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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.
The high cost of materials has caused price increases for truck bodies, trailers, van interiors, liftgates, and other upfit equipment. Prices have increased, on average, 3-8 percent. Upfitting prices have risen multiple times and some truck equipment manufacturers are guaranteeing current prices for only 90 days. Worldwide, prices have soared for commodities used in upfitting, such as steel and aluminum.
Read More →Fleets are adopting compensatory strategies to offset high fuel costs. These include selector modification, revised vehicle specs, increased personal use charges, streamlined fleet operations, and modification of driver behavior.
Read More →The past two weeks have produced a dizzying string of announcements ranging from Chrysler Financial stopping lease financing, Chase Auto Finance no longer providing lease financing for Chrysler brands, Wells Fargo ending lease financing, all major OEMs decreasing truck production volumes, and HSBC Financial Corp.’s decision to stop funding auto loans. All of which may be good news for fleets remarketing vehicles two to three years from now.
Read More →The best time to control cost is before it occurs and the way to do this is by establishing policies and procedures that inhibit unnecessary spending and protect corporate assets. Adherence to fleet policy is crucial and it should be part of each company’s overall business strategy. The best managed fleets tend to be those whose drivers adhere to a written fleet policy. Does your corporate culture encourage compliance with fleet policy?
Read More →In Tuesday’s blog, I likened predicting the future to a billiard game to illustrate that seemingly unrelated events can influence the future direction of the fleet market – events we may never see coming. With this in mind, let’s rack up our hypothetical balls, placing the “fleet ball” in the center of the rack. Let’s whack the cue ball to see what new fleet scenario may unfold from this catalyst. In this new analogy, the cue ball catalyst is a relatively recent concept called hyperconnectivity.
Read More →Predicting the future has been likened to a billiard game. The cue ball is the catalyst – representing a seminal event – that upon crashing into a racked set of balls triggers not only the initial reaction, but numerous unanticipated secondary and tertiary reactions. When the cue ball strikes its target, it unleashes unanticipated dynamics of balls deflecting off other careening balls, ultimately changing all of their trajectories. Let’s expand the analogy by making “fleet” one of the balls.
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