenses of 70,374 passenger cars conducted by GE Capital Solutions Fleet Services.
Read More →Last year, the U.S. Congress granted an exemption from the 12-percent federal excise tax for truck idle reduction systems. Recently, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a list of approved idle reduction systems eligible for the federal excise tax exemption. The exemption applies to sales and installation of these systems since Oct. 4, 2008.
Read More →Digital odometer fraud is growing at an alarming rate, according to new research from Carfax. The research data reveals the number of vehicles with rolled-back odometers has increased 57 percent nationwide over the past four years. According to NHTSA, more than 450,000 cases of odometer rollbacks are reported annually. However, the total number of odometer tampering incidents (including those not caught) is estimated to be substantially higher.
Read More →Fleet managers need to view work trucks as earning assets. To maximize truck productivity, it is necessary to optimize specifications, operating procedures, and replacement strategies. When spec’ing vehicles, past history is important, but one outcome to using last model-year specs is repeating past inefficiencies. Fleet managers need to adopt a “clean sheet” approach to how they manage their truck fleets.
Read More →We are currently in the midst of the worst used-vehicle market in the past 25 years. Year-over-year prices declined every month in 2008; however, wholesale prices did improve the first 10 days of January. Despite this, many fleets now find that the depreciation rates established 24-36 months ago are insufficient for today's resale market. In many cases, resale values of fleet vehicles are significantly below the remaining book value. Here's a forecast for what lies ahead in the wholesale market.
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